Written Answers of 26 April 2001

DEFENCE

  Defence Procurement Agency
  Mr. Reed
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what key targets have been set for the Defence Procurement Agency for the financial year 2001–02. [159240]

  Mr. Hoon
  Five key targets have been set for the Chief Executive of the Defence Procurement Agency for the financial year 2001–02.

  The first key targets apply to projects covered by the Major Projects Report which have passed their main gate approval. Key targets 2 and 3 are consistent with targets set in the Department's 1999–2002 Public Service Agreement (PSA), adapted to cover cumulative performance. The fourth key target relates to improvement in DPA customer satisfaction and the fifth to a reduction in the cost of running the agency. Key target 5 exceeds the target featured in the PSA. The key targets are:
  Key target 1: Key requirements compliance
  Predicted achievement of customers' key requirements for projects1: 97 per cent.
  Key target 2: Average cumulative In-Service Date slippage
  Average cumulative slippage of In-Service Dates2 at 31 March 2002 not to exceed 11.4 months.
  Key target 3: Average cumulative cost growth
  Average cumulative cost variation3 at 31 March 2002 not to exceed 2.5 per cent.
  Key target 4: Customer Survey Satisfaction rating
  Customer Satisfaction Rating 70 per cent.
  Key target 5: Agency Running Costs
  While continuing to meet the demands of the procurement programme, reduce the operating costs of the DPA in relation to the 1997–98 costs of the Procurement Executive by 22 per cent.
  1 Key requirements for projects in the MPR have been established that define the essential characteristics of the equipment.
  2 Variation between in service date (ISD) approved at Main Gate (the major investment decision point) and currently predicted ISD.
  3 Variation between cost approved at Main Gate and current estimate.

  Ministry of Defence Police Agency
  Ms Buck
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the quinquennial review of the Ministry of Defence Police Agency will take place; and what(a) the aim of, and (b) the arrangements for, the review will be. [159534]

  Dr. Moonie
  The quinquennial review (QQR) of the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) will begin in April 2001. The review will examine the role, operations and organisation of the MDP with a view to establishing the requirement for its services in the future, and how these can best be delivered.
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  Work to prepare for the QQR has already begun. This has principally involved canvassing the views of the MDP's customers about its effectiveness, and gathering other information with which to assess the MDP's performance since it became an agency in April 1996. Stage one of the QQR will address three fundamental questions: to what extent is there a continuing requirement for the services currently provided by the MDP; how far could organisations other than the MDP contribute to meeting those future requirements; and, if a continuing requirement for MDP services is confirmed, what organisational configuration should it have. If continued agency status is confirmed, the second stage of the QQR will develop more detailed proposals for continuing improvements in performance and quality of service delivery.

  The MDP is by no means the only organisation involved in providing policing and security services to the MOD. The review will therefore examine its interface with other practitioners (including Service police forces) to ensure that the MDP operates in a 'joined up' way with them, focusing in particular on the scope for partnership-working and the spread of best practice. It will also examine the way the relationship between the MDP and other UK police forces is evolving.

  I expect to see advice arising from stage one of the review in the summer, and from stage two, if pursued, in the autumn.

  The review team will consult widely with all stakeholders, including customer organisations, the MDP management team, Agency staff, the Defence Police Federation, Civil Service trades unions, other police forces, and the relevant policy staffs in MOD, the Home Office, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Treasury and the Cabinet Office. The MOD is also keen to hear the views of other organisations or individuals with an interest. These can be sent to the MDP QQR Team, Room 4113, MOD Main Building, London, SW1A 2HB.

  Tornado GR4
  Mr. Menzies Campbell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when Tornado GR4s will be given Military Aircraft Release; when the first GR4s will be deployed on operations; and if he will make a statement; [157588]

  (2) what effect there will be on the United Kingdom's commitments to the Joint Rapid Reaction Force of delay in achieving Military Aircraft Release for the Tornado GR4; and if he will make a statement. [157640]

  Mr. Spellar
  [holding answer 23 April 2001]: The Tornado GR4 achieved an initial Military Aircraft Release (MAR) in July last year and has been used extensively in training since. I refer the right hon. and learned Gentleman to the reply which my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Great Yarmouth (Mr. Wright) on 24 November 2000, Official Report, column 334W.

  In my answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Preston (Mr. Hendrick) on 25 April 2001, Official Report, column 270W, I announced that, following further development work and extensive trials, the GR4 with improved software achieved a MAR on 10 April and we

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  expect the first aircraft to be deployed operationally shortly. In the meantime, there has been no effect on the United Kingdom's ability to meet its commitments to the Joint Rapid Reaction Force which have been maintained by Tornado GR1, Jaguar and Harrier GR7 aircraft.

  Nuclear Weapons
  Mr. Davidson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what change there has been in the number of UK nuclear devices since May 1997. [158785]

  Mr. Hoon
  In line with Government intentions set out in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review, the UK now has a stockpile of less than 200 operationally available warheads.

ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS

  Driver Fatigue
  Mr. Ben Chapman
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate he has made of the number of road accidents during each of the last five years in which driver tiredness was(a) the cause and (b) a contributing factor. [158740]

  Mr. Hill
  Statistics on the main contributory factors in road accidents are not available. Research on behalf of the Department indicates that for car drivers in particular, driver fatigue may have been a principal factor in around 10 per cent. of accidents across the road network in Great Britain.

  Mr. Ben Chapman
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of research into tiredness as a cause of road accidents. [158741]

  Mr. Hill
  The Department began its research programme on fatigue in December 1992 and research work continues. Data from the programme have greatly improved our understanding of the effects of fatigue on driving. The results have been developed into recommendations to drivers that have been incorporated into the Highway Code. In addition, the Department launched last August a long-term programme of publicity and advice on measures to counter driver fatigue.

  Mr. Ben Chapman
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Tiredness Kills notices; [158405]

  (2) how many Tiredness Kills signs there are on UK motorways; and where they are located. [158242]

  Mr. Hill
  I have asked the chief executive of the Highways Agency, Tim Matthews, to write to my hon. Friend.

  Letter from Tim Matthews to Mr. Ben Chapman, dated 26 April 2001:
  I have been asked by the Transport Minister Keith Hill to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about Tiredness Kills signs. You asked how many of these signs there are on UK motorways; where they are located; and what assessment has been made of their effectiveness.
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  The Secretary of State's responsibilities and, therefore, the Agency's extend only to England, where these signs—which are usually worked "Tiredness Can Kill, Take a Break"—have been provided on the approaches to the following service areas:

  A1(M) Blyth (southbound only)

  M1 Leicester Forest East

  M1 Toddington

  M1 Trowell

  M1 Woodall

  M1 Wooley Edge

  M2 Medway

  M4 Leigh Delamere

  M4 Reading

  M5 Cullompton (southbound only)

  M5 Exeter

  M5 Frankley

  M6 Burton

  M6 Hilton Park

  M6 Knutsford

  M6 Sandbach

  M6 Southwaite

  M6 Stafford

  M6 Tebay

  M18 Doncaster North

  M23 Pease Pottage

  M25 Thurrock (southbound only)

  M40 Cherwell Valley

  M42 Tamworth

  M62 Ferry bridge

  M62 Hartshead Moor

  M69 Leicester Forest East (northbound only)

  M180 Doncaster North (westbound only)

  Except where indicated, the practice is to provide one such sign on each carriageway, making a total of around fifty across the network.
  We have made no systematic assessment of the effectiveness of the signs, though we do regard them as a useful reminder to motorway users of the dangers of continuing to drive when tired.

  Minimum Fuel Efficiency Standards
  Mr. Green
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what progress has been made since May 1997 on introducing minimum fuel efficiency standards for all vehicles. [158660]

  Mr. Hill
  [holding answer 23 April 2001]: The UK played a leading role in the development of the voluntary agreement between the European Commission and European car manufacturers, secured in 1998. This commits manufacturers to improve the sales-weighted average fuel efficiency of new passenger cars by 25 per cent. on 1995 levels by 2008. Similar agreements have been reached between the European Commission and the Japanese and Korean car manufacturers' associations.

  Rail Fares
  Mr. Kidney
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will take steps to restrict future fare increases by train operating companies. [158419]
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  Mr. Hill
  Key fares are already capped at 1 per cent. below the rate of inflation and this will continue for replacement franchises. Train operators are free to price other fares according to market demand and competition from other forms of transport. But we expect train operators to bear in mind the need to increase passenger numbers when considering whether to increase unregulated fares.

  Mr. Kidney
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the impact of the change in the level of public subsidy on rail fares. [158418]

  Mr. Hill
  No explicit assessment has been made. Subsidy levels were agreed at the time of franchising after a competitive bidding process. Franchising agreements protect key rail fares so that their prices are restricted by a cap that rises by PRI-1 per cent. annually. The key fares include all Saver tickets, or unrestricted standard returns where no Saver exists, and all standard weekly season tickets. Further regulation applies to London commuter fares, linking performance to the permitted increase.

  Transport Plan
  Tony Wright
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what action he is asking the Commission for Integrated Transport to take to implement the findings of the CPRE report 'Running to Stand Still' on the effectiveness of the 10-year plan in reducing congestion. [158409]

  Mr. Hill
  The Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT) was established to provide independent advice to Government on the implementation of integrated transport policy and to review progress towards meeting the Government's objectives. Although the Government have not specifically asked CfIT to comment on the CPRE report, the commission has been asked to report on progress against the objectives and outcomes of the 10-year plan (including the target to reduce road congestion) and to advise on further policy measures. We are committed to periodic review of the 10-year plan and will pay close attention to CflT's advice in doing so.

  Housing Developments (London)
  Mr. Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will take measures to require at least half of all new housing developments in London to be for affordable rented property. [158981]

  Mr. Robert Ainsworth
  The Mayor is expected to publish his initial proposals for the Spatial Development Strategy for London shortly. The Government's planning policy on the provision of affordable housing is set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 3 and Circular 6–98. The Secretary of State will consider the Mayor's proposals in the light of this and other relevant guidance.

  2000 December

  January

  2001 February

  March

  Total

  Passengers

  2

  0

  7

  1

  10

  Railway staff

  0

  0

  4

  0

  4

  Other members of public

  0

  2

  1

  1

  4

  Trespassers and suicides

  23

  22

  20

  21

  86

  Total

  25

  24

  32

  23

  104

  Pleasure Craft
  Mr. Jenkin
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many(a) deaths and (b) serious injuries have been caused by people drunk in charge of pleasure craft on British waterways in the last five years. [159010]

  Mr. Hill
  The information requested is not available centrally, although the indications are that few injuries were caused by people drunk in charge of pleasure craft on British waterways. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a small and irresponsible minority of those in charge of such craft pose a risk to safety by choosing to navigate while under the influence of excessive amounts of alcohol.

  London Underground
  Mr. Jenkin
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what(a) increases in fares and (b) increase in passenger ridership on the London Underground are assumed in the financial projections upon which the London Underground PPP is based. [159006]

  Mr. Hill
  The financial projections London Underground and their advisers have carried out for the PPP assume that:

  (a) London Underground fares will do no more than keep pace with inflation once the PPP is in place.

  (b) Annual passenger ridership on the London Underground will increase by 20 per cent. over the next 10 years, with the main growth in ridership expected to be off-peak and in the 'shoulders' of the peak. The additional capacity and improved reliability that the PPP will bring should enable this growth in demand to be accommodated safely.

  Air Accidents
  Mr. Steen
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many people have died in air accidents on British internal carrier flights in each of the last four months. [158865]

  Mr. Robert Ainsworth
  Two people have died in air accidents on British internal carrier flights in the last four months. Both men were on board the mail flight that crashed into the Firth of Forth on 27 February 2001.

  Railway Accidents
  Mr. Steen
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many people died on the railways in each of the last four months. [158866]

  Mr. Hill
  The Health and Safety Executive's Railway Inspectorate reports that 104 people have died on the railways in Great Britain in the period 1 December 2000 to 31 March 2001. A breakdown of this data are provided in the table:
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  The figures are provisional and may change due to coroners' findings at the subsequent inquests. Included in the February figures are the 10 people that died in the railway accident at Great Heck near Selby.

  BAe 146
  Mr. Tyler
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what reports he has had on the incident on a British European BAe 146 flight from Paris to Birmingham on 5 November 2000; and if he will make a statement. [159121]

  Mr. Robert Ainsworth
  The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is currently still investigating the exact cause of this incident. Research has been commissioned to establish whether, among other possibilities, engine oil fumes leaking into the cabin air released hazardous vapours, which could have contributed to the severity of this incident.

  As a precaution, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has issued an Airworthiness Directive that mandates inspections and remedial actions designed to reduce the likelihood of engine oil leaks into the cabin air supply. Instructions to flight crews have also been issued for measures to be taken to mitigate any potential effects should they experience or suspect contamination of the air supply.

  Once the AAIB report has been published, the CAA will be able to determine whether further action needs to be taken to minimise the risk of such an incident occurring again.

  Fuels (Environmental Assessment)
  Mr. Watts
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will publish the environmental assessments of(a) fuels submitted to the Green Fuels Challenge and (b) lead replacement petrol. [159247]

  Mr. Hill
  Yes. We are making arrangements to publish the environmental assessments on the DETR website. I have also placed copies of the assessments in the Libraries of the House.

  Regional Planning Guidance (North-east)
  Mr. Cousins
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he intends to publish his response to the recommendations of the panel that conducted the public examination of draft Regional Planning Guidance for the north-east; and if he will make a statement. [159666]

  Mr. Raynsford
  My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister is today publishing for public consultation proposed changes to the draft Regional Planning Guidance for the north-east (RPG1). They are largely based on the recommendations of the independent panel that held a public examination into the draft RPG1 last summer.

  Since then my right hon. Friend has published a number of new Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) Notes, which have been taken into account in preparing the proposed
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  changes. Important issues for the region to take forward are also contained in the Urban and Rural White Papers issued last November.

  Draft RPG was prepared by the Association of North East Councils (ANEC). Its overall strategy aims to create a more sustainable region and achieve urban and rural renaissance by focusing development in the region's main towns and cities making best use of previously developed land. We support this and, as recommended by the panel, we are proposing changes to ensure that the strategy is more clearly expressed and relates more clearly to the policy chapters. It is important that the implications for development plans and other strategies are clear in order to make a real difference on the ground.

  A key issue for the region is to stem population decline by encouraging economic growth and regeneration in a sustainable way. To achieve this we are proposing changes which identify four priorities for regeneration: to accelerate the renaissance of the Tyne, Wear and Tees conurbations; to provide job opportunities and support communities in the former coalfield areas; to adapt and revitalise the region's town and city centres; and secure rural regeneration to combat social exclusion, improve access to jobs and services, and sustain viable communities.

  We propose a review of the existing employment land allocated in development plans in the region to ensure that the north-east has a robust portfolio of sites in terms of size, quality and distribution in the most sustainable locations. In this context we would particularly welcome views during the consultation on the proposal to reduce the number of proposed new greenfield strategic employment sites from four to one. We propose to accept the panel's recommendation on this matter against the background of an over-provision of employment land in the region, and concern about the loss of greenfield sites. ANEC is committed to preparing an overall review of RPG1 in 2002–03, which will provide them with the opportunity to establish the need for additional strategic employment sites and set out their broad location or location criteria.

  We are proposing a modest reduction in the amount of additional housing in the region, as recommended by the panel. By reducing the need for additional greenfield housing allocations, it will help to concentrate house building more on areas where sites are already available particularly on previously-developed land. The new proposal is to provide 5,000 dwellings per year for the first half of the guidance period (1996–2006) and 6,000 per year for the period 2006–16. The distribution of housing is also proposed to change to reflect the strategy aim to locate the majority of new development in the region's conurbations to avoid unnecessary development in the countryside, and help to create a better balance between where people live and work. 4,000 of the proposed housing provision will be distributed as part of the early review of RPG1 in 2002–03 pending the completion of urban housing capacity studies by the constituent authorities in the region's conurbations.

  We also propose to set the region a challenging target of 65 per cent. of this additional housing to be provided on previously developed land and by reusing existing buildings.
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  It is proposed to significantly revise the transport element of RPG taking on board many of the panel's recommendations. The changes seek to provide a framework for the integration of land use planning and transport and to set the context for the development of the Regional Transport Strategy, which is currently on-going in the region.

  There will now be a 12 week consultation period on the proposed changes which will end on Thursday 19 July 2001. Copies of the relevant documents have been placed in the House Library and provided to all of the region's MPs.

PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL

  Parliamentary Broadcasting Ltd.
  Angela Smith
  To ask the President of the Council when she will announce the company appointed by the Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit Ltd. to operate the televising of Parliament following the expiry of the current contract. [159365]

  Mrs. Beckett
  With the agreement of the appropriate Committees of both Houses the PARBUL operating and maintenance contracts for the five years from 1 August 2001 have been awarded to Bowtie Television Ltd.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

  Consultation
  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what new proposals he has to improve consultation between employees and employers. [157938]

  Mr. Alan Johnson
  My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry announced to the House on 18 January plans for a review of UK arrangements affecting collective redundancies. The review, which is ongoing, is examining how current provisions have operated in practice and whether more should be done to promote effective consultation with employees.

  Icelandic-water Trawlermen
  Mr. McGrady
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when payments will be made under the compensation scheme for former Icelandic-water trawlermen; and if he will make a statement. [158768]

  Mr. Byers
  Over, 1,200 payments have already been made. I expect the bulk of the claims to be dealt with by the end of July.

  Correspondence
  Mr. Winnick
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the hon. Member for Walsall, North will receive a reply to his letter of 22 March to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and which was passed on to his Department. [158857]

  Mr. Hain
  I have answered the letter today.

CABINET OFFICE

  Policy Announcements (Regional Impact Assessments)
  Mr. Brake
  To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will list the policy announcements since March 2000 which have been subject in advance to an assessment of their impact on the regions. [158497]

  Ms Beverley Hughes
  (holding answer 23 April 2001]: I have been asked to reply.

  The Regional Co-ordination Unit (RCU) was established in April 2000 as the centre of operations for the Government Offices for the Regions. A key role of the RCU is to consider proposals for new or extended area based initiatives. Formal arrangements for assessing the impact of such policies on the regions came into force in November 2000. Since then the following initiatives have been subject to the 'double key' assessment involving both the RCU and the Government Offices: Children's Fund, Creative Partnerships, Neighbourhood Management, Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, Playing Fields and Community Green Spaces, Safer Communities Initiative and Sports Action Zones. The RCU has also considered a large number of other initiatives not subject to the full 'double key' procedures.

SOCIAL SECURITY

  Benefit Fraud
  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate's Annual report for 2000 will be published. [157484]

  Mr. Rooker
  [holding answer 9 April 2001]: The Benefit Fraud Inspectorate's (BFI) spending for 1999–2000 and expenditure plans for 2000–01 were included in figures reported in the Department of Social Security's Departmental Report published in April 2000.

  The BFI's priority is to deliver reports following inspections of individual local authorities and DSS Agencies. The BFI is nearing completion of its phase 5 programme of inspections. This is a key phase which covers the 30 local authorities with the highest spend on Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. Once the BFI has published the last of these reports, it will be in a position to provide a comprehensive report on its work to March 2001.

  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) for what reason the National Benefit Fraud Hotline number was not included in Level 1 of the current Targeting Fraud advertising campaign; how long each level will run for; and if the campaign will continue during a dissolution of Parliament; [157079]

  (2) if he will break down the costs of the Targeting Fraud advertising campaign into (a) the cost of the pilot campaign, (b) the cost of television advertising, (c) the cost of radio advertising, (d) the cost of newspaper advertising and (e) other costs; [157074]

  (3) how the Targeting Fraud advertising campaign has been altered to include the findings of the research into the pilot campaign. [157080]
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  Mr. Rooker
  [holding answer 9 April 2001]: The Government are committed to cracking down on benefit fraud. In his report "The Informal Economy", Lord Grabiner recommended testing the use of advertising as a tool for changing public attitudes. The North West Pilot Campaign was developed during 2000 in line with this recommendation.

  The overall objectives of the campaign, were to positively reinforce honest behaviour, to create a climate of intolerance to benefit fraud and to undermine the social acceptability of it. It was designed to work on two levels: Level 1, to make 'fiddling' harder to justify by showing that fraud is unfair; and Level 2, to create a climate of unease by using facts to build a fear of detection. Considerable development work was undertaken and the evaluation indicated that the campaign was effective in changing public attitudes towards benefit fraud. In taking the campaign to a national audience as part of a long-term public information programme, only minor refinements were considered necessary.

  The national TV advertising did not include the hotline number because it was aimed at a wide audience and was designed to change public attitudes about the social acceptability of fraud (ie a Level 1 objective). Other material did include the hotline number because it was intended to create unease among fraudsters (ie a Level 2 objective).

  The first phase of the national information campaign concluded on Saturday 31 March. The campaign will not run in the event of Parliament being dissolved under the normal rules relating to Her Majesty's Government advertising.

  So far, the costs of the Targeting Fraud information programme have been £2.2 million for the north-west pilot, including production, media buying, website development and research. The costs for the March phase of the national campaign are £3.2 million for TV advertising, £0.6 million for radio advertising, £0.7 million for press advertising, and £0.2 million for other costs.

  Publicity Campaigns
  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what publicity campaigns his Department plans to run in the current financial year. [158713]

  Mr. Rooker
  Plans are in place to continue the anti-fraud campaign, following on from the start of the national activity in March. We also plan to continue the pensions education advertising campaign which began in January.

  The Department also has a number of advertorials booked, which will explain the new bereavement benefits available to men.

  Benefit Fraud Investigation Service
  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the last Benefit Fraud Investigation Service annual report was published; and when the next one is due to be published. [158690]

  Mr. Rooker
  The Benefit Fraud Investigation Service does not publish a separate annual report. Sections on safeguarding Social Security are included in both the 318W
  Benefits Agency annual report, due to be published in July 2001, and the Departmental annual report which was published on 30 March 2001.

  Benefits Information Guide
  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make copies of the latest edition of the Benefits Information Guide available to hon. Members. [158689]

  Mr. Rooker
  The latest edition of the Benefits Information Guide is available in the Library. The 2001–02 edition will be available shortly.

  Pensions
  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners receive(a) a partial basis state pension, (b) basic state pension increments, (c) a basic state pension increase for dependent child, d) a graduated retirement benefit and (e) SERPS. [158675]

  Mr. Rooker
  The information is in the table.

  Retirement pensioners resident in Great Britain and overseas at 30 September 2000

  Thousand

  All pensioners

  In receipt of partial Basic State pension

  2,941.6

  In receipt of Basic State pension increments

  1,156.4

  In receipt of Basic State pension

  —

  Increase for dependent child(ren)

  18.1

  In receipt of Graduated Retirement Benefit

  8.690.3

  In receipt of SERPS

  6,389.9

  Notes:

  1. Includes all retirement pensioners resident in Great Britain and overseas.

  2. Numbers with a partial basic state pension exclude those pensioners who receive 100 per cent. basic State Pension based on their own national insurance record and also those pensioners who receive 60 per cent. (full rate) basic State Pension based on a spouse's national insurance record.

  3. Figures are in thousands and rounded to the nearest hundred.

  Source:

  Based on a 5 per cent. sample from the Pension Strategy Computer System at 30 September 2000.

  Mr. Ben Chapman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the way pension funds handle grievances. [159151]

  Mr. Rooker
  Occupational pension schemes are required to have a two-stage internal dispute resolution procedure, which they must make known to members. The second stage written decision by the trustees or managers of the scheme must include statements about the roles of the Office for Pensions Advisory Service (OPAS), to whom they can go for assistance, and the Pensions Ombudsman, to whom they can refer grievance if they remain dissatisfied.

  Mr. Ben Chapman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what plans he has to require pension trusts to give reasons for refusal(a) to reward a disability pension and (b) of arbitration following such refusal; [159054]

  (2) if he will make a statement on pension trusts' refusal to divulge the reason for rejecting ill-health pension applications; [159052]
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  (3) what plans he has to compel pension trusts to divulge the reason for refusal of ill-health pension applications. [159051]

  Mr. Rooker
  Occupational schemes are not required to pay pension benefits before the normal pension age for the scheme. Some scheme rules do provide for pension benefits to be paid earlier for reasons such as ill-health. This is usually at the discretion of the scheme trustees and there is no legal requirement for them to provide reasons where they reject an ill-health pension application, although many schemes regard it as good administrative practice to do so.

  Where an ill-health pension application has been rejected, the member can ask for the matter to be reconsidered under the scheme's internal dispute resolution procedure, and can seek assistance from the Office for Pensions Advisory Service (OPAS). If he remains dissatisfied he can make a complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman.

  Mr. Ben Chapman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to require contributors to occupational pension schemes to have the rights of appeal following an ombudsman's determination. [159049]

  Mr. Rooker
  Determinations by the Pensions Ombudsman can be appealed against to the High Court on a point of law.

  Mr. Ben Chapman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to ensure that members of pension trusts have a right to be consulted before(a) trusts are restructured and (b) members are transferred to other schemes. [159053]

  Mr. Rooker
  Employers who provide occupational pension schemes do so voluntarily and, ultimately, they decide the nature of the scheme and its benefit structure. Trustees are required to provide extensive information to members about the scheme and their rights to pension benefits.

  Generally, members must consent to a transfer of their accrued pension rights to another pension scheme. When employers are taken over, merge, or restructure their pension provision a consequent bulk transfer of members' accrued rights can be made without consent, provided that an actuary certifies that the rights to be acquired in the receiving scheme are broadly no less favourable than the rights to be transferred.

  Mr. Ben Chapman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the rules governing occupational pensions schemes and the way they are vetted to protect contributors. [159050]

  Mr. Rooker
  The framework of legislation governing occupational pension schemes is intended to provide protection for members without imposing undue burdens on employers who provide those schemes. Pension schemes also have their own rules which have to satisfy certain requirements for tax purposes. They may contain discretionary provisions which are exercised by the trustees.

  Departmental Report
  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will place in the Library up-dated versions 320W
  of tables 1 to 11 at the back of the 2000 Departmental Report (Cm 4614); and if he will reintroduce these tables in future departmental reports. [158693]

  Mr. Rooker
  Following the introduction of resource accounting and budgeting (RAB) there have been a number of changes to the core tables produced in line with Treasury guidance and contained in all departmental reports. The aim of the tables is to provide an analysis of departmental expenditure plans. These are presented in the 2001 Departmental Report (Cm 5115) in resource terms, showing resource consumption and capital investment; Voted and Non-Voted expenditure and the plans agreed in the Spending Review for Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL) and Annually Managed Expenditure (AME).

  The format of the published Core Tables and Main Estimate Tables is intended to anticipate, as far as possible, the format of the Resource Accounts that will be published next year in respect of 2001–02. As in previous years the published departmental report includes key information on local authority expenditure (Table 8), administration costs (Table 9) and staff numbers (Table 10). Departmental Expenditure Limits, in cash terms are set out for the years 1995–96 to 2000–01 in Table 11. Detailed plans are set out in Table 4 and a high level summary provided in Table 1.

  We are currently considering what further information might be provided and the most effective way of communicating it. We hope to make an announcement in the near future.

  Automated Credit Transfers
  Mr. Webb
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security to what extent his target of having 85 per cent. of customers having benefits paid into their bank by 2005 is consistent with the Government's plan to complete the transition to ACT by 2005; and if he will make a statement on his plans for those customers who do not receive payment by ACT by 2005. [159166]

  Mr. Rooker
  These two aims are entirely consistent. Payment directly into bank or building society accounts will become the normal method of payment for benefits and pensions starting in 2003 and completing in 2005.

  We have always recognised that there will be some people who we will be unable to pay directly through bank or building society accounts, and some payments that cannot be made this way. This is reflected in our Public Service Agreement target of 85 per cent. of our customers having their benefits paid into bank or building society accounts by 2005. For those payments which we cannot make directly into bank or building society accounts, we are considering what alternative simple electronic money transmission system, which could also be accessed at post offices, will be commercially available.

  Sickness Absence
  Mr. Webb
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what progress he has made on reducing his Department's sickness absence rates; what baseline figure was used to assess his Department's compliance with its PSA target on reducing sickness rates; what the Department's actual figure for 2000 was; and if he will make a statement. [159168]

  Mr. Rooker
  The Department's PSA targets are to achieve a reduction on sickness absence rates of 20 per cent. by the end of 2001 and 30 per cent. by the end of 2003. The targets are measured against the 1998 baseline figure of 12.1 average working days lost per person.

  All appropriate recommendations of the Cabinet Office report "Working Well Together" have been introduced and action plans are in place across the Department to improve performance in managing attendance.

  Performance for the year 2000 was 12.6 average working days lost. Performance was adversely affected at the start of the year by the influenza outbreak which was higher than normal.

  Public Service Agreement Targets
  Mr. Webb
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what sanction has been applied to his Department in cases where it has failed to meet its public service agreement targets. [159167]

  Mr. Rooker
  The purpose of the Public Service Agreement is not to set sanctions. It is to set high level objectives and challenging targets which can be properly measured and monitored.

  The Department's performance against its 1998 Public Service Agreement targets was set out in the Social Security Departmental Report (Cm 5115, March 2001). This shows that the majority of the targets have been met or are on course to be met. Only one target had not been met—that relating to payment for goods and services within 30 days of receipt.

  Pensioners
  Ms Squire
  To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the administrative cost of allowing pensioners a choice between receiving the Winter Fuel Payment and free television licence or a higher rate of state retirement pension. [159665]

  Mr. Darling
  The estimated costs are in the table.

  £ million

  Cost category

  Year one cost

  Annual cost thereafter1

  System changes2

  6.0

  0.0

  Sending out mail-shot to 10.5 million pensioners3

  9.0

  9.0

  Processing the responses to the mail-shot4

  89.0

  89.0

  Totals

  104.0

  98.0

  1 The costing assumes that pensioners would be assessed annually.

  2 This cost covers the IT changes to DSS computer systems which would need to be made in order to give pensioners the option of how the payments were made to them. Several different computer systems would need to be partially recoded. The cost here relates mainly to man hours dedicated to recoding. We have assumed that

  322W
  these system changes would be made in such a way as to allow pensioners to subsequently change their payment option without further need for recoding.

  3 This covers the cost of mailing forms to 10.5 million pensioners every year asking them to choose how the payments, are made to them.

  4 This covers the costs of processing the responses to the annual mailshot and would be the largest single component of the extra cost. It is estimated that, to the extent that processing 10.5 million payment request options every year was possible at all, it would require the equivalent of an additional 3,000 full-time civil servants.

HEALTH

  Departmental Costs
  Mr. Stephen O'Brien
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's total gross running costs were for travel, including fares, subsistence, accommodation and other expenses met from public funds but excluding such costs for journeys and stays exclusively within the United Kingdom(a) in the three years ending on 30 April 1997 and (b) in the 12 months ending 30 April 1997. [157626]

  Ms Stuart
  The Department spent £499,905 in 1995–96 and £540,380 in 1996–97 on overseas travel and subsistence. Prior to this information was not gathered on a similar basis.

  Mr. Stephen O'Brien
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total gross running costs were to his Department in the 12 months ending 31 December 1996 of entertaining by Ministers and officials. [157625]

  Ms Stuart
  The Department does not collect the information in the form requested. Expenditure on hospitality for 1996–97 financial year amounted to £105,192.

  Mr. Stephen O'Brien
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many visits abroad have been made by officials on departmental business in the(a) three years ending 30 April 1997 and (b) 12 months ending 30 April 1997. [157624]

  Ms Stuart
  The information requested is not available centrally.

  NHS CT Scanners
  Mr. Jack
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the NHS acute trusts which have NHS CT scanners, indicating for each trust the ratio of beds to scanners. [157016]

  Yvette Cooper
  [holding answer 9 April 2001]: The following data for numbers of acute hospital beds in trusts come from the National Health Service Executive 1999–2000.

  The numbers of CT scanners is derived from a survey carried out in 2000.

  The information in the table is correct as of 1 April 2001. Statistical information is updated on a monthly basis and is available at www.canceruk.net.
  323W

  Region name

  Trust name

  Acute beds per CT

  Trent

  Nottingham City Hospital NHS Trust

  883

  West Midlands

  Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust

  816

  North West

  Wirral Hospital NHS Trust

  814

  South West

  Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

  748

  North West

  Aintree Hospitals NHS Trust

  741

  London

  Havering Hospitals NHS Trust

  732

  Eastern

  Norfolk and Norwich Health Care NHS Trust

  720

  West Midlands

  The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust

  683

  South West

  Royal Devon and Exeter Healthcare NHS Trust

  672

  South West

  South Devon Healthcare NHS Trust

  663

  North West

  Blackpool Victoria Hospital NHS Trust

  658

  South West

  Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Trust

  654

  South West

  Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust

  650

  Trent

  Doncaster Royal Infirmary and Montagu Hospital NHS Trust

  643

  North West

  St. Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust

  643

  South West

  Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust

  629

  Northern and Yorkshire

  City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Trust

  627

  North West

  Burnley Healthcare NHS Trust

  626

  Eastern

  Mid Essex Hospitals NHS Trust

  617

  North West

  North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust

  617

  North West

  Wigan and Leigh Health Services NHS Trust

  612

  South West

  North Bristol NHS Trust

  598

  Northern and Yorkshire

  North Durham Health Care NHS Trust

  582

  North West

  Oldham NHS Trust

  582

  South East

  Brighton Health Care NHS Trust

  578

  South East

  Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospitals NHS Trust

  577

  South East

  Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust

  573

  North West

  Stockport NHS Trust

  571

  Eastern

  Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust

  563

  West Midlands

  North Staffordshire Hospital NHS Trust

  561

  North West

  Bury Health Care NHS Trust

  539

  South West

  Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust

  538

  West Midlands

  Sandwell Healthcare NHS Trust

  536

  Trent

  Northern General Hospital NHS Trust

  534

  Trent

  The Kings Mill Centre for Health Care Services NHS Trust

  533

  Trent

  Southern Derbyshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

  530

  North West

  Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust

  529

  South West

  East Gloucestershire NHS Trust

  529

  West Midlands

  City Hospital NHS Trust

  528

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Gateshead Health NHS Trust

  527

  London

  Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust

  519

  North West

  Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Health Care NHS Trust

  517

  London

  Kingston Hospital NHS Trust

  504

  Trent

  Barnsley District General Hospital NHS Trust

  500

  South West

  Gloucestershire Royal NHS Trust

  499

  London

  St. Mary's Hospital NHS Trust

  498

  Eastern

  Southend Hospital NHS Trust

  495

  Northern and Yorkshire

  York Health Services NHS Trust

  488

  North West

  Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust

  486

  Northern and Yorkshire

  South Tees Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

  477

  West Midlands

  Birmingham Heartlands and Solihull NHS Trust

  475

  South East

  Frimley Park Hospital NHS Trust

  475

  Eastern

  Peterborough Hospitals NHS Trust

  474

  South West

  Poole Hospitals NHS Trust

  463

  Eastern

  James Paget Healthcare NHS Trust

  460

  Trent

  Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Royal Hospital NHS

  459

  South East

  Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Trust

  449

  Eastern

  Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust

  448

  North West

  The Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust

  447

  South West

  Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust

  445

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Pinderfields and Pontefract Hospitals NHS Trust

  443

  Trent

  University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

  439

  South East

  Kettering General Hospital NHS Trust

  435

  West Midlands

  Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust

  432

  Trent

  Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust

  431

  South East

  Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust

  429

  London

  The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust

  429

  South East

  Eastbourne Hospitals NHS Trust

  426

  Eastern

  Basildon and Thurrock General Hospitals NHS Trust

  425

  Eastern

  West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust

  423

  South East

  Medway NHS Trust

  421

  Trent

  Rotherham General Hospitals NHS Trust

  418

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

  417

  324W 325W

  Region name

  Trust name

  Acute beds per CT

  West Midlands

  Mid Staffordshire General Hospitals NHS Trust

  416

  North West

  Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Trust

  414

  London

  King's Healthcare NHS Trust

  413

  North West

  Warrington Hospital NHS Trust

  413

  South West

  Salisbury Healthcare NHS Trust

  405

  South East

  South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust

  402

  North West

  Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust

  401

  South East

  Stoke Mandeville Hospital NHS Trust

  401

  West Midlands

  Good Hope Hospital NHS Trust

  400

  West Midlands

  South Warwickshire General Hospitals NHS Trust

  398

  London

  Redbridge Health Care NHS Trust

  395

  South East

  Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust

  388

  North West

  South Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust

  387

  London

  Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust

  386

  South East

  Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Trust

  386

  Eastern

  Addenbrooke's NHS Trust

  381

  South East

  Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust

  379

  West Midlands

  University Hospitals of Coventry And Warwickshire NHS Trust

  378

  North West

  Tameside and Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust

  377

  West Midlands

  Royal Shrewsbury Hospitals NHS Trust

  374

  North West

  Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust

  368

  Trent

  North East Lincolnshire NHS Trust

  367

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust

  367

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust

  362

  London

  Greenwich Healthcare NHS Trust

  361

  South East

  Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust

  358

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Huddersfield Health Care Services NHS Trust

  356

  London

  Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust

  354

  South East

  East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust

  352

  London

  Homerton Hospital NHS Trust

  350

  London

  Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust

  342

  London

  Newham Healthcare NHS Trust

  340

  Northern and Yorkshire

  South Tyneside Healthcare NHS Trust

  336

  Eastern

  East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust

  335

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Carlisle Hospitals NHS Trust

  333

  South East

  Milton Keynes General Hospital NHS Trust

  333

  West Midlands

  University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust

  333

  Trent

  Scunthorpe and Goole Hospitals NHS Trust

  332

  London

  North West London Hospitals NHS Trust

  330

  South East

  Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust

  330

  Trent

  United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

  329

  London

  West Middlesex University NHS Trust

  326

  South West

  West Dorset General Hospitals NHS Trust

  325

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Calderdale Healthcare NHS Trust

  324

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Airedale NHS Trust

  322

  London

  Ealing Hospital NHS Trust

  322

  Eastern

  Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Trust

  322

  South West

  United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust

  321

  London

  Epsom and St. Helier NHS Trust

  316

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Harrogate Health Care NHS Trust

  315

  North West

  Central Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust

  314

  London

  Forest Healthcare NHS Trust

  312

  Eastern

  The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust

  311

  North West

  East Cheshire NHS Trust

  310

  London

  North Middlesex Hospital NHS Trust

  309

  South West

  East Somerset NHS Trust

  308

  South West

  Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust

  306

  North West

  Preston Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

  300

  Northern and Yorkshire

  North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust

  299

  London

  Whittington Hospital NHS Trust

  299

  Northern and Yorkshire

  The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust

  298

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Dewsbury Health Care NHS Trust

  292

  London

  The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust

  291

  North West

  Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust

  290

  London

  Queen Mary's Sidcup NHS Trust

  290

  Eastern

  Kings Lynn and Wisbech Hospitals NHS Trust

  289

  Eastern

  Bedford Hospitals NHS Trust

  286

  Northern and Yorkshire

  South Durham Health Care NHS Trust

  285

  North West

  Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust

  283

  South East

  North Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust

  281

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust

  281

  South East

  Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust

  275

  London

  Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust

  275

  326W 327W

  Region name

  Trust name

  Acute beds per CT

  West Midlands

  Burton Hospitals NHS Trust

  274

  West Midlands

  George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust

  273

  South East

  Hastings and Rother NHS Trust

  271

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust

  270

  Northern and Yorkshire

  West Cumbria Healthcare NHS Trust

  270

  South East

  Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust

  269

  London

  Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Trust

  265

  Eastern

  Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS Trust

  259

  South East

  Oxford Radcliffe Hospital NHS Trust

  247

  South West

  Weston Area Health NHS Trust

  243

  South East

  Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Trust

  241

  North West

  Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust

  241

  West Midlands

  The Princess Royal Hospital NHS Trust

  239

  Trent

  Bassetlaw Hospital and Community Health Services NHS Trust

  238

  Trent

  Central Sheffield University Hospitals NHS Trust

  237

  North West

  Royal Liverpool Childrens NHS Trust

  236

  London

  Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust

  235

  South East

  Mid Sussex NHS Trust

  230

  North West

  Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust

  228

  Northern and Yorkshire

  Northallerton Health Services NHS Trust

  227

  Eastern

  West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust

  216

  London

  The Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust

  213

  South East

  Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust

  210

  London

  Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust

  204

  London

  Barts and The London NHS Trust

  203

  London

  The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust

  201

  West Midlands

  Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

  194

  London

  St. George's Healthcare NHS Trust

  192

  West Midlands

  Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Trust

  188

  North West

  The Cardiothoracic Centre-Liverpool NHS Trust

  186

  London

  University College London Hospitals NHS Trust

  185

  Eastern

  Papworth Hospital NHS Trust

  181

  West Midlands

  Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic and District Hospital NHS Trust

  172

  North West

  The Manchester Children's Hospitals NHS Trust

  158

  North West

  Halton General Hospital NHS Trust

  142

  Trent

  Sheffield Children's Hospital NHS Trust

  141

  North West

  Christie Hospital NHS Trust

  139

  South East

  The Royal West Sussex NHS Trust

  135

  West Midlands

  Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust

  124

  London

  The Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Trust

  124

  North West

  Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery NHS Trust

  111

  North West

  Clatterbridge Centre For Oncology NHS Trust

  57

  Mr. Jack
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what standards are applied to determine the number of NHS CT scanners per head of the population for each NHS region. [157017]

  Yvette Cooper
  [holding answer 9 April 2001]: The provision of diagnostic CT scanners is decided locally in the context of regional capital investment plans.

  The NHS Cancer Plan announced new investment of £570 million, which will address inequalities in access to services for cancer, including the provision of diagnostic CT scanners.

  For funding of CT scanners we have produced a database of the numbers of CT scanners per head of population and have calculated the number of additional machines required in order to bring up the numbers in those regions which currently have a short-fall compared to the mean number of CT scanners per head of population nationally.

  This equates to:

  seven additional machines for South East region

  seven additional machines for Eastern region

  five additional machines for South West region

  328W

  two additional machines for Trent region

  one additional machine for West Midlands region

  22 additional machines in all.

  Mr. Jack
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the ratio of population to the number of CT scanners is in each NHS region. [157018]

  Yvette Cooper
  [holding answer 9 April 2001]: Data for population estimates have been obtained from the Office for National Statistics. Data for the numbers of CT scanners have been derived from a survey of trusts carried out in 2000. Data correct as at 1 April 2001. More detailed information is available at www.canceruk.net, where the statistical information is updated on a monthly basis.

  Region

  CT scanners per region

  Population

  Population per CT scanner

  London

  58

  7,285,045

  125,604

  Northern and Yorkshire

  41

  6,335,729

  154,530

  North West

  44

  6,595,330

  149,894

  South West

  21

  4,935,669

  235,032

  West Midlands

  29

  5,335,597

  183,986

  South East

  40

  8,698,745

  217.469

  Trent

  26

  5,147,851

  197,994

  Eastern

  22

  5,418,898

  246,313

  Meningitis C Injections
  Mr. O'Hara
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many cases of epilepsy have been recorded between 1 November 1999 and 28 February 2001 related to yellow cards submitted in connection with meningitis C injections; [157552]

  (2) what research is being conducted into the incidence of cases of epilepsy which may be related to meningitis C injections. [157549]

  Yvette Cooper
  On 1 November 1999, a national immunisation campaign commenced to vaccinate all children under 18 years with one of the new meningococcal C conjugate vaccines. The campaign finished at the end of January 2001. As of 16 February 2001, 18.5 million doses of meningitis C vaccine had been distributed.

  The Medicines Control Agency and the Committee on Safety of Medicine (CSM) has received three Yellow Card reports of suspected epilepsy following vaccination with the meningococcal C conjugate vaccines. A total of 291 reports of suspected seizures have been reported in association with the meningococcal C conjugate vaccines. CSM has concluded that there have been very rare reports of seizures following meningitis C vaccination and individuals have usually rapidly recovered. A significant number of the reported seizures are thought to have been faints.

  A report of a particular suspected adverse drug reaction does not necessarily mean that it has been caused by the drug. The Yellow Card data can not be used to calculate the incidence rate of a particular suspected adverse reaction, nor can it be used to measure changes in the rate against time.

  The Medical Research Council has research programmes looking into epilepsy and meningitis, but no program that is examining the incidence of epilepsy after meningococcal C conjugate vaccination.

  Mr. O'Hara
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what research he is conducting into the incidence of cases of attention deficit and hyperactivity syndrome which may be related to meningitis C injections; [157550]

  (2) what change there has been in recorded cases of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder between 1 November 1999 and 28 February 2001; [157554]

  (3) how many cases of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder have been recorded between 1 November 1999 and 28 February 2001, which are related to yellow cards submitted in connection with meningitis C injections. [157551]

  Yvette Cooper
  The Medicines Control Agency (MCA) and the Committee on Safety of Medicine (CSM) has received one report through the Yellow Card Scheme of hyperactivity aggravated in a child with a history of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in association with the meningitis C vaccines. There have been no reports of Hyperkinetic Disorder or any other term related to ADHD.

  ADHD is being increasingly recognised in the United Kingdom as a significant mental health problem among children and adolescents and to a lesser extent, among
  330W
  adults. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has estimated that approximately 1 per cent. of all school-aged children (about 69,000 six to 16-year-olds in England) met the diagnostic criteria for Hyperkinetic Disorder, the more severe type of ADHD. The prevalence of all types of ADHD is considerably higher, around 5 per cent. of school-aged children (345,000 six to 16-year-olds in England). There are no data on the change in recorded cases of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder between 1 November 1999 and 28 February 2001 as this information is not collected centrally.

  No research is currently being conducted into the incidence of cases of attention deficit and hyperactivity syndrome which may be related to meningitis C injections.

  Correspondence
  Mr. McLoughlin
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will reply to the letters from the hon. Member for West Derbyshire(a) dated 6 February and 19 March regarding Miss Holland of Doveridge in Derbyshire, (b) dated 26 February regarding the treatment and diagnosis of bowel cancer, (c) dated 5 February and 7 March regarding the funding of hospices and (d) dated 26 February and 20 March regarding synthetic treatment for haemophiliac patients. [158074]

  Yvette Cooper
  [holding 23 April 2001]: A reply to the hon. Member's letter of 26 February regarding the treatment and diagnosis of bowel cancer was sent on 11 April. Replies to the hon. Member's letters of 5 February and 7 March regarding the funding of hospices was sent on 11 April. A reply to the hon. Member's letters of 26 February and 20 March regarding synthetic treatment of haemophiliac patients was sent on 9 April.

  Unfortunately, the Department did not receive the original copies of the hon. Member's letters of 6 and 19 February regarding his constituent Miss Holland. Copies have been requested and a reply will be provided as a matter of urgency.

  Test Purchasing
  Mrs. Gilroy
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's policy is on the use of children of compulsory school age in undertaking test purchasing on behalf of local trading standards departments during school hours; and if he will make a statement. [158491]

  Mr. Hutton
  Children below the minimum school leaving age who may be asked to assist trading standards officers in the execution of their statutory duties are deemed not to be employed, and child employment legislation does not apply.

  Nicotine Replacement Therapies
  Mrs. Spelman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money was spent on sustained and co-ordinated health education campaigns aimed at reducing smoking in England in(a) 1996–97, (b) 1999–2000 and (c) 2000–01; what the figure will be for 2001–02; and if he will reconcile these figures with those in paragraph 6.38 of the 1998 White Paper, "Smoking Kills". [158351]
  331W
  Yvette Cooper
  [holding answer 23 April 2001]: The information requested is as follows:

  £ million

  1996–97

  6.5

  1999–2000

  15.9

  2000–01

  13.73

  2001–02

  1—

  1 Yet to be finally determined

  The 1998 White Paper "Smoking Kills" set out an overall strategy on tobacco control including expenditure of some £50 million on health education and up to £60 million on cessation services.

  Since "Smoking Kills" the Government have made first Buproprion (Zyban) and more recently all nicotine replacement therapy products available on National Health Service prescription and appropriate increases have been made in the unified budgets to meet the expected cost of these developments.

  The overall sums devoted to tackling tobacco will comfortably exceed the sums committed in "Smoking Kills".

  Viagra
  Mr. Woolas
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to review the list of medical conditions for which Viagra is prescribable on the National Health Service. [158474]

  Ms Stuart
  On 11 December 2000 we commenced an eight-week period of consultation about the operation of the current policy. We are now considering carefully all comments and views received during the consultation period and will make a decision about the operation of the current policy in due course.

  Appointments (Age Limit)
  Tony Wright
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what age limit is placed on appointments to public bodies in his Department; if this limit is mentioned in advertisements for such posts; and what the basis for this limit is. [158106]

  Ms Stuart
  We are committed to equality of opportunity and to increasing the diversity of those appointed to public bodies. There are no age limits for public appointments to National Health Service trusts, health authorities, primary care trusts, special health authorities or Department of Health executive and advisory non-departmental public bodies. Currently the youngest board member is aged 26, and the oldest 86.

  Appointments to the Mental Health Review Tribunal, the National Health Service Tribunal, the Protection of Children Act Tribunal and the Registered Homes Tribunal are subject normally to a lower age limit of 35 and an upper age limit of 62. The age limits are applied flexibly and are based on advice from the Lord Chancellor. They are made clear in any advertisements for such posts. The lower age limit is intended to give the public the confidence that those appointed have sufficient experience and maturity to fill the different roles involved appropriately.

  Hospices
  Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made as to the additional costs for hospices arising from extra regulations his Department has introduced for palliative care; [159042]

  (2) if he will make a statement on the reluctance of public bodies to fund the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice; [159041]

  (3) if he will estimate the savings to health and social services budgets arising from the service provided by the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice; [159041]

  (4) what is the level of public funding for the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice as a percentage of its revenue costs; [159040]

  (5) what funding is available to hospices from his Department; and what guidelines he has issued concerning the percentage of revenue costs that should be met by local health authorities. [159039]

  Yvette Cooper
  It is for the National Health Service locally to make arrangements for financial support for hospices, given the extent of local diversity both of the services provided and of alternative sources of local support. Accordingly, we have issued no guidance specifying a set percentage of hospice revenue costs that individual health authorities and primary care groups should meet.

  We are, however, committed to increased investment in palliative care services overall. The NHS Cancer Plan set out one commitment to increase NHS investment in specialist palliative care by £50 million by 2004, to end inequalities in access to care and enable the NHS to make a realistic contribution to the cost hospices incur in providing agreed levels of service. As a first step, the NHS Plan Implementation Programme for 2001–02 requires all cancer networks, in partnership with voluntary organisations, to develop and begin implementing costed strategic plans for palliative care. This is the context within which the NHS contribution to individual hospices such as the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice will be considered.

  NHS Appointments
  Mr. Brady
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the occasions on which(a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department have met the Commissioner for Public Appointments in the last year to discuss her recommendations for the reform of appointments to NHS trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities. [159011]

  Ms Stuart
  My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State did not meet the Commissioner for Public Appointments in the course of the last year. I met the commissioner on 29 November 2000 specifically to discuss her recommendations on appointments to National Health Service boards. Officials met the commissioner on numerous occasions during the year in the course of which her recommendations were discussed.

  Mr. Brady
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what undertakings he has given to the Commissioner for Public Appointments regarding appointments to NHS trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities. [159015]
  333W
  Ms Stuart
  My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State informed the Commissioner for Public Appointments in July 2000 of his intention to establish an independent appointments commission with responsibility for all non-executive appointments to National Health Service boards. The National Health Service Appointments Commission was established on 1 April 2001 under the chairmanship of Sir William Wells, and will begin to make appointments shortly.

  Mr. Brady
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the occasions in the last year on which hon. Members have made representations on particular appointments to(a) NHS trusts, (b) primary care trusts and (c) health authorities, giving in each case the date the representation was received, the name of the hon. Member and the name of the candidate. [159016]

  Ms Stuart
  Until last year the practice followed by the Government and under the previous Administration was that hon. Members were automatically consulted by the regional chair on all non-executive appointments to National Health Service boards before recommendations were made to Ministers. In response to the recommendations contained in the report of the Commissioner for Public Appointments on appointments to National Health Service boards, the practice of consulting hon. Members was discontinued in September 2001.

  Doctors' Public Statements
  Mr. Chaytor
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines he has issued to NHS trust chief executives in respect of public statements by doctors working for trusts. [157904]

  Mr. Denham
  On 25 September 1997, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, then Minister of State for Health, wrote to National Health Service trusts and health authorities reinforcing guidance issued in Executive Letter (93)51—"Guidance for staff on relations with the public and the media". In his letter my right hon. Friend said that he wanted to ensure that any member of staff working in the NHS feels able to raise concerns about health care matters in a responsible manner without fear of victimisation.

  The Department of Health issued further guidance to all NHS trusts and health authorities on 27 August 1999, following the coming into force of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. Health Service Circular 1999/198—"The Public Interest Disclosure Act"—states that every NHS trust and health authority should have in place policies and procedures which comply with the provisions of the Act. A copy of HSC 1999–198 is available in the Library.

  Independent Living Fund
  Mr. Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will issue a definition of reasonable charges in respect of local authorities and home care for persons in receipt of moneys from the Independent Living Fund. [158979]

  Mr. Hutton
  The Department's draft guidance 'Fairer Charges for Home Care and other Non-Residential Social Services', was issued for consultation on 3 January. It includes proposed guidance on assessment of charges for 334W
  people receiving care jointly agreed by local councils and the independent living funds. Final guidance will be issued in the summer.

  My Department is working closely with the Department of Social Security in developing proposals for the future of the independent living funds following the end of the consultation period for the quinquennial review.

  Departmental Policies (Hull, North)
  Mr. McNamara
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Hull, North constituency, the effects on Hull, North of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [150619]

  Mr. Hutton
  [pursuant to his reply, 6 April 2001, c. 333–34W]: Detailed information on the impact of Department of Health policies nationally is set out in the Department of Health Annual reports "Department of Health—Government Expenditure Plans 2000–01". A copy of the most recent report is available in the Library and on the Department of Health website at www.doh.gov.uk/dhreport.

  The impact of policies are not examined by constituency and statistics collected centrally by the Department are not collected on a constituency basis.

  My hon. Friend's constituency falls within the geographical area covered by East Riding and Hull health authority and Kingston-upon-Hull social services authority.

  Increases in allocations between 1996–97 and 2001–02 for East Riding and Hull health authority are shown in the table.

  Increases in allocations between 1996–97 and 2001–02

  Increase

  £ million (cash)

  113.3

  £ million (real terms)

  72.6

  Percentage (cash)

  38.73

  Percentage (real terms)

  22.92

  Note:

  Increases for 1999–2000 onwards are for unified allocations which cover hospital and community health services, prescribing and discretionary family health services. Those for previous years cover hospital and community health services only.

  East Riding and Hull health authority has also received additional funding for certain policies. This includes: £1.06 million for accident and emergency modernisation in 2000–01; £114,000, £225,000, £338,000 and £127,000 for improving cancer services (breast, colorectal, lung and cancer outpatients) in 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01 respectively; £333,000 to reduce waiting lists and times in 2000–01; £5.48 million to expand critical care services in 2000–01; £666,000 to deal with winter pressures in 2000–01 and £1.6 million, £2.06 million in 1997–98 and 1998–99 respectively; £1.08 million for heart disease services in 2000–01; £445,000 invested into dentistry in 2000–01.

  In addition, my hon. Friend's constituents will benefit from the new £26 million major hospital development being developed at Hull Royal infirmary and the new £39 million major hospital development being developed at Castle Hill Hospital.
  335W
  Kingston-upon-Hull local authority's personal social services standard spending assessment for 2001–02 compared with 1996–97 is set out in the table.

  Percentage increase

  £ million

  Real

  Cash

  1996–97

  46.297

  —

  —

  2001–02

  58.153

  11.2

  25.6

  In addition to the SSAs referred to, Kingston-upon-Hull local authority received additional funding in the form of a number of special and specific grants as set out in the table.

  £000

  1998–99

  1999–2000

  2000–01

  2001–02

  Special Transitional Grant1

  2,333

  —

  —

  —

  Partnership grant2

  —

  1,651

  1,399

  1,896

  Prevention grant2

  —

  126

  189

  Carers grant3

  —

  127

  323

  446

  Children's grant3

  —

  500

  795

  1,980

  Mental Health Core grant

  329

  556

  642

  41,059

  Training Support Grant

  304

  274

  267

  4279

  1 The special transitional grant ended in 1998–99

  2 The partnership and prevention grants have been combined in 2001–02 and called the promoting independence grant

  3The carers' and children's grants were introduced in 1999–2000

  4 Indicative allocation

  North Bristol NHS Trust
  Mr. Webb
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the average hours worked by the NHS nursing staff at North Bristol NHS Trust in each of the last six months; and if he will make a statement on the trust's policy of encouraging nursing staff to work additional shifts. [158945]

  Ms Stuart
  Information on the hours worked by nursing staff is not collected centrally.

  The Department has always encouraged all National Health Service trusts to comply fully with the requirements of the Working Time Regulations including ensuring staff conform with the 48-hour weekly limit. However, there is provision in the regulations for staff to voluntarily sign an individual waiver form if they are content to work additional hours. Of course, the trust is still bound by the employer's duty of care to both the health and safety of both the employee and the patient.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

  Wembley Stadium
  Mr. Hoyle
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what his Department's role is in the new Wembley project. [157318]

  Kate Hoey
  [holding answer 6 April 2001]: The Wembley project is primarily a matter for the FA and Wembley National Stadium Ltd. Clearly, the Department takes a close interest in the situation regarding the
  336W
  stadium, not least because of the National Lottery element of its funding. The Department is also helping the efforts of the Wembley Task Force to regenerate the area surrounding the stadium.

  Ministerial Visit (Spain)
  Mr. Greenway
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the cost was to public funds of the Minister for Sport's recent visit to Spain. [158899]

  Kate Hoey
  £427.

  Prince Michael
  Mr. Alan Williams
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what accommodation within the occupied royal palaces is allocated to Prince Michael of Kent and his staff; on what basis the rent is determined; on what basis rent is updated; when he first occupied this accommodation; by how much it has increased to its current level; and what other costs he incurs. [159153]

  Mr. Alan Howarth
  Prince Michael of Kent occupies an apartment at Kensington Palace. No staff are provided with residential accommodation. When Prince Michael was granted his licence to occupy the apartment in 1979 it was on a rent-free basis. However, he makes a £3,500 contribution each year towards the cost of maintenance. The contribution is increased in line with inflation. All utility costs are paid by Prince Michael.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

  Sittings (Costs)
  Mr. Bermingham
  To ask the President of the Council what the cost is for each 15 minute period the House sits after 10 pm. [157751]

  Mr. Kirkwood
  I have been asked to reply. It has been estimated that in a typical full year the cost of the House sitting after 10 pm is some £750,000. The average cost per night is around £10,000.

  The main costs associated with late night sittings arise from allowances to staff, overtime for staff of the House and the Metropolitan police, and late night transport.

  It would not be meaningful to break these costs down by 15 minute increments after 10 pm.

  Parliamentary Questions
  Mr. Bercow
  To ask the President of the Council how many hon. Members have asked Parliamentary Questions requesting statistical information on the effects of Government policy since May 1997 pertaining(a) to their own constituency and (b) to the constituency of another hon. Member; at what cost in each case; and if she will make a statement. [158329]

  Mrs. Beckett
  The Library of the House has confirmed that it is not possible to extract this information from the POLIS databases but I can say that no such questions have been tabled to me.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

  Child Slavery
  Mr. Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with(a) cocoa importers and (b) UK-based chocolate manufacturers on the working conditions of those who produce the crop in the country of origin. [158966]

  Mr. Wilson
  The UK is firmly committed to eradicating slavery and bonded labour worldwide. I have spoken to the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Alliance. My Department has also been in touch with the Cocoa Association. Both assured us they were addressing the issues of child and slave labour in cocoa production. We are looking at ways we can work together to increase this effort and further meetings will be held in the future.

  Dr. Tonge
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionary Alliance regarding the issue of slavery in West African cocoa plantations; and if he will make a statement. [158980]

  Mr. Wilson
  The UK is firmly committed to eradicating slavery and bonded labour worldwide. I have spoken to the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Alliance, who assured me they were determined to address the issues of child and slave labour in the production of cocoa. We are looking at ways we can work together to increase this effort and further meetings will be held in the future.

  Mr. Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what monitoring of child employment and slavery is undertaken by UK representatives in(a) Benin, (b) Nigeria, (c) Cameroon, (d) Senegal, (e) the Ivory Coast and (f) Ghana; and if he will make a statement on Government policy in this respect. [158967]

  Mr. Battle
  The UK is firmly committed to eradicating slavery and bonded labour worldwide. The UK played a leading role in drafting and securing agreement to the International Labour Convention 182 on the worst forms of Child Labour, which in West Africa has been ratified by Chad, Central African Republic, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. The UK closely monitors the human rights situation in the region. We are working with international and non-governmental organisations to address the problem of child slavery, and are looking at what more we can do to increase these efforts.

  Chagos Islands
  Mr. Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have been held with the USA concerning the possible return to Diego Garcia of the former residents and their descendents on the Chagos Islands. [158969]

  Mr. Battle
  The High Court judgment concerning possible resettlement in the British Indian Ocean Territory, though not specifically in Diego Garcia, has naturally been discussed in our regular talks with the American authorities about the use of the Territory for defence purposes.
  338W
  Mr. Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions have been held with the Government of Mauritius concerning the future sovereignty of the Chagos Islands. [158968]

  Mr. Battle
  My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has made clear both in a letter to the Mauritian Foreign Minister and during a meeting in January this year, that the UK will continue to maintain sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, but that when they are no longer needed for defence purposes, we will be willing to cede them to Mauritius subject to the requirements of international law.

  Libya
  Mr. Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what requests he has received to undertake a judicial inquiry into the circumstances regarding United Kingdom participation into the bombing of Libya in 1986. [158974]

  Mr. Wilson
  Neither the Foreign Secretary nor I have received a request for a judicial inquiry into this matter.

  China
  Mr. Cohen
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the EU's reasons for not co-sponsoring a resolution on China at the 57 UN Commission for Human Rights. [157449]

  Mr. Battle
  EU unity is important to make our policy of critical dialogue with China as effective as possible. We have placed high importance on achieving such unity since the US began sponsoring resolutions on China at the Commission on Human Rights in 1999.

  EU Foreign Ministers agreed at the General Affairs Council, on 19 March, not to co-sponsor the US resolution on China at the UN Commission on Human Rights, but to strengthen the EU common position by actively lobbying against the expected Chinese no-action motion, for the first time since 1996.

  EU Foreign Ministers agreed to actively continue the policy of critical dialogue on human rights issues with China—an approach they believed would have been affected detrimentally by co-sponsoring the resolution. They made it clear, however, that further continuation of the dialogue would depend on progress being achieved on the ground. EU Foreign Ministers agreed to assess the results of the dialogue on a regular basis.

  Entry Clearance
  Mr. Bercow
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 30 March 2001,Official Report, column 797W, on entry clearance, for what reasons he judged the Minister for Europe the best man for the job; what (a) qualifications, (b) experience and (c) qualities to take into consideration; which other Ministers he considered; and if he will make a statement. [158357]

  Mr. Robin Cook
  I have nothing to add to my previous answer.

  Turkey
  Mr. Cox
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had on human rights in Turkey; and if he will make a statement. [158734]

  Mr. Vaz
  We remain concerned about Turkey's human rights record. I have not had any recent discussions on human rights in Turkey, but we regularly raise concerns about specific human rights cases at senior official level with the Turkish authorities. We continue to closely monitor the human rights situation in Turkey. In addition, the issue forms a regular part of the dialogue between Turkey and the European Union, and will be on the agenda for the meeting between EU and Turkish Political Directors on 26 April.

  Gibraltar
  Mr. Mitchell
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) of 20 March 2001,Official Report, column 112W, on Gibraltar (a) what obligations have been accepted by Her Majesty's Government arising out of the Matthews judgment, (b) how many electors will be enfranchised as citizens of (i) Gibraltar and (ii) Spain, (c) what options for representation he is assessing and (d) when the representation of Gibraltar will next be discussed at the General Affairs Council; and if a report from its working group will be published prior to that date. [158578]

  Mr. Vaz
  The Matthews judgment requires the UK to extend the European parliamentary franchise to Gibraltar. The UK unequivocally accepts this obligation. We are considering all possible options for achieving this before the 2004 European Parliament elections.

  The precise manner in which Gibraltar will be enfranchised is under consideration. The electorate in Gibraltar is currently estimated at about 18,800. We have made clear that there is no question of Gibraltarians resident in Gibraltar being made to vote in Spain.

  The UK has proposed an amendment to the 1976 EC Act on Direct Elections to extend the franchise to Gibraltar. This amendment remains on the agenda of the relevant Council working group. No date has yet been fixed for discussions of this issue at the General Affairs Council. There are no plans to publish a written report from the working group.

  Belarusian Popular Front
  Mr. Trend
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action the Government will take in relation to the detention of(a) Mr. Vincuk Viachorka, Chairman and (b) Mr. Ales Belyatsky, Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front. [158278]

  Mr. Vaz
  [holding answer 23 April 2001]: In a démarche delivered to the Belarusian authorities on 11 April, HMG together with EU partners, urged the authorities to review the cases of those imprisoned or fined, including Mr. Viachorka and Mr. Belyatsky, in connection with the 25 March demonstrations in Minsk. HMG will continue to work with EU partners and the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group to encourage an improvement in the human rights situation in Belarus.
  340W
  Mr. Trend
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made concerning the abuse of legal process in the trial of(a) Mr. Ales Belyatsky, Head of the human rights centre Vyasna and Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front and (b) Mr. Vincuk Viachorka, Chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front. [158279]

  Mr. Vaz
  [holding answer 23 April 2001]: An EU démarche was delivered on 11 April to First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov, raising concerns about the actions of the Belarusian authorities following demonstrations on 25 March, including the imprisonment of Mr. Viachorka and Mr. Belyatsky. The EU also called on the authorities to ensure that freedom of assembly of Belarusian citizens be fully guaranteed.

  UN Human Rights Commission
  Mr. Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list United Kingdom official delegates to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva; and if he will publish the United Kingdom voting record and list those resolutions sponsored by the United Kingdom. [158986]

  Mr. Battle
  The United Kingdom delegation to the UN Commission on Human Rights is headed by Mrs. Audrey Glover CMG. The delegation also includes representatives from the UK missions to the UN in Geneva and New York, as well as from the Human Rights Policy Department and Global Issues Research Group of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

  The UK contributes actively to initiatives put forward by the EU. At the 57th Session of CHR the EU introduced resolutions on Chechnya, Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Arab Territories, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Burma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rights of the Child, and the Death Penalty.

  The 57th Session of the CHR will end on 27 April. The final UK voting record will not be available until after this date. As soon as it is available it will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

  Chile
  Mr. Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what records are held by Her Majesty's Embassy of visits to Chile by Dr. Michael Denham, consultant geriatrician, since January 1998; and what facilities were offered to him. [158978]

  Mr. Battle
  There is no record of any visit to Chile by Dr. Michael Denham.

  Mr. Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those visitors to Chile who have been visiting(a) the Pinochet Foundation and (b) General Pinochet who have been offered facilities at Her Majesty's Embassy in Santiago, Chile, since October 1998. [158975]

  Mr. Battle
  The British Embassy has not offered facilities to anyone visiting the Pinochet Foundation or General Pinochet since 1998.

  United States
  Rev. Martin Smyth
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the United States Administration and to Congress about the funding of Irish republican terrorist groups. [158775]

  Mr. Battle
  The UK and Irish Governments made a joint representation to the United States Government on 24 November 2000 requesting that the Real IRA be designated under the US Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. This would make it illegal for anyone to raise funds for RIRA in the United States. The final decision on whether to designate is of course a matter for the US Government.

TREASURY

  Employment (Termination Payments)
  Mr. Matthew Taylor
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the revenue yield of reducing the exemption of the first £30,000 of payments on the termination of employment to(a) £15,000, (b) £10,000 and (c) nil. [158777]

  Dawn Primarolo
  I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 23 January 2001,Official Report, column 570W.

  Foot and Mouth
  Mr. Chope
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 6 April 2001, to my hon. Friend the Member for West Worcestershire (Sir M. Spicer),Official Report, column 301W, on foot and mouth, (1) if he will list by valuation office area the number of appeals (a) made and (b) decided to date; [158677]

  (2) if he will instruct the Valuation Office Agency to determine appeals for a temporary reduction in rating assessments on the ground of the impact of foot and mouth within two months of such appeals being made. [158672]

  Dawn Primarolo
  [holding answer 23 April 2001]: The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is continuing to receive appeals on a daily basis. It is not possible to give a final figure.

  The VOA will prioritise dealing with these applications. They are consulting, as a matter of urgency, members of the National Ratepayers Valuation Forum and representatives of business and professional bodies, local authorities and valuation tribunals on the approach and timetable for this work.

  Indebted Countries
  Mr. Davidson
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 5 February 2001,Official Report, column 413W, on indebted countries, if he will update the figures and list the countries for whom debt has been written off by Britain, together with the amounts written off in each case. [158821]

  Miss Melanie Johnson
  As previously outlined, the UK has, and is, writing off debt through multilateral initiatives such as the HIPC initiative, and through additional bilateral initiatives.
  342W
  Under the HIPC initiative, the UK stands ready to write off all £1.9 billion still owed to the UK by the 41 countries potentially eligible. This is in addition to the £400 million of ECGD debt already written off under previous initiatives, and the £350 million of aid debt already written off for HIPCs. Interim relief is also being given to these countries on around £60 million of debt formerly held by CDC plc.

  Since 5 February, no further countries have reached Decision Point or Completion Point, and so the position remains unchanged. The World Bank and IMF produce regular updates of progress of countries towards Decision Point. The latest report, "HIPC Progress Report" (dated April 2001), is available on the World Bank website.

  As previously specified, the UK is holding all further payments from HIPC countries in trust, and as such is not benefiting financially from the debts of these countries.

  Correspondence
  Mr. Cotter
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Weston-Super-Mare, dated 6 February, concerning the class 4 national insurance contributions of sub-post masters. [159414]

  Dawn Primarolo
  There is no record of this letter being received. If the hon. Member would like to forward a copy it will be dealt with.

  Children's Tax Credit
  Mr. Davidson
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in(a) the United Kingdom, (b) Scotland, (c) Glasgow and (d) Glasgow, Pollok, have claimed children's tax credit, indicating the percentage in each case of the numbers estimated as being eligible. [158817]

  Dawn Primarolo
  It is estimated that there are 400,000 families eligible for CTC in Scotland. I regret that the other information that my hon. Friend has asked for is not available.

NORTHERN IRELAND

  Criminal Justice Review
  Mr. Winnick
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his plans are for the Criminal Justice Review. [159667]

  Dr. Reid
  Detailed preparation of the legislation and Implementation Plan for the Criminal Justice Review is well advanced. These documents will be published when the necessary remaining work has been completed.

SCOTLAND

  Logos and Branding
  Mr. Tyrie
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much has been spent by her Department on departmental and agency logos and associated branding since 1 May 1997. [152653]
  343W
  Mrs. Liddell
  In the period 1 May 1997–30 June 1999 the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency, an agency of the Scottish Office, spent £57,156 in respect of its agency logo and associated branding. Since 1 July 1999, the Scotland Office has spent £2,988 on departmental branding.

  Promotional Campaigns
  Mr. Lansley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will list the television, newspaper and radio advertising and other promotional campaigns conducted

  £

  Campaign

  TV

  Press

  Radio

  Other promotional

  1996–97

  Childrens Panels

  38,203

  24,518

  50.561

  —

  Crime Prevention

  1,096

  166,229

  131,472

  176,815

  Electoral Registration

  45,473

  17,795

  —

  —

  Fire Prevention

  281,916

  —

  38,534

  6,281

  Food Safety

  221,755

  391,811

  3,296

  13,072

  Historic Scotland

  207,000

  50,000

  90,000

  525,000

  Nursery Vouchers

  344,049

  218,605

  36,937

  148,859

  Organ Donors

  —

  42,256

  —

  —

  Right to Buy

  —

  81,428

  117,481

  28,736

  Road Safety

  222,806

  —

  66,643

  20,095

  Severe Weather

  100,775

  —

  —

  —

  1997–98

  Absent Voters

  —

  41,877

  —

  —

  Childrens Panels

  99,148

  70,189

  —

  5,940

  Continence Campaign

  —

  2,844

  —

  —

  Crime Prevention

  —

  —

  37,036

  15,634

  Electoral Registration

  —

  31,951

  37,960

  —

  Fire Prevention

  196,726

  60,287

  —

  66,742

  Food Safety

  —

  21,058

  —

  —

  Historic Scotland

  173,000

  80,000

  111,000

  530,500

  Learning Direct

  —

  —

  35,000

  —

  NHS Green Paper

  —

  76,440

  —

  3,249

  Organ Donors

  —

  41,274

  —

  —

  Police Recruitment

  —

  6,173

  —

  —

  Pre-School Vouchers

  137,470

  52–904

  2,668

  16,559

  Referendum

  287,706

  75,068

  18,467

  —

  Road Safety

  —

  —

  134,892

  247,675

  Severe Weather

  46,036

  —

  —

  —

  1998–99

  Childrens Panels

  71,393

  31,934

  —

  4,377

  Democratising Scotland

  —

  123,333

  94,751

  30,326

  Domestic Violence

  418,403

  122,973

  79,764

  10,105

  Electoral Registration

  —

  41,008

  —

  —

  Fire Prevention

  164,312

  44,544

  —

  12,844

  Food Safety

  —

  21,142

  —

  —

  Fostering

  —

  51,419

  45,936

  —

  Further Education

  —

  29,655

  39,984

  —

  Historic Scotland

  257,000

  50,000

  120,000

  678,000

  Local Government Commission

  —

  68,516

  —

  —

  NHS White Paper

  —

  76,734

  —

  —

  Nursing Recruitment

  169,670

  55,829

  32,831

  —

  Pharmacy Point of Dispensing

  —

  26,904

  26,338

  —

  Police Graduate Recruitment

  —

  9,423

  —

  —

  Road Safety

  469,554

  —

  —

  158,590

  Scottish Parliament

  1,093,679

  398,419

  62,606

  144,240

  Teacher Recruitment

  —

  4,182

  —

  —

  1999-June 2000

  Census

  —

  8,312

  1,681

  —

  Domestic Abuse

  97,257

  —

  —

  8,050

  European Elections

  —

  32,029

  —

  —

  Historic Scotland

  115,000

  —

  56.000

  106,000

  Road Safety

  79,728

  —

  —

  397

  Scotland's Parliament

  275,451

  255,766

  —

  11,114

  344W
  by (a) her Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its departmental public bodies, in each of the past five years, showing for each the expenditure incurred by her Department; and if she will make a statement. [153411]

  Mrs. Liddell
  [holding answer 12 March 2001]: Details of advertising and promotional campaigns conducted in the period 1996-June 1999 by the Scottish Office and its agencies are set out in the table. Information on departmental bodies is not held centrally. The Scotland Office conducted a campaign on Electoral Registration in February/March 2001: final cost details are not yet available.

WALES

  Prince's Trust
  Mr. Simon Thomas
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the findings of the Prince's Trust report, "Mapping Disadvantage: Young People who need help in England and Wales"; and if he will make a statement. [156352]

  Mr. Paul Murphy
  Lead responsibility for promoting the welfare of children in Wales rests with the National Assembly for Wales. The Assembly is committed to improving the health and well-being of children and to protecting them from abuse and neglect. The work of the Prince's Trust, in identifying areas in Wales where young people need the most help provides an additional and valuable source of information to assist the Assembly in its work.

  Sex Education
  Mr. Wigley
  To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with Ministers at the National Assembly for Wales on legislative initiatives designed to ensure a co-ordinated approach to policy in Wales relating to HIV and on the provision of sex education guidance for students. [155967]

  Mr. Paul Murphy
  I have regular discussions with Assembly Secretaries about a range of issues affecting Wales.

  I understand that Jane Hutt, Assembly Secretary for Health and Social Services has published a sexual health strategy and a communicable disease strategy and that the Assembly's policy on HIV is being kept under review.

  The Education Act 1996 requires all maintained secondary schools to make provision for sex education including HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. The National Assembly's guidance in this area is currently being updated.

  No new primary legislation requirement has been identified in relation to these matters.

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

  Foot and Mouth
  Mr. Webb
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what criteria were used in determining which newspapers were used to publicise Government guidelines on access to the countryside; and if he will assess the benefits of using a wider range of newspapers for future advertising. [157713]

  Ms Beverley Hughes
  [holding answer 9 April 2001]: I have been asked to reply, as my Department led in producing initial advertising and publicity aimed at the general public on this issue.

  The key requirement in the early stages of this important public awareness campaign was to ensure that the maximum number of potential visitors to the countryside had access to information on the foot and mouth situation as quickly as possible. Our media choices were carefully formulated to make sure that coverage across England and Wales was as thorough and even as
  346W
  possible, using national and regional newspapers and radio, and covering both urban areas of high population and rural areas with concentrations of farming activity.

  A media strategy always forms a central part of any communications campaign and the range of media to be used is carefully considered to ensure that maximum impact and awareness of campaign messages is combined with good value for money.

  Miss McIntosh
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what representations he has received on(a) the threat to rare breeds displaying no symptoms of foot and mouth disease from the extension of the cull to a three kilometre radius of an infected area and (b) the potential permanent loss of pedigree herds and flocks; and if he will make a statement; [155272]

  (2) what representations he has received concerning the vaccination of rare breeds against foot and mouth disease. [157339]

  Mr. Morley
  I have received representations from the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and various individual breed societies and owners. The Ministry published proposals on measures to reduce the risks which make culling of rare breeds of sheep necessary on 19 April. Copies are on the Ministry's website. We have also supported the establishment of the Heritage Gene Bank, to preserve germ plasm from sheep breeds which are particularly threatened by foot and mouth disease.

  Mr. Jenkin
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the countries from which the UK imports(a) livestock and (b) meat whose livestock is known to be infected by foot and mouth disease. [154992]

  Ms Quin
  [holding answer 22 March 2001]: The UK imports livestock under EU or national rules only from countries or areas officially recognised as being free from foot and mouth disease.

  Community legislation recognises that disease is present in some countries, but has been contained in specific regions. The importation of meat is permitted from a limited number of countries where foot and mouth disease is present, but only where the disease is so contained. Imports of fresh meat are permitted only from those regions of the relevant countries that are not considered to pose a risk to human or animal health. Fully matured boneless beef, which does not pose an FMD risk may be imported from other regions subject to veterinary certification. Countries to which these controls currently apply are Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia and Uruguay.

  Community law allows member states to take action to prohibit imports from countries where a particular disease risk has been identified pending the amendment of Community laws to reflect the new disease situation. Because of their FMD situation prohibitions are currently in place on imports of meat of FMD susceptible species from South Africa, Swaziland and Argentina.

  All meat imported from third countries is subject to veterinary checks at Border Inspection Posts to ensure that proper import requirements are met.
  347W
  Mr. Jenkin
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will close the road past Wick Farm, Layer-de-la-Haye, near Colchester, to avoid further spread of foot and mouth disease. [153945]

  Ms Quin
  [holding answer 15 March 2001]: Veterinary advice is that the road does not need to be closed at this time.

  Mr. Jenkin
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will grant discretionary powers to highway authorities to close roads past livestock holdings where stock may be at risk of infection by foot and mouth disease and where alternative routes may be available. [153946]

  Ms Quin
  [holding answer 15 March 2001]: The Foot and Mouth Disease Order 1983 allows a Ministry or local authority inspector to prohibit the entry of any person onto any land or into any agricultural building that lies within an infected area. This power could be used to close roads. However, veterinary judgment has been that, except in very rare cases, to do so would be disproportionate to the risk involved.

  Nonetheless, to ensure that inspectors have sufficient powers to control the current outbreak, additional powers have been inserted in the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Order 1983 by the Foot and Mouth Disease (Amendment) (England) (No 4) Order 2001 which would allow an inspector of the Ministry or a local authority (with prior written authority of the Minister) to close roads within a controlled area. At present, England and Wales and Scotland have been declared controlled areas.

  Mr. Paice
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 3 April 2001,Official Report, column 126W, on foot and mouth disease, how many sheep were exported in the 118 consignments; and what information he has regarding the other sheep movements in February referred to in the statement by the Prime Minister of 28 March 2001, Official Report, column 954, with particular reference to the number of them that were the result of change of ownership other than through official livestock markets or abattoirs. [157511]

  Ms Quin
  [holding answer 9 April 2001]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given him by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 10 April 2001, Official Report, column 588W.

  45,808 sheep were certified for export in the 118 consignments exported in February this year. Sheep movements are not centrally recorded.

  Mr. Tredinnick
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) when he will provide a substantive reply to the Question tabled for answer on 23 March (Ref: 155117) regarding the effectiveness of homoeopathic borax in the prevention of foot and mouth disease; [157704]

  (2) what measures he has taken to assess the effectiveness of homeopathic borax in the prevention of foot and mouth disease, with particular reference to previous outbreaks; and if he will consider its use to prevent the spread of the disease. [157710]
  348W
  Ms Quin
  [holding answers 9 April 2001]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 24 April 2001, Official Report, column 257W.

  Mr. Green
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what role the Environment Agency played in contingency planning for the foot and mouth outbreak; and if he will make a statement; [157997]

  (2) what guidance he has given the Environment Agency about its role in the contingency planning for a foot and mouth outbreak. [158000]

  Ms Quin
  [holding answer 10 April 2001]: The Environment Agency has been consulted by MAFF on the environmental impact of methods of dealing with animal disease outbreaks. Prior to the foot and mouth outbreak, the Agency had agreed with MAFF a National Incident Response Plan to ensure that guidance on protection of the natural environment was timely and accurate. The Environment Agency deals with pollution risks to ground and surface waters and has expertise in air pollution modelling, but is not the competent authority in this latter environmental impact.

  Mr. Flynn
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the changes in the average income of farmers(a) in the current year and (b) next year arising from the foot and mouth outbreak. [157009]

  Ms Quin
  [holding answer 5 April 2001]: It is premature at this stage to estimate the impact of the foot and mouth outbreak on farm incomes.

  Mr. Gordon Prentice
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the last outbreaks of foot and mouth were in each of the candidate countries for membership of the European Union; and if he will make a statement. [155586]

  Ms Quin
  [holding answer 23 April 2001]: The latest reported dates are as follows:

  Country

  Date of last reported FMD outbreak

  Bulgaria

  1993

  Cyprus

  1964

  Czech Republic

  1975

  Estonia

  1982

  Hungary

  1973

  Latvia

  1987

  Lithuania

  1987

  Malta

  1978

  Poland

  1971

  Romania

  1973

  Slovakia

  1973

  Slovenia1

  1978

  Turkey

  2001

  1 Last notified outbreak in that part of the former Yugoslavia

  Mr. Baker
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of using the homeopathic remedy Borax 30 to combat the outbreak of foot and mouth, using information drawn from the experience of the 1967 outbreak. [155932]
  349W
  Ms Quin
  [holding answer 27 March 2001]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Bosworth (Mr. Tredinnick) on 24 April 2001, Official Report, 257W.

  Mr. Gill
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what(a) advice, (b) proposals and (c) recommendations he has received from the European Commission on measures to contain foot and mouth disease; and what response he has made. [156200]

  Ms Quin
  [holding answer 30 March 2001]: The Commission has been very supportive of the measures taken in the UK to control the outbreak. The Commission and members states have discussed the measures taken on a number of occasions and adopted a number of decisions relevant to the United Kingdom's position on the range of relevant issues.

  A mission from Food and Veterinary Office of the European Commission visited the UK on 12 to 16 March 2001. We are currently awaiting the official report to the Standing Veterinary Committee.

  Woodland Management
  Mr. Martyn Jones
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to review the Forestry Commission's support for the management of existing woodland. [159531]

  Mr. Morley
  Woodland makes an important contribution to the rural economy and is essential to the character of the English countryside. However, many of our woods are under-managed and are not delivering the potential range of benefits to their owners or to society as a whole. The Forestry Commission plays a key role in ensuring the sustainable management of our woodland.

  I have therefore asked the Commission to review its support for the sustainable management of existing woodland in accordance with the priorities of the Government's Forestry Strategy for England and in the light of the UK Forestry Standard.

  The review will help focus the Commission's work on finding ways to engage woodland owners effectively in implementing the England Forestry Strategy. This will help owners sustain their own plans while supporting the rural economy and improving the environment for the benefit of all. While the review will consider the effectiveness of existing Forestry Commission grant schemes, I am keen to see ideas emerging on the whole range of support measures through partnerships, advice, training and market development.

  The review will be managed by a steering group including woodland owners and managers and representatives from appropriate Government Departments and agencies, as well as from Wildlife and Countryside Link. Anthony Bosanquet, president of the CLA and a non-executive Forestry Commissioner, will chair the steering group. There will be widespread public consultation, including a series of regional seminars later this year.

  I have asked the Commission to submit its recommendations to me within 12 months.

  Appointments (Age Limits)
  Tony Wright
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what age limit is placed on appointments to public bodies in his Department; if this limit is mentioned in advertisements for such posts; and what the basis for this limit is. [158129]

  Ms Quin
  This Government are committed to equality of opportunity and to increasing the diversity of those appointed to public bodies. In support of this, the Department has drawn up an action plan for increasing the numbers of public appointees from under-represented groups. The latest plans, together with the Government's overall plan, were published on 24 May 2000 in "Quangos: Opening up Public Appointments 2000–03", copies of which are in the Libraries of the House.

  No MAFF public appointments falling within the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments have age limits applied. The Dairy Produce Quota Tribunal, dormant since 1994, also has no age limits.

  In addition, there are seven MAFF Agricultural Land Tribunals, which must abide by the statutory provisions set out in section 73 of the Agriculture Act 1947. The chairmen and deputy chairmen, appointed by the Lord Chancellor, must be banisters or solicitors of at least seven years standing. The statutory age limit is 72 for chairmen. Serving panel members retire at 70, but those appointed after 12 May 2000 must retire at 65. My noble Friend the Lord Chancellor also appoints the Plant Varieties and Seeds Tribunal chairman, who similarly must be a barrister or solicitor of at least seven years standing. The retirement age for the chairman and lay members of this tribunal is 70. The Plant Varieties and Seeds Tribunal has not been convened since 1984. The age limit for these posts is advertised. Appointments are initially for 12 months, with renewal thereafter at the Lord Chancellor's discretion.

  Fisheries Council
  Mr. Hood
  To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what the outcome was of the Fisheries Council held in Brussels on 24 and 25 April; what the Government's voting record was at the Council; and if he will make a statement. [159573]

  Mr. Morley
  I represented the UK at the Fisheries Council on 25 April together with Ms Rhona Brankin, the Deputy Minister for Rural Affairs in the Scottish Executive.

  Commissioner Fischler made a first presentation of the Commission's Green Paper on the 2002 Review of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) underlining the need for significant revision of the CFP in particular to achieve a better balance between catching capacity and stock availability. The Council gave a general welcome to the Green Paper, with a number of member states endorsing the Commission's concern to increase stakeholder involvement in fisheries management and to strengthen the regional dimension. There will be a full discussion of the Green Paper at the June Council.

  Commissioner Fischler reported on the current state of play on the stock recovery plans for cod and hake. General support for recovery plans for close industry involvement in their development was expressed together

  351W
  with concerns about individual aspects of the plans. I made clear the need for effective and workable technical conservation measures in the North Sea to take account of the realities of the UK mixed fisheries.

  The Council adopted conclusions on the integration of environmental concerns into the CFP, which will contribute to the forthcoming report to the Gothenburg European Council on environmental integration, as required under the Cardiff Process. Commissioner Fischler presented the Commission report on a bio-diversity action plan for fisheries which will now be considered in detail and the Council adopted conclusions on a move towards multi-annual management strategies for setting Total Allowable Catches within a precautionary framework.

  We took note of the failure to conclude a further fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco and of the Commission's intention to bring forward measures for the necessary re-structuring of the Spanish and Portuguese fleets as a result of the lack of fishing opportunities in Moroccan waters. All member states confirmed that they would be ready to ratify the UN Agreement on straddling and migratory stocks by the end of this year. The Council agreed a common position on the criteria that the EU wants to see applied in the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) in the future allocation of catching opportunities. These take account both of the needs of EU fishermen and of developing countries.

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

  Equal Pay
  Mr. Fitzpatrick
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he is taking to promote the policy of equal pay for equal work. [157921]

  Ms Jowell
  The pay gap between men and women's full-time hourly earnings has halved since the introduction of the Equal Pay Act. But women still earn only 82p for £1 a man earns. This is because of discrimination and the fact that most women are still concentrated in low paid, important but unskilled jobs.

  We are acting on a number of fronts to make equality law work better for women, and to tackle the culture of low expectation, low pay and no pay. Denise Kingsmill is leading the women's employment and pay review. We have appointed fair pay champions from business, public sector and trade unions. We have introduced the Castle Awards for exemplary employers. We are funding the EOC to develop pay reviews.

  The Government will set a lead and will be the first to audit equal pay of men and women.

  FE Colleges
  Mr. Derek Twigg
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the contribution of colleges of further education to bridging the skills gap. [157922]

  Mr. Wicks
  Colleges of further education make a very substantial contribution to raising the country's skill levels. FE students achieve some 2.5 million qualifications each year including around a quarter of a352W
  million students achieving NVQ level 3 or equivalent. We are also establishing Centres of Vocational Excellence to enable colleges to be more sharply focused on meeting the skills employers need.

  Rural Sixth Forms
  Mr. Greenway
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the implications for small rural school sixth forms of his Department's new funding arrangements. [157923]

  Mr. Wicks
  This Government are committed to school sixth forms and there is nothing in the new arrangements that will undermine that. Every school sixth form, small or large, will be protected by our real terms funding guarantee.

  School Buildings and Repairs
  Mr. Pike
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much money has been allocated for(a) new school building and (b) major building repairs and improvement in the north-west since May 1997. [157924]

  Jacqui Smith
  £839.6 million in total has been allocated for investment in school buildings in the north-west in the years since 1997. Of this, £199.5 million has been allocated through the New Deal for Schools programme, which is targeted at major repairs and improvements. Over the next three years we have so far allocated a further £501.3 million in funding for schools in the north-west, as part of the biggest school building and repair programme in over half a century.

  Education Funding (Leicestershire)
  Mr. Robathan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what representations he has received regarding Government funding for education in Leicestershire. [157925]

  Ms Estelle Morris
  My right hon. Friend has received a number of representations on Government funding for education in Leicestershire from schools and parents. We are continuing to increase general funding to Leicestershire; in 2001–02 Leicestershire's SSA will increase by £14.7 million and its schools will receive an increase in direct grant of £4.2 million.

  New Deal for Young People
  Dan Norris
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the progress of the New Deal for Young People. [157926]

  Ms Jowell
  The New Deal is at the centre of this Government's drive to deliver employment opportunities for all. Almost 280,000 young people have found jobs through the New Deal, which has helped virtually to eradicate long-term youth unemployment. The New Deal has also won unprecedented support from employers, almost 85,000 of whom have signed up to the programme. The next phase of the New Deal will build on our success in equipping people with the skills and experience employers need, and intensify the help available to those at greatest disadvantage in the labour market.

  Employment (Over-50s)
  Mr. Davidson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will focus his employment policy priorities on the over-50s. [157927]

  Ms Hodge
  The Government's recent Green Paper, "Towards Full Employment", sets out our firm commitment to tackle the high levels of inactivity among people over 50, by increasing choice and opportunities for employment.

  In under a year, New Deal-50 plus has helped 30,000 people off benefits and back into work. In the coming year our range of New Deals, including New Deal 25-plus and New Deal for Disabled People, will help some 50,000 over 50s into employment.

  Sure Start
  Helen Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the impact of the Sure Start programme; and if he will make a statement. [157928]

  Yvette Cooper
  I have been asked to reply. Although initial feedback is very positive, the Sure Start programme is still very new and it is too early to make a thorough assessment of its impact. A major evaluation of Sure Start began in January 2001. It will examine the impact of Sure Start on children, families and communities, both in the short, medium and long term by tracking a sample of 8,000 children and their families over time.

  Charlotte Atkins
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the impact of Sure Start on rural deprivation. [157935]

  Yvette Cooper
  I have been asked to reply. Over time the national evaluation of Sure Start, which commenced at the beginning of 2001, will consider the impact of rural Sure Start programmes on child poverty and deprivation in these areas. Working with the Countryside Agency, Sure Start is developing ten rural pilot programmes, including one in Staffordshire, Moorlands, so that we may learn what works best for disadvantaged children in rural areas.

  School Admissions
  Mr. Simon Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in how many local education authorities in England there is an integrated system for dealing with applications for(a) primary and (b) secondary schools. [157929]

  Ms Estelle Morris
  My Department does not collect this information. The statutory Code of Practice on School Admissions recommends as good practice that admission authorities should operate co-ordinated admission arrangements. The code also encourages the setting-up of admission forums, which now operate in most areas, and which play a key role in bringing together various admission authorities to seek solutions to common problems and to improve the level of co-ordination in local admission arrangements.

  Education SSA
  Mr. Paterson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the education standard spending assessment for(a) secondary and (b) primary school pupils. [157930]

  Ms Estelle Morris
  Between 1997–98 and 2001–02 funding for primary schools has increased by £640 per pupil in real terms, and for secondary schools by £550. The ratio of secondary to primary funding per pupil has narrowed from 1.3 to 1 in 1997–98 to 1.2 to 1 in 2001–02.

  Since 1997, funding overall has increased by £540 per pupil in real terms. Under the last Government, it fell by £80 in real terms between 1994–95 and 1997–98.

  School Catchment Areas
  Mr. Fabricant
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to change the system for the determination of school catchment areas; and if he will make a statement. [157932]

  Ms Estelle Morris
  Admission authorities, normally the local education authority for community and controlled schools, and the governing body for aided or foundation schools, are responsible for setting the admission arrangements for their schools, including determining and reviewing the boundaries for any school catchment areas. There is no requirement for admission authorities to use catchment areas as an admission criterion, although many choose to do so.

  Teacher Recruitment and Retention
  Mr. Efford
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what recent steps he has taken to improve teacher recruitment and retention. [157933]

  Ms Estelle Morris
  Our recruitment and retention measures have already ensured that there are more teachers than for a decade and the number of trainee teachers has risen for the first time in eight years.

  The teachers' pay arrangements for 2001–02, and the £200 million teacher recruitment package announced by my right hon. Friend on 12 March will help build on this success. We are introducing a welcome back bonus for people returning to teaching; a teacher retention and recruitment fund to support schools in areas where there are difficulties; extension of £4,000 golden hellos for newly-qualified teachers of shortage subjects to English; funding for 570 more places in a full year on the graduate teacher programme; and 500 more places on refresher courses for those returning to teaching, which include training grants of up to £150 a week and help towards child care costs. My right hon. Friend has also published a Green Paper, "Schools: building on success", containing proposals that will further help recruit and retain teachers, including paying off, over time, the student loans of new teachers who commit themselves to a career in the maintained sector.

  Mr. Joyce
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many teaching vacancies in(a) schools and (b) colleges in England and Wales were filled during the financial year 1999–2000. [155624]
  355W
  Ms Estelle Morris
  [holding answer 27 March 2001]: The number of teachers recruited to a full-time post (new entrants and teachers moving to jobs from other schools/colleges) in England in financial years 1997–1998 and 1998–1999 (the latest year for which data are available), were as follows:

  1997–98

  1998–991

  Maintained schools sector

  52,100 (14.4%)

  50,200 (14.0%)

  FE colleges

  3,700 (7.5%)

  4.100 (9.1%)

  1 Provisional

  The figures in brackets are recruits as a percentage of the total number of teachers in post at the beginning of the financial year.

  There was a fall in the number of teachers leaving the maintained school sector in England, 27,570 (6.6 per cent.) in 1998–99 compared with 34,250 (8.2 per cent.) in 1997–98, following the 1997 reform of the Teachers Pension Scheme.

  The full-time equivalent (FTE) number of regular teachers (excluding short-term supply) in the maintained schools sector in England at January 2001 was 410,280, an increase of 12,600 since January 1998:

  January

  FTE1

  1998

  397,700

  1999

  401,200

  2000

  404.600

  2001

  410,280

  1 Rounded

  There was a growth of 2,300 in the number of people recruited to train as teachers between 1999–2000 and 2000–01, the first such increase since 1992–93.

  From April 2001 new graduate recruits can expect to earn £17,000 a year (up 6 per cent. from the previous year) and starting salaries in Inner London will rise to £20,000 (up 9 per cent. from the previous year).

  Teacher information for Wales is the responsibility of the National Assembly for Wales.

  Women's Employment and Pay Review
  Mr. Gareth R. Thomas
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what the remit is of the Women's Employment and Pay Review. [157934]

  Ms Jowell
  The Women's Employment and Pay Review, led by Denise Kingsmill, Deputy Chair of the Competition Commission, will examine ways to increase diversity and flexibility of the labour market, for example through high value part-time and flexible working arrangements such as job shares, term-time contracts and contracts for 'job-pools'. It will look to produce a strategy for the promotion and implementation of voluntary pay reviews by all employers to ensure pay equality within their organisations. The review will advocate the benefits to business of voluntary pay audits and will work in collaboration with the EOC and employer and trade union representatives to help build support for a voluntary approach. It will identify further areas where understanding and awareness of existing equality law can be increased among employers and female employees.356W
  The review will draw on experiences of good practice both in the UK and internationally. Ministers across Government will be available to assist the review, but the work will be autonomous.

  We aim for the review to be completed by the end of October. The final report will include non-legislative and cost-effective proposals to improve women's employment prospects and participation in the labour market, taking account of the Government's Work-Life Balance Campaign. Denise Kingsmill will present her report to the conference on Women's Employment, Pay and Prospects in December.

  In-service Training Days
  Tony Wright
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the future of Baker days. [157936]

  Ms Estelle Morris
  We are committed to raising standards of education and supporting teachers to do this by providing the training and development they need. Teachers are currently entitled to five in-service training days, under the terms and conditions of the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document. In-service training days are an important tool for headteachers to help their staff keep their skills and knowledge up to date, and they are an integral part of our future CPD strategy.

  Employment Service
  Fiona Mactaggart
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what guidance he gives to the Employment Service on helping job seekers to find part-time work. [157937]

  Ms Jowell
  Through our range of New Deal programmes which are operated through the Employment Service we are providing tailored help to meet the variety of needs of those without work. The personal adviser approach is at the heart of all these programmes providing support to some of the most vulnerable people in the labour market.

  For some this will mean full-time work but for others, perhaps those with other responsibilities such as bringing up children, part-time work will be the better option. The advisers can offer advice and assistance, including help with calculating in-work benefits, child care arrangements and appropriate training to help them into work. And, from the end of this month, lone parents who take up part-time work of less than 16 hours will be able to get help with child care costs for their first year in work.

  Call Centres (Training)
  Sir David Madel
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on training provision to provide skills for people planning to work in call centres. [157939]

  Mr. Wicks
  We are working with the Call Centre Association (CCA) and the Communication Workers Union to raise standards and increase training opportunities in the sector. We are also working closely with the CCA to identify current and future skill needs. Training provision for call centre staff, and for people planning to work in call centres, was part of the wider consultation into National Training Organisation arrangements for the
  357W
  telecommunications sector. The consultation ended on 30 March 2001 and we will make an announcement shortly.

  Jobseeker's Allowance
  Mr. Love
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what policies are in place to ensure that young unemployed couples without children are actively seeking work while claiming Jobseeker's Allowance. [157940]

  Ms Jowell
  On 19 March this year, we introduced joint claims for Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). Both members of young unemployed couples without children have to be available for work and to seek work actively, and each has to agree a Jobseeker's Agreement detailing what steps they will take in looking for work. Each member of the couple is required to attend the Jobcentre every fortnight to discuss their job search. Full payment of JSA is conditional on both carrying out their full responsibilities. Both will be helped by advisers to secure work and will be referred to programmes and New Deal assistance as appropriate.

  Ufi
  Mr. Tynan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the development of Ufi. [157941]

  Mr. Wills
  Excellent progress is being made. Using the brand-name learndirect, Ufi Ltd. moved from its developmental phase to the national roll-out of its services and systems in October of last year.

  There are now over 900 learndirect centres operating nationally in a wide range of settings in both urban and rural communities. learndirect currently offers in excess of 430 course titles of which over 70 per cent. are on-line. The courses cover Ufi Ltd.'s initial priority areas including basic skills, information technology at all levels and business and management skills for small and medium-sized enterprises.

  The network of learning centres is underpinned by the learndirect National Information and Advice Service, comprising the learndirect telephone helpline (0800 100 900) and the learndirect website (www.learndirect.co.uk). Over 2.6 million callers to the helpline and over 1.7 million searchers of the website, have received advice and information on a whole range of over half a million learning opportunities.

  Training Facilities (Sheffield)
  Mr. Bill Michie
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on his plans for new training facilities in Sheffield. [157942]

  Mr. Wicks
  This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council. I have therefore asked John Harwood, the council's chief executive, to write to my hon. Friend with the information requested and to place a copy of his reply in the Library. However, Sheffield College will be in discussions with the LSC about the development of the new programme of Centres of Vocational Excellence, and new Technology Institutes. There has also been, as part of Excellence in Cities, the development of new City Learning Centres in the city.

  Lecturers' Pay
  Mr. Chaytor
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the pay of further education and sixth form college lecturers. [157943]

  Mr. Wicks
  I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 28 March 2001,Official Report, columnS 689–90W.

  University Funding
  Mr. Nigel Griffiths
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what recent representations he has had from vice-chancellors and principals on core levels of funding for universities. [157944]

  Mr. Wicks
  My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State receives representations about higher education funding from time to time from vice-chancellors and principals. Most recently, he has received a copy of the report of the Universities UK Funding Options Review Group "New Directions for Higher Education Funding".

  The Government are increasing publicly planned funding to universities and higher education colleges in England by £1.7 billion over the six years to 2003–04: funding per full-time student will thereby increase in real terms in 2001–02 for the first time in over a decade.

  Chief Inspector of Schools
  Mr. Hilary Benn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's chief inspector of schools' latest annual report. [157945]

  Ms Estelle Morris
  Mike Tomlinson's annual report for 1999–2000 shows that the quality of teaching has improved and the attainments of pupils at all levels have risen. We welcome the evidence of rising standards and congratulate teachers, pupils and schools on what they have achieved. Our policies are designed to build on the firm foundations which are now in place and to secure continuous improvement in teaching and learning in all types of school.

  Further Education (Standards)
  Mr. Tom Clarke
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on his plans to raise standards in further education. [157946]

  Mr. Wicks
  Standards in further education are already high. The most recent annual report summarising inspections showed that over 90 per cent. of teaching in further education was judged satisfactory.

  However, more needs to be done to bring standards in all colleges up to the level of the best. That is why the Government have put in place the Learning and Skills Council with a remit to secure better quantity and quality, introduced new inspection arrangements, and will increase the standards fund. These will all contribute to raising standards in further education.

  Individual Learning Accounts
  Mrs. May
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the number of people who have, to date, taken up ILA's, indicating the criteria used to determine suitability to open an ILA; and what the average amount invested for each individual is. [158846]

  Mr. Wicks
  Latest figures are that over 950,000 people have opened Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) in the UK. This figure will be updated shortly and I will write to the hon. Member with a revised figure when this is available. In England the main criterion for holding an ILA is that the individual is aged 19 or over. The figures available for ILAs in England show that each learning opportunity undertaken by account holders costs an average of £355. £178 of this is supported by funds available through the ILA initiative while the balance of £177 is shared between the individual and other sources of funding such as employers and trade unions.

  Student Transport
  Mr. Brady
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what powers he has to overrule the policy of(a) a local authority and (b) a passenger transport executive relating to subsidy of public transport for students at independent schools of music on the basis of local education authority contribution to fees. [158953]

  Jacqui Smith
  A local education authority must by law provide free school transport for a day pupil attending an independent school if it is the nearest suitable school to the pupil's home, and that home is beyond the statutory walking distance. Local education authorities have discretion to provide free or subsidised school transport for pupils who do not satisfy those criteria; but they are under no obligation to do so. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has no powers to intervene in a local education authority's discretionary policy in such cases, except where he is satisfied that the authority is acting unreasonably in the exercise of statutory powers or duties. He has no relevant powers in relation to passenger transport executives. For pupils aided under my Department's Music and Ballet Scheme at four independent specialist music schools in England, means-tested help is available through that scheme towards transport costs.

  Mr. Hurst
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many school children received free school transport in(a) 1995, (b) 1996, (c) 1997, (d) 1998, (e) 1999 and (f) 2000; and at what cost. [158771]

  Jacqui Smith
  My Department does not collect from local education authorities a breakdown of numbers, or costs, relating specifically to children who receive free transport for the individual years requested. We estimate that approximately 800,000 pupils in England receive free transport to school every year. Total local education authority expenditure in England on home to school transport, including discretionary free and subsidised fares, in the relevant financial years was as follows.
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  £ million

  1994–95

  319

  1995–96

  345

  1996–97

  382

  1997–98

  418

  1998–99

  444

  1999–20001

  485

  1 Provisional

  Learning and Skills Council
  Mrs. Betty Williams
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the objectives he has set for the Learning and Skills Council. [157931]

  Mr. Wicks
  The Learning and Skills Council was launched on 28 March and is now operational. It is the most significant and far-reaching reform ever enacted to post-16 learning. The council has a huge agenda, and its priorities include encouraging more young people to stay in learning; increasing demand for learning among adults; and improving the skills of the work force. We also expect the council to drive up standards in teaching and training, and build equality of opportunity into everything it does.

  School Improvement Awards
  Mr. Peter Ainsworth
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list those schools in East Surrey which were wrongly informed that they had won improvement awards; and if he will make a statement. [158378]

  Ms Estelle Morris
  [holding answer 23 April 2001]: I refer the hon. Member to the letter issued on 30 March.

  Oxbridge Admissions
  Mr. Chaytor
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will publish the information collected by(a) Oxford and (b) Cambridge universities in each of the last five years in respect of admissions, disaggregated by college. [157901]

  Mr. Wicks
  [holding answer 24 April 2001]: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given on 3 April 2001, Official Report, columns 123–24W.

  Fresh Start
  Mrs. May
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many schools have been given a Fresh Start since 1997; and how many pupils obtained five GCSEs at grades A* to C for each of the schools for each year since 1997. [158847]

  Ms Estelle Morris
  The Government are committed to preventing schools from failing, and turning round those that do as quickly as possible. There are 353 schools on special measures, compared with 515 in 1998. Over 700 failing schools have been successfully turned round since 1997. The average turn-round time is currently 18 months, compared with 25 months in 1997. Over 100 schools in special measures have closed, and the pupils educated elsewhere.

  Where it proves impossible to turn a school round in a reasonable time, closure should be the preferred option. In exceptional circumstances, where closure is not

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  feasible, the local education authority may consider a Fresh Start, closing the existing school and opening a new school on the same site. This is a difficult course, and should be reserved for the hardest cases. 25 schools have been "Fresh Started", of which 15 are secondary and 10 primary. All were causing concern, and the majority had been in special measures for over two years.

  GCSE/GNVQ Performance data for Fresh Start schools1

  Percentage

  Percentage of pupils achieving 5 GCSE/GNVQ A*-C in:

  School name

  Date of Fresh Start

  1997

  1998

  19992

  20002

  New

  Firfield Community School

  1 September 1998

  —

  —

  9

  4

  Formerly

  Blakelaw School

  9

  7

  —

  —

  New

  Fir Vale School

  1 September 1998

  —

  —

  11

  17

  Formerly

  Earl Marshal School

  11

  10

  —

  —

  New

  East Brighton College of Media Arts

  1 September 1999

  —

  —

  —

  13

  Formerly

  The Marina High School

  13

  13

  19

  —

  New

  Islington Arts and Media

  1 September 1999

  —

  —

  —

  5

  Formerly

  George Orwell School

  13

  10

  18

  —

  New

  Kingswood High School

  1 September 1999

  —

  —

  —

  3

  formerly

  Perronet Thompson School

  5

  6

  8

  —

  New

  Telegraph Hill

  1 September 1999

  —

  —

  —

  3

  Formerly

  Hatcham Wood School

  7

  14

  8

  —

  New

  Bishopsford Community School

  1 September 1999

  —

  —

  —

  12

  Formerly

  Watermeads High School

  22

  18

  13

  —

  New

  River Leen School

  1 September 1999

  —

  —

  —

  7

  Formerly

  Alderman Derbyshire School

  7

  5

  11

  —

  New

  The King's CE School

  1 September 1998

  —

  —

  36

  34

  Formerly

  Regis County School

  25

  29

  —

  —

  New

  New College

  1 September 1999

  —

  —

  —

  11

  Formerly

  New Parks Community College

  16

  14

  13

  —

  Mary Linwood School

  14

  6

  7

  —

  Wycliffe Community College

  11

  2

  14

  —

  John Ellis Community College

  17

  19

  12

  —

  Alderman Newton's School

  21

  21

  31

  —

  Mundella Community College

  23

  26

  23

  —

  New

  Park View Academy

  1 September 1999

  —

  —

  —

  12

  Formerly

  The Langham School

  7

  13

  13

  —

  New

  Kings High School

  1 September 2000

  —

  —

  —

  —

  Formerly

  Kingsleigh Secondary School

  9

  17

  17

  10

  New

  Parkwood High School

  1 September 2000

  —

  —

  —

  —

  Formerly

  The Herries School

  11

  13

  4

  14

  New

  Kings College

  1 September 2000

  —

  —

  —

  —

  Formerly

  Kings Manor School

  18

  20

  13

  10

  New

  Corby Community College

  1 September 2000

  —

  —

  —

  —

  Formerly

  Queen Elizabeth School

  19

  19

  16

  8

  Beanfield Community College

  9

  21

  15

  8

  1 Data for Fresh Start Schools; data for predecessor establishments shown below each Fresh Start school.

  2 Performance Data for 1999 adjusted for exclusions; 2000 data adjusted for exclusions and refugees.

  Source:

  Performance tables.

  Departmental Report
  Mrs. May
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will give a breakdown of the component sums under the heading, 'Developing in everyone a commitment to lifelong learning so as to
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  Of the 15 secondary Fresh Start schools, four opened in September 2000 and have therefore not yet published GCSE results. Results for the other 11 schools are shown in the table. Two of these schools—Telegraph Hill School in Lewisham and Firfield Community School in Newcastle—are due to close in July 2001 and July 2002 respectively.

  enhance their lives, improve their employability in a changing labour market and create the skills that our economy and employers need', referred to in the accounts on page 146 of his Department's report 2001–02 to 2003–04 (Cm 5102). [159005]
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  Mr. Wills
  A breakdown of the amounts under each of the headings on page 146 is given in Note 9 to the Main Estimate on page 160 of the Departmental Report (Cm 5102).

  Pupil Exclusions
  Mrs. May
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the average amount of hours of education that a permanently excluded child receives, by local education authority. [158845]

  Jacqui Smith
  In July 1999 we placed a responsibility on local education authorities to phase in full-time education for all permanently excluded pupils by September 2002, compared to the two to three hours all too typically offered in the past. Data from the 2000 Schools Census indicated that around a third of PRUs were providing full-time education and two thirds were offering 13 or more hours of education each week. All LEAs must offer full-time provision to all excluded pupils from September 2002. Since 1997 there has been an expansion of PRU provision with over 1,000 additional pupil places and nearly 600 more teaching and support staff.

  Mrs. May
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many schools have received a financial penalty for not meeting their exclusion reduction targets; and what the fine imposed in each instance was. [158843]

  Jacqui Smith
  We have not set school level exclusion targets and schools are not fined for excluding pupils.

  Mrs. May
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many off-site pupil referral units have closed in each year since 1997. [158853]

  Jacqui Smith
  Schools Form 7 Census figures show the number of pupil referral units (PRUs) in each year since 1997 as:

  Number of PRUs

  Number of pupils1

  1997

  309

  11,933

  1998

  309

  11,906

  1999

  298

  12,465

  2000

  295

  13,065

  2001

  2308

  3—

  1 Including dually registered pupils

  2 Provisional

  1 Not yet available

  A number of PRUs have amalgamated to rationalise and improve the quality of provision following Ofsted concerns about standards in PRUs in 1995. Ofsted now reports that pupils in most PRUs are making satisfactory or better progress and teaching in 90 per cent. of units is at least satisfactory. Almost all PRUs now improve pupils' behaviour and attitudes to learning.

  A net total of 13 new PRUs have opened in the last year. Since 1997 the number of pupil places at PRUs has risen by over 1,000 and the number of teaching and support staff is up by nearly 600. The pupil:teacher ratio is 4.3 the same as in 1997. Local authorities were planning to spend 13 per cent. more on PRU provision in 2000–01 compared to the previous year. This reflects the tenfold increase in funding to tackle poor behaviour in schools
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  and provide education outside school for those who are excluded, up from £17 million in 1996–97 to £174 million this year.

  Mrs. May
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the criteria used to determine whether a decision by a headmaster to exclude a pupil should be overridden. [158852]

  Jacqui Smith
  Permanent exclusions must be reviewed by the governing body of a school through its discipline committee. Where a parent or pupil appeals against permanent exclusion, an independent appeal panel will consider the case.

  My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's guidance to appeal panels is that they should decide whether the pupil did what they are accused of doing, and if so whether, considering all relevant factors, permanent exclusion is a reasonable response to that conduct. He has advised that reinstatement would not normally be appropriate where the circumstances involve:
  serious actual or threatened violence against another pupil or a member of staff; or
  sexual abuse; or
  presenting a significant risk to the health and safety of other pupils by selling illegal drugs; or
  persistent and malicious disruptive behaviour—including open defiance or refusal to conform with agreed school policies on for example, discipline or dress code.

  General Teaching Council
  Mrs. May
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the salary or expenses to be paid to GTC members including details of the sums paid. [158994]

  Jacqui Smith
  Two of the 64 General Teaching Council for England (GTC) members receive fees in respect of their duties as Chair and Vice-Chair. All Council members are entitled to receive expenses for travel, subsistence and dependent relative carer costs incurred as a result of their attendance for approved duties. The members' support scheme is in line with standard provisions payable to the Department's staff. I have asked the Chief Executive of the GTC to write to the hon. Lady with details of payments made since the GTC was established on 1 September 2000 and to provide a copy of the members support scheme. A copy of her response will be placed in the Library.

  Mrs. May
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the arrangements which have been put in place to cover the absence of those teachers who are members of the GTC and who have taken time-off in order to fulfil their GTC commitments; and if he will indicate how the costs of such arrangements is met. [158996]

  Jacqui Smith
  The General Teaching Council for England (GTC) pays a standard rate to schools to facilitate the release of teachers for GTC work. The payment is made to allow schools to purchase supply cover for a teacher's absence on GTC business. The costs are met from the GTC's budget.

  Mrs. May
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many meetings the GTC has held. [158995]
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  Jacqui Smith
  The General Teaching Council for England (GTC) has held four full council meetings since 1 September 2000. I have asked the chief executive of the GTC to write to the hon. Member with details of the number of committee meetings it has held. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Library.

  GCSEs
  Mrs. May
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will set out the percentage of pupils who gained a GCSE grade A* to C in(a) physics, (b) chemistry, (c) biology and (d) ICT in each year since 1997. [158850]

  Ms Estelle Morris
  The number of pupils aged 15 attempting the GCSE subjects and percentages gaining grades A* to C are as follows:

  Number attempting

  Thousand

  Physics

  Chemistry

  Biology

  ICT

  1996–97

  34.5

  35.2

  36.6

  62.7

  1997–98

  36.2

  36.5

  37.9

  68.4

  1998–99

  37.2

  37.6

  38.8

  76.3

  1999–2000

  37.5

  37.7

  39.4

  85.9

  Percentage gaining A* to C

  Physics

  Chemistry

  Biology

  ICT

  1996–97

  89

  89

  88

  55

  1997–98

  89

  90

  88

  57

  1998–99

  89

  90

  89

  55

  1999–2000

  90

  90

  89

  56

  Employment Green Paper
  Mrs. May
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the cost of producing the Green paper 'Towards Full Employment in a Modern Society'; and how many copies have been produced. [159002]

  Ms Jowell
  The total cost of producing this Green Paper was £72,278 for 11,200 copies.

  Medical Students
  Dr. Gibson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many students have(a) applied and (b) been recruited to each medical school in (i) England and Wales and (ii) Scotland in the last five years, broken down by (1) gender, (2) ethnicity and (3) social class. [158439]

  Revenue Funding

  £

  Financial year

  Budget share

  1Standards Fund (devolved)

  School Standards Grant

  Other recurrent funding

  Total funding

  1997–98

  1,599,790

  14,279

  n/a

  3,900

  1,617,969

  1998–99

  1,670,530

  63,876

  n/a

  16,803

  1,751,209

  1999–2000

  2,485,490

  203,666

  n/a

  18,228

  2,707,384

  2000–01

  3,075,610

  352,830

  40,000

  42,670

  3,511,110

  2001–022

  2,937,380

  418,680

  70,000

  0

  3,426,060

  1 The Standards Funds figures include National Grid for Learning grants but exclude New Deal for Schools Devolved Formula capital, Seed Challenge capital and school security grant.

  2 The 2001–02 figures are provisional (except in the case of School Standards Grant).

  366W
  Mr. Wicks
  [holding answer 23 April 2001]: The available data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) are shown in the table. UCAS do not release data for individual institutions at subject level. Information on the numbers of undergraduate entrants to medical schools by socio-economic group has been published at institution level for the last two years in the circular "Performance indicators in higher education in the UK (00/40 and 99/66)"1, copies of which are available from the Library.
  1 Produced by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)

  Home domiciled applicants to full-time courses and sandwich courses in medicine institutions in the United Kingdom: year of entry 1996–2000

  Year of entry

  1996

  1997

  1998

  1999

  2000

  Total applicants of which:

  12,025

  12,076

  11.807

  10,972

  10,226

  Gender

  Male

  5,950

  5,795

  5,637

  5,035

  4,455

  Female

  6,075

  6,281

  6,170

  5,937

  5,771

  Ethnic background

  White

  5,879

  5,969

  5,894

  5,405

  5,198

  Black Caribbean

  46

  43

  45

  34

  38

  Black African

  268

  241

  249

  250

  230

  Black Other

  30

  50

  58

  42

  26

  Indian

  1,086

  1,092

  1,064

  978

  926

  Pakistani

  649

  570

  572

  488

  452

  Bangladeshi

  181

  159

  162

  147

  119

  Chinese

  195

  189

  158

  165

  174

  Other Asian

  513

  457

  435

  445

  402

  Other

  317

  285

  279

  290

  278

  Not known

  2,861

  3,021

  2,891

  2,728

  2,383

  Social class

  Professional

  4,279

  4,084

  3,542

  3,126

  2,970

  Intermediate

  4,537

  4,370

  3,771

  3,284

  3,035

  Skilled Manual

  938

  882

  796

  724

  695

  Skilled non-Manual

  982

  920

  817

  793

  704

  Partly Skilled

  524

  527

  460

  399

  351

  Unskilled

  105

  107

  84

  71

  77

  Not known

  660

  1,186

  2,337

  2,575

  2,394

  Cockburn High School, Leeds
  Mr. Hilary Benn
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much(a) revenue and (b) capital funding Cockburn High School, Leeds, has received since May 1997. [158339]

  Jacqui Smith
  The information requested (which has been provided by the local education authority) is as follows:
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  Captial Funding

  The amounts shown in the table represent Standards Fund resources devolved to the school. There were no comparable allocations to the school prior to 2000–2001, other than £18,700 of devolved capital allocated by the LEA to the school in 1997–98.

  £

  Financial year

  Devolved formula

  Security Grant

  Seed Challenge

  Total funding

  2000–01

  36,130

  2,780

  20,000

  58,910

  2001–02

  31,940

  0

  0

  31,940

  In addition to the amounts shown, investment by the LEA in the school's buildings was £1.2 million and £1 million in 1999–2000 and 2000–01 respectively.

  EU Schools Programme
  Mr. Bercow
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list those schools in the Lancashire Carrefour which participated in the European Union, Action Aimed at Young People, programme, identified in the Communities' publication, 'At the Very Heart of Europe'; if he will place in the Library a copy of the(a) polling questions and (b) Commission response; what part was played by his Department in the survey; and if he will make a statement. [156977]

  Mr. Wicks
  The Carrefour network provides information about the European Union to rural communities. In 1994 six Carrefours from five countries of the European Union, including the north-west England Carrefour, bid for and were successful in securing funding for a small project under the Youth Information Action Programme to research the provision of European Information in rural schools.

  The six Carrefours reported to the European Commission on the project in April 1997. As the project was commissioned and funded directly by the Commission, this Department had no involvement in the project and therefore does not have access to: information on the schools that participated; the polling questions; nor the project report. The Commission document "At the Very Heart of Europe" which reports on the work of the Rural Information and Promotion Carrefours and which refers to the project described above, is available from the European Commission.

  Departmental Policies (Plymouth Unitary Authority)
  Mrs. Gilroy
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to(a) Plymouth, Sutton constituency, (b) Plymouth, Devonport constituency and (c) South-West Devon constituency, the effects on (i) Plymouth travel to work area and (ii) Plymouth Unitary Authority area of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [158029]

  Mr. Wills
  [holding answer 23 April 2001]: Details of the effects of a range of the Department's policies on the Plymouth, Sutton constituency, Plymouth, Devonport
  368W
  constituency, South-West Devon constituency and Plymouth and Devon LEA have been placed in the Library.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

  Criminal Justice
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the average time taken from charge to the start of trials and what was the average number of hearings in an indictable-only case in(a) 2000 and (b) the first quarter of 2001. [158927]

  Jane Kennedy
  Information is not available in the exact form requested and is instead provided for defendants in indictable and triable either way cases that were committed for trial at the Crown court.

  In 2000 the average time taken from charge or laying of information to committal for trial was 87 days for defendants in magistrates' courts. The average time taken from committal for trial to first main hearing in the Crown court was 100 days in 2000. There were on average three adjournments per defendant per case in the magistrates' courts. There is no information held centrally on the number of adjournments in the Crown court.

  These figures provide only a broad indication of the total time taken from charge or laying of information to first main hearing for defendants who are tried in the Crown court, as the data from magistrates' courts and the Crown court will not relate to exactly the same defendants.

  Data for the first quarter of 2001 are not yet available.

  Asylum Appeals
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when she expects her Department to achieve its PSA target of reducing asylum appeal decision times to four months or less. [159033]

  Jane Kennedy
  The Lord Chancellor's Department does not have a PSA to reduce asylum appeals, but does have an asylum Service Delivery Agreement which makes up part of a wider PSA. The relevant target, which refers to the year 2002–03, is for 65 per cent. of all cases to be cleared through both tiers of the Immigration Appellate Authorities within four months.

  To acknowledge the importance of this target, and the significant progress already made, the Court Service has agreed a key performance indicator, in the same terms, for the 2001–02 year. Therefore we expect that level of performance over the year to be achieved by 31 March 2002. Accordingly, we expect the SDA target to be achieved by 31 March 2003.

  Defendants' Rights
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what objectives he(a) has set and (b) plans to set to meet his Department's PSA target to respect the rights of defendants and to treat them fairly. [159028]
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  Mr. Lock
  The objective is to achieve the targets set out in the PSA by 31 March 2002. Targets set on 31 March 2001 are:To ensure that by 31 March 2002, 90 per cent. of people in police stations requesting the service of duty solicitor receive the service within 45 minutes; and
  That 98 per cent. of prisons have, in accordance with Prison Service standard audit requirements, sufficient staff to ensure that all prisoners receive information about public funding on reception and know who can assist them with applications for public funding.

  The Group will continue to add other measures to the basket and to develop meaningful targets.

  Lord Birt
  Miss Widdecombe
  To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (1) how many reports Lord Birt has submitted to the Lord Chancellor in his capacity as an adviser on crime; and if she will make a statement; [158237]

  (2) on how many occasions, and on what dates, (a) the Lord Chancellor and (b) other Ministers in her Department have met Lord Birt in his capacity as an adviser on crime; and if she will make a statement about the contribution of Lord Birt to her Department's polices. [158239]

  Jane Kennedy
  I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given her by the Prime Minister on 24 April 2001,Official Report, column 211W.

  Trials (Premature Abandonment)
  Mr. Blunt
  To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement about the powers available to the courts to reclaim legal costs from publications which cause the premature abandonment of a trial. [158939]

  Mr. Lock
  I shall reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

HOME DEPARTMENT

  Asylum Seekers
  Miss Widdecombe
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken is for asylum cases, from the initial lodging of an appeal with the Immigration Appellate Authority to the authority's final decision; and if he will make a statement. [157174]

  Mrs. Roche
  [holding answer 6 April 2001]: For the 12 months ending 31 March 2001, data from the Immigration Appellate Authority (IAA) indicate that the average time taken from receipt of an asylum appeal in the IAA, to the appeal being decided through both tiers of the authority, was approximately 21 weeks.

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers were removed in 2000–01. [159152]

  Mrs. Roche
  Provisional data indicate that the total for the number of failed asylum seekers removed in the financial year 2000–01 is 8,925, rounded to the nearest five.

  Immigration
  Mr. Hilary Benn
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reach a decision on the application from Mrs. Lori Graham Strother Dixon of the Leeds, Central constituency for leave to extend her stay in the UK and permit her to take employment as a teacher. [158943]

  Mrs. Roche
  An application for leave to remain was received on 8 March but was returned to Mrs. Dixon as not all the necessary information and documents had been enclosed with the application. There is no trace, as yet, of the application having been returned to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate.

  Sir John Stanley
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many clandestine entrants into the United Kingdom were detected each month since 30 September 1999. [159122]

  Mrs. Roche
  Between 30 September 1999 and 31 March 2001 a total of 56,749 clandestines were detected. The table details these by month and category, i.e. On Entry or In Country:

  Clandestines detected:

  Date

  On entry

  In country

  September 1999

  382

  2,152

  October 1999

  215

  2,236

  November 1999

  180

  1,848

  December 1999

  57

  1,886

  January 2000

  210

  2,084

  February 2000

  144

  2,226

  March 2000

  195

  2,328

  April 2000

  169

  1,545

  May 2000

  204

  1,583

  June 2000

  185

  2,410

  July 2000

  86

  2,567

  August 2000

  105

  2,874

  September 2000

  88

  4,154

  October 2000

  194

  3,974

  November 2000

  99

  4,692

  December 2000

  56

  3,943

  January 2001

  82

  5,203

  February 2001

  98

  4,135

  March 2001

  78

  4,346

  It should be noted that while on-entry detections relate directly to the month in which they appear, in-country detections could relate to an individual who entered the United Kingdom sometime before detection.

  Departmental Policies (Nottingham, North)
  Mr. Bercow
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, including statistical information relating as directly as possible to the constituency, the effect on the Nottingham, North constituency of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [158855]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The Home Office is working to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities are properly balanced, and the protection and security of the public are maintained. Detailed information on the impact of Home Office policies across the full range of responsibilities is set out in Home Office Annual Reports. A copy of the most recent report, Home
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  Office Annual Report 2000–2001, is available in the Library. Information on recorded crime and policing is also published. 'Recorded Crime England and Wales, 12 months to September 2000' and 'Police Service Strength England and Wales, 30 September 2000' can be found in the Library.
  The recorded crime statistics include information on recorded crime by basic command unit and crime and disorder partnerships.

  The impact of Home Office policies and actions is not normally examined by constituency and the statistics which the Department collects, such as recorded crime, cannot be matched in the way requested, although set out are examples relating to the Nottingham, North constituency or the immediate locality:

  Reducing Burglary Initiative (RBI)

  Under round 1 of the RBI, Nottingham police, in partnership with Nottingham city council, were awarded £277,000 for a project in Top Valley and Bestwood Park. The main interventions include: repeat victims and vulnerable residents to receive burglar alarms; production of crime prevention leaflets; use of covert tracking devices and portable tracking unit; shared pathways and alleyways to be gated and increased lighting in the rear of houses and flats.

  Under round 2 of the initiative, Nottinghamshire police, in partnership with Community Safety and Youth Justice Partnership, were awarded over £2 million for the whole of Nottingham. The main intervention proposed is a strategic bid that aims to tackle burglary across the whole area. It focuses on 10 communities with sets of police beats that have similar characteristics and applies to them the Deep model (diversion, education, enforcement and prevention).

  Targeted Policing Initiative

  Nottinghamshire police was awarded almost £1.2 million for a force wide project focusing on alcohol-related violence. The project strategy would be based on the SPEEDE response to tackling alcohol related violence. SPEEDE means support, prevention, education, enforcement, diversion and evaluation. £90,000 has also been awarded for a distraction burglary initiative covering eight Midlands police forces and their local authorities to develop, co-ordinate and manage a strategic plan to tackle burglary.

  Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)

  Nottingham city council was awarded approximately £227,000 under round 1 of the CCTV initiative for a scheme covering the residential areas of the Bulwell Hall Estate.

  Youth Offending

  Nottingham Youth Offending Team (YOT) covers the area of north Nottingham. The Youth Justice Board (YJB) is currently funding a Bail Support Scheme and two Intervention Schemes in Nottingham. Nottingham City Remand Strategy aims to provide full and comprehensive pre-court assessments and support services for 10 to 17-year-olds. It also aims to provide an effective remand management strategy which meets the needs of young people and their families while ensuring the protection of the public. The YJB have awarded a grant of approximately £572,000 towards this project.
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  Nottingham Community Justice Project is targeted at young people aged 10 to 17-years-old, initially focusing on the pre-court interventions, namely reprimands and final warning stages, then developing to involve pre-crime, at risk and post-court interventions. This project complements the work of Nottinghamshire police, who currently uses restorative conferencing at the final warning stage in some parts of the county. This scheme has been awarded a YJB grant of approximately £170,000. The YJB is contributing approximately £72,000 towards a project entitled INTERVENE. This is a scheme that works with Afro-Caribbean young people, both at risk or serving any youth offending order. It offers mentoring by Afro-Caribbean mentors, including peer mentors. In addition to one to one support, it also offers group monitoring and cultural and personal development workshops with links to local industry.

  Nottingham YOT was awarded a YJB grant of £145,000 in 1999–2000, of which £85,000 was for information technology, £10,000 for parenting, £30,000 for throughcare and £20,000 for minor equipment.

  More generally, all of the policies of the Home Office will impact on the residents of Nottingham, North to a greater or lesser extent. For example:
  376 crime and disorder reduction partnerships have been established;
  racial harassment and racially motivated crimes have been made criminal offences by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998;
  the asylum backlog has been cut from 103,495 at the end of January 2000 to 49,690 by the end of February 2001; and
  good progress is being made in reducing the incidence of fire deaths in England and Wales. They have dropped from 605 in 1997 to 534 in 1999.

  Information on the Home Office and its policies is also published on its website www.homeoffice.gov.uk.

  Departmental Policies (Dulwich and West Norwood)
  Mr. Bercow
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, including statistical information relating as directly as possible to the constituency, the effects on the Dulwich and West Norwood constituency of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [158860]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The Home Office is working to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities are properly balanced, and the protection and security of the public are maintained. Detailed information on the impact of Home Office policies across the full range of responsibilities is set out in Home Office Annual Reports. A copy of the most recent report, Home Office Annual Report 2000–01, is available in the Library. Information on recorded crime and policing is also published. "Recorded Crime England and Wales, 12 months to September 2000" and "Police Service Strength England and Wales, 30 September 2000" can be found in the Library.

  The recorded crime statistics include information on recorded crime by basic command unit and crime and disorder partnerships.
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  The impact of Home Office policies and actions is not normally examined by constituency and the statistics which the Department collects, such as recorded crime, cannot be matched in the way requested although set out are examples relating to the Dulwich and West Norwood constituency or the immediate locality:

  Reducing Burglary Initiative (RBI)

  Under round 1 of the RBI, £65,000 was awarded to the West Camberwell area to fund a lock-fitting service to target-harden burglary victims and vulnerable properties and the establishment of a detached youth project. The funding is also being used to improve quality of service to victims. £65,000 was also awarded to a project in Parkside Plus to correct physical vulnerability of vulnerable estates in the target area and develop new ways of working with offenders.

  Under round 2 of the initiative, the Metropolitan police in partnership with the London borough of Southwark were awarded £27,000 for a project covering Herne Hill and Croxted Road to tackle situational vulnerability and unmarked property.

  Targeted Policing Initiative

  The Metropolitan police, in partnership with the London boroughs of Islington, Camden and Southwark, have been awarded £570,000 for a project targeting autocrime through Operation Arrow, which is aimed at 'hotspots' in the three boroughs. The Metropolitan police have been awarded £688,000 for a project in Southwark to tackle hate crime. Methods used will include the creation of self-help groups defined by cultural, ethnic or lifestyle profile and supported by a dedicated co-ordinator.

  Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)

  The Crystal Palace Partnership was awarded approximately £1.4 million for a scheme covering the London boroughs of Bromley, Croydon and Lambeth. The scheme will allow for 34 new cameras, designed to help reduce incidents of street crime, commercial robbery, violent offences, drugs offences, criminal damage and vehicle crime.

  Youth Offending

  Dulwich and West Norwood is served by Lambeth Youth Offending Team (YOT), Southwark YOT and Croydon YOT. All three YOTs have several intervention schemes and bail supervision schemes operating. These schemes receive funding towards these projects from the Youth Justice Board (YJB). The YOTs are multi-agency teams consisting of staff from: Social Services; Police; Probation; Department for Health and Department for Education and Employment as well as youth justice workers. The YOTs work in partnerships with other organisations to tackle problems of substance abuse, persistent offending, social exclusion and truancy and other problems that may cause young people to offend. Croydon YOT is currently running two intervention schemes in conjunction with the Prince's Trust. These projects aim to focus on mentoring and education and team-building, values and attitudes.

  Other projects being run include: Croydon '55' Drug Project, to provide specialist resources to young people whose offending is drug related; Croydon Community Partnership with and for Young People, the key objective of which is the diversion of young people from criminal activities by using a programme of social education;
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  Restorative Justice Conferencing Project, the YOT works with Southwark Mediation Centre to provide direct and indirect victim-offender mediation and family group conferencing services; Positive Parenting and Behavioural Change Programme, this includes the assessment of cognitive abilities, direct work from the psychologist or Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN). There are bail support schemes being run which aim to provide support and supervision to young people on remand to avoid them having to be removed from home because of their offending and to reduce offending while on bail and reduce delays caused by non-appearance in court.

  More generally, all of the policies of the Home Office will impact on the residents of Dulwich and West Norwood to a greater or lesser extent. For example:
  376 crime and disorder reduction partnerships have been established;
  racial harassment and racially motivated crimes have been made criminal offences by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998;
  the asylum backlog has been cut from 103,495 at the end of January 2000 to 49,690 by the end of February 2001; and
  good progress is being made in reducing the incidence of fire deaths in England and Wales. They have dropped from 605 in 1997 to 534 in 1999.

  Information on the Home Office and its policies is also published on its website www.homeoffice.gov.uk.

  Departmental Policies (Bristol, South)
  Mr. Bercow
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, including statistical information relating as directly as possible to the constituency, the effect on the Bristol, South constituency of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [158856]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The Home Office is working to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities are properly balanced, and the protection and security of the public are maintained. Detailed information on the impact of Home Office policies across the full range of responsibilities is set out in Home Office Annual Reports. A copy of the most recent report, Home Office Annual Report 2000–01, is available in the Library. Information on recorded crime and policing is also published. "Recorded Crime England and Wales, 12 months to September 2000" and "Police Service Strength England and Wales, 30 September 2000" can be found in the Library. The recorded crime statistics include information on recorded crime by basic command unit and crime and disorder partnerships.

  The impact of Home Office policies and actions is not normally examined by constituency and the statistics which the Department collects, such as recorded crime. cannot be matched in the way requested although set out are examples relating to the Bristol, South constituency or the immediate locality:

  Reducing Burglary Initiative (RBI)

  Under round 2 of the RBI, Avon and Somerset Constabulary in partnership with Bristol city council have been awarded £152,000 and £89,000 for projects in Knowle and Knowle West and Hartcliffe respectively. The main interventions proposed are target hardening; fencing of rear gardens and intervention work.
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  Under round 3 of the initiative, Avon and Somerset Constabulary in partnership with all local authorities in the force area have been awarded approximately £650,000 for a project to test new forensic techniques.

  Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)

  Bristol city council has one bid for CCTV funding entitled "Safer Symes CCTV scheme" to a potential capital of £237,000 shortlisted for further consideration under round 2 of the CCTV initiative.

  Youth Offending

  The Bristol Youth Offending Team (YOT) during 2000–01 has worked with 2,200 young offenders and supervised 330 young people on community-based orders. The YOT has prepared more than 450 court reports and its appropriate adult volunteers have attended 350 interviews with young people at police stations. The YOT has established offender-victim mediation services and is providing intervention programmes to confront young offenders with the views of their victims. The YOT is also working to deliver the Government's pledge to halve the average time taken from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders, from 142 to 71 days. The most recent figure for Bristol is 89 days.

  The Youth Justice Board (YJB) is currently providing funding for one bail support and five intervention schemes through its development fund. The Prince's Trust operates an education project, FIVE, that is based in five cities in England and Wales working with young offenders and those at risk of offending, aged 14–17, through the provision of two Prince's Trust programmes. This has been awarded a YJB grant of £340,000. Fairbridge West run an education, training and employment project, Constructive Alternatives Through Life Skills for Life that works with persistent young offenders and those on final warning in trying to build personal, social and independence skills. This is receiving YJB funding of approximately £64,000. £128,000 is provided towards a project run by Include. This is an education, training and employment project called Post 16 Bridge Course, that works with 16 and 17-year-old persistent offenders who have poor educational achievements and limited employment prospects. Bristol YOT runs a parenting scheme. Bristol Parenting Support Project, that supports parents of young people who are offending so that they may help their child reduce offending. This project receives £60,000 of YJB funding. A grant of £82,000 has been awarded to the Children's Society for a prevention programme it operates called Right Track, which provides support for black children and young people aged 10–17 who are involved in the criminal justice system.

  The Bristol Remand and Intensive Support Project is being implemented by Bristol YOT and NACRO (National Association for Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders). £370,000 has been awarded to the project whose main objective is to reduce the incidence of custodial remands for 10 to 17-year-olds.

  More generally, all of the policies of the Home Office will impact on the residents of Bristol, South to a greater or lesser extent. For example:
  376 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships have been established;
  racial harassment and racially motivated crimes have been made criminal offences by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998;
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  the asylum backlog has been cut from 103,495 at the end of January 2000 to 49,690 by the end of February 2001; and
  good progress is being made in reducing the incidence of fire deaths in England and Wales. They have dropped from 605 in 1997 to 534 in 1999.

  Information on the Home Office and its policies is also published on its website www.homeoffice.gov.uk.

  Departmental Policies (Southwark, North and Bermondsey)
  Mr. Bercow
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, including statistical information relating as directly as possible to the constituency, the effect on the Southwark, North and Bermondsey constituency of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [158861]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The Home Office is working to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities are properly balanced, and the protection and security of the public are maintained. Detailed information on the impact of Home Office policies across the full range of responsibilities is set out in Home Office Annual Reports. A copy of the most recent report, Home Office Annual Report 2000–01, is available in the Library. Information on recorded crime and policing is also published. "Recorded Crime England and Wales, 12 months to September 2000" and "Police Service Strength England and Wales, 30 September 2000" can be found in the Library.

  The recorded crime statistics include information on recorded crime by basic command unit and crime and disorder partnerships.

  The impact of Home Office policies and actions is not normally examined by constituency and the statistics which the Department collects, such as recorded crime, cannot be matched in the way requested although set out are examples relating to the Southwark and Bermondsey, North constituency or the immediate locality:

  Targeted Policing Initiative

  Under round 1 of the Targeted Policing Initiative the Metropolitan police in partnership with the London boroughs of Islington, Camden and Southwark were awarded £597,000 for a scheme covering these boroughs targeting auto crime through Operation Arrow, which is aimed at "hotspots" in the three boroughs.

  Under round 2 of the initiative the Metropolitan police were awarded £688,000 for a project covering Southwark to tackle hate crime. Methods used will include the creation of local self-help groups defined by cultural, ethnic or lifestyle profile and supported by a dedicated co-ordinator. The use of the rapid hate crime intervention officer, who would have access to a range of evidence collection methods, will be available.

  Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)

  London borough of Southwark was awarded approximately £850,000 for two schemes submitted under round 1 of the CCTV initiative. Housing CCTV Control Centre and Mobile CCTV Scheme was awarded £750,000 to provide a new control centre with the capacity to manage 500 cameras. In addition, 50 new mobile cameras

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  will be situated in crime "hotspots" across the borough. The scheme aims significantly to reduce overall crime, drug-related crime and burglary.

  The Car Park Vehicle Crime Prevention Scheme was awarded £100,000 for a 26 camera system, covering six car parks across the borough. The scheme aims to reduce all vehicle crime in the target area by 80 per cent. over three years.

  Reducing Burglary Initiative (RBI)

  The Metropolitan police in conjunction with the London borough of Southwark were awarded £65,000 under round 1 of the RBI, for a scheme in the West Camberwell area. Interventions include: establishment of a lock-fitting service to target burglary victims and vulnerable properties and establishment of a detached youth project. The quality of service to victims has been improved and a problem solving approach to burglary and improvements in relevant monitoring and communication systems is being developed. £65,000 was awarded to a scheme in the Parkside Plus area correcting physical vulnerability of vulnerable estates in the target area. It is also helping to develop new ways of working with offenders in the area.

  Under round 2 of the RBI, approximately £30,000 was awarded for a scheme in the Herne Hill and Croxted Road, West Dulwich areas. This project aimed to tackle situational vulnerability and unmarked property by using electronic alarms and property marking as well as increasing neighbourhood watch activity. £153,000 was awarded for a scheme in the North Southwark Corridor. The scheme aims to improve property marking and to work with offenders and work towards community building.

  Youth Offending

  North Southwark and Bermondsey is covered by Southwark Youth Offending Team (YOT). The Youth Justice Board (YJB) is contributing funding for five intervention schemes and one bail supervision scheme. Approximately £170,000 is being used to fund a Restorative Justice Conferencing Project. Southwark Mediation Centre works with the YOT to provide direct and indirect victim-offender mediation and family group conferencing services. Family Group Conferencing is offered to young people remanded into local authority accommodation, young people subject to throughcare and young people made the subject of Action Plan Orders.

  A Positive Parenting and Behavioural Change Programme includes the assessment of cognitive abilities. The YOT caseworkers provide consultation and life supervision via social skills training, anger management and cognitive behavioural interventions. The YJB are contributing £119,000 to this project. The YJB are also providing approximately £117,000 to an Appropriate Alternatives through Skills for Life (Cognitive Behaviour) programme. This project aims to provide integrated effective supervisory and mentoring support for 80 offenders.

  Approximately £69,000 is being provided to fund a Development Officer scheme. The Development Officer facilitates cross-borough communication and ensures congruence in development of services. A Parent Support Group has been established with a YJB contribution of approximately £43,000. This project offers support and information to parents and carers of young people who
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  are behaving in an anti-social or criminal manner. The YOT has supervised 26 Parenting Orders since April 2000 and has received positive feedback from parents attending these groups either voluntarily or as a condition of an order. The YJB are also providing approximately £104,000 to a bail support scheme, being run in partnership with NACRO. This has reduced the rate of re-offending while on bail, while also reducing the numbers of young people remanded into local authority accommodation, or custody.

  A functional team within the YOT is dedicated to providing preventative and early intervention services. A multi-agency Risk Management Panel has been established, designed to manage the risks presented to the public by a small number of prolific offenders, through an intelligence led approach. This activity will be supported by the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Project to be launched in July 2001. The YOT has provided and/or co-ordinated a number of crime reduction initiatives including innovative work in schools, alongside police officers, in support of Operation Arrow; the Youth Inclusion Programme in the Elephant and Castle area and Midnight Basketball in partnership with the Youth Service and the National Playing Fields Association. The YOT provides groupwork programmes in schools for disaffected pupils at risk of exclusion and co-ordinates monthly truancy patrols, which have dealt successfully with over 200 truants in the past year.

  Easter and Summer Splash Schemes have been run in the following estates: Aylesbury Estate, Rockingham; Astley Cooper estates; Heygate Estate and Peckham. These schemes were set up across England and Wales to address offending by young people (especially 13 to 17-year-olds). The five areas traditionally associated with youth crime—burglary, motor crime, criminal damage, street robbery and juvenile nuisance all showed significant reductions compared with the corresponding period in the previous year. The combined drop for these crimes was 14 per cent.

  More generally, all of the policies of the Home Office will impact on the residents of Southwark, North and Bermondsey to a greater or lesser extent. For example:
  376 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships have been established;
  racial harassment and racially motivated crimes have been made criminal offences by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998;
  the asylum backlog has been cut from 103,495 at the end of January 2000 to 49,690 by the end of February 2001; and
  good progress is being made in reducing the incidence of fire deaths in England and Wales. They have dropped from 605 in 1997 to 534 in 1999.

  Information on the Home Office and its policies is also published on its website www.homeoffice.gov.uk.

  Departmental Policies (Sandwell)
  Mr. Bailey
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Borough, the effects of his Department's policies and actions on the Metropolitan borough of Sandwell since 2 May 1997. [158330]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The Home Office is working to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and
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  communities are properly balanced, and the protection and security of the public are maintained. Detailed information on the impact of Home Office policies across the full range of responsibilities is set out in Home Office Annual Reports. A copy of the most recent report, Home Office Annual Report 2000–01, is available in the Library. Information on recorded crime and policing is also published. "Recorded Crime England and Wales, 12 months to September 2000" and "Police Service Strength England and Wales, 30 Sept ember 2000" can be found in the Library. The recorded crime statistics include information on recorded crime by basic command unit and crime and disorder partnerships.

  The impact of Home Office policies and actions is not normally examined by constituency and the statistics which the Department collects, such as recorded crime, cannot be matched in the way requested, although set out are examples relating to the Metropolitan borough of Sandwell or the immediate locality:

  Reducing Burglary Initiative (RBI)

  Under Round 1 of the RBI, Metropolitan police in partnership with Sandwell Metropolitan borough council have been awarded £60,000 and £58,000 for projects in the Yew Tree and Smethwick areas of Sandwell respectively. The Yew Tree project aims to follow resource intensive police 'Crackdowns' with a structured multi-agency approach to target hardening and crime reduction methods ('Consolidation'). Crime prevention information packs will be given to every house on the target estate, together with Smartwater property coding for identified vulnerable premises. Persistent offenders will be evicted by the local authority from the estate and promotion of neighbourhood watch schemes will be encouraged and diversionary work with young people on the estate will be carried out. The Smethwick estate will undertake a crime reduction awareness programme encouraging households to receive property marking and a home security survey. An assessment of estate design and management will be carried out, leading to initiatives to design out crime and targeted police patrol strategy, concentrating on the most prolific offenders supported by strict pre-sentence bail enforcement. The probation service will work with ex-offenders to manufacture ornamental security grilles that can be used for target hardening as part of the community service order programme.

  Under round 3 of the RBI, Sandwell Metropolitan borough council was awarded approximately £371,000 in partnership with West Midland police and Sandwell local education authority for a project in North Sandwell. The proposed interventions include a programme for educating residents about preventing and tackling crime, a dedicated enforcement team to tackle the most prolific offenders, target hardening, neighbourhood wardens and designing out crime. West Midlands police in partnership with Sandwell Metropolitan borough council, Education and Life Long Learning and Sandwell Youth Offending Team have been awarded £120,000 to tackle prolific young offenders through an approach successfully used by the Brandon Centre in Camden, London

  Targeted Policing Initiative

  West Midlands police in partnership with Leicester University have received £98,000 for six Neighbourhood Watch schemes across the West Midlands. This is a project based on "community safety through
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  communication". Six new Neighbourhood Watch schemes will be set up and provided with radio equipment for communicating among themselves and alerting the police. The University will then study the findings and issue a manual of best practice in how to use such radio links.

  Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)

  The safer Sandwell Partnership, with West Midlands police, were awarded approximately £745,000 for four schemes under round two of the CCTV initiative. These schemes are in the following areas: Darley House Enhancement; Charlemont Farm Estate; St. Giles' and Moorland Court and Friar Park Estate.

  Youth Offending

  Sandwell Youth Offending Team (YOT) covers the area of Sandwell in the West Midlands. The YOT works in partnership with a local Nacro (National Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders) project in the delivery of some of the Final Warning programmes. Crime Concern is running the Youth Inclusion Programme for the Greets Green neighbourhood in Sandwell. Community service is provided by the Probation Service. All service users are assessed using the Youth Justice Board (YJB) Asset assessment tool. In addition if there are concerns regarding a young person's mental health of substance use further specialist assessments are undertaken by the YOT community psychiatric nurse (CPN) or drug worker. The YOT is a multi-agency team consisting of members from: Social Service; Probation; Police; Education officers; Bail Support workers; Youth Justice workers; drug worker and a CPN.

  The YOT provides the following services: appropriate adults, bail support, court reports, programmes in support of final warnings, delivery of reparation orders, action plan orders, supervision orders, community rehabilitation orders, community punishment and rehabilitation orders and young offender through care. In support of final warnings the team have used offending behaviour group work in partnership with Nacro and are also using the "Prison No Way" and "Impact Roadshow" packages. Funding has been obtained to run a particular cognitive behavioural programme (the Brandon Centre Programme) for persistent young burglars. This programme has been rigorously evaluated and shown to reduce recidivism in the target group. The YJB are providing funding for one bail support scheme and two intervention schemes. The bail supervision and support scheme has been awarded a grant of approximately £74,000 over three years making a total project investment of £376,000. This project aims to ensure that young offenders will be assessed for and, if suitable, offered bail support as well as ensuring that those remanded to local authority care are appropriately placed and supported. It is attempting to reduce the number of young people in local authority and custodial remand placements by 50 per cent. and 30 per cent. respectively.

  Re-Solve implements a prevention scheme, Sandwell-Volatile Substance Abuse Prevention Initiative, which contributes to the reduction in offending behaviour by supporting local strategies aimed at addressing volatile substance abuse in Sandwell. The YJB are contributing approximately £10,500 towards this project. £256,000 is provided towards a joint local authority/WISH project. The WISH project focuses on children and young people who act in a sexually inappropriate way towards other people.
  381W
  More generally, all of the policies of the Home Office will impact on the residents of Metropolitan borough of Sandwell to a greater or lesser extent. For example:
  376 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships have been established;1
  racial harassment and racially motivated crimes have been made criminal offences by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998;
  the asylum backlog has been cut from 103,495 at the end of January 2000 to 49,690 by the end of February 2001; and
  good progress is being made in reducing the incidence of fire deaths in England and Wales. They have dropped from 605 in 1997 to 534 in 1999.

  Information on the Home Office and its policies is also published on its website www.homeoffice.gov.uk.

  Augusto Pinochet
  Mr. Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what criteria Dr. Michael Denham was selected to assess the capacity of Augusto Pinochet to stand trial; which other consultants were considered; and what objections were made to his appointment. [158976]

  Mr. Straw
  Dr. Denham was selected because he was a consultant physician in geriatric medicine, a medical specialism which was an essential component of the medical team for the purpose for which it was appointed, and because it was established that he was of outstanding national and international reputation in that specialism and had no inappropriate personal interest in the case. No objections were made to his appointment.

  Mr. Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which of the records of medical examinations carried out on Augusto Pinochet prepared for his Department have been made available to(a) military and (b) legal authorities in Chile. [158977]

  Mr. Straw
  None of the records concerned were made available directly by me or on my behalf to the authorities in Chile, nor did we receive any request to that effect.

  Senator Pinochet was medically examined on 5 January 2000 for the purposes of the extradition proceedings then under way. The report was made available to Senator Pinochet and, later, to each of the four states—Spain, France, Belgium and Switzerland—that requested his extradition. Its contents subsequently received wide circulation in the world media. At the conclusion of the case I placed a copy of the report in the Library.

  Holloway Prison
  Mr. Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the staffing level is of(a) doctors, (b) nurses and (c) support staff in the medical facility at HMP Holloway; and what the equivalent figures were for each of the last five years. [158982]

  Mr. Boateng
  As of 24 April 2001, there were(a) three doctors, (b) 43 nurses and (c) 26 support staff employed in Holloway's health care centre. On the same date last year, the equivalent figures were (a) four doctors, (b) 50 nurses and (c) 41 support staff.

  Information for previous years is not available. While there are staffing difficulties at Holloway, due to a number of factors, it should be noted that in November last year,
  382W
  the detoxification and post-detoxification treatment facilities were removed from the health care centre to separate units, reducing the number of health care centre beds from 92 to 27.

  Drug Misuse
  Mr. Jon Owen Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 23 April 2001, how he proposes to measure his performance against the first and fourth of his targets in his Tackling Drugs strategy; what figures he is currently using for the numbers of young people using illegal drugs and the amount of drugs available on the streets; and how he has arrived at these estimates. [158935]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The target covers young people aged under 25 years, and is based on measuring the proportion of people who report use of Class A drugs (heroin, crack cocaine, powder cocaine, ecstasy, magic mushrooms, methadone and LSD). This is measured principally by the British Crime Survey (BCS) which is a nationally representative victimisation survey of households in England and Wales. The survey is administered annually (from 2000) using computer-assisted interviewing to a random sample of households, with a sample of 40,000 (from 2001 onwards), aged 16 and upwards.

  The results from the 1998 BCS form the baseline. The proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds reporting use of Class A drugs in the last year was 8.3 per cent. and in the last month was 3.4 per cent. The report on the drugs component of the 1998 BCS published in 1999 as Home Office Research Study 197, and is available in the Library.

  The baseline information from the BCS will also be supplemented by other available research, including the results of a school-based survey.

  The baseline in terms of drug availability will be based on a range of current and planned research (including intelligence estimates). The 1999–2000 baseline that determines the availability of drugs in the United Kingdom will be measured in a forthcoming Home Office research study. This study will estimate the size and extent of the United Kingdom drugs market for selected drugs including heroin, crack and cocaine. The Home Office will publish the findings of this research in the summer of 2001.

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's Drug Prevention Advisory Service Business Plan. [159023]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The Drugs Prevention Advisory Service Business Plan is currently being prepared for publication and should be available by 2 May. We will arrange for copies to be placed in the Library.

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drug treatment and testing orders have been(a) made, (b) breached and (c) revoked by the courts since the national roll-out of the order in October 2000. [158946]
  383W
  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The available information is shown in the table:

  Drug treatment and testing orders England and Wales

  1 October 2000–31 March 20011

  Number of orders

  Made

  1,250

  Breached

  2—

  Revoked by courts

  100

  1 Estimated from those returns received from the 42 areas Not

  2 Not available at present

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders were dealt with for supply offences in respect of Class A drugs for the calendar years(a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998, (d) 1999 and (e) 2000 and for the financial years (i) 1996–97, (ii) 1997–98, (iii) 1998–99, (iv) 1999–2000 and (v) 2000–01. [159024]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  Not all the information requested is available. The table gives the number of persons dealt with during the calendar years 1996 through 1999 for supply offences involving Class A drugs. Data for 2000 are not yet available. Information broken down by financial year can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

  Persons dealt with for supply offences involving Class A drugs, United Kingdom, 1996–99

  year

  Police (Great Britain)

  Customs (United Kingdom)

  Total

  1996

  5,332

  425

  5,757

  1997

  6,813

  510

  7,323

  1998

  7,866

  236

  8,102

  1999

  9,133

  384

  9,517

  Notes:

  1. Police data not available by drug type for Northern Ireland, 1996–99. 'Dealt with' means found guilty, cautioned, given a fiscal fine (Scotland only), or dealt with by compounding (Customs).

  2. 'Supply' offences have been taken to mean: unlawful production, possession with intent to supply unlawfully, unlawful supply, and unlawful import/export.

  Source:

  Drugs and Alcohol Research Unit, Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate.

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to publish the results

  Notifiable offences recorded by the police by police force Vehicle crime (thefts of and from vehicles)

  Police force

  Offences year ending March 1999

  Offences year ending March 2000

  Change

  Percentage change

  Offences year ending September 2000

  Avon and Somerset

  37,823

  34,411

  -3,412

  -9

  32,669

  Bedfordshire

  12,752

  14,442

  1,690

  13

  13,897

  Cambridgeshire

  13,233

  12,443

  -790

  -6

  11,819

  Cheshire

  12,447

  12,176

  -271

  -2

  12,443

  Cleveland

  14,301

  13,030

  -1,271

  -9

  13,410

  Cumbria

  6,477

  5,414

  -1,063

  -16

  4,747

  Derbyshire

  20,273

  18,121

  -2,152

  -11

  16,119

  Devon and Cornwall

  22,270

  21,438

  -832

  -4

  21,207

  Dorset

  12,298

  11,427

  -871

  -7

  10,851

  Durham

  10,056

  9,126

  -930

  -9

  8,689

  Essex

  22,278

  20,429

  -1,849

  -8

  19,718

  Gloucestershire

  11,196

  10,244

  -952

  -9

  9,056

  Greater Manchester

  87,181

  87,932

  751

  1

  85,306

  Hampshire

  24,425

  23,363

  -1,062

  -4

  23,046

  Hertfordshire

  13,320

  12,578

  -742

  -6

  13,456

  384W
  of his Department's research into the results of the new England and Wales Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Initiative. [159022]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The first annual report of the new England and Wales Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring programme (NEW-ADAM) will be published in the summer of 2001. The results of previous NEW-ADAM studies are in the Library (Home Office Research Studies 183 and 205; published in 1998 and 2000).

  Crime Statistics
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for(a) each police force area and (b) each basic command unit area, the number of recorded vehicle crimes in (i) the financial year 1998–99, (ii) the financial year 1999–2000 and (iii) the first nine months of the financial year 2000–01; what is the difference between the number of recorded vehicle crimes in 1999–2000 and in 1998–99; and what is the percentage change in the number of recorded vehicle crimes in 1999–2000 compared with 1998–99. [159047]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  For the purpose of this question, 'vehicle crime' is taken to mean theft of and from vehicles. The number of vehicle crimes in 1998–99 and 1999–2000 by police force area is given in the table, with the change and percentage change between the two years. The numbers of thefts of and from vehicles in basic command unit areas have been collected for the period from 1 April 1999. Details of these offences in 1999–2000 by basic command unit area are included in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin 12–00, 'Recorded Crime Statistics: England and Wales, April 1999 to March 2000', which is available in the Library.

  Details of the number of vehicle crimes for the first nine months of 2000–01 in police force areas are not yet available. The number of vehicle crimes by police force area in the year ending September 2000 is given in the table. Details of the number of thefts of and from vehicles in basic command units for the first nine months of 2000–01 are not available centrally. Figures for thefts of and from vehicles for basic command units for the year ended September 2000 are included in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin 1–01, 'Recorded Crime: England and Wales, 12 months to September 2000', which is available in the Library.
  385W

  Notifiable offences recorded by the police by police force Vehicle crime (thefts of and from vehicles)

  Police force

  Offences year ending March 1999

  Offences year ending March 2000

  Change

  Percentage change

  Offences year ending September 2000

  Humberside

  25,404

  21,880

  -3,524

  -14

  20,479

  Kent

  29,294

  22,465

  -6,829

  -23

  23,043

  Lancashire

  23,478

  20,812

  -2,666

  -11

  19,541

  Leicestershire

  20,540

  18,940

  -1,600

  -8

  17,217

  Lincolnshire

  6,944

  6,871

  -73

  -1

  6,749

  London, City of

  502

  611

  109

  22

  639

  Merseyside

  30,337

  33,735

  3,398

  11

  32,801

  Metropolitan police

  163,020

  174,997

  11,977

  7

  171,789

  Norfolk

  10,834

  10,428

  -406

  -4

  10,099

  Northamptonshire

  14,065

  12,255

  -1,810

  -13

  11,685

  Northumbria

  29,416

  26,199

  -3,217

  -11

  24,427

  North Yorkshire

  9,641

  8,596

  -1,045

  -11

  8,180

  Nottinghamshire

  26,957

  24,716

  -2,241

  -8

  24,485

  South Yorkshire

  33,304

  29,523

  -3,781

  -11

  26,728

  Staffordshire

  19,464

  17,601

  -1,863

  -10

  16,638

  Suffolk

  6,446

  6,501

  55

  1

  6,192

  Surrey

  7,107

  7,455

  348

  5

  8,634

  Sussex

  25,334

  25,140

  -194

  -1

  24,074

  Thames Valley

  49,047

  50,464

  1,417

  3

  46,287

  Warwickshire

  8,961

  8,621

  -340

  -4

  7,516

  West Mercia

  16,174

  15,743

  -431

  -3

  14,527

  West Midlands

  74,142

  77,031

  2,889

  4

  72,136

  West Yorkshire

  64,071

  58,298

  -5,773

  -9

  59,449

  Wiltshire

  6,759

  6,598

  -161

  -2

  5,620

  Dyfed-Powys

  2,480

  2,203

  -277

  -11

  2,113

  Gwent

  9,746

  9,107

  -639

  -7

  8,157

  North Wales

  7,254

  7,501

  247

  3

  7,000

  South Wales

  36,681

  33,053

  -3,628

  -10

  27,687

  England and Wales

  1,077,732

  1,043,918

  -33,814

  -3

  1,000,325

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for(a) each police force area and (b) each basic command unit area the number of recorded domestic burglaries in (1) the financial years 1998–99, (2) the financial year 1999–2000 and (3) the first nine months of the financial year 2000–01; what is the difference between the number of recorded domestic burglaries in 1999–2000 and in 1998–99; and what is the percentage change in the number of recorded domestic burglaries in 1999–2000 compared with 1998–99. [159045]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The number of burglaries in a dwelling in 1998–99 and 1999–2000 by police force area is given in the table, with the change and percentage change between the two years. The number of burglaries in a dwelling in basic command unit areas has been collected for the period from 1 April 1999. Details of these offences in 1999–2000 by basic command unit area are included in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin 12/00, "Recorded Crime Statistics: England and Wales, April 1999 to March 2000", which is available in the Library.

  Details of the number of burglaries in a dwelling for the first nine months of 2000–01 in police force areas are not yet available, and are not available centrally for basic command units. Figures for the year ended September 2000 are included in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin 1/01, "Recorded Crime: England and Wales, 12 months to September 2000", which is available in the Library.
  386W

  Notifiable offences recorded by the police by police force—Burglary in dwelling

  Police force

  Year ending March 1999

  Offences Year ending March 2000

  Change

  Percentage change

  Avon and Somerset

  14,584

  13,121

  -1,463

  -10

  Bedfordshire

  3,302

  3,709

  407

  12

  Cambridgeshire

  5,628

  5,259

  -369

  -7

  Cheshire

  5,925

  5,379

  -546

  -9

  Cleveland

  8,875

  7,717

  -1,158

  -13

  Cumbria

  2,298

  2,222

  -76

  -3

  Derbyshire

  6,603

  6,427

  -176

  -3

  Devon and Cornwall

  7,435

  7,416

  -19

  0

  Dorset

  3,828

  3,524

  -304

  -8

  Durham

  4,597

  4,044

  -553

  -12

  Essex

  6,331

  5,868

  -463

  -7

  Gloucestershire

  4,866

  4,160

  -706

  -15

  Greater Manchester

  45,739

  40,953

  -4,786

  -10

  Hampshire

  7,892

  7,372

  -520

  -7

  Hertfordshire

  3,589

  3,501

  -88

  -2

  Humberside

  13,496

  13,040

  -456

  -3

  Kent

  10,179

  8,177

  -2,002

  -20

  Lancashire

  12,189

  10,561

  -1,628

  -13

  Leicestershire

  8,937

  7,803

  -1,134

  -13

  Lincolnshire

  4,455

  4,626

  171

  4

  London, City of

  39

  27

  -12

  -31

  Merseyside

  14,177

  13,606

  -571

  -4

  Metropolitan police

  75,797

  79,504

  3,707

  5

  Norfolk

  3,711

  3,956

  245

  7

  Northamptonshire

  5,110

  4,907

  -203

  -4

  Northumbria

  15,334

  12,539

  -2,795

  -18

  North Yorkshire

  4,822

  4,343

  -479

  -10

  Nottinghamshire

  13,697

  12,612

  -1,085

  -8

  South Yorkshire

  18,405

  16,169

  -2,236

  -12

  Staffordshire

  9,974

  9,073

  -901

  -9

  Suffolk

  2,464

  2,332

  -132

  -5

  Surrey

  3,100

  2,903

  -197

  -6

  Sussex

  11,026

  9,596

  -1,430

  -13

  Thames Valley

  14,434

  15,498

  1,064

  7

  Warwickshire

  2,887

  3,189

  302

  10

  387W

  Notifiable offences recorded by the polite by police force—Burglary in dwelling

  Police force

  Year ending March 1999

  Offences Year ending March 2000

  Change

  Percentage change

  West Mercia

  5,867

  5,667

  -200

  -3

  West Midlands

  37,323

  35,583

  -1,740

  -5

  West Yorkshire

  35,952

  29,623

  -6,329

  -18

  Wiltshire

  2,447

  2,149

  -298

  -12

  Dyfed-Powys

  973

  696

  -277

  -28

  Gwent

  3,377

  3,148

  -229

  -7

  North Wales

  2,449

  2,219

  -230

  -9

  South Wales

  9,239

  8,383

  -856

  -9

  England and Wales

  473,352

  442,601

  -30,751

  -7

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of Slate for the Home Department when he intends to publish the recorded crime statistics for the 12 months ending 31 March. [159012]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The recorded crime bulletin for the year ending March 2001 is due to be published in the week beginning 16 July 2001.

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the police force areas and basic command units that make up the principal cities which are the subject of his Department's target for reducing recorded robbery. [159013]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  We have set the following five forces a target of a 14 per cent. reduction of robbery by March 2005: Greater Manchester police, Merseyside police, Metropolitan police, West Midlands police and West Yorkshire police.

  The basic command units which make up these police force areas are:
  Greater Manchester Police
  Bolton, Bury, North Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, South Manchester, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan.
  Merseyside Police
  Central Wirral, City and Kirkdale, Knowsley, North Sefton, North Wirral, South Liverpool, South Sefton, St Helens, Walton and Croxteth, Wavertree and Riverside and West Derby and Tuebrook.
  Metropolitan Police
  Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, City of Westminster, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Heathrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston-upon-Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond-upon-Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Wandsworth.
  West Midlands Police
  D1—Erdington/Aston/Nechells/Saltley/Ward End, D2—Sutton Coldfield/Castle Vale /Kingstanding, D3—Stechford/Shard End/ Bordesley Green/Bromford/Sheldon, E1—Bournville/Bartley Green/Longbridge/Selly Oak/Frankley/Northfield, E2—Kings Heath/Billesley/Kings Norton, E3—Acocks Green/Sparkhill/ Sparkbrook/Edgbaston /Balsall Heath/Selly Park/Moseley, F1—Birmingham City Centre/Digbeth, F2—Soho/ Winson Green/ Harbourne/Ladywood/Quinton, F3—Soho/Handsworth/Sandwell/ Perry Barr/Aston (part), G1—Wolverhampton Town Centre/ Wolverhampton West/ Whitmoreanes/Tettenhall/Penn, G2— Wednesfield/Bilsto H1—Walsall North and South/Walsall Town Centre/Aldridge, H2W—Willenhall/Blexwich/Brownhills/ Darlaston, J1—Brierley Hill/Dudley/Sedgeley/Gornal, J2—Halesowen/Stourbridge/ Lye/Cradley/Kingswinford, K1—West Bromwich/Wednesbury/Tipton/Great Barr, K2—Smethwick/
  388W
  Oldbury/Old Hill/Langley/Warley, L1—Solihull/Chelmsley Wood/Shirley, M1—Coundon/Hillsfields/Tile Hill/Coventry City Centre, M2—Fletchamstead /Stivichall/Willenham—Coventry/ Stoke and M3—Radford/Foleshill/Bell Green/ Wyken.
  West Yorkshire Police
  Bradford Central, Calder Valley, Chapeltown, Dewsbury, Eccleshill, Halifax, Holbeck, Huddersfield, Keighley, Killingbeck, Millgarth, Odsal, Pontefract, Pudsey, Toller Lane, Wakefield and Weetwood.

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list(a) for each police force area and (b) each basic command unit area the number of recorded robberies in (i) 1998–99, (ii) 1999–2000 and (iii) the first nine months of the financial year 2000–01; what is the difference between the number of recorded robberies in the first nine months of 2000–01 compared with the first nine months of 1999–2000; and what is the percentage difference between the number of recorded robberies in the first nine months of 2000–01 compared with the first nine months of 1999–2000. [159044]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The number of robberies in 1998–99 and 1999–2000 by police force area are given in the table.

  The number of robberies in basic command unit areas has been collected for the period from 1 April 1999. Details of the number of robberies in 1999–2000 by basic command unit areas are included in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin 12–00, 'Recorded Crime Statistics: England and Wales, April 1999 to March 2000', which is available in the Library.

  Details of the number of robberies for the first nine months of 2000–01 in police force areas are not yet available, and are not available centrally for basic command units. Figures for the year ended September 2000 are included in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin 1–01, 'Recorded Crime: England and Wales, 12 months to September 2000', which is available in the Library.

  Notifiable offences recorded by the police by police force—Robbery

  Police force

  Offences year ending year ending March 1999

  Offences year ending March 2000

  Change

  Percentage change

  Avon and Somerset

  1,831

  2,381

  550

  30

  Bedfordshire

  530

  615

  85

  16

  Cambridgeshire

  437

  548

  111

  25

  Cheshire

  397

  466

  69

  17

  Cleveland

  908

  839

  -69

  -8

  Cumbria

  119

  90

  -29

  -24

  Derbyshire

  504

  584

  80

  16

  Devon and Cornwall

  462

  487

  25

  5

  Dorset

  205

  241

  36

  18

  Durham

  172

  236

  64

  37

  Essex

  523

  626

  103

  20

  Gloucestershire

  273

  291

  18

  7

  Greater Manchester

  7,632

  8,634

  1,002

  13

  Hampshire

  588

  732

  144

  24

  Hertfordshire

  250

  420

  170

  68

  Humberside

  839

  950

  111

  13

  Kent

  712

  827

  115

  16

  Lancashire

  982

  1,058

  76

  8

  Leicestershire

  967

  1,023

  56

  6

  Lincolnshire

  149

  178

  29

  19

  London, City of

  29

  49

  20

  69

  Merseyside

  2,484

  2,663

  179

  7

  Metropolitan Police

  26,330

  36,317

  9,987

  38

  Norfolk

  220

  297

  77

  35

  Northamptonshire

  443

  481

  38

  9

  Northumbria

  1,347

  1,389

  42

  3

  North Yorkshire

  170

  212

  42

  25

  Nottinghamshire

  1,312

  1,768

  456

  35

  389W

  Notifiable offences recorded by the police by police force—Robbery

  Police force

  Offences year ending March 1999

  Offences year ending March 2000

  Change

  Percentage change

  South Yorkshire

  979

  1,122

  143

  15

  Staffordshire

  509

  697

  188

  37

  Suffolk

  140

  223

  83

  59

  Surrey

  171

  224

  53

  31

  Sussex

  939

  1,020

  81

  9

  Thames Valley

  1,327

  1,659

  332

  25

  Warwickshire

  170

  224

  54

  32

  West Mercia

  351

  359

  8

  2

  West Midlands

  7,315

  10,092

  2,777

  38

  West Yorkshire

  3,072

  3,088

  16

  1

  Wiltshire

  195

  258

  63

  32

  Dyfed-Powys

  42

  28

  -14

  -33

  Gwent

  173

  216

  43

  25

  North Wales

  127

  146

  19

  15

  South Wales

  511

  519

  8

  2

  England and Wales

  66,836

  84,277

  17,441

  26

  Sentence Reports
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the ratio of specific sentence reports to the total of pre-sentence reports plus specific sentence reports in(a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000 and (c) 2000–2001. [158929]

  Crime Reduction Directors

  Name

  Experience and qualifications

  David A'Herne—Wales

  Served with the South Wales police for 31 years Masters degree in criminology specialised in community policing Member of the British Society of Criminology

  Margaret Geary—West Midlands

  Professional probation officer and social worker Experience with Warwickshire social services and West Midlands probation service Formerly Home Office Government Office co-ordinator for West Midlands

  Greg Dyche—Yorkshire and the Humber

  Civil servant with experience across a number of Government Departments Six years in Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber Law graduate

  Henry Tam—East of England

  Former Assistant Chief Executive of St. Edmundsbury Borough Council in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk Doctorate in Moral and Criminal Responsibility Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing

  Alan Brown—North East

  Former Deputy Chief Constable Northumbria police with 33 years service in total Awarded Queen's Police Medal in 1996 Member of the Institute of Personnel Development

  Stephen Brookes—East Midlands

  24 years experience as a service Police Officer with Hampshire, Avon and Somerset and Leicestershire police Led Her majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary thematic inspection 'Calling Time on Crime'

  David Smith—North West

  35 years in the Police Service, including nine years as Assistant Chief Constable in both Northumbria and Lancashire police First class honours degree in Social Studies

  Paul Rowlandson—South West

  34 years service with Merseyside police, including three years as a staff officer with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary

  Hugh Marriage—South East

  Member of Home Office staff for over 35 years Previously head of the Criminal Policy Strategy Unit

  Ellie Roy—London

  21 years with the probation service including four as Chief Probation Officer in Northamptonshire

  390W
  Mr. Boateng
  Specific sentence reports became used nationally only at the end of 1999. Figures are available only for the first three quarters of 2000. The proportion of pre-sentence reports that were specific sentence reports was:1st Quarter—5 per cent.
  2nd Quarter—7 per cent.
  3rd Quarter—8 per cent.

  The figures are estimates as the definitions varied slightly in different probation areas.

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of pre-sentence reports were delivered within 15 days during the year 2000–01; and if he will make a statement. [158930]

  Mr. Boateng
  Information collected by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation indicates that in the first six months of 2000–01, 71 per cent. of pre-sentence reports were prepared within 15 days. This figure is provisional as not all data are yet available. Information is not yet available for the second six months.

  Crime Reduction Directors
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the Crime Reduction Directors in England and Wales, indicating their relevant(a) experience and (b) qualifications. [159036]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The details requested are given in the table.
  391W
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the total cost to public funds of the Crime Reduction Directors in England and Wales, their offices and support staff. [159037]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The 10 Crime Reduction Directors took up post between June and October last year. The total cost of the directors, their support staff and associated running costs was £2,043,000 in 2000–01. Crime reduction support staff were employed prior to the appointment of the directors, principally to manage the crime reduction programme funding, and their total cost in 1999–2000 was £529,000.

  Football-related Offences
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many football-related offences had been committed by the end of March; and what his Department's baseline figure was. [159035]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The data are not available in the form requested. But as of 20 April 2001, there have been 3,026 arrests in connection with football-related offences at Premier League and Nationwide League grounds this season. This is comparable with last season's figure of 3,137. Football-related arrests continue to be a small proportion in relation to total attendances, which exceed 25 million per season.

  Disorder (Reduction)
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his baseline for his Department's PSA target to reduce the level of disorder. [159020]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  Work is currently in progress to develop an accurate and reliable indicator of the level of disorder. It is expected that the indicator will be based on information gathered from the British Crime Survey. As the relevant questions have been included in the survey only since the start of this year, it is not possible at present to produce a baseline figure. We expect to be able to determine a baseline in the autumn.

  Sexual Offenders
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) accredited offender behaviour programmes and (b) accredited offender behaviour programmes for sexual offenders were completed in the financial year 2000–01. [159030]

  Mr. Boateng
  The total number of accredited offending behaviour programmes completed in Prison Service establishments in 2000–01 was 6,041. Of these, 848 were sex offender treatment programmes. These data are provisional and subject to validation by prisons.

  Glidewell Justice Units
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the Glidewell co-located criminal justice units; and if he will make a statement on the targets and performance indicators which he has set for those units. [158952]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  20 co-located Glidewell Criminal Justice Units had been established in police or Crown Prosecution Service premises in 13 criminal justice areas 392W
  by 31 March 2001. A further 56 units are planned for establishment by 31 March 2002. The initial sites are at: Bristol, Crewe, Middlesbrough, Durham, Colchester, Harlow, Southend, Laindon, Basingstoke, Newport (Isle of Wight), Folkestone, Maidstone, Preston, Lancaster, Skegness, Caernarfon, Barnsley, Brierley Hill, Halesowen and Halifax.

  Criminal Justice Units are a practical example of independent organisations working together to secure reductions in delay and duplication by sharing resources and developing a common administration. Separate targets or performance indicators have not been set for these jointly staffed units. Police and Crown Prosecution Service staff employed within these units will continue to work towards discrete departmental targets that have been set by their respective and independent organisations.

  Young Offenders
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his baseline for his Department's PSA target of reducing by 5 per cent. the percentage of young people who offend. [159018]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The Home Office has a Public Service Agreement (PSA) target of reducing the rate of reconvictions of all young offenders by 5 per cent. by 2004 compared to the predicted rate.

  The baseline is derived from Police National Computer data on offenders aged 10 to 17 cautioned or convicted in the first half of 1997. The one-year reconviction rate for this period is 33.7 per cent. The target requires that the number of reconvictions be reduced by 5 per cent. by 2004, compared to a predicted rate which incorporates the baseline data as well as other factors. If there were no other factors, the target would require a rate of 32 per cent.

  The predicted rate will, however, make allowance for the following:

  (a) Any changes in the age, sex, offence and previous criminal history profile of sentenced or cautioned offenders. These factors are known to be associated with the risk of reoffending;

  (b) External factors associated with other PSA targets, which impact on reconviction, but not on the underlying rate of reoffending, where methodology allows. This is likely to focus on reduced delays in achieving a conviction (PSA target 8) and the increased proportion of recorded crimes where the offender is brought to justice (PSA target 6);

  (c) Subsequent convictions for offences committed prior to the offender commencing the period under study.

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases involving persistent young offenders have come before the courts in(a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999, (d) 2000 and (e) 2001 to date; and how many have come before the courts in the financial years (i) 1997–98, (ii) 1998–99, (iii) 1999–2000 and (iv) 2000–01. [158938]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  Information is not held centrally in the exact form requested. The following figures relate to persistent young offenders, as defined for the purpose of measuring and monitoring the Government's pledge to halve the time between arrest and sentence from 142 days in 1996. The table shows the number of persistent young offenders who were sentenced (rather than attended a
  393W
  court) in England and Wales during the years requested. A figure for 2000–01 cannot be given, as data for the first quarter of 2001 are not yet available.

  Year

  Number of cases

  1997

  16,010

  1998

  18,605

  1999

  21,151

  2000

  23,131

  1997–98

  16,840

  1998–99

  19,131

  1999–2000

  22,126

  2000–01

  n/a

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many cases a final warning has been given to a young offender; in what proportion of such cases the final warning has been followed by an intervention; and if he will make a statement. [159007]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  Under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, reprimands and final warnings replaced cautions for young offenders (those aged 10–17). They were introduced in seven pilot areas from the end of September 1998 until 1 June 2000, when both reprimands and final warnings became available nationwide.

  The table shows, for each quarter, the number of final warnings issued. Those recorded during the final quarter of 1998 were collected as part of the pilot. Data for 1999 and 2000 are as recorded on the Home Office Court Proceedings and Cautions Database. Data for 2000 are provisional, that for the last quarter not yet available.

  Number of persons aged 10–17 given final warnings in England and Wales

  Number

  1998

  4th quarter

  1580

  1999

  1st quarter

  1450

  2nd quarter

  1640

  3rd quarter

  1490

  4th quarter

  1470

  2000

  1st quarter

  1970

  2nd quarter

  22,760

  3rd quarter

  26,620

  Total

  12,970

  1 Seven pilots areas only

  2 Nationwide from 1 June

  Data received from Youth Offending Teams show that 55 per cent. of final warnings were followed by an intervention during the period June 2000 to December 2000 (48 per cent. in the quarter June to September and 63 per cent. in the quarter October to December).

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for each police force area, the average number of days from arrest to sentence in cases involving persistent young offenders at the most recent date for which figures are available. [158936]
  394W
  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The latest available figures for the time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders for each police force area are for the year 2000. These figures were published in the Lord Chancellor's Department Statistical Bulletin 3/2001 on 23 March 2001. A copy of this bulletin will be placed in the Library.

  Criminal Justice System
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what targets and performance indicators he has set to meet his Department's objective of tackling attrition in the criminal justice system; [158951]

  (2) what is his baseline and what are his targets and performance indicators to meet his Department's objective of achieving a reasonable reduction in attrition. [158937]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The Public Service Agreement for the whole criminal justice system, agreed in last year's Spending Review, included a target of increasing the number and proportion of recorded crimes for which an offender is brought to justice. ("Brought to justice" means that an offender has been cautioned, has an offence taken into consideration by the courts in passing sentence, or is convicted of an offence). In "Criminal Justice: The Way Ahead", we indicated that, specifically, there will be a criminal justice system-wide target to increase, by 2004, the number of recorded crimes ending in an offender being brought to justice by 100,000. In 1999–2000, 1,270,000 offences were brought to justice, which represented 24 per cent. of the 5,301,000 crimes recorded in that year.

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets he has set to improve the satisfaction of(a) victims and (b) witnesses with the criminal justice system. [159025]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The current target for both victim and witness satisfaction is a five percentage point improvement by March 2002.

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to publish his Department's research findings on public confidence in the criminal justice system. [159026]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The findings of the 2000 British Crime Survey on confidence in the criminal justice system were published on 31 January 2001. A copy of Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate Research Findings No. 137: Confidence in the Criminal Justice System: Findings from the 2000 British Crime Survey was deposited in the Library following publication.

  Organised Crime
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a copy of the report prepared for his Department by Professor Michael Levi on laws to combat organised crime. [158950]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The Government have undertaken in "Criminal Justice—The Way Ahead" (Cm 5074) to consider whether there is a need to introduce a new offence to cover organised criminal conspiracy. Professor Michael Levi was commissioned by the Home Office last year to study the experience of
  395W
  countries that had already introduced such offences. A summary of the report is being prepared by officials and will be published later this year. Copies of this summary will be placed in the Library.

  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his(a) baseline and (b) target for the disruption of organised criminal enterprises. [159029]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The Home Office Public Service Agreement sets a target of disrupting 10 per cent. more organised criminal enterprises by 2004. The baseline figure will be the number of such groups disrupted during 2000–01, which is currently being determined.

  Prisoner Activity
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average number of hours of purposeful activity per prisoner per week(a) in 2000–01 and (b) at the most recent date for which figures are available. [158933]

  Mr. Boateng
  The average number of purposeful activity hours per prisoner per week in 2000–01 was 23.8 hours. The average rate during March 2001 was 24.5 hours. The data for March are provisional and subject to validation by prisons.

  "Living without Fear"
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the projects currently being funded by his Department in order to implement the action points of "Living without Fear", indicating the objective, expected duration and cost to public funds of each such project. [159014]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The Government's 1999 policy and awareness raising publication, "Living without Fear", set out information on domestic violence and other aspects of violence against women, with examples of the innovative interventions then under way to address them. It was designed as a basis for the future development of policy and described the measures the Government had themselves already undertaken, those they had in hand and those they were committed to taking. A number of these measures were to ensure that relevant issues were properly taken into account in general policy rather than being specifically and exclusively directed at violence against women. Current projects that are so directed are those within the Violence against Women Initiative of the Crime Reduction Programme, and information on them is given in a table which has been placed in the Library.

  Criminal Justice Act (Costs)
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to publish a report under section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 on costs. [158931]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  Data are currently being collected and a report prepared on costs. Subject to trilateral agreement between the criminal justice agencies, we hope to publish the report before the end of the year.

  Statutory Time Limits (Pilots)
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the progress of statutory time limits pilots. [158928]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  Piloting of statutory time limits began on 1 November 1999 in youth courts in six areas. The pilots are being evaluated by independent researchers from the University of Sheffield. The evaluation is in progress and is expected to be completed at the end of the year.

  Probation Service
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the figures(a) nationally and (b) for each probation area for the number and proportion of cases under supervision by the Probation Service where breach action was taken in accordance with national standards in 2000–01. [158934]

  Mr. Boateng
  The figures for compliance with the national standard on breach are provided by the Association of Chief Officers of Probation audit of probation areas and are shown in the table. This gives the results of the most recent audit. The audit covers supervision of probation orders, community service orders (as community punishment orders and community rehabilitation orders were at the time) and licence cases only. The national totals show that breach action was taken in 65 per cent. of cases in accordance with national standards; in a further five per cent. of cases, management authorisation not to breach was given, also in line with national standards.

  Offenders breached

  Area

  Number breached

  Percentage

  Avon

  45

  83.3

  Bedfordshire

  13

  76.5

  Berkshire

  3

  37.5

  Cambridgeshire

  18

  64.3

  Cheshire

  27

  69.2

  Cornwall

  4

  100

  Cumbria

  25

  80.6

  Derbyshire

  41

  75.9

  Devon

  23

  54.8

  Dorset

  19

  86.4

  Durham

  22

  95.7

  Dyfed

  3

  100

  East Sussex

  21

  75

  Essex

  19

  79.2

  Gloucestershire

  18

  62.1

  Greater Manchester

  67

  68.4

  Gwent

  14

  87.5

  Hampshire

  39

  69.6

  Hereford and Worcs

  14

  73.7

  Hertfordshire

  12

  85.7

  Humberside

  46

  65.7

  ILPS

  52

  36.9

  Kent

  17

  31.5

  Lancashire

  60

  85.7

  Leicestershire

  38

  80.1

  Lincolnshire

  24

  96

  Merseyside

  68

  79.1

  Mid Glamorgan

  12

  66.7

  Middlesex

  33

  45.8

  NELPS

  31

  66.0

  Crime (Economic Costs)
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets he(a) has set and (b) plans to set for reducing the economic costs of crime. [159019]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The Public Service Agreement (PSA) for the Criminal Justice System commits Criminal Justice Departments to reduce the economic and social costs of crime by March 2004.

  There are a wide range of economic and social costs associated with crime, not all of which are easy to measure, but the Criminal Justice Departments have jointly developed an indicator of the economic and social costs of crime as part of the PSA commitment. The methodology used to measure the economic and social cost of crime was published in a report in December 2000, "The economic and social costs of crime" (Home Office Research Study 217). This sets out clearly how the figures have been derived and estimates the total economic and social cost of crime to England and Wales in 1999–2000 to be £60 billion.

  Work is ongoing to develop and improve the estimates as part of the process of monitoring progress in meeting this PSA commitment.

  Community Sentences (Reconviction Rates)
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department's predicted two-year reconviction rate for offenders serving community sentences is in each year from 2001 to 2004, inclusive. [159031]

  Mr. Boateng
  Predicted two-year reconviction rates used in the measurement of Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets are not statistical forecasts, but are adjustments made once actual reconviction rates are known which make allowances for variations in the age, sex, offence and previous criminal history profile of persons commencing community sentences. These factors are known to be associated with the risk of reoffending. The purpose of the "predicted" rate is to ensure that comparisons between the reconviction rate when an improvement target was set and the reconviction rate when improvement is measured are meaningful.

  The predicted rates will also take account of external factors associated with other PSA targets, which impact on reconviction, but not on the underlying rate of reoffending. The external factors include reduced delays in achieving a conviction (PSA target 8) and the increased proportion of recorded crimes where the offender is brought to justice (PSA target 6).

  The predicted rate can be calculated only when the characteristics of offenders commencing community sentences in a given year are known.

  Firearms Offences
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he plans to take to meet his target of a 3 per cent. annual reduction in the number of offences involving firearms. [159034]
  398W
  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The police and other law enforcement agencies are working to combat the illegal possession and criminal use of firearms and the Government are fully committed to supporting them in this task and in carrying out their general operational responsibilities. The United Kingdom has strict laws governing the possession and use of firearms and the penalties for contraventions are high. Among measures which are currently being taken to tackle gun crime are:Improved Home Office advice on the safe keeping of firearms to prevent them being stolen;
  Stricter standards of deactivation to stop guns from being restored to working order;
  Possible restrictions on the sale or possession in public of replica weapons;
  Targeted policing measures against particular groups of criminals associated with armed violence;
  Proactive intelligence gathering on sources of weapons used in crime. In particular, work is in hand to develop a National Firearms Forensic Intelligence Database which will allow information on firearms (including bullets, cartridge cases, weapons and weapons components) used in crime to be captured, collated and links established between different incidents; and
  A national database of firearms certificate holders is being established.

  The Government have also supported international efforts to negotiate a United Nations Protocol against the illicit manufacture of and trafficking in firearms.

  It is important that it action to reduce the number of offences involving firearms which represents about 0.1 per cent. of all offences, is not taken in isolation from other criminal activities which may encourage the possession of guns, such as the drugs trade.

  Commission for Racial Equality
  Mr. Laurence Robertson
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many charges of racial discrimination have been made by staff of the Commission for Racial Equality against the commission itself in each of the last three years; and how many of these were settled before reaching the employment tribunal. [158879]

  Mr. Mike O'Brien
  The number of complaints of racial discrimination made by the Commission for Racial Equality staff in each of the last three years is as follows:1998: 8
  1999: 3
  2000: 3.

  Of the 14 cases, none are on-going. Six cases were settled before reaching the employment tribunal, six were dismissed by tribunals and two were withdrawn.

  Car Phones
  Mr. Cox
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers have been prosecuted for not having proper control of their vehicle while driving and holding a mobile phone in the Greater London area in each of the last three years. [158521]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The information requested is not available.
  399W
  There is no separate offence of driving a vehicle using a mobile telephone, and any prosecution is likely to be for driving without due care and attention, for which there were 9,900 prosecutions in the Metropolitan Police Area (including City of London) in 1999 with 11,000 in 1998 and 12,300 in 1997. Data for 2000 are not yet available.

  It is also possible for such drivers to be prosecuted or issued with a fixed penalty for not being in proper control of a vehicle (Regulation 104 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986), but such cases cannot be separately identified in the statistics collected centrally.

  Appointments
  Mr. Heathcoat-Amory
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many appointments he has made since May 1997 in accordance with the Nolan criteria; how many appointees were aged over 60 years at the time of appointment; and how many declared a political affiliation for(a) the Conservative party, (b) the Labour party and (c) the Liberal Democrats. [158535]

  Mr. Straw
  Since May 1997, I have made a total of 440 appointments and reappointments to Home Office public bodies falling within the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Eighty nine of these appointees were aged over 60 years at the time of appointment. Five appointees declared a political affiliation for the Conservative party, 16 for the Labour party and none for the Liberal Democrats.

  The Government are committed to equality of opportunity and to increasing the diversity of those appointed to public bodies. Political affiliation was not a criterion for any of the above appointments.

  Race Crimes
  Mr. Lidington
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to review his policy on the definition of a racially motivated offence. [158269]

  Mr. Mike O'Brien
  The definition of what amounts to a racially aggravated offence is contained in section 28 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 in relation to the nine racially aggravated offences listed in sections 29 to 32 of that Act. Where race is concerned, the definition relating to the aggravating factor in sentencing, for all other offences, is contained in section 153 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. I believe these to be practical and enforceable definitions.

  I will examine the findings of any research into the implementation of the provisions.

  New Hospital (Worcester)
  Mr. Luff
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to consult the residents of Worcestershire before offering advice to Her Majesty the Queen on the name for the new hospital currently under construction in Worcester. [158481]

  Mr. Straw
  In offering advice to Her Majesty The Queen on the use of royal names and titles, I will take into account the views of other appropriate Government 400W
  Departments, and any other representations received. There is, of course, no guarantee of a successful outcome for any application to use a royal name or title.

  Crime (Lancashire)
  Mr. Pike
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate has been made of the percentage of recorded crime in Lancashire that was drug-related in the last five years. [158403]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  Recorded crime statistics include statistics on drugs offences, but do not record whether other offences are related to offenders' drug habits. The percentage of drugs offences in overall recorded crime in Lancashire in the last five financial years for which figures are available is given in the table. It should be noted that there was a change in counting rules on 1 April 1998 which increased the drugs offences counted. Before this date, only drugs trafficking was counted, whereas after this date possession and other offences were also counted. The change in counting rules also affected the general counting of offences, including other expansions of the offences counted, and so the percentages of drugs offences counted before and after 1 April 1998 will not be directly comparable.

  Year ending March

  Recorded drugs offences as a percentage of all recorded crime in Lancashire

  1996

  0.4

  1997

  0.5

  1998

  0.5

  1999

  3.5

  2000

  2.9

  Both the British Crime Survey and the new England and Wales Arrestees Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) programme of interviewing and drug testing arrestees shed some light on the links between drugs and crime, although these conclusions do not relate specifically to Lancashire.

  For England and Wales as a whole, the British Crime Survey 2000 reported that 18 per cent. of victims of violent crime believed their attacker was under the influence of drugs.

  The second report on the NEW-ADAM programme of interviewing and drug testing arrestees was published in August 2000 (Home Office Research Study 205, Drugs and Crime: The results of the second developmental stage of the NEW-ADAM programme). The research, undertaken by the University of Cambridge at four sites (London, Liverpool, Nottingham and Sunderland), found that 69 per cent. of arrestees tested positively for at least one drug, excluding alcohol.

  It should be remembered that because an arrestee tested positive for drugs or a victim believed that a perpetrator was under the influence of drugs it does not necessarily mean that the consumption of drugs caused the crime to be committed. As a result, while the NEW-ADAM study and the British Crime Survey advance our knowledge of the links between drugs and crime, it will always be difficult to calculate a single percentage figure calculating precisely what proportion of crime is drug-related.

  Crime (West Sussex)
  Mr. Tyrie
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) crimes and (b) violent crimes were recorded in west Sussex in (i) the latest year for which figures are available, (ii) 1996 and (iii) 1997. [158574]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  As west Sussex is a part of the Sussex police force area, figures for west Sussex are not generally available. Recorded crime data for the Sussex police force area are given in the table. There was a change in counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998, and also an expansion of the offences recorded, which mean that figures before and after that date are not directly comparable. For example, from that date, figures for offences of violence against the person additionally include figures for common assault and assault on a constable, among other offences.

  All recorded crime

  All violent crime

  1996

  118,086

  7,848

  1997

  111,624

  7,561

  Year ending September 2000

  137,961

  19,624

  Data for some offences, including the components of violent crime (violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery), have been recorded on a Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) area basis for the period since 1 April 1999. Totalling CDRP figures for west Sussex shows that there were 8,702 violent offences recorded in that area in the year ending September 2000.

  Animal Rights Extremists
  Ms Kelly
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements he has made for the co-ordination of Government action to prevent intimidation by animal rights extremists. [159533]

  The Prime Minister
  I am answering this question, as I have responsibility for establishing ministerial committees.

  On 28 March the Government announced a range of measures to prevent the intimidation of people who work in, or are connected with, legitimate animal research establishments in our consultation paper "Animal Rights Extremism: Government Strategy", which was published
  402W
  that day. A new ministerial committee has now been formed with the task of taking forward, and wherever possible adding to these initiatives, with the overall aim of reassuring people involved in legitimate research upon animals, whether as scientific workers, managers, or investors, that criminal intimidation will not be allowed to succeed.

  The terms of reference for the committee will be:
  "To co-ordinate policy to protect those who work in, or are connected with, legitimate animal research establishments against intimidation by extremist groups."
  The membership will be:
  Secretary of State for the Home Department (Chairman)
  Minister of State, Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
  Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
  Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment
  Minister of State, Scotland Office
  Economic Secretary to the Treasury
  Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office
  Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health
  Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry
  Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Wales Office
  Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office.

  The Chief Scientific Adviser will also be invited to attend meetings of the group. Other outside experts will be invited to attend as necessary.

  Criminal Records Bureau
  Ms Kelly
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will publish the code of practice in connection with the use of information provided to registered persons by the Criminal Records Bureau. [159532]

  Mr. Charles Clarke
  The code of practice for registered persons and other recipients of disclosure information is being published today under section 122(1) of the Police Act 1997, and will be placed on the Criminal Records Bureau's website as well. The code has also today been laid before Parliament in accordance with section 122(2) of the Act. In addition, we are publishing today an explanatory guide for registered persons and other recipients of disclosure information, and I am arranging for copies to be placed in the Library.

  Animal Rights Extremism: Ministerial Committee
  Animal Rights Extremism: Ministerial Committee
  Millennium Dome
  Millennium Dome
  Mirror Group Newspapers plc
  Mirror Group Newspapers plc
  South Africa: Health Care Funding
  South Africa: Health Care Funding
  South Africa: Cheap HIV/AIDS Drugs
  South Africa: Cheap HIV/AIDS Drugs
  Employment Statistics
  Employment Statistics
  Cluster Munitions
  Cluster Munitions
  Northern Ireland: Air Sea Rescue Costs
  Northern Ireland: Air Sea Rescue Costs
  Army Summary Jurisdiction Appeals
  Army Summary Jurisdiction Appeals
  Centre for Defence Medicine
  Centre for Defence Medicine
  Combat Effectiveness and Gender: Study
  Combat Effectiveness and Gender: Study
  Ministry of Defence Police Quinquennial Review
  Ministry of Defence Police Quinquennial Review
  Woodland Management: Forestry Commission Support
  Woodland Management: Forestry Commission Support
  Foot and Mouth Disease: Withdrawal of Restrictions
  Foot and Mouth Disease: Withdrawal of Restrictions
  Cyprus
  Cyprus
  Gibraltar
  Gibraltar
  Blundeston Prison and Hollesley Bay YOI: Possible Evacuation
  Blundeston Prison and Hollesley Bay YOI: Possible Evacuation
  Criminal Records Bureau: Registered Persons' Code of Practice
  Criminal Records Bureau: Registered Persons' Code of Practice