Written Answers of 23 June 2004

TRANSPORT

  Irish-registered Vehicles
  Mr. Robathan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his answer to question 178952, whether it is a requirement in the UK that Irish-registered vehicles display up-to-date Irish road tax; and whether there have been prosecutions in the UK for not displaying Irish road tax or an Irish-registered vehicle. [179995]

  Mr. Jamieson
  Vehicles that are circulating temporarily between European Union member states must comply with the registration and licensing requirements of the home country. Enforcement of offences is undertaken by the police. Figures for prosecutions against foreign-registered vehicles are not available.

  Ports Police
  Mr. Paice
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff from ports police forces were employed at UK seaports and airports in each of the last five years. [177176]

  Mr. Jamieson
  We do not have a breakdown available for each of the last five years as the port authorities are not required to supply employment figures to the Department. However, information collected specifically for our review of ports police shows that, in 2003, the seven port police forces in England and Wales employed a total of 198 sworn in officers (exclusive of civilian support staff). No ports police were employed at airports.

  Road Works (Safety)
  Mr. Jim Cunningham
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans his Department has to ensure the safety of(a) workers and (b) drivers in areas of extensive road works in the Midlands this year. [179825]

  Mr. Jamieson
  [holding answer 22 June 2004]: The Highways Agency has established the Safer Temporary Traffic Management Operations Initiative to improve safety for both road workers and road users and to raise safety standards in the industry. This initiative involves the Health and Safety Executive, the Scottish Executive, Northern Ireland Roads Service and industry representatives, and is producing improved safety guidance for road workers and is ensuring that consistent best practice is employed.

  The initiative is developing a testing new and innovative technology, equipment and procedures that could offer safety benefits for both road workers and road users. The Highways Agency is working with contractors and HSE to produce training videos for road workers and their employers.
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  Safety of workers and drivers is given high priority when any road works are undertaken. The Highways Agency is promoting a "Safer Driving Through Road Works" campaign aimed at increasing driver awareness of the need to drive safely through road works. The campaign has secured a significant amount of television airtime and more than 100,000 car window stickers reinforcing the message have been distributed. The Agency's information leaflets include six key messages for driving safely through road works.

  The message was further reinforced in a recent "Traffic Information Leaflet" about roadworks in the Midlands, which has been widely distributed, and through a video shown at various shows including the Motor Show.

  Safety Barriers (Motorways)
  Mr. Stringer
  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many miles of safety barriers on the motorway system have been(a) replaced and (b) renovated in each of the last five years. [179662]

  Mr. Jamieson
  Details of the lengths of safety barriers that have been replaced or renewed over the last five years are not available. The total length of safety barriers on England's motorway network is over 3,600 miles. Based on a sample maintenance area, it is estimated that about 50 miles are currently replaced due to accident damage or renewed through scheduled maintenance programmes each year.

TREASURY

  Currency Exchange Programme
  Harry Cohen
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the UK's involvement is in the currency exchange programme; who is contracted for it; how much they(a) have been paid to date and (b) are contracted to receive; and if he will make a statement. [179800]

  Ruth Kelly
  Officials from HM Treasury and the Bank of England provided technical expertise to assist with the planning and delivery of the currency exchange programme in Iraq. UK firms were also involved in the printing of the new banknotes and delivery of the programme, the total cost of which was US Dollars 160 million. Detailed information on payments to individual firms has not been released in order to protect contractual confidentiality.

  Employment Statistics
  Mr. Laurence Robertson
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the working age population is economically active; and what the figures have been for the last 30 years for which figures are available. [179726]

  Ruth Kelly
  The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

  Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Laurence Robertson, dated 23 June 2004:

  As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about economic activity. (179726)
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  The attached table gives estimates of economic activity rates (persons employed or unemployed expressed as a percentage of the total population of working age) for the 3 month periods ending May each year from 1984 to 2004. Information is not available for earlier periods on a consistent basis. These Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates are seasonally adjusted.

  As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to sampling variability.

  Economic activity rates1 of working age population2, United Kingdom, 1984 to 2004 (three month period ending May of each year)

  Percentage of working age population2 economically active

  1984

  78.1

  1985

  78.6

  1986

  78.7

  1987

  79.1

  1988

  79.8

  1989

  80.3

  1990

  80.5

  1991

  80.0

  1992

  79.1

  1993

  78.6

  1994

  78.5

  1995

  78.2

  1996

  78.4

  1997

  78.5

  1998

  78.3

  1999

  78.7

  2000

  78.9

  2001

  78.6

  2002

  78.6

  2003

  78.7

  20043

  78.6

  1Seasonally adjusted.

  2Men aged 16–64 and women aged 16–59.

  3Three months ending April 2004.

  Butterfield Review
  Mr. Prisk
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects the next Butterfield Review to report. [176426]

  The Solicitor-General
  I have been asked to reply.

  I cannot at present give the hon. Member a date on which Mr. Justice Butterfield is expected to deliver his interim Report to the Attorney-General and the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, however, I will keep the hon. Member informed.

  Carers
  Helen Jones
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost of allowing carers of elderly or disabled people to claim working tax credit on the same basis as parents. [179245]

  Dawn Primarolo
  An estimate of the cost of allowing carers for elderly or disabled people to claim working tax credit on the same basis as parents would depend on the definition of a carer.

  The Government are aware that individuals with caring responsibilities may have constraints on their ability to work because of those responsibilities and will keep under review for the longer term whether the tax credit system can be developed to take account of these constraints

  Child Tax Credit
  Mr. Hoyle
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families are eligible for child tax credit in Chorley; and how many are in receipt of child tax credit. [180404]

  Dawn Primarolo
  For the number of recipient families, I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 15 March 2004,Official Report, column 98W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Burton (Mrs. Dean).

  No estimate is available of the number of families in Chorley who are eligible for the child tax credit.

  Deprived Children
  Helen Jones
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many children in low income households(a) live within the 20 per cent. of wards which are classified as most deprived and (b) live outside those wards. [179242]

  Mr. Pond
  I have been asked to reply.

  The information is not available in the format requested. Specific information regarding low income for Great Britain is available in "Households Below Average Income 1994–95 to 2002–03".

  The fifth annual "Opportunity for all" report (Cm 5956) sets out the Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and presents information on the indicators used to measure progress against this strategy. Both documents are available in the Library.

  Employment (North-west)
  Mr. Woodward
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the percentage change has been in unemployment in(a) St. Helens, South, (b)St. Helens, (c)Merseyside and (d) the north-west since 2001. [178112]

  Ruth Kelly
  The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

  Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Shaun Woodward, dated 23 June 2004:

  As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the percentage change in unemployment. (178112)

  The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of unemployment from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) following International Labour Organisation definitions. Seasonally adjusted data for regions are published monthly. The most recent figures for the North West show that, between January to March 2001 and January to March 2004, unemployment fell by 17,000 or 10.2 per cent.

  Data for areas smaller than regions are available less frequently and changes cannot be measured reliably. The attached table 1 gives the estimates of the levels in Merseyside, St. Helens South Parliamentary Constituency and in the St. Helens Local Authority district between the 12 months ending February 2002 and February 2003, the latest data for which information is available. Comparable figures for the North West are included in the table.

  As with any sample survey, estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) are subject to sampling variability.

  ONS also compiles statistics of those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) for local areas including Parliamentary Constituencies. Table 2 gives the number of JSA claimants and

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  changes in the St. Helens South Constituency, St. Helens Local Authority District, Merseyside and the North West region between May 2001 and May 2004.

  Table 1: Level of unemployment, and percentage change in level, areas as shown, 2002 and 20031

  Thousand, percentage

  Level of unemployment

  Percentage change Area

  Area

  2002

  2003

  2002–03

  North West2

  162

  171

  5.6

  Merseyside

  45

  43

  -3.7

  St. Helens South (parliamentary constituency)

  2

  2

  3—

  St. Helens (local authority district)

  5

  4

  3—

  1 12 month periods ending in February of each year.

  2 Includes Merseyside.

  3 The sampling variability on the estimates is too great to provide meaningful estimates of changes.

  Source:

  ONS Labour Force Survey annual datasets

  Table 2: Number of claimants of jobseekers' allowance, and percentage change, areas as shown, 2001 and 2004

  Number of ISA

  claimant

  Percentage change

  Area

  May 2001

  May 2004

  Percentage

  North West1

  127,073

  101,604

  -20.0

  Merseyside

  40,318

  31,468

  -219

  St. Helens South (parliamentary constituency)

  2,246

  1,661

  -26.0

  St. Helens (local authority district)

  4,059

  3,011

  -25.8

  Includes Merseyside.

  Source:

  Jobcentre Plus administrative system.

  Fuel Prices (Revenue)
  Mr. Hoyle
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much estimated additional tax revenue the Treasury has gained from the higher fuel prices paid by the public in the last month for which figures are available. [179772]

  John Healey
  Monthly figures on fuel duty receipts are published in the "Customs and Exercise Hydrocarbon Oils Bulletin", a copy of which is available on the UK trade information website (www.uktradeinfo.com). Road fuel duties are charged at a fixed amount per litre and higher road fuel prices generally reduce revenues from fuel duties as they result in lower fuel consumption. The impact of higher oil prices on overall tax revenues and the public finances is complex, and will depend on their wider impact on the economy in general, including the effect on factors such as profitability and retail prices.

  Housing
  Mr. Edward Davey
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 17 May 2004,Official Report, column 725W, on housing, if he will list the costs included in the figure given for the average cost of a new build dwelling for social rent in England in 2003–04. [179191]

  Keith Hill
  The average cost of a new build dwelling for social rent of £116,000 includes land acquisition of £25,000, construction costs of £78,000. The remainder of £13,000 can be attributed to costs such as site development/pre-works and on-costs.

  Local Government Funding
  Mr. Luff
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the conclusion of Professors Oswald and Blanchflower, on page 4 of the second report on Calculating an Appropriate Regional Funding Adjustment for Worcestershire on the stance of the Office of National Statistics on access for researchers to check the Government's calculations relating to the Area Cost Adjustment. [177066]

  Ruth Kelly
  The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

  Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Peter Luff, dated 23 June 2004:

  As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the conclusion of Professors Oswald and Blanchflower on the stance of the Office of National Statistics on allowing access for researchers to check the Government's calculations relating to the Area Cost Adjustment. (177066),

  Professors Oswald and Blanchflower conclude that a decision has been made by ONS not to release micro-data from the New Earnings Survey (NES) and the Labour Force Survey (LFS) in order to prevent researchers from checking the government's calculations of the Regional Funding Adjustment. No such decision has been made. On the contrary, ONS policy is to support statistical research in the academic community by supplying micro-data in as much detail as possible, within any legal constraints and with respect to the duty of confidence owed to survey respondents.

  Access to confidential NES micro-data is covered by legislation, including the Statistics of Trade Act (1947), and there is no provision to allow access for the research that Professors Oswald and Blanchflower would like to perform. Non-disclosive, fully anonymised NES micro-data is not covered by legislation can be provided to researchers on request. However, the measures taken to prevent disclosure include the removal of small area geographical indicators, which may make the data unsuitable for Professors Oswald and Blanchflower's purposes.

  ONS offers secondments to researchers working on behalf of ONS for purposes consistent with the aims of National Statistics and of benefit to ONS. As secondees to ONS, these researchers may use the ONS Business Data Linking research facility which holds identifiable, disclosive, disaggregated NES datasets. Professors Oswald and Blanchflower may wish to explore this option further and should contact Prabhat Vaze at ONS (telephone 020 7533 5905) for further information.

  The Labour Force Survey is voluntary, and not governed by legislation. However, information collected in the survey is confidential and subject to the common law duty of confidentiality and the Data Protection Act (1998). The obligation of confidentiality is reinforced by a pledge given to survey respondents, which states that no identifiable information they provide will be passed to any government department or member of the public.

  Non-disclosive, fully anonymised LFS micro-datasets are available at the UK Data Archive and are available to the academic research community. However, as for the NES, small area geographical indicators have been removed to prevent disclosure, which may make the data unsuitable for Professors Oswald and Blanchflower's purposes. The Business Data Linking research facility does not presently hold any LFS microdata.

  Supporting research is one of the aims of National Statistics, but data access arrangements are bound by the National Statistics Code of Practice and Protocols and by legal and professional constraints that may limit access to confidential data. Compliance with these statutory and common law duties does not constitute a decision to prevent researchers' access to data. It is critically important that these obligations are met, in order to maintain public confidence in the integrity of official statistics and the

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  security of the confidential data on which they are based. Failure to do so would undermine participation in future data collections, reducing the reliability and value of official statistics for all users.

  In comparison to National Statistics Institutes in other countries, ONS goes to great lengths to enable the use of its microdata for research purposes. We recognise that access to microdata by reputable researchers (within the legal and professional constraints discussed above) adds much to the value and trust of official statistics. It is therefore disappointing that my office's application of these constraints has been subject to criticism.

  Tax Credits
  Mr. Tynan
  To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many payments have been made in respect of(a) unnecessary worry and distress and (b) postage and telephone expenses in respect of tax credits in each of the last three years; what the total value of these payments was in each of the last three years; and what proportion of these (i) have been and (ii) will be reclaimed from companies providing services or support to the Inland Revenue where a problem with the services or support necessitated the compensatory or special payment. [178603]

  Dawn Primarolo
  Information in the form requested is not available.

HOME DEPARTMENT

  Credit Card Fraud
  Mr. Hoyle
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated cost of credit card fraud in the UK was in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [179523]

  Ms Blears
  The Government do not collect figures on the cost of credit card fraud but the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) estimates the cost of all plastic card fraud in 2003 to have been £402.4 million, a decrease of 5 per cent. over the previous year.

  Antisocial Behaviour Orders
  Ms Atherton
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been imposed in(a) Carrick District and (b) Kerrier District. [179268]

  Ms Blears
  Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) have been available to the courts since 1 April 1999. From commencement, up to 31 December 2003 (latest available), the Home Office has been notified of one ASBO being issued within the Carrick District and none within the Kerrier District.

  British Consul (Bucharest)
  David Davis
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when Ministers in his Department were informed of the suspension of the British Consul in Bucharest. [166553]

  Mr. Browne
  Ministers were informed on the 24 March that the Consul in Bucharest had been suspended after admitting having sent anonymous emails to the leader of the Opposition. In the 1412W
  information provided to Ministers at that time no detail was provided of the content of the emails and no connection was drawn between this and previous contact between the Consul and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate

  Burma
  Mr. Bercow
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will prevent British counter-terrorism experts advising Burmese trainees at the new counterterrorism centre in Semarang, Indonesia. [178839]

  Mr. MacShane
  I have been asked to reply.

  At the Bali Ministerial conference in February 2004, the UK offered to provide counter-terrorism assistance to South East Asian countries through the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation at Semarang. However, British counter-terrorism experts will not advise Burmese trainees at the centre.

  Commission for Racial Equality
  Mr. Alan Duncan
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many organisations applied for funding from the Commission for Racial Equality under the Getting Results Scheme; how many applications were successful; when the Commission for Racial Equality and the Home Office agreed which organisations would receive funds; and for what reasons organisations whose applications were unsuccessful were not informed until 10 May. [173778]

  Fiona Mactaggart
  [holding answer 17 May 2004.]: The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) received 196 applications for consideration under its Getting Results programme; 93 of these were successful, which is five more than last year.

  In accordance with section 44 of the Race Relations Act, the CRE is responsible for setting the criteria for its grant programme, and for deciding which applications meet those criteria the Home Office approves the overall level of funding.

  Applicants for section 44 funding were informed of the outcome of their applications on 6 May. Prior to this the Commission for Racial Equality and the Home Office worked together to agree this year's delegated budget and the CRE assessed the large pool of applications it had received in accordance with its criteria.

  Keith Vaz
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with the Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality about the new equality proposals. [178780]

  Fiona Mactaggart
  I meet the chairman of the Commission of Racial Equality regularly and discuss a range of issues with him, including the new equality proposals.

  Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships
  Mr. Simmonds
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crime and disorder reduction partnerships there are; and what assessment he has made of their effectiveness in combating crime. [179431]
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  Ms Blears
  There are 354 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) in England and 22 Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) in Wales. These partnerships bring together a wide range of key agencies that are engaged in tackling crime and disorder, misuse of drugs and anti-social behaviour. Information from a variety of partnership sources including recorded crime statistics and other police and local authority data, is used to assess the impact of partnerships in reducing crime.

  We are developing an integrated performance management framework for the crime reduction and misuse of drugs agendas which will allow us to agree with each Government Office in the regions (GO) and the Welsh Assembly clear targets for the performance of partnerships in their area, and hold them to account for local delivery. This will be underpinned by a targeted programme of work aimed at identifying and addressing the issues which community safety practitioners themselves tell us remain barriers to success.

  We have introduced a partnership self-assessment tool, which leads to an improvement planning process, which GOs use to improve partnership performance.

  Crime Reduction Programme
  Vera Baird
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the projects being funded under the Crime Reduction Programme. [179710]

  Ms Blears
  [holding answer 21 June 2004]: The Crime Reduction Programme (CRP) was a pioneering multi-million pound intervention programme, which was initially to run for three years from April 1999. Around £340 million was committed to over 1,470 projects in England and Wales under the 20 separate main initiatives which formed the programme, the largest single investment anywhere in the world in an evidence-based approach to crime reduction.

  The individual projects are too numerous to list, but the initiatives were as follows:

  Initiative

  Project

  Reducing Burglary Initiative

  250

  Locks for Pensioners

  1

  Targeted Policing Initiative

  59

  Summer Schemes/SPLASH

  147

  Prostitution

  11

  On Track

  26

  Treatment of Offenders

  1

  Drug Arrest Referrals

  1

  Effective Schools Management

  39

  Violence Against Women

  58

  Vehicle Crime

  13

  Youth Inclusion

  70

  Sentencing

  3

  Neighbourhood Wardens

  85

  Design Against Crime

  1

  CCTV initiative

  684

  Project Spectrum

  1

  Toolkits

  22

  Suzy Lamplugh Trust

  1

  Rape Crisis Federation

  1

  Arson Control

  1

  Vehicle Crime publicity

  1

  Partnership Development Fund

  1

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  Vera Baird
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which projects being funded under the Crime Reduction Programme are focused on assessing the effectiveness of advocacy, outreach and support measures for victims of domestic violence. [179712]

  Ms Blears
  [holding answer 21 June 2004]: The Crime Reduction Programme Violence against Women Initiative was an evidence-led project to find out which approaches were effective in supporting victims and tackling violence against women. In July 2000 34 "Round One" multi-agency victim focused pilot projects were funded and independently evaluated. While many of the projects either directly or indirectly supported victims, the following 14 Round One projects specifically aimed to provide support to women who were victims of domestic violence.

  Standing Together Civil Remedies

  Gloucester Co-ordinated Community Response

  Brighton Intimated Witness Support

  Buxton Women's Aid project

  Hastings and Rother Rapid Response

  St. Austell Support Workers

  Warwickshire Domestic Violence Support Workers

  Ashram Birmingham project

  Tower Hamlets Victim Advocacy and Safety Counselling project

  Croydon Advocacy project

  Camden Safety Net

  Bradford Staying Put

  Northampton Domestic Violence Action project

  Cheshire Multiple Interventions project.

  Departmental Staff (Scotland)
  Mr. Lyons
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Home Office staff are employed in Scotland. [178100]

  Fiona Mactaggart
  Staff employed by the Home Office within Scotland are shown in the following table. These staff are from the Main Home Office, the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, and the United Kingdom Passport Agency.

  Mandate region: Scotland

  Number

  Communities Group

  11

  Immigration and Nationality Directorate

  57

  UK Immigration Service (IND)

  157

  UKPA Glasgow

  285

  Total

  510

  Distraction Crimes
  Chris Ruane
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many distraction crimes were reported in each of the last 10 years; and how many successful prosecutions followed in each of those years; [178416]
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  (2) how many distraction burglaries there were in each (a) local authority and (b) constituency in each of the last 10 years, listed in descending order and according to region. [178419]

  Ms Blears
  The information is not available as requested.

  Recorded distraction burglary in England and Wales

  Police force area

  1998–99

  2000–01

  2001–02

  2002–03

  Avon and Somerset

  378

  545

  686

  542

  Bedfordshire

  237

  172

  339

  238

  Cambridgeshire

  197

  221

  330

  211

  Cheshire

  182

  62

  104

  178

  Cleveland

  114

  118

  210

  291

  Cumbria

  Not available

  26

  26

  31

  Derbyshire

  415

  310

  336

  287

  Devon and Cornwall

  204

  197

  151

  192

  Dorset

  69

  134

  188

  196

  Durham

  203

  141

  168

  162

  Dyfed-Powys

  35

  65

  25

  23

  Essex

  91

  462

  488

  349

  Gloucestershire

  43

  121

  247

  179

  Greater Manchester

  1,413

  1,462

  1,312

  1,945

  Gwent

  110

  72

  152

  70

  Hampshire

  275

  70

  203

  142

  Hertfordshire

  222

  427

  676

  498

  Humberside

  133

  98

  120

  258

  Kent

  207

  124

  496

  387

  Lancashire

  135

  387

  190

  235

  Leicestershire

  Not available

  257

  330

  291

  Lincolnshire

  48

  101

  83

  113

  London, City of

  0

  9

  3

  1

  Merseyside

  389

  97

  317

  377

  Metropolitan Police

  4,491

  4,309

  5,015

  4,567

  Norfolk

  43

  95

  122

  82

  North Wales

  124

  38

  46

  54

  North Yorkshire

  104

  175

  147

  188

  Northamptonshire

  245

  220

  194

  325

  Northumbria

  224

  238

  137

  179

  Nottinghamshire

  389

  345

  383

  323

  South Wales

  190

  170

  91

  132

  South Yorkshire

  374

  571

  724

  978

  Staffordshire

  252

  244

  295

  397

  Suffolk

  61

  100

  275

  125

  Surrey

  195

  325

  309

  139

  Sussex

  485

  192

  340

  290

  Thames Valley

  599

  706

  731

  685

  Warwickshire

  119

  129

  162

  163

  West Mercia

  176

  195

  270

  313

  West Midlands

  1,401

  1,022

  1,630

  1,126

  West Yorkshire

  954

  968

  1,170

  1,141

  Wiltshire

  Not available

  162

  176

  261

  Total

  15,526

  15,882

  19,397

  18,664

  With effect from 1 April 2003, distraction burglary became a sub-category of "burglary dwelling" under the Home Office counting rules, allowing data on this type of crime to be collated routinely. Crime figures for 2003–04 will be published in July.

  Prosecution data are not available, as the law does not separately define distraction burglary.

  Chris Ruane
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures are in place to prevent distraction crimes; and if he will make a statement. [178418]

  Ms Blears
  Distraction burglary is a callous crime against mainly older members of society. We are determined to do as much as we can to prevent it.
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  However, police force data on distraction burglary were collated in special exercises in four recent years. These are available only on a force-by-force basis, as set out in the table. The figures need to be treated with considerable caution as there was no standard definition of distraction burglary and this type of crime is considerably under-reported.

  We set up a Distraction Burglary Task Force in 2000 to gather data, publicise good practice and increase the awareness of the problem, particularly among vulnerable people. The Task Force includes representatives of the police, voluntary organisations, the utility companies, banks and local authorities.

  Many measures are now in place to prevent distraction burglary including it a number of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships where this crime has been identified as of local concern. These measures include improving the appearance and security of homes, sharing intelligence between all the involved agencies and educating people in crime reduction measures. In addition, from February to April 2004, the Home Office ran a publicity campaign to raise awareness of distraction

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  burglary and to promote safe doorstep behaviour. Over 100,000 "How to Beat the Bogus Caller" leaflets were distributed, many regional and local newspapers published articles on local incidents and initiatives and over 30 local radio stations ran items about distraction burglary and how to combat it.

  Chris Ruane
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions his Department has had with other Government Departments on combating crime resulting from cold calling. [178420]

  Ms Blears
  In May 2004 the Office of Fair Trading published a report on doorstep selling. This included a recommendation that the Department of Trade and Industry consult on the option of banning cold calling to offer property services.

  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford, South (Mr. Sutcliffe), will respond to the report on behalf of the Government. I have discussed the importance of tackling doorstep crime with him. Officials from my Department and his, alongside representatives of other Departments and the devolved Administrations, are already taking forward work in response to the report. The response will be made within 90 days of the report's receipt.

  EU Workers
  Mr. Amess
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his Department's review of quotas for workers in(a) agriculture, (b) hospitality and (c) food processing in the light of EU enlargement. [179332]

  Mr. Browne
  I refer the hon. Member to the statement I made to the House on this issue on 19 May 2004.

  Excessive Drinking
  Mr. Sheerman
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much Police(a) time and (b) resources were spent on dealing with problems associated with excessive drinking in the latest year for which figures are available. [179646]

  Ms Blears
  No specific grant is made available to police forces to deal directly with the problems associated with excessive drinking. However, the total Government provision for policing to be supported by grant or spent centrally on services for the police amounts to £10.1 billion, an increase of £2.3 billion or 30 per cent. since 2000–01. It is for individual police forces to decide how they allocate their resources to tackle their crime and disorder priorities.

  There is provision within the Building Safer Communities Fund (BSC) for Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships to tackle alcohol-related crime—just one of the many crime reduction uses to which BSC funding may be put. Total funding for England and Wales in 2003–04 was £72.3 million, and a further £74 million is being made available this year.

  The Government attach a high priority to tackling alcohol-fuelled violence. On the 11 June 2004 we announced that the Home Office Police Standards Unit, working in partnership with the Association of Chief
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  Police Officers, will be inviting forces and other partners from across the country to take part in a co-ordinated programme of enforcement and initiatives to tackle alcohol-fuelled violence. The campaign includes targeting the irresponsible few who encourage underage and binge drinking and targeting drunken behaviour. This takes forward one of the recommendations in the Government's Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy (AHRS) for England.

  The Government's AHRS was published on 15 March 2004. The strategy proposes a series of measures to address the problems of those town and city centres that are blighted by alcohol misuse. The Government are working closely with a range of partners from the drinks industry to statutory authorities to help deliver the recommendations in the AHRS and tackle alcohol misuse.

  G8 Summit 2005
  Mr. Lyons
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the cost of policing the G8 summit in 2005 will be borne by(a) the Home Office and (b) the local police authority. [178135]

  Ms Blears
  I understand that the G8 Summit in 2005 will be held in Scotland. Police costs will be a matter for the Scottish Executive although I understand that the Treasury have agreed that extra funds will be made available by the UK Government to help meet the agreed additional policing costs.

  Illegal Immigration (Lincolnshire)
  Mr. Simmonds
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate his Department has made of the number of illegal immigrants in Lincolnshire. [179434]

  Mr. Browne
  Official estimates of the number of illegal immigrants in the United Kingdom do not exist. The Government have commissioned research into the methods used in other countries to estimate the size of their illegal populations in order to define methods appropriate for the UK.

  The work required is challenging because, by definition, illegal migrants fall outside of official statistics and are therefore difficult to measure. People illegally present in the UK are also motivated to ensure they remain hidden, which is a challenge to conducting research.

  Immigration Service
  Mr. Malins
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress with the overhaul of the immigration service recently announced by the Prime Minister. [179500]

  Mr. Browne
  [holding answer 18 June 2004]: To support the "top to bottom" review of the immigration system called for by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary set up managed migration taskforces.

  The taskforces work across the whole of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) and with other departments and stakeholders to identify and

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  address any areas of abuse of managed migration routes, drawing on intelligence, the experience of front line staff and management information from across the system. In this way, the Department is building on what worked to reduce abuse of the asylum system, in a comprehensive monitoring and reporting framework. This will allow resources to be properly directed to target potential abuse even before problems arise.

  Based on the work to date, we have already announced a number of steps to tackle abuses of the marriage, students and employment routes. These include:

  To date the student taskforce has visited 401 colleges about which we had suspicions and applications to those institutions clearly found to be bogus are now being refused. A registration scheme is being established for genuine colleges and will be operational by the turn of the year. Once this has been done, student visas will not be issued in respect of colleges not on the register. We are discussing with the education sector how best to implement arrangements for notifying us of overseas students who fail to turn up for, or drop out of, a course.

  To tackle the increasing problem of sham marriages being used to circumvent immigration controls, the Government are bringing forward legislation to establish powers to restrict the authorisation of marriages involving foreign nationals from outside the EEA to designated register offices and to introduce a pre-marriage eligibility requirement for such cases. IND officials have already formed a cross governmental joint working group made up of officials from the Offices of the Registrars General for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Department of Constitutional Affairs, the Church of England, LACORS, and registrars from across the UK. The Group is working on identifying strengths and weaknesses of current systems and will facilitate the introduction of the aforementioned designated centres.

  Based on the analysis and recommendations of the employment and business taskforce, the Sectors Based Scheme quota has been cut for the year beginning 1 June 2004. The Scheme has been reduced from a total of 20,000 to 6,000 in food processing and 9,000 in hospitality. The Government have also announced that the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme quota will be reduced in 2005 by 35 per cent. These cuts reflect the proportion of the previous year's quotas taken up by workers from the accession countries, who are now entitled to come and work in the United Kingdom under the worker's registration scheme. The taskforce is currently consulting on introducing country-specific quotas which will be dependent on countries having satisfactory returns agreements with the UK.

  Neighbourhood Watch
  David Davis
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the steps he is taking to provide funding to Neighbourhood Watch schemes. [177724]

  Ms Blears
  Neighbourhood Watch Schemes are local partnerships between communities, the Police, local authorities and others.
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  The Government supports these local schemes in various ways: supplying free publications, sponsoring national conferences in 2002 and 2003 and significant amounts of Police and local authority staff time.

  David Davis
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the steps he is taking to provide funding to the National Neighbourhood Watch Association. [177725]

  Ms Blears
  The National Neighbourhood Watch Association is an independent organisation that has funded itself from commercial sponsorship since its foundation.

  The Home Office nevertheless provided the National Neighbourhood Watch Association with exceptional grants totalling £350,000 during 2003. Following an audit of the National Neighbourhood Watch Association's finances, and taking account of Government accounting rules, the Home Secretary declined to grant further funds.

  David Davis
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has held with the National Neighbourhood Watch Association regarding funding for Neighbourhood Watch. [177730]

  Ms Blears
  [holding answer 9 June 2004]: The Home Office's discussions with the National Neighbourhood Watch Association have focused on the funding for that organisation rather than for the local schemes. We are not aware of any specific proposals from the National Neighbourhood Watch Association in relation to funding for individual Neighbourhood Watch Schemes.

  However, the Government support Neighbourhood Watch schemes as a partnership between communities, the police and local authorities in various ways. This includes supplying free publications and training materials, sponsoring national conferences in 2002 and 2003, and significant amounts of Police and local authority staff time.

  Overseas Doctors
  Dr. Evan Harris
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken to process applications was for leave to remain for doctors from overseas on work permits wishing to work in the NHS in the most recent period for which figures are available. [179807]

  Mr. Browne
  The information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

  Dr. Evan Harris
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken to process an application was for permit-free postgraduate training status for overseas doctors in training wishing to work and train in the NHS in the most recent period for which figures are available. [179808]

  Mr. Browne
  Figures for the average time taken to process individual types of applications are not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

  Dr. Evan Harris
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to reduce the(a) cost to and (b) administrative burden on overseas

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  doctors in training of renewing their permit-free postgraduate training status to enable them to work in the NHS. [179809]

  Mr. Browne
  Overseas doctors here for postgraduate training do not require work permits but must meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules for leave to remain in this capacity. Charging for general leave to remain applications was introduced on 1 August 2003 and individual applicants must pay the requisite fee. The fee is £155 for a postal application and £250 for personal callers who wish to apply at one of the four Public Enquiry Offices.

  Fees are set by Treasury rules to recover the full administrative cost entailed in considering applications and no more. We will be reviewing the fee annually and as such consideration will be given to improving the way the charging system is operated and the feasibility of differential charges. We have announced that there would be consultation before any more changes to the fee are made, and the consultation is planned for this autumn.

  Since the introduction of charges on 1 August 2003, we have been completing 70 per cent. of postal applications within three weeks of receiving them in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) and are continuing to do this. We may not be able to complete applications within three weeks of receipt if they need further documents, inquiries or an interview, or if they are complex. We should deal with these within 13 weeks at most. If applicants use the right form, pay the correct fee, provide all the required documents and photographs, and sign and date the form, it will help the chances of their application being completed quickly.

  Passports
  Ian Lucas
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will introduce free passports for British passport holders over 75 years. [179393]

  Mr. Browne
  The United Kingdom Passport Service is currently pursuing options to introduce the scheme, which will provide free passports for all British Nationals born on or before 2 September 1929. It is the United Kingdoms Passport Service's intention to introduce this scheme in the autumn 2004.

  Sexual Offences
  Sandra Gidley
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Initial Crime Investigators Department Programme will include training of uniformed officers who deal with sexual offence investigation; and if he will make a statement. [171024]

  Ms Blears
  The Initial Crime Investigators Development Programme delivered by CENTREX is aimed at Trainee Investigators with the potential to become Detective Constables. It includes the investigation of sexual offences. The programme has been implemented nationally since January 2003 and is currently being delivered in 38 out of 43 forces, with the remainder moving towards full implementation.

  The CENTREX National Centre for Policing Excellence is also working on national training development in this area. It is intended to design a
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  national programme to develop "Specially Trained Officers". These officers are usually uniformed officers who provide victim care, while also ensuring optimum evidence retrieval. The aim is for this programme to be piloted from the end of 2004.

  Somaliland/Somalia
  Jeremy Corbyn
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were returned to(a) Somaliland and (b) Somalia in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement. [179512]

  Mr. Browne
  Although Somaliland declared its independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, it is not recognised internationally and asylum applicants received from those originating from that part of Somalia are not recorded separately.

  Information on the total number of people who are removed from the United Kingdom is not available by nationality except by examination of individual case-files at disproportionate cost.

  Estimates of the number of Somali nationals who had sought asylum at some stage and were removed from the UK between 1999 and 2003 are shown in the table. These figures include persons departing "voluntarily' after the initiation of enforcement action against them, and persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Returns Programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration.

  Removals and voluntary departures1,2 of asylum applicants, excluding dependants, nationals of Somalia, 1999 to 2003– United Kingdom

  Number of persons

  1999

  n/a

  2000

  n/a

  2001

  25

  20023

  50

  20033

  50

  n/a—not available

  1 All data have been rounded to the nearest 5.

  2 Includes persons departing "voluntarily' after enforcement action had been initiated against them, persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return Programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration, and removals on safe third country grounds. Excludes dependants of asylum seekers.

  3 Provisional data.

  Mr. Gerrard
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a memorandum of understanding, similar to that signed with the administration in Somaliland, has been signed with any authority in Somalia. [178091]

  Mr. Browne
  The UK has not signed a memorandum of understanding on the return of failed asylum seekers with any authority in Somalia.

  Speeding Fines
  Simon Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many speeding fines were issued in Greater London, broken down by borough, in(a) 2001 and (b) 2002; [179355]
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  (2) how many speeding fines were paid by motorists in Greater London, broken down by borough, in (a) 2001 and (b) 2002; and how many speeding offences were detected in Greater London, broken down by borough, in (i) 2001 and (ii) 2002. [179356]

  Ms Blears
  [holding answer 18 June 2004]: Available information showing the total number of fixed penalties and written warnings issued and court proceedings for speeding offences within Greater London for 2001 and 2002 are given in the tables. It is not possible from the data collected centrally to identify each London borough.

  Information on the number of fixed penalties paid or fines paid for speeding offences is not collected centrally.

  Table A: Fines and fixed penalties data for speeding offences1, Greater London2, 2001 and 2002

  Number of offences

  Court proceedings fines issued

  Fixed penalty notices issued

  2001

  8,941

  59,125

  2002

  8,090

  58,116

  1 Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973.

  2 The Metropolitan and City of London Police combined.

  Table B: Speeding offences1 detected by type of action, Greater London2, 2001 and 2002

  Number of offences

  2001

  2002

  Type of action

  Court proceedings total findings of guilt

  9,049

  8,202

  Fixed penalty notices issued

  59,125

  58,116

  Written warnings issued

  23

  14

  Total

  68,197

  66,332

  1 Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and Motor vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973.

  2 The Metropolitan and City of London Police combined.

  Working Time Directive
  Mr. Tynan
  To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many employees in his Department have(a) signed a formal opt out from and (b) are exempt from the Working Time Directive; and how many employees in his Department have recorded hours, including any accruing on a flexitime basis, in excess of the maximum allowed under the Working Time Directive in the last month for which figures are available. [178376]

  Fiona Mactaggart
  Employees working in excess of 48 hours per week are required to sign an "Opt-Out" agreement. Departments and agencies are required to maintain a register of all staff who have signed such an agreement.

  Name of Department

  Agreements signed. Number of "opt-out"

  Number of employees who are exempt

  Number of employees accruing in excess of maximum hours

  Home Office

  71

  —

  —

  IND

  —

  —

  Prison Service

  n/a

  n/a

  n/a

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  Name of Department

  Agreements signed. Number of "opt-out"

  Number of employees who are exempt

  Number of employees accruing in excess of maximum hours

  FSS

  n/a

  n/a

  n/a

  UKPS

  304

  —

  —

  With regard to the Prison Service and Forensic Science Service the information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

  Televisions
  Mr. Watson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what work her Department is undertaking to ensure that industry increases the energy efficiency of(a) televisions and (b) television set-top boxes when in stand-by mode. [179172]

  Mr. Morlsey
  The Department's Market Transformation Programme, working closely with the DTI and in consultation with industry and other experts, has established a substantial evidence base on the energy consumption of appliances and equipment in use, including standby mode, and on the potential for improvement.

  For TVs and set-top boxes, we have sought undertakings by manufacturers to reduce both "on" and "stand-by" power consumption. Following an EU industry commitment, we expect that the majority of new televisions sold in the UK will soon consume around 1 Watt of power in stand-by mode rather than the 3-8 Watts consumed by older models. Furthermore, our commitment to more sustainable procurement requires any Government Department which purchases televisions to specify a stand-by power requirement of no more that 1 Watt.

  My Department has strongly supported the development of the EU voluntary Code of Conduct for set top boxes, which we estimate will already secure energy savings of about 3 Terawatt hours per annum by 2010. We are working via the EU and channels such as the IEA to further raise the profile of this policy issue. We are also working with the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes and the Energy Saving Trust to explore the scope to use the Efficiency Recommended logo to encourage consumers to choose boxes which use the least energy. And, with DTI, we have agreed on minimum and best practice standards as part of the Government's policy on the switch over to digital TV services.

  Mr. Watson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of energy consumption arising from the use of set top television boxes in the last year for which figures are available. [179192]

  Mr. Morley
  The Department's Market Transformation Programme has estimated that there were about 10 million set top television boxes in use in
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  the UK in 2003, which consumed about 1.3 Terawatt hours of electricity. The estimate for 2004 is that the number of boxes in use will rise to nearly 12.5 million, with electricity consumption approaching 1.5 Terawatt hours. (The estimates cover the separate boxes which are used to receive digital TV signals via cable, satellite and Freeview transmissions. They do not include the energy consumed by decoders which are built into televisions and recording equipment.)

  Agricultural Workers
  Mr. Simmonds
  To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many agricultural workers are on the Seasonal Agricultural Workers programme in Lincolnshire. [179435]

  Alun Michael
  In 2004 so far 607 work cards have been issued under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme to scheme participants planning to work on farms in Lincolnshire.

  Energy Policy (Modelling)
  Mr. Tynan
  To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how her Department models the external costs of energy-related activities in the UK. [R] [178320]

  Mr. Morley
  There are several types of external costs that are usually associated with energy activities, including impacts on noise, health, buildings, crops, ecosystems and global warming. The most important externalities of energy activity in the UK are attached to emissions to air, including emissions of CO2 and of local pollutants.

  The DTI UK Energy Model is the most comprehensive source of forecasts of CO2 emissions from energy use. The UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI), which is funded by Defra and Devolved Administrations, annually compiles estimates of emissions to the atmosphere from UK sources such as cars, trucks, power stations and industrial plants. Estimates of emissions of pollutants to air are a fundamental input to the air quality modelling work that the Department carries out to assess ambient concentrations of important air pollutants and to estimate their health and other impacts.

  Valuation of non-market impacts is a challenging but important element of appraisal, and should be attempted wherever feasible. However valuation techniques are constantly being refined and considerable uncertainty typically characterises monetary estimates of the marginal damage costs associated to emissions of various pollutants.

  A Government Economic Service working paper 'Estimating the Social Cost of Carbon Emissions' suggested a range of illustrative estimate for the global damage cost of carbon emissions. These figures are currently being reviewed by an interdepartmental group on the social cost of carbon which is expected to report by the end of the year.

  The Department of Health's Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) advises on how to quantify the health impacts associated with changes in local pollutant emissions, including PM 10,
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  NOx, SO2 and ozone. Currently there is no UK agreed monetary value that can be used for the reduction in risk of deaths brought forward by air pollution due to a lack of empirical evidence in the field. However, Defra has recently published a study which attempts to generate a theoretical range of monetary values for health benefits and is considering the feasibility of recommending a range of values to monetise the health impacts associated with air pollution for use in policy appraisal.

  The Government also follow with interest the work of ExternE, a major EU-funded research study on the external cost of energy.

  Firearms
  Mr. Gray
  To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what discussions she had with the Home Secretary about firearms prior to the issue of the recent consultation paper; [179195]

  (2) what mechanism she uses to present her views on the rural affairs aspects of firearms law to the Home Secretary; [179196]

  (3) what assessment she has made of the implications for the rural economy of the Home Office firearms consultation paper. [179197]

  Alun Michael
  The Government are committed to rural proofing all domestic policies to take account of rural circumstances and needs. Defra will be contributing to the process of consultation as it affects the Departments responsibilities through the normal processes of collective Government.

  GM Crops
  Andrew George
  To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when her Department plans to(a) commence and (b) report on the proposed consultation on co-existence and liability of GM crops. [179979]

  Mr. Morley
  [holding answer 22 June 2004]: We are currently preparing our consultation package on the issue of the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops in discussion with the authorities in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and this will be issued as soon as possible. A consultation period of three months is envisaged, following which we will decide on the next steps. No GM crops currently have the necessary approvals for cultivation in the UK and we do not anticipate any move towards commercial cultivation of GM crops here before 2006 at the earliest.

  Horse Exports
  Mr. Gray
  To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she intends to preserve the current effective ban on the live export of horses for overseas consumption. [179194]

  Alun Michael
  The Government are not in favour of the live export of horses for slaughter and have worked closely with animal welfare organisations on this issue and to strengthen the welfare requirements for horses in transit. While there is no ban on the export of horses and ponies for slaughter and never has been, we will retain and
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  continue to operate the current minimum values and licensing rules unless and until we succeed in obtaining EU-wide modern, welfare-based arrangements to protect horses and ponies.

  Livestock Exports
  Bob Spink
  To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many live cattle were exported to EU member states in each of the past three years. [179405]

  Mr. Bradshaw
  There have been no exports of live cattle to EU member states in the past three years. The export of live cattle from the UK is banned under EU legislation.

  Sustainable Farming
  Mr. Drew
  To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what support is available to fund the South West Plan for Sustainable Farming and Food. [178202]

  Alun Michael
  The delivery plan for Sustainable Farming and Food (SFF) in the South West, "Making a difference", was launched on 26 May after extensive consultation. It has been drawn up by the stakeholders who will be responsible for implementing the actions detailed within it.

  The delivery of the South West plan, as with all of the SFF regional delivery plans, will be facilitated by many public body and industry representatives and these organisations will work together with both resource and funding support to deliver the vision detailed in the plan. They are making use of Government grants, industry support and the resources of the Government Office and Regional Development Agency, as well as other Government bodies participating in the regional steering group. In particular, existing support programmes, including the England Rural Development Programme and the objective 1 agriculture programme in Cornwall, have been targeted to deliver the SFF plan; also the Regional Development Agency is making considerable resources available to support delivery of the plan. Given the number of public and industry bodies contributing to delivery of the plan, it is not possible precisely to quantify the level of support available to fund the plan.

  Temporary Staff
  Matthew Taylor
  To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total amount paid by her Department to employment agencies for the supply of temporary staff was in financial year 2003–04. [178914]

  Alun Michael
  The total amount paid to employment agencies for the supply of temporary staff in Defra itself in financial year 2003–04 was £12.02 million. To supply the information for Defra agencies would involve disproportionate cost.

  Village Shops
  Mr. Drew
  To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will make a statement on the withdrawal of the vital villages scheme and its potential impact of the continuation of voluntary shop initiatives in rural areas; [179295]
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  (2) what funding schemes are available for voluntary shops. [179296]

  Alun Michael
  The vital villages scheme was established in 2001 as a time-limited programme. The Countryside Agency has met its three-year target to help rural communities to help themselves and to demonstrate good practice through the vital villages scheme and the programme is now closed to new applicants.

  During 2004–05 the Countryside Agency will continue to provide funding to rural voluntary shops from the vital villages programme where existing commitments exist.

  Other possible sources of funding and support for voluntary shops include: funding from district councils; for those eligible, rate relief from local authorities; community bond and share schemes, through which some community shoos have raised funds; and, for those with strong community backing, Defra's Rural Enterprise Scheme.

  Mr. Drew
  To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she last met representatives of the Village Retail Services Association; and if she will make a statement of what help is now forthcoming to that organisation. [179321]

  Alun Michael
  I last met representatives from the Village Retail Services Association (ViRSA) on 16 December 2003 and I have a further meeting arranged in early July 2004. The Government value the work of the associations for its support to village shops and post offices.

  The Countryside Agency has recently been approached for funding by ViRSA and progress has been made towards agreeing support to fund formal Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative accreditation for several ViRSA fieldworkers, which will allow them to contract to Business Links to provide advice and support to rural retailers. Once accredited, fieldworkers could generate more income for ViRSA and in addition to the Countryside Agency is willing to fund a Business Counselling Training seminar for ViRSA fieldworkers associated with their accreditation.

  ViRSA has also proposed that the agency fund a joint meeting and that the agency help with support costs of ViRSA in developing regional relationships and securing future funding—particularly with the rural development agencies with whom the remit for advice to rural retailers (via Business Links) will lie. The agency is awaiting a costed breakdown of what ViRSA's aims, objectives and projected outputs are for these areas of work.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

  Education Statistics (London)
  Sarah Teather
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much was spent per pupil for(a) primary and (b) secondary school education in (i) Brent East, (ii) the London borough of Brent and (iii) London in each year since 1997. [172804]
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  Mr. Miliband
  The information requested is submitted to the Department according to local education authority areas rather than districts within an area. Brent East is a district of Brent local education authority. The information for Brent LEA is as follows:

  Net current expenditure (after recharges) per pupil

  £

  Brent LEA

  Primary education

  Pre-primary & Primary

  Secondary education

  1997–98

  n/a

  2,370

  4,610

  1998–99

  n/a

  2,650

  5,060

  1999–2000

  2,630

  2,710

  3,320

  2000–01

  2,710

  2,810

  3,740

  2001–02

  3,050

  3,160

  4,090

  2002–03

  3,230

  3,370

  4,330

  £

  Greater London

  Primary education

  Pre–primary & Primary

  Secondary education

  1997–98

  n/a

  2,340

  3,130

  1998–99

  n/a

  2,520

  3,250

  1999–2000

  2,630

  2,750

  3,280

  2000–01

  2,820

  3,000

  3,540

  2001–02

  3,160

  3,380

  4,020

  2002–03

  3,440

  3,610

  4,320

  Notes:

  1. The financial data are taken from LEAs' Section 52 Outturn Statements submitted to the DfES from 1999–2000 onwards and the ODPM's RO1 statement previously. 2002–03 data is subject to change by the LEA. Expenditure was not distinguished between pre–primary and primary sectors until the inception of the Section 52 outturn statement in 1999–2000.

  2. 1999–2000 figures reflect the return of GM schools to local authority maintenance. Brent LEA had 11 GM schools out of 13. The GM schools were not included in the 1998–99 data but were in 1999–00. If 1997–98 and 1998–99 figures are adjusted to include funding and pupils, the figures become 3,019 for 1997–98 and 3,171 for 1998–99.

  3. The outturn 2002–03 tables captured the data in a fundamentally different way to the previous years. Categories were aligned with the Consistent Financial Reporting framework and the spending by LEAs was no longer split by school sector. Consequently the unit costs per pupil in 2002–03 are not strictly comparable with earlier years as they include an apportionment of LEA expenditure based on pupil numbers Figures are rounded to the nearest £10.

  4. Net current expenditure (NCE) includes expenditure within schools and also that incurred centrally by the LEA.

  5. The NCE per pupil figures for pre–primary & primary relate the net current expenditure (after recharges) in the pre-primary sector and maintained primary schools to the total number of financial year pupils who are educated in the maintained nursery and primary schools sector.

  6. The NCE per pupil figures for secondary relate the net current expenditure (after recharges) in maintained secondary schools to the total number of financial year pupils who are educated in the maintained secondary schools sector.

  7. Pupil data are drawn from the Annual Schools Census adjusted to be on a financial year basis.

  LEA

  Number of schools in "serious weakness"

  Number of schools with GCSE performance under 30 per cent.

  Number of schools in Special Measures

  Knowsley

  0

  3

  0

  Lancashire

  0

  2

  0

  Leeds

  2

  8

  1

  Leicester

  0

  2

  0

  Manchester

  1

  4

  0

  Newcastle upon Tyne

  1

  3

  0

  Newham

  0

  1

  0

  Pupil Funding
  Mr. Hammond
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will estimate the annual cost of educating all pupils currently within the private education sector in the state sector. [176939]

  Mr. Miliband
  We have made no such estimate.

  School Performance
  Mr. Hoban
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the correlation between value added measures of school performance and absolute measures of school performance, with particular reference to GCSE/GNVQ results. [179899]

  Mr. Miliband
  [holding answer 22 June 2004]: For maintained mainstream schools published in the 2003 Secondary (GCSE/GNVQ) performance tables, the correlation between the school KS3-GCSE value added measure and the school average capped point score for 15-year-olds was 0.46.

  School Places
  Mr. Chaytor
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list, for each of the last five years, for each English local education authority, the total number and percentage of parents lodging an appeal against the allocation of a place for their child in(a) primary and (b) secondary schools. [176702]

  Mr. Miliband
  [holding answer 10 June 2004]: The requested information has been placed in the House of Commons Library.

  Due to changes in the underlying data collection, the percentage of appeals lodged given in this table for 2001–02 is not directly comparable with earlier years.

  Information on admission appeals lodged in 2002–03 will be published in a Statistical First Release on 17 June.

  Schools (Capital Investment)
  Mr. Hoban
  To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in each of the successful bids for wave one of Building Schools for the Future were designated as(a) weak, (b) underperforming and (c) failing. [172908]

  Mr. Miliband
  The following table shows the data requested for areas included in wave one of Building Schools for the Future. The LEAs' projects were chosen on the basis of the educational and social need of the schools included, the quality of the authorities' educational plans, and the authorities' capacity to deliver a large procurement.
  1431W

  LEA

  Number of schools in "serious weakness"

  Number of schools with GCSE performance under 30 per cent.

  Number of schools in Special Measures

  Solihull

  1

  2

  0

  South Tyneside/Gateshead

  0

  2

  0

  Stoke-on-Trent

  0

  3

  0

  Sunderland

  0

  3

  0

  Waltham Forest

  1

  3

  0

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

  Child Labour
  Mr. Hoyle
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make grants to sports clubs and associations conditional on their use and purchase only of equipment which has not been manufactured using child labour. [179773]

  Mr. Caborn
  The Government are strongly committed to helping eliminate child labour throughout the world and fully support the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in this area. Although sports governing bodies do not have the resources to enable them to research how equipment funded by grants has been manufactured, the Government do urge all UK importing industries to be scrupulous in their choice of suppliers and ensure that they uphold the ILO core labour standards, including those on child labour. The UK has ratified all of the related ILO core Conventions and has provided £15 million to the ILO's International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour.

  Diverse Media
  Mr. Hancock
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her policy is on ensuring that all people in the UK have access to a diverse media. [179742]

  Estelle Morris
  The Government are committed to ensuring that all people in the United Kingdom have access to diverse media and brought forward the Communications Act 2003 to deliver that policy. For example, the Act requires the new communications regulator, Ofcom, to secure the availability throughout the United Kingdom of a wide range of electronic communications services and a wide range of television and radio services. Ofcom must also have regard to the desirability of encouraging the availability and use of high speed data transfer services throughout the United Kingdom. These responsibilities are supported by other provisions of the Act and by the Government's own policies for extending the availability of digital television services.

  Iraq (Antiquities)
  Harry Cohen
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent information she has received about important cultural artefacts taken from(a) the Museum of Baghdad and (b) elsewhere in Iraq being discovered (i) in the UK, (ii) in other European Union countries, (iii) in the US and (iv) on the international arts market; and if she will make a statement. [179338]

  Tessa Jowell
  Estimates made available to us suggest that, of the 40 important "iconic" objects stolen from the exhibition halls of the Iraq Museum, about half have 1432W
  now been recovered. Of the 15,000 objects taken from the storerooms about 7,000 have been recovered, which means that around 8,000 are still missing (including 5,000 cylinder seals). So far as I am aware none of the objects stolen from the museum has been recovered in the UK.

  Further information was received by the Interpol Tracking Task Force for Iraq at its meeting on 30 and 31 May in Jordan with updates from Interpol the US, UK, France, Italy and Jordan.

  France and Italy stated that no objects from the museum had been recovered in their country although both had seized some items of Iraqi origin, possibly from illegal excavations.

  The US have recently seized three cylinder seals from the Iraq Museum (marked with IM numbers) and they have also seized several consignments of property suspected of being excavated from Iraq.

  Jordanian and Syrian customs have been very active and made many significant seizures including cylinder seals and an Ivory chairback (on the "most wanted" list).

  The conference recognised the use of the internet to sell suspicious property from Iraq and made recommendations that are published on the Interpol website.

  The Metropolitan Police Art and Antiques Unit has recovered a number of Iraqi objects stolen between the wars and they are in the process of repatriating them.

  Harry Cohen
  To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she expects the Museum of Baghdad to reopen; and if she will make a statement. [179339]

  Tessa Jowell
  This is a matter for Iraq's interim Government and the Iraq State Board of Antiquities to decide.

NORTHERN IRELAND

  Bail
  Mr. Dodds
  To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many defendants were granted bail in Northern Ireland in each year since 1999 where they were charged with(a) attempted murder, (b) armed robbery, (c) assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and (d) manslaughter. [169929]

  Mr. Leslie
  I have been asked to reply.

  The information sought is not readily available, but is currently being collated, and will be provided as soon as possible.

HEALTH

  Adverse Drug Reactions
  Tim Loughton
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the future development of direct patient reporting of adverse drug reactions. [178659]

  Ms Rosie Winterton
  The yellow card scheme is the United Kingdom system for collecting and monitoring information on suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs). The scheme is run by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on behalf of the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) and currently depends on voluntary reporting of suspected ADRs by health professionals. The purpose of the scheme is to provide an early warning that the safety of a product may require further investigation.

  Following an independent review of access to the yellow card scheme, it was announced on 4 May 2004 that the recommendation that patients should be able to report suspected adverse drug reactions directly to the CSM/MHRA had been accepted in principle.

  The MHRA is currently developing proposals to pilot different arrangements for patient reporting to gauge effectiveness. The Licensing Authority will reach a decision on the proposals, taking into account the advice of the CSM.

  Insulin
  Mr. Sanders
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will instruct the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to investigate and compare the clinical effectiveness of beef, pork and synthetic insulins. [R] [179548]

  Ms Rosie Winterton
  We have no plans to refer this topic to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.

  Total waste disposal costs by year

  £ million

  SHA

  1999–2000

  2000–01

  2001–02

  2002–03

  Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire

  1.54

  2.28

  2.19

  1.97

  Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire

  0.86

  1.27

  1.55

  1.65

  Birmingham and the Black Country

  1.84

  1.61

  1.94

  2.13

  Cheshire and Merseyside

  1.37

  1.81

  1.84

  2.40

  County Durham and Tees Valley

  0.75

  0.84

  0.90

  1.07

  Cumbria and Lancashire

  1.40

  1.43

  1.46

  1.65

  Dorset and Somerset

  0.75

  1.45

  0.84

  0.95

  Essex

  1.12

  0.60

  1.10

  1.52

  Greater Manchester

  2.55

  2.39

  2.55

  3.16

  Hampshire and Isle of Wight

  1.23

  1.39

  1.49

  1.98

  Kent and Medway

  1.04

  0.99

  1.13

  1.25

  Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland

  1.14

  1.28

  2.17

  164

  Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire

  1.58

  1.43

  1.52

  2.01

  North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire

  1.36

  1.45

  1.62

  1.61

  North Central London

  1.90

  1.83

  1.92

  2.73

  North East London

  1.63

  1.69

  2.09

  2.37

  North West London

  2.52

  2.53

  3.40

  2.44

  Northumberland, Tyne and Wear

  1.27

  1.21

  1.54

  1.73

  Shropshire and Staffordshire

  1.02

  1.25

  1.36

  1.50

  South East London

  1.29

  1.55

  1.99

  2.21

  South West London

  1.37

  1.39

  1.61

  1.97

  1434W
  Mr. Sanders
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of insulin dependent diabetics prescribed(a) beef,(b) pork and (c) other insulins in each of the past 10 years for which figures are available. [R] [179549]

  Ms Rosie Winterton
  The Department does not hold this data.

  Mr. Sanders
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with insulin manufacturers about the continuity of future supply to patients. [R] [179551]

  Ms Rosie Winterton
  The Department is in regular contact with the companies who manufacture insulin. None of them currently has any plans to withdraw from the United Kingdom market.

  Mr. Sanders
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has responsibility for the continuity of supply for(a) all insulins, (b)specific insulins and (c) an insulin; and if he will make a statement. [R] [179552]

  Ms Rosie Winterton
  The Department is in regular contact with the companies which supply insulins to the United Kingdom market and makes every effort to ensure that patients continue to receive the treatment they require. However the Department has no powers to force a company to continue to market a product if, for any reason, it is unable to do so.

  NHS Waste Disposal
  Mr. Burstow
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the NHS of waste disposal by(a) landfill and (b) incineration, in England was in each year since 1996, broken down by (i) NHS region and (ii) strategic health authority. [178247]

  Miss Melanie Johnson
  The table shows the cost to the national health service of waste disposal in each year since 1999–2000. This information was not collected prior to that date and is therefore shown by strategic health authority (SHA) area only. Information on the breakdown of this cost by disposal method is not collected centrally.
  1435W

  Total waste disposal costs by year

  £ million

  SHA

  1999–2000

  2000–01

  2001–02

  2002–03

  South West Peninsula

  0.99

  0.69

  1.24

  1.20

  South Yorkshire

  1.95

  1.23

  1.63

  1.67

  Surrey and Sussex

  2.04

  2.22

  2.30

  2.55

  Thames Valley

  1.90

  1.57

  1.75

  2.00

  Trent

  1.72

  2.02

  1.76

  2.15

  West Midlands South

  0.67

  0.74

  0.98

  1.20

  West Yorkshire

  2.10

  2.01

  2.57

  2.43

  National total

  40.91

  42.14

  48.43

  53.14

  NICE Guidance
  Bob Spink
  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of whether all strategic health authorities have robust processes in place to ensure that National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidance is(a) planned for and (b) followed through; and if he will make a statement. [179453]

  Ms Rosie Winterton
  A number of recent studies, including that undertaken by the national cancer director, have showed some variations in the effectiveness of local planning and implementation mechanisms for National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance. We have recently announced a programme of action to help the national health service respond positively to NICE guidance, including action by strategic health authorities.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

  Anti-social Behaviour Orders
  John Mann
  To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs in how many antisocial behaviour order cases magistrates' clerks have advised that hearsay evidence is inadmissible. [180107]

  Mr. Leslie
  The information requested is not collected and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

  John Mann
  To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment he has made of the speed of anti-social behaviour order convictions in(a) West Lancashire, (b)Nottinghamshire and (c) England. [180108]

  Mr. Leslie
  I am not aware of delays in dealing with breaches of ASBOs in the geographical areas mentioned or within England and Wales. Detailed information is not collected by my Department and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

  Election Turnout
  Mr. Hammond
  To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the turnout was as a percentage of eligible voters at the European parliamentary elections(a) this year and (b) in 1999, broken down by region. [179695]

  Mr. Leslie
  I refer the hon. Member to the written statement made in the House on 21 June 2004, column 72Ws, comparing the turnout for the European
  1436W
  parliamentary elections for 1999 and for this year. The following table states the turnout, region by region, for the respective years.

  Percentage

  Region

  1999

  2004

  East Midlands

  22.6

  44.6

  North East

  19.6

  41.5

  North West

  19.4

  41.5

  Yorkshire and Number

  19.6

  42.9

  East of England

  24.5

  36.6

  London

  23.0

  37.7

  South East

  24.7

  36.5

  South West

  27.6

  37.8

  West Midlands

  21.0

  36.6

  Scotland

  24.7

  30.9

  Northern Ireland

  57.8

  51.7

  Wales

  29.0

  41.9

  Postal Voting
  Mr. Hoyle
  To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will make a statement on postal voting in the north-west. [179289]

  Mr. Leslie
  A written statement on the subject of the postal voting pilots which recently took place in four regions, including the north-west, was given to the House on 21 June.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

  Afghanistan
  Mr. Bercow
  To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of the population of Pashtun in Afghanistan have access to safe drinking water. [176593]

  Mr. Gareth Thomas
  It is estimated that less than 24 per cent. of the population in Afghanistan has access to safe drinking water; however, currently there is no further detailed information available with respect to coverage and conditions. However, there are reports of many water drinking projects carried out by International aid organisations in Afghanistan, which are also compiling information on water supply. The Afghan Government have also started a priority project focusing on water and sanitation. This project, with a budget of US$295 million over five years, includes provision of 130,000 water points/hand pumps to 3.25 million families, and 310 different water schemes throughout the country.

  Cycle Parking
  Mr. Robathan
  To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what provision is made at his Department headquarters for cycle parking for visitors; and how accessible it is. [179878]

  Mr. Gareth Thomas
  DFID's London headquarters at 1 Palace street does not have cycle parking facilities specifically for visitors, as the building has no external space available for parking of any type. However, there are 64 secure internal cycle spaces for staff, which can be used by visitors upon request.

  DFID's East Kilbride office has 20 cycle spaces, all of which are freely available for staff or visitor use.

  Departmental Secondments
  Bob Spink
  To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many staff in his Department and its agencies were seconded from the(a) private and (b) academic sectors in each of the last three years. [175360]

  Mr. Gareth Thomas
  The following statistics relate to secondments from(a) private sector and (b) academic sector to the DFID, commencing in each financial year from 2001–02:

  Financial year (April-March)

  Private

  Academic

  2001–02

  0

  0

  2002–03

  0

  0

  2003–04

  1

  0

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

  Guantanamo Bay
  Mr. McNamara
  To ask the Solicitor-General on what dates officials of the Law Officers have visited British nationals detained at Guantanamo Bay; on what dates the Attorney-General received reports on the welfare of detainees; what representations he has made on behalf of the prisoners; and what action he took to make his concerns known to relatives or legal representatives of those detained. [177589]

  The Solicitor-General
  No officials from the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers have visited the British nationals detained in Guantanamo Bay. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 8 June 2004, my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland, South (Mr. Mullin),Official Report, column 303W, in reply to his question no. 177590.

WORK AND PENSIONS

  Asbestos
  Malcolm Bruce
  To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 12 March 2004,Official Report, column 1795W, on asbestos, what
  1438W
  proportion of the asbestos identified in buildings occupied by his Department's staff was the (a) chrysotile and (b) amphibole form of asbestos. [176787]

  Jane Kennedy
  Although information is available in respect of all the Departments buildings in which asbestos has been identified, a global breakdown of the types of asbestos is not yet maintained centrally. It is anticipated that this information can be provided once the current piece of work to populate a database is fully complete, in late summer. Nonetheless, the Department and its predecessors have done everything possible to prevent any exposure to asbestos and have been proactive in identifying buildings containing the substance and either sealing or removing the asbestos, as necessary.

  Attitude Surveys
  Norman Lamb
  To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what surveys of public perceptions of(a) his Department and (b) its areas of responsibility have taken place over the last 12 months; what the (i) title and (ii) nature of these surveys was; what the findings of each survey were; where these findings have been published; what the cost of all such surveys was; and if he will make a statement and place copies of the surveys in the Library. [174340]

  Jane Kennedy
  [holding answer 18 May 2004]: The following surveys of public perceptions have been undertaken by the Department in the last 12 months.

  Pension Service Customer Survey 2003

  Findings from this survey were published in February 2004 (DWP Research Report number 205). A copy of the report has been placed in the Library and is also available on the Department's website at www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2003–2004/rrep205.asp

  The cost of the survey was £496,285

  Jobcentre Plus Service Delivery Survey

  This was quantitative survey of Jobcentre Plus customers who experienced the 'front end' process in integrated offices, collecting views of First Contact, the Financial Assessor meeting, the initial mandatory Work Focused Interview and the office environment.

  Findings are being analysed and are due to be published in autumn 2004.

  The cost of this survey was £404,330

  Public Awareness of Changes to State Pension Age for Women

  A number of questions on this subject were included in the Office for National Statistics Omnibus Survey in November 2003 and February 2004.

  Findings are being analysed and are due to be published in summer 2004.

  The cost was £21,750.
  1439W
  Jobcentre Plus National Customer Satisfaction Survey 2003

  Findings were published in September 2003 (DWP Research Report number W168). A copy of the report has been placed in the House Library and is also available on the Department's website at www.dwp.gov.uk/jad/2003/168rep.pdf

  The cost of this survey was £88,660.

  Public Perceptions of Child Support and the Child Support Agency

  A module of questions on this topic were included in the Office for National Statistics Omnibus Survey in March 2004. Results are being analysed and are due to be published in autumn 2004.

  The cost was £27,100

  Service First Survey

  This was a telephone survey carried out by the Appeals Service to test performance against a number of the service first standards which cannot be measured internally. Findings will be included in the Appeals Service Annual Report which is due to be published on 14 July. A copy of the report will be placed in the House library on that day.

  The cost of the survey was £15,170.

  Disability and Carers Service (DCS) Customer Service Survey 2003–04

  A postal correspondence survey was issued during February and March 2004 to approximately 13,000 DCS customers who have claimed or are in receipt of one of the benefits the DCS administers—disability living allowance, attendance allowance and carer's allowance. 6,390 completed questionnaires were returned.

  Analysis of the findings and publication of the full report is currently ongoing and will be made available later in the year.

  The cost of the survey was £56,980.

  Omnibus Survey and Awareness Research

  The Department for Work and Pensions conducts annual omnibus surveys to monitor public awareness of the Department and its responsibilities, and also public attitudes to the Government's welfare reform. The Omnibus Survey was conducted in January 2004 and Awareness Research took place in October 2003. The emerging long-term trend shows a significant improvement in how the Department is regarded among people who experience the system as customers. Consideration is now being given to how we use this information to best effect in Departmental communications. The reports are not currently published.

  The cost for both pieces of work is in the region of £25,000.
  1440W
  DWP Customers' Perception of the quality of service they have received in respect of their Medical Examination

  These are monthly surveys. Over the 12-month period from April 2003 to March 2004, overall satisfaction scores ranged from 93 per cent. to 97per cent. Detailed survey findings are reported each month to the DWP's Medical Provision Contract Management Team, together with a Highlight Report. These are not published outside DWP.

  The Department pays £7,200 per annum towards the survey costs.

  Employer Performance Measure Survey

  These are on-going surveys undertaken on a monthly basis. Interviews are conducted with employers that have notified and closed a vacancy with Jobcentre Plus in the previous three months in order to gather views on the service provided for the placing of that particular vacancy. Reports, for internal use, are produced on a quarterly basis.

  The cost of these surveys in 2003–04 was £812,000

  Income Thresholds
  Andy King
  To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the income thresholds used in paragraph 7 of the reply by the Government to the Second Report of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, Session 2003–04, Cm 6200 are(a) before housing costs (i) for the relative low income and (ii) for the absolute low income and (b) after housing costs (i) for the relative low income and (ii) for the absolute low income. [179516]

  Mr. Pond
  The figures in paragraph 7 of the reply by the Government to the Second Report of the Work and Pensions Select Committee refer to two different income thresholds. The absolute low income threshold used is 60 per cent. of the 1996–97 median equivalised household income. The relative low income threshold is 60 per cent. of contemporary median equivalised household income. The figures refer to changes between 1996–97 and 2002–03; the latest year for which figures are available.

  Information relating to absolute and relative low income was derived from "Households Below Average Income—An analysis of the income distribution for 1994–95 to 2002–03". It is available in the Library.

  New Deal (Benefit Sanctions)
  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people on the(a) new Deal for Young People and (b) the New Deal for 25 Plus have had their jobseeker's allowance reduced in each year for (a) two weeks, (b) four weeks and (c) 26 weeks. [177550]

  Jane Kennedy
  Information on the duration of benefit sanctions imposed on people participating in New Deal for Young People and New Deal 25 plus is not available.

  The Social Security Advisory Committee identified in late 2003 that work needed to be undertaken to review and evaluate the Sanctions Regime and DWP is nearing completion on a new Sanctions Database which will be

  1441W
  operational following testing and evaluation. This will provide detailed sanction MI on a regular basis and information will be published in the Library.

  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people on the(a) new Deal for Young People and (b) the New Leal for 25 Plus have had sanctions on their jobseeker's allowance in each year since 1998–99. [177551]

  Jane Kennedy
  Information about the number of sanctions applied to participants in New Deal 25 plus is not available. The Social Security Advisory Committee identified in late 2003 that work needed to be undertaken to review and evaluate the Sanctions Regime and DWP is nearing completion on a new Sanctions Database which will be operational following testing and evaluation. This will provide detailed sanction MI on a regular basis and information will be published in the Library.

  Information on the number of sanctions applied to participants in New Deal for Young People is in the following table.

  Number of sanctions applied to participants in New Deal for Young People

  Number of sanctions imposed1

  1998–99

  8,030

  1999–2000

  18,764

  2000–01

  17,507

  2001–02

  12,972

  2002–03

  13,416

  2003–04

  12,816

  1Some people may have been sanctioned more than once during a year.

  Source:

  Labour Market Statistics–Analysis of Sector Decisions.

  Full information on sanction decisions relating to jobseeker's allowance and New Deal for Young People can be found in the report "Labour Market Statistics—Analysis of Sector Decisions". Copies of quarterly and annual reports are available in the Library.

  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people participated in each New Deal scheme; and how many of these received a benefit sanction each year, broken down by(a) New Deal programme and (b) type of sanction. [177555]

  Jane Kennedy
  Information on the number of people who have participated in each New Deal scheme is in the following table.

  Number of New Deal Participants1

  New Deal for Young People2

  831,350

  New Deal 25 plus3

  496,790

  New Deal for Lone Parents4

  459,070

  New Deal for Disabled Peoples5

  69,460

  New Deal for Partners6

  7,480

  New Deal 50 plus7

  98,040

  1All figures relate to individuals who have started each programme.

  2 January 1998 to December 2003.

  3 April 1998 to December 2003.

  4 October 1998 to December 2003.

  5 Pilots launched in September 1998. National network of NDDP job brokers launched from July 2001. Up to December 2003.
  1442W
  6Launched as New Deal for Partners of Unemployed People in April 1999. Extended to partners of other benefit recipients in April 2001. Up to December 2003.

  7New Deal 50 plus was introduced in nine pathfinder areas on 25 October 1999 and rolled out nationally on 3 April 2000. Up to March 2003.

  Source:

  New Deal Evaluation Database, Information and Analysis Directorate, DWP.

  Within the New Deal programme, benefit sanctions are only applied within the New Deal for Young People and New Deal 25 plus. Information is not available for sanctions applied to participants in New Deal 25 plus.

  The Social Security Advisory Committee identified in late 2003 that work needed to be undertaken to review and evaluate the Sanctions Regime and DWP is nearing completion on a new Sanctions Database which will be operational following testing and evaluation. This will provide detailed sanction M1 on a regular basis and information will be published in the Library.

  Information on the numbers of sanctions applied to New Deal for Young People participants broken down by reason for sanction, up to March 1999, is published in the "Analysis of Adjudication Officers' Decisions". Information from April 1999 onwards is published in "Analysis of Sector Decision Making". Copies of quarterly and annual reports are available in the Library.

  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress officials in his Department have made in providing more detailed and robust information on the sanction regime of the New Deal for Young People in the last year; if he will place the results of that progress in the Library; and if he will make a statement. [177556]

  Jane Kennedy
  More detailed and robust information on the sanction regime of the New Deal for Young People will be available as part of a new Sanctions Evaluation Database.

  The Social Security Advisory Committee identified in late 2003 that work needed to be undertaken to review and evaluate the Sanctions Regime and DWP is nearing completion on the new Sanctions Database which will be operational following testing and evaluation. This will provide detailed sanction MI on a regular basis and information will be published in the Library.

  It is anticipated that the new Sanctions Database will be operational in summer 2004.

  Special Advisers
  Mr. Tyrie
  To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints have been made by civil servants to his Department's Permanent Secretary regarding the conduct of(a) special advisers and (b) unpaid advisers in each year since 1996–97. [174652]

  Mr. Pond
  The Department for Work and Pensions was created in June 2001. Information prior to June 2001 refers to predecessor Departments. So far as can be established without incurring disproportionate cost, there has been one complaint by a civil servant about a special adviser since 1996–97.

  The Department has no unpaid advisers.

  Sure Start
  Dr. Cable
  To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many applications have been(a) received and (b) approved for Sure Start maternity grant (i) in total and (ii) at the Twickenham Job Centre Plus office; and what estimate he has made of the numbers who are entitled to this benefit. [176772]

  Mr. Pond
  The information is not available in the format requested. The available information is in the tables.

  Sure Start maternity grants for Thames Valley social fund district 2000–01

  Number

  Applications

  2,351

  Awards

  1,934

  Sure Start maternity grants for area covered by Hounslow and Twickenham social fund district

  Applications

  Awards

  2001–02

  1,170

  934

  2002–03

  1,412

  1,092

  2003–04 (To November)

  893

  664

  Sure Start maternity grants for area covered by the South London Jobcentre Plus district

  Applications

  Awards

  2003–04 (From December)

  1,557

  1,205

  2004–05 (April only)

  354

  264

  Sure Start Maternity Grants for Great Britain

  Applications

  Awards

  1999–2000

  223

  33

  2000–01

  200,941

  170,293

  2001–02

  242,406

  201,376

  2002–03

  289,132

  232,414

  2003–04

  316,814

  237,776

  2004–05 (April only)

  24,633

  17,834

  Notes:

  1. In March 2000 Twickenham office was part of Thames Valley social fund district. In April 2001 it was moved to the newly created Hounslow and Twickenham social fund district. In December 2003 it was moved again, to become part of South London Jobcentre Plus district.

  2. Sure Start maternity grants were introduced on 27 March 2000. The very small number of Thames Valley cases for 1999–2000 have been excluded for data protection reasons.

  3. We have made no estimate of the number of people eligible for the Sure Start maternity grant.

  4. Information regarding the number of people eligible for the Sure Start maternity grant is not available and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

  Source:

  DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System.

  Work-focused Interviews
  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have been penalised with reduced benefit for failing to attend a compulsory work-focused interview in each year for which figures are available, broken down by benefit received in each case. [177529]
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  Jane Kennedy
  The information requested is not currently available The Social Security Advisory Committee identified in late 2003 that work needed to be undertaken to review and evaluate the Sanctions Regime and the DWP is nearing completion on a new Sanctions Database which will be operational following testing and evaluation. This will provide detailed sanction MI on a regular basis and information will be published in the Library.

  Mr. Willetts
  To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many lone parents have been invited to attend a work-focused interview in each year since the start of the programme; how many have attended; how many have not attended; and how many have received a benefits penalty for failure to attend. [177967]

  Jane Kennedy
  Work-focused interviews for lone parents can be deferred or waived, or the customer may leave benefit between an interview being booked and the time it should be attended and benefit sanctions would not apply in these circumstances. Therefore not all interviews booked will result in a work-focused interview being attended.

  The available information is in the table.

  Lone parent work-focused interviews— new/repeat and existing customers

  Calendar year

  Booked total

  Attended total

  2001

  106,130

  85,360

  2002

  241,240

  203,810

  2003

  399,300

  355,860

  2004

  9,310

  8,550

  Source:

  Jobcentre Plus Database (to February 2004) NDLP evaluation database (data to December 2003)

  Information on benefits sanctions is not available. The Social Security Advisory Committee identified in late 2003 that work needed to be undertaken to review and evaluate the Sanctions Regime and DWP is nearing completion on a new Sanctions Database which will be operational following testing and evaluation. This will provide detailed sanction M1 on a regular basis and information will be published in the Library.

  Workstep Programme
  Simon Hughes
  To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many disabled people who have participated in the Workstep programme in Greater London gained employment in each year since 1999; [177061]

  (2) how much was spent by his Department on the Workstep programme in Greater London in each year since 1999. [177062]

  Maria Eagle
  Workstep was introduced in April 2001 to replace the former Supported Employment programme. Workstep provides support in jobs for disabled people who have more complex barriers to finding and keeping work but who, with the right support, can work effectively and develop in their job. Where it is appropriate, supported employees may also progress to unsupported employment.
  1445W
  The information on participants is not available in the format requested. Nationally, 1,800 people progressed into unsupported work in 2001–02; 2,144 in 2002–03 and 1,856 in 2003–04. Figures are currently not available below national level.

  The Government allocated an additional £37.2 million over three years 2001–04 to expand the programme and to support providers to modernise and develop their delivery. From this sum a Workstep Modernisation Fund of £9.6 million was established in order to enable former Supported Employment Programme Providers to adapt quickly to the changes in the programme. Workstep providers in the London Region successfully submitted bids for modernisation funding totalling approximately £0.5 million.

  The available information on spending is in the following table.

  Workstep spend in the Long ton region

  Amount (—)

  2001–02

  2,603,839

  2002–03

  2,685,024

  2003–04

  2,439,053

  Note:

  The figures quoted do not include the National Providers; Remploy, Shaw Trust, Scope and Employment Opportunities.

DEFENCE

  Correspondence
  Mr. Salmond
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will reply to the letter dated 15 April from the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan regarding defence establishments and wind farm developments. [179553]

  Mr. Caplin
  A reply to this letter, which was not received in the Ministry of Defence until 5 May, was sent to the hon. Member on 18 June.

  D-Day Commemorations
  Mr. Boris Johnson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of the 60th anniversary D-Day events and commemorations. [179179]

  Mr. Caplin
  Detailed estimates covering all Ministry of Defence elements of expenditure are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

  For some there will have been training or other defence benefit from their participation and so costs will not have been separately identified. However, I can advise that the additional costs arising from support provided by 102 Logistics Brigade was estimated at £190,000.

  General Service Medal (Canal Zone Clasp)
  Mr. Laws
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his latest estimate is of the total number of people entitled to the Canal Zone clasp to the General Service Medal; how many have been dispatched to date; what the backlog awaiting dispatch is; and if he will make a statement. [179714]
  1446W
  Mr. Caplin
  [holding answer 22 June 2004]: As at 18 June 2004 a total of 9,709 medals and/or clasps had been issued. The four medal offices had received 39,666 applications. The medal offices are dealing with cases received on the following dates:

  Royal Naval Medal Office—27 November 2003.

  Royal Marines Medal Office—As applications arrive.

  Army Medal Office—10 October 2003.

  Royal Air Force Medal Office—18 November 2003.

  Iraq
  Llew Smith
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his latest estimate is of the number of civilians killed in Iraq by Coalition forces since 20 March 2003; and if he will make a statement on how this figure was calculated. [175074]

  Mr. Ingram
  I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 14 June 2004,Official Report, columns 641-42W, to the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke).

  Mr. Dawson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of UK armed forces have been killed during the Second Gulf War. [179278]

  Mr. Caplin
  [holding answer 17 June 2004]: 59 members of the armed forces have been killed in Operation Telic. 34 were killed during major combat operations from 19 March to 1 May, and 25 subsequently.

  Mr. Hancock
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the countries of origin were of(a) advice, (b)technology and (c) materials discovered by the Iraq Survey Group which contributed towards the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction in that country. [179760]

  Mr. Hoon
  The Iraq Survey Group continues to investigate foreign assistance to Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction programmes and is expected to produce a substantive report later this year.

  The Iraq Survey Group has confirmed that Iraq was holding discussions with North Korea regarding technology associated with a 1,300 km range missile system. It has also been confirmed that foreign technology and technical assistance were critical to the progress made by Iraqi engineers and designers.

  Adam Price
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his latest estimate is of the number of civilian casualties in Iraq since the beginning of the war. [175035]

  Mr. Ingram
  [holding answer 21 May 2004]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 14 June 2004.Official Report, columns 641-42W, to the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke).

  MOD Sites
  Mr. Key
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the timetable is for the replacement of worn-out buildings at the Defence Nuclear Biological and Chemical Centre at Winterbourne Gunner. [179482]
  1447W
  Mr. Caplin
  Site preparation has begun for the replacement of some accommodation and mess blocks dating back to the First World War. Construction is expected to begin in August and complete by December 2005.

  Nuclear Weapons
  Lynne Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons the UK has not decommissioned its nuclear weapons. [179775]

  Mr. Hoon
  I refer my hon. Friend to paragraph 3.11 of the 2003 Defence White Paper (Cm 6041–1).

  RAF Innsworth
  Mr. Luff
  To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many(a) civilians and (b) military staff with experience of medal issuing were involved in the decision to centralise medal issuing at RAF Innsworth. [178998]

  Mr. Caplin
  The decision to form the new Ministry of Defence Medal Office was agreed by all major stakeholders including the senior single Service Principal Personnel Officers currently responsible for medals administration.

  The decision to locate at RAF Innsworth was taken by the Chief Executive of the Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency, endorsed by Ministers, and was influenced by a range of factors such as business benefits, risks and cost and included consultation of medals staff via their trade unions.

PRIME MINISTER

  Private Finance Initiative
  David Taylor
  To ask the Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Private Finance Initiative in saving public money. [179855]

  The Prime Minister
  The Government use the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) where it delivers value for money for the taxpayer. It is an important part of our overall strategy to provide investment to deliver world-class public services.

  Terrorism
  Harry Cohen
  To ask the Prime Minister when the Government first received reports of the activities of(a) Osama Bin Laden and (b) Al-Qaeda; what the nature of the reports was in each case; and if he will make a statement. [179891]

  The Prime Minister
  The Government have been aware of the activities of Osama Bin Laden and Islamic terrorist networks including Al-Qaeda since the mid-1990s. In relation to the nature of the reports, it has been the practice of successive Governments not to comment on intelligence matters.

  We and our international partners remain resolute in our determination to defeat terrorism and bring Osama Bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders to justice.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

  Antarctica
  Colin Burgon
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government are taking to promote conservation of the flora, fauna and mineral resources of Antarctica. [179582]

  Mr. Mike O'Brion
  The protection of the Antarctic environment is provided through the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, adopted in 1991. This includes a prohibition on all activity relating to mineral resources, other than scientific research, and establishes a permitting regime for any activities that may involve taking or harmful interference with the native fauna and flora of Antarctica. 31 states, including the United Kingdom, are parties to the Protocol.

  The United Kingdom implements the provisions of this Protocol through the Antarctic Act 1994 and the related Antarctic Regulations 1995, as amended.

  Chile
  Angus Robertson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Common wealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the work done by the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture in Chile; and if he will make a statement. [179634]

  Mr. Mike O'Brien
  The Government welcome any efforts to address abuses of human rights. The National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture in Chile is an important step forward in addressing past human rights abuses and fulfils one of the requirements of State parties to the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

  Angus Robertson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the number of people not able to participate in the work of the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture in Chile owing to insufficient advertisement; and if he will make a statement. [179635]

  Mr. Mike O'Brien
  The number of people responding to the Commission has been lower than expected. It is not possible to establish precise reasons for this, although one contributory factor could be people's reluctance to re-live past traumatic experiences. The work of the Commission has been widely reported in the Chilean media. We have not been able to assess the extent to which lack of awareness of the Commission's existence is a significant factor in the lower than expected response.

  Angus Robertson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance his Department(a) offered and (b) has given to the Government in Chile to facilitate the work of the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture; and if he will make a statement. [179638]

  Mr. Mike O'Brien
  The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not worked with the Chilean Government on this specific issue, nor have we received any request for help. However, the Government have supported various human rights projects in related fields.
  1449W
  Angus Robertson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many(a) UK and (b) Chilean nationals now residing in the UK contacted his Department about (i) information on and (ii) assisting the work of the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture in Chile; and if he will make a statement. [179639]

  Mr. Mike O'Brien
  I am told that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has no record of having been contacted by UK or Chilean nationals regarding the Commission.

  China
  Mr. Ben Chapman
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the EU arms embargo in relation to China. [179644]

  Mr. Mike O'Brien
  The European Council on 12 December 2003 invited the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) to re-examine the EU arms embargo on China. The GAERC met on 26 January 2004 and decided to remit the issue to the relevant working groups for detailed examination. The issue will revert to a future GAERC.

  The Government welcome the Review and Ministers are currently considering the UK's position. In the meantime we will continue fully to implement the arms embargo.

  Cyprus
  Keith Vaz
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to visit Cyprus. [179906]

  Mr. MacShane
  Foreign engagements for my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and other Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers are kept under constant review. It is not our practice to announce such visits until they are firm. Because of the unpredictable nature of world events, final decisions on overseas visits are often not possible until very shortly before the day of travel.

  Gibraltar
  Mr. Hoyle
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what talks have taken place with EU officials on(a) cruise ships and (b) Gibraltar; when; where; and with whom. [180091]

  Mr. MacShane
  We continue to seek a permanent solution to the cruise ship issue. Although there have been no incidents over the last month, we regard Spanish interference with cruise-liner traffic en route from Gibraltar to Spain as unacceptable and illegal. To this end our Permanent Representation to the European Union has asked the Commission to investigate. We understand that the Commission has since taken this issue up with Spain.

  In addition, officials from the UK Permanent Representation in Brussels have been in close and frequent contact with officials from EU Competition Director General in recent weeks, regarding the
  1450W
  compatibility of Gibraltar's proposed corporate tax reforms with EC rules on State Aid. The Government of Gibraltar has played a full part in these discussions.

  Iraq
  Mr. Lyons
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British citizens have been killed and injured in Iraq since the end of the war. [178138]

  Mr. MacShane
  26 military personnel and 16 British civilians have been killed in Iraq since 1 May 2003 when major combat operations ceased. Consular staff have also provided assistance to a large number of British civilians who have been injured. This has included visiting individuals in local hospitals, assisting with medical transfers inside Iraq and arranging medical repatriations outside of Iraq. Given the varied nature of these cases, it has not been possible to collate the total number of injured that we have assisted. To obtain this information would incur disproportionate costs.

  Harry Cohen
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 7 June 2004,Official Report, column 63W, on Iraq, if he will place in the Library the minutes of the liaison meeting between the representative of the office of the UK Special Representative for Iraq with the US authorities in Baghdad; if he will list the representations which have been made to the coalition powers on the incident; what arrangements he understands have been put in place for the investigation ordered by the US Commander of the Multinational Force in Iraq; whether it will meet and hear evidence at any stage in public; to what timescale he understands it will operate; who will undertake the investigation, and who they represent; whether the UK offered arrangements or individuals to help undertake the investigation; and if he will make a statement. [179410]

  Mr. Mike O'Brien
  The nature of any previous discussions the UK has had with the US Government on this matter are confidential, I am therefore withholding these details under Exemption 1(c) of Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

  The arrangements for the conduct of the investigation are for the US Government. The investigation is still under way but we have no indications when it will be completed. The United Kingdom is not involved in the investigation itself.

  Iraqi Kurds
  Harry Cohen
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the UK Government have received a copy of the letter sent to President Bush at the beginning of June by Kurdish leaders Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani concerning the future autonomy of Iraqi Kurds; and if he will make a statement. [179409]

  Mr. Mike O'Brien
  There was a private letter from Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani to President Bush, which was, we understand, subsequently leaked.

  The long-term governing arrangements for Iraq, including those concerning any federal structure for Iraq, are a matter for the Iraqi constitution, which will

  1451W
  be drawn up by the Transitional National Assembly in 2005. UNSCR 1546 welcomes the commitment of the Interim Government of Iraq to work towards a federal, democratic, pluralistic and unified Iraq, in which there is full respect for political and human rights.

  Western Sahara/Morocco
  Mr. Drew
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent deaths of two Saharawis in Moroccan custody in Laayoune and Guelmim. [179323]

  Mr. Mike O'Brien
  The Moroccan authorities are looking into both of these cases. In the Guelmim case, police officers have been arrested and are likely to face charges. In the Laayoune case, the Moroccan Ministry of Justice is considering its next steps following a post mortem examination and representations from the family of the deceased. Moroccan NGOs have also responded and are following the cases, working constructively with the authorities and the families. My officials will continue to follow developments.

  Mr. Drew
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent Amnesty International Report on human rights abuses in Western Sahara and Morocco. [179324]

  Mr. Mike O'Brien
  Ministers and officials raise human rights concerns with the Moroccan authorities as appropriate. We raised, for example, both bilaterally and in co-ordination with EU partners, the case of Ali Lmrabet with the relevant authorities.

  We welcome Amnesty's positive view of the advances in human rights in Morocco during the period of the report, especially with regard to women's rights under the new Personal Status Code and the establishment of a Justice and Reconciliation Commission.

  With regard to the Western Sahara dispute, we have encouraged all parties to co-operate on those missing in the conflict and have urged the Polisario to release the 514 remaining prisoners of war in their custody without delay.

  Mr. Drew
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make urgent representations to the Government of Spain on its new peace treaty plan, Madrid II, to try to settle the Western Sahara issue, with specific reference to the concerns expressed by(a) the Polisario Front and (b) the Saharawis people. [179325]

  Mr. Mike O'Brien
  We have regular discussions with the Spanish Government on the question of Western Sahara. These have focussed on ensuring that the UN process leads to a fair and lasting solution to this dispute. There are no plans to make representations.

  Zionist Terrorists (1940s/50s)
  Harry Cohen
  To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether all Government papers in relation to the killing of UK individuals by Zionist terrorists in the 1940s and 1950s are now in the public domain; and if he will make a statement. [179794]
  1452W
  Mr. Straw
  Government papers on the killing of UK individuals by Zionist terrorists in the 1940s and 1950s will be dispersed am, mg the files originating in a number of Government Departments now in The National Archives (TNA). The TNA catalogue will show any that have been withheld.

  The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not have a central list of its withheld records. In the time available my Department has not identified any withheld papers dealing with this subject. A search is continuing to confirm the position and I will write to my hon. Friend when this is done.

  The FCO is re-reviewing all of its withheld records on a systematic basis. Over 20,000 previously withheld records have been released since 1992. We also re-review on request any specific items identified by researchers working in TNA. In the last year we have re-reviewed and released a block of material including some on Zionist organisations in response to such a request; these are now available at TNA in class CO 733. Quarterly lists of FCO previously withheld releases are published on the FCO website (www.fco.gov.uk).

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

  Employment Tribunals (Reinstatement Orders)
  Mr. Hancock
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will introduce legislation to ensure that employment tribunals have the power(a) to enforce Reinstatement Orders and (b) to force companies who do not comply with Reinstatement Orders to pay compensation in default. [179727]

  Mr. Sutcliffe
  The employment tribunals can order the reinstatement of an employee who has been unfairly dismissed, provided the employee seeks such a remedy and the tribunal considers that it would be just and practicable to order it. Employers who unreasonably fail to comply with a Reinstatement Order are required to pay a significant additional award on top of the usual award for unfair dismissal.

  Mr. Hancock
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many Reinstatement Orders were issued by employment tribunals in each year since 1997; and how many have been carried out. [179728]

  Mr. Sutcliffe
  Since 1997 the number of Reinstatement Orders issued by the employment tribunals is as follows:

  year1

  Number

  1997–98

  26

  1998–99

  16

  1999–2000

  10

  2000–01

  7

  2001–02

  6

  2002–03

  6

  2003–04

  8

  1The year is the financial year beginning 1 April and ending on 31 March.

  The Employment Tribunals Service does not collect data on how many Reinstatement Orders are carried out.

  Bernie Creham v. Inntrepreneur
  Donald Anderson
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the implications of the Appeal Court decision in the case of Bernie Creham against Inntrepreneur for(a) the licensed trade, (b)competition policy and (c) protection of consumers. [178953]

  Mr. Sutcliffe
  It is for parties involved in the beer industry to consider how this decision may affect their commercial relationships and for the UK competition authorities to consider any wider matters it may raise relating to competition law and consumer protection.

  Business Fraud
  Brian Cotter
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many Stop Now Orders have been issued since their introduction; and how many were issued by each type of enforcer. [179265]

  Mr. Sutcliffe
  [holding answer 17 June 2004]: Since the introduction, 15 Stop Now Orders have been obtained. In addition, three interim Orders have been obtained. 13 of these, including the three interim Orders have been obtained by local authority trading standards departments. The Office of Fair Trading has obtained the remaining five Orders.

  Business Support Schemes
  Brian Cotter
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much money her Department has saved as a result of the recent rationalisation of its business support schemes. [179247]

  Nigel Griffiths
  The level of support provided to business is expected to remain unchanged at around £500 million per annum.

  The primary purposes of the Business Support review is to increase value created through the investment of taxpayers' funds and to improve the customer experience in dealing with DTI. Cost savings of £740,000 have already been achieved from administrative efficiency improvements in delivering Business Support in 2003–04 against the 2002–03 baseline. Further administrative cost savings are projected for 2004–05 and 2005–06.

  Businesses (Tamworth)
  Mr. Jenkins
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new businesses have started up in the parliamentary constituency of Tamworth since 1997. [179962]

  Nigel Griffiths
  Barclays Bank 's latest survey of business creation includes non-VAT registered firms and shows that there were 115,000 business start-ups in England and Wales in the last quarter of 2003, including 1,300 business start-ups in the county of Staffordshire (which includes Tamworth parliamentary constituency). The latest yearly figures show 465,000 business start-ups in England and Wales in 2003. This represents a 19 per cent. increase on the year before. In 2003 there were 5,500 business start-ups in the county of Staffordshire.
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  Barclays data for the county of Staffordshire are not available before 2003 and data are not available for Tamworth parliamentary constituency separately.

  DTI figures based solely on VAT registrations for Tamworth local authority and Lichfield local authority (which both contain parts of Tamworth parliamentary constituency) are shown in the following table for the period 1997 to 2002. Data for 2003 will be available in autumn 2004.

  VAT registrations: 1997–2002

  Tainworth

  Lichfield

  1997

  155

  335

  1998

  185

  340

  1999

  190

  340

  2000

  170

  345

  2001

  200

  325

  2002

  215

  330

  Source:

  Business Start–ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-registrations 1994–2002, Small Business Service www.sbs.gov.uk/statistics/analytical/vatstats.php

  VAT registrations do not capture all start-up activity. Businesses are unlikely to be registered if they fall below the compulsory VAT threshold, which has risen in each year since 1997. Similarly, businesses that de-register will not necessarily have closed. Only 1.8 million out of 3.8 million enterprises were registered for VAT at the start of 2002.

  Carers' Rights
  Helen Jones
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the merits of introducing a right for the carers of older or disabled adults(a) to have paid leave from work and (b) to request flexible working; and if she will make a statement. [179246]

  Mr. Sutcliffe
  The DTI is taking forward a programme of work to explore what additional support could be provided to people balancing work and caring responsibilities, in ways that meet both individual and business needs. The work includes a series of roundtables in each region across the country, and in Scotland and Wales. Carers UK and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers have each hosted a roundtable to hear directly from carers and employers about their experiences and needs. In addition, a Citizens' Jury has also taken place to further identify priorities and potential options for the future.

  This will help shape future policy and the review of the flexible working and other family friendly laws, planned for 2006. An issue which my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has indicated should be a priority is, subject to that review, extending the flexible working law to wider groups of carers, such as carers of elderly or sick relatives.

  Coal Claims Handling Agreement
  John Mann
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on what dates this year Ministers and officials have met the Law Society to discuss the coal claims handling agreement. [180062]
  1455W
  Nigel Griffiths
  Members of the Department's Coal Liabilities Unit last met with the Law Society on 29 April and they are due to meet next on 7 July. They have also previously met with the Law Society on 15 January.

  Departmental Staff
  Mr. Stephen O'Brien
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her assessment is of the likely impact of additional rationalisation of staff in her Department on its ability to deliver its priorities and its statutory responsibilities. [179402]

  Ms Hewitt
  [holding answer 18 June 2004]: My Department has developed plans that will enable it to deliver more efficiently DTI's priorities and responsibilities, as set out in the DTI Strategy published in September 2003. These plans will be reflected in the public spending settlements for 2006–08 when they are announced.

  Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate
  Mr. Stephen O'Brien
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many complaints against(a) employment agencies and (b) businesses required investigation by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate in 2002–03. [180041]

  Mr. Sutcliffe
  In the period 2002–03, the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate received and investigated 716 complaints. The figure for 2003–04 was 1,057. Data broken down between employment agencies and employment business are not available.

  Mr. Stephen O'Brien
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many convictions there were of(a) employment agencies and (b) businesses by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate in 2002–03; and how many resulted in fines. [180042]

  Mr. Sutcliffe
  In the period 2002–03, the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) obtained eight convictions against persons who operated as employment agencies. In total £5,735 was awarded in compensation for the workers who gave evidence in these cases. One employment agent was fined £500. There were no convictions against employment business.

  In the same period EAS recovered over £14,000 in workers wages from employment agencies and employment businesses without the need to go to court.

  Mr. Stephen O'Brien
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many(a) entertainment and (b) model agencies were investigated by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate in 2002–03; how many convictions resulted; and in how many cases fines were imposed. [180043]

  Mr. Sutcliffe
  The Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate investigated 716 complaints during this period. The data available are not broken down by sector of the recruitment industry.

  In 2002–03 the EAS obtained eight convictions against persons who operated as entertainment agencies, i.e. finding work for entertainers or background extras on film and television productions. In total, £5,735 was
  1456W
  awarded in compensation for the witnesses in these cases. One entertainment agent was fined £500. In the same period there were no convictions against model agencies.

  Mr. Stephen O'Brien
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many applications to prevent(a) employment agencies and (b) businesses trading were made by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate in 2003. [180044]

  Mr. Sutcliffe
  In 2003, the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate made two applications under section 3(a) of the Employment Agencies Act 1973 to prohibit persons from being concerned with the running of an employment agency or employment business. Both applications were successful and the persons were prohibited for the maximum term of 10 years.

  Mr. Stephen O'Brien
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what targets she has set for the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate in relation to visiting(a) employment agencies and (b) businesses; [180045]

  (2) what performance targets have been set for the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate; and whether she plans to publish an annual report on the Inspectorate's activities. [180046]

  Mr. Sutcliffe
  The Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate will be publishing an annual report this summer, which will give full details on the Inspectorate's activities and objectives. As soon as it is published, a copy of the report will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

  Grants for Research and Development
  Mr. Stephen O'Brien
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what assessment she has made of the impact that the decision to cut the funding available for the Grants for Research and Development Scheme will have on UK businesses; [178754]

  (2) how often she intends to hold competitions for funding through the Grants for Research and Development Scheme; [178755]

  (3) what discussions she has had with business groups about the decision to cut the funding available for the Grants for Research and Development Scheme; [178756]

  (4) how many firms have benefited from the Grants for Research and Development Scheme in each quarter since its introduction. [178761]

  Nigel Griffiths
  The Grant for R and D and its predecessor Smart has helped an estimated 4,800 companies with £368 million in grants.

  This is part of a total business support package from the DTI with an estimated £500 million invested, each year.

  The method of allocating R and D grants between 1986 and 2000 was the same as the one re-introduced in 2003. This is considered more effective in targeting resources than the one in operation between 2001–03.

  Miners' Compensation Claims
  John Mann
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps have been taken to recover public money where solicitors and others have been paid in full through the coal claims handling agreement, but have charged the claimant a success fee. [180093]

  Nigel Griffiths
  [holding answer 22 June 2004]: I am advised that costs cannot be recouped where a solicitor has also charged a claimant a success fee since the fees paid under the Agreements are legally enforceable.

  John Mann
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many claims under the coal claims handling agreement have been subject to the Schedule 56 disputes procedures; and how many of these have had their costs paid in full. [180094]

  Nigel Griffiths
  [holding answer 22 June 2004: Eleven. None have received costs payable under schedule 17 of the revised CHA.

  John Mann
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether it was specifically agreed by her Department under the claims handling agreement with the Union of Democratic Mineworkers that a limited liability company was an appropriate body to represent claimants. [180095]

  Nigel Griffiths
  [holding answer 22 June 2004]: The choice of the UDM to process claims through Vendside is a matter for the UDM and its members.

  John Mann
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the Union of Democratic Mineworkers is treated in the same way as a firm of solicitors in representing claimants under the claims handling agreement. [180096]

  Nigel Griffiths
  [holding answer 22 June 2004]: Yes, but there is a difference in the costs paid by the Department, which are lower in the UDM agreement.

  Newsagents (Display Space)
  Mr. Hancock
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what research she has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the difficulties experienced by small circulation newspapers and magazines in obtaining display space in newsagents. [179725]

  Mr. Sutcliffe
  None.

  Oil Imports
  Mr. David Stewart
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to make the UK economy less dependent on imports from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries; and if she will make a statement. [179764]

  Mr. Timms
  The UK is currently a net exporter of oil and oil products, and, largely due to geography, imports relatively little oil from OPEC countries. However, the UK is expected to become a net importer of oil by 2010 and the Government therefore recognise the need to take a longer term strategic international approach to energy 1458W
  security. This approach is outlined in the 2003 Energy White Paper, "Our Energy Future—creating a low carbon economy", available at http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/whitepaper/index.shtml. The aim is not to reduce dependence on OPEC per se, but rather to promote more diverse sources of supply, fuel types and trading routes and to put in place policies that will help ease the economy away from power supplied primarily through fossil fuels as well as bringing about reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.

  Retail Groceries Sector
  Mr. Kidney
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the incidence of predatory below-cost pricing of groceries by retailers; and what assessment she has made of the effect of such pricing on(a) food producers and (b) competition in the retail groceries sector. [180190]

  Mr. Sutcliffe
  None. It is for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), as the UK's independent competition authority, to decide whether to investigate competition issues. Any information or evidence concerning market failure or anti-competitive practices should be submitted directly to the OFT.

  Tidal/Wave Powered Electricity
  Mr. Hoyle
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what help her Department will give to(a) tidal and (b) wave powered electricity; and what help it will give to assist UK manufacturing to provide the equipment. [180061]

  Mr. Timms
  The main form of support for all renewable technologies is the Renewables Obligation (RO) which provides a stable and long-term market for renewable electricity. Electricity generation from both wave and tidal technologies is eligible for the RO.

  However, these technologies are further from market and still at the developmental stage. Therefore the principal form of support has been through the DTI's Research and Development Programme, which since 1997, has committed around £15 million towards the development of these technologies.

  The recent Renewable Innovation Review undertaken by the DTI and the Carbon Trust www.dti.gov.uk/energy/renewables/policy/renewables_innovation_review. shtml considered the issue of funding for the next phase of development of these technologies which includes small scale demonstration and pre-commercial stages.

  The Government have received a number of representations from the industry and others about the form of support that is required to ensure the lead we have established in the UK is maintained.

  The DTI is currently considering what the options are for providing further support and how we support the industry through the next phase of development We recognise the significant industrial opportunities which successful development of wave and tide power technology could provide for the UK.

  University Business Spin-out
  Mr. Stephen O'Brien
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many private firms have been spun-out of UK universities in each month since 2002. [178763]

  Ms Hewitt
  Information on spin-off numbers is gathered on an annual basis. The Higher Education-Business Interaction (HEBI) survey has recorded the following number of spin-offs over the last three years:

  2000–01: 203

  2001–02: 248

  2002–03: 213

  UK universities' spin-off performance compares favourably with US universities. UK universities identified one spin-off firm for every £15 million of research expenditure, compared with one for every £44 million in the US.

  WH Smith
  Mr. Hancock
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received about WH Smith refusing to distribute certain newspapers and magazines. [179724]

  Mr. Sutcliffe
  None.

  Wind Farms
  Mr. David Stewart
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions she has had with the British manufacturing industry on ensuring that they are able to provide the turbine manufacturing capability for new wind farm developments in the UK. [179763]

  Mr. Timms
  The Department is taking a keen interest in developing opportunities for UK companies. This has included a recent request to each of the key European Wind Turbine Manufacturing companies to set up contacts within the Department, to identify inward investment opportunities and to press home the message about the capability of the UK to supply to this growing market. Meetings have also taken place in the UK with Vestas Celtic, PeterBrotherhood and DEWind in relation to developing their supply chains and increasing UK content in projects. A programme of 'meet the wind turbine company buyer' events has been started with successful events so far in Newcastle, Hamburg and Aberdeen. Further events are planned for Manchester, Belfast, Yorkshire and Humberside, East of England and Scotland.

  Work-related Diseases
  John Mann
  To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many claims for(a) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and (b) vibration white finger have been submitted by (i) Richmonds of Worksop and (ii) Richmonds of Doncaster. [179913]

  Nigel Griffiths
  All coal health claims handled by Richmonds are registered via their Worksop Office.

  173 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease claims and 267 vibration white finger claims have been submitted.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

  Mobile Advertising (Planning Permission)
  Colin Burgon
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what guidance he issues to local authorities on planning permission requirements for mobile advertising sites along major road routes. [179836]

  Phil Hope
  The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does give guidance to local planning authorities on the control of outdoor advertisements. Before giving their consent to an advertisement local planning authorities have to consider the amenity and public safety aspects. Advertisements which are likely to distract motorists on a motorway or trunk road are unlikely to be approved.

  Affordable Housing (North-west)
  Mr. Jack
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to review his policies affecting the provision of affordable housing in the north-west. [179837]

  Keith Hill
  National policies for affordable housing are currently under review. A review of Regional Planning Guidance for the North West, including housing provision in the region, will begin later this year.

  Business Improvement Districts
  Ms Christine Russell
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what support his Department offers communities interested in piloting business improvement districts. [179838]

  Mr. Raynsford
  The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is supporting a three-year project, managed by the Association of Town Centre Management, piloting 22 Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in England and Wales. The experiences of the pilots have been very helpful to us in framing the enabling Regulations for BIDS, on which we have recently consulted.

  Regional Assembly (North-west)
  Ann Winterton
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to hold a referendum on establishing an elected regional assembly in the north-west of England. [179839]

  Mr. Raynsford
  The Government intend to bring forward orders enabling referendums to be held in the three northern regions this autumn.

  Supporting People Programme
  Sandra Gidley
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the Supporting People programme. [179841]

  Yvette Cooper
  The Supporting People programme, introduced on 1 April 2003, provides housing-related support to over 1.2 million vulnerable people to help them sustain their tenancy and live more independently in their home. Over £3.5 billion has been allocated through the Supporting People programme in 2003–04 to 2004–05.

  Public Service Delivery
  Andrew George
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to ensure that decisions about delivery of public services are made at(a) regional and (b) local authority levels. [179842]

  Phil Hope
  The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is initiating a debate on the future of local government which will build on the current responsibility of authorities to make decisions about the delivery of a wide range of public services in their areas and to influence the delivery of others.

  The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister expects to hold referendums this autumn on whether people in three northern regions want an elected regional assembly.

  Local Council Benefits Administration
  Mrs. Humble
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps his Department is taking through the award of beacon status to raise the standard of local council benefits administration. [179843]

  Mr. Raynsford
  In April I awarded beacon status to Blackpool borough council and Salford city council, in recognition of their excellent performance in benefits administration. Both councils have now begun work to share their good practice with others.

  Barker Review
  Matthew Green
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to publish the Government's response to the Barker Review of Housing Supply in the UK. [179884]

  Keith Hill
  The Government do not intend to publish a single response to the Barker Review of Housing Supply in the UK. Kate Barker made a number of recommendations and, as my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister and my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer indicated in an initial reaction to the report when it was published, the time scale for responding to each of these will vary. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister intend to announce our decision on new regional arrangements for planning by the end this year, following a consultation exercise to be launched next month, and have them in place by September 2005. Also in September 2005, we will publish a national housing market affordability goal, again, following consultation. Our aim will be to keep stakeholders fully informed as the work develops and to publish regular reports on overall progress.

  Domestic Violence
  Sandra Gidley
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what measures his Department has taken to raise awareness of the 24-hour domestic violence helpline. [178811]

  Yvette Cooper
  The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Home Office have worked with Refuge, Women's Aid and Comic Relief to publicise the 24-hour national domestic violence helpline through a £1 million publicity campaign using radio, women's press, washroom posters and supermarket till receipt advertising.

  English Heritage
  Mr. Hammond
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions he has had with the Chief Executive of English Heritage on the implications of its decision to abandon its regional structure. [175353]

  Yvette Cooper
  My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister has not recently discussed the regional structure of English Heritage with its Chief Executive.

  Housing Funding (Warrington)
  Helen Jones
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much housing funding has been allocated to Warrington Borough Council in each year since 1997. [180085]

  Keith Hill
  Warrington Borough Council have been allocated a total of almost £43 million in housing funding in the financial years 1997–98 to 2004–05. The allocations on a year by year basis are as set out in the following table:

  Financial Year

  Total £000

  1997–1998

  2,779

  1998–1999

  3,584

  1999–2000

  3,744

  2000–2001

  4,834

  2001–2002

  7,197

  2002–2003

  7,245

  2003–2004

  6,882

  2004–2005

  6,733

  In addition, Warrington provisionally have a place on the Arms Length Management Organisation programme. A total of £ 18.3 million of extra funding for 2004–05 and 2005–06 has been allocated to Warrington to help achieve the Decent Homes standard in their own housing stock. This is conditional upon the outcome of an inspection of Warrington's housing service by the Audit Commission.

  Infill Housing
  Mr. Hoyle
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will allow small infill houses to be built where there is a building moratorium in place. [180054]

  Keith Hill
  This will be a matter for Chorley Borough Council in the first instance, taking into account the policies in its Local Plan and Supplementary Planning Guidance.

  Postal Ballots (10 June)
  Mr. Gordon Prentice
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to receive the report of the Electoral Commission on the all-postal election pilots on 10 June. [178718]

  Mr. Raynsford
  The Government expect to receive the report from the Electoral Commission on the June all-postal election pilots by 13 September 2004.

  Social Housing
  Mr. Hoyle
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether local district councils may build(a) council housing and (b) old age pensioner bungalows for rent. [180052]
  1463W
  Keith Hill
  There is no bar on local district councils building council housing or old age pensioner bungalows for rent. However an authority will need to demonstrate that this provides good value for money compared with provision through a Registered Social Landlord

  Matthew Green
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the progress of the framework being drawn up by the Housing Corporation and the London boroughs for the pooling of nominations for new lettings across London on a sub-regional basis. [179885]

  Keith Hill
  A draft Nominations Protocol has been produced which sets out the principles which it is recommended that the five sub regions in London adopt for dividing up nominations for schemes funded by the Housing Corporation on a sub-regional basis. This was issued for consultation in February 2004. The responses to consultation are being considered by a steering group comprising representatives from the Housing Corporation, Association of London Government (ALG) and London Housing Federation (LHF). A finalised Protocol will be issued in the summer.

  A good practice guide on nominations in general and the sharing of sub regional nominations in particular will be published at the same time.

  A study of existing systems for tracking nominations within the London boroughs has been completed and a report will be issued shortly. This will set out the limited
  1464W
  existing technological options available and advise on the costs of implementing a range of options for an electronic tracking system which could operate within and across sub regions.

  Matthew Green
  To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of(a) newly-arising need for social housing and (b) the backlog of need for social housing. [179886]

  Keith Hill
  The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not make national or regional estimates of housing need, as such estimates are unable to reflect adequately the diversity of needs and priorities at the local level. In the past, such estimates have led to the provision of new housing in areas where this did not represent the best use of resources. However, we have accepted in principle the case made by Kate Barker in her Review of Housing Supply in the UK that a significant increase in social housing is needed and will be working through the detailed implications over the next 18 months.

  Regional Housing Boards—in drawing up Regional Housing Strategies—Regional Planning Bodies and local authorities are the main bodies charged with making assessments of housing need in order to carry out their housing functions.

  The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does collect and publish data from local authorities on decisions made on applications for assistance under the homelessness legislation and the number of households in temporary accommodation.

  Ulster-Scots Language and Culture
  Ulster-Scots Language and Culture
  Cross-Border Implementation Bodies
  Cross-Border Implementation Bodies
  Northern Ireland: Teacher Training
  Northern Ireland: Teacher Training
  Northern Ireland: Integrated Education
  Northern Ireland: Integrated Education
  Cyprus: Annan Plan
  Cyprus: Annan Plan
  Physical Education and School Sport: Ofsted Inspections
  Physical Education and School Sport: Ofsted Inspections
  Iraq: Publication of Photographs of Alleged Abuse of Prisoners
  Iraq: Publication of Photographs of Alleged Abuse of Prisoners
  Geneva Conventions: UK Interrogators
  Geneva Conventions: UK Interrogators
  UK Military Commitments: Northern Ireland
  UK Military Commitments: Northern Ireland
  Wholesale Gas Prices
  Wholesale Gas Prices
  OECD: National Contact Point
  OECD: National Contact Point
  Severe Personality Disorder
  Severe Personality Disorder
  Skin Cancer
  Skin Cancer
  Prostate Cancer
  Prostate Cancer
  Defra: Legislation and Criminal Offences
  Defra: Legislation and Criminal Offences
  Red Squirrels
  Red Squirrels
  Defra: Nobel House Temperature
  Defra: Nobel House Temperature
  Olympic Park Railway Lines
  Olympic Park Railway Lines