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rights of existing pensioners, and those who have left or choose to leave their accrued rights in the fund will also be preserved. Clause 160 of the Water Bill would give the Secretary of State a power to pay into the fund and a duty to ensure that the fund can meet its liabilities.

The Government will introduce further regulations under the Superannuation Act 1972 to make index-linked increases a liability of the fund and to make an appropriate distribution of the resources already in the water authorities superannuation fund between that part of the fund which will continue under the management of the NRA, and the pension schemes run by the industry so that these schemes will be funded to meet both basic pension liabilities and those index-linked increase liabilities that have accrued up till the date of transfer of members into those schemes.

The Water research centre, the Water Authorities Association, the Water Industry Training Association, British Water International Ltd., the International Association on Water Pollution Research and Control, and the International Water Supply Association will also be able to participate in these arrangements.

Enterprise and Planning Zones Mr. Andrew MacKay : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what provision he proposes to make for the environmental assessment of projects in enterprise zones and simplified planning zones.

Mr. Howard : Department of the Environment Circular 24/88 (Welsh Office 48/88) and Scottish Development Department Circular 26/88, published today, explain that the Secretaries of State will use their powers to ensure that future enterprise zone and simplified planning zone schemes include provisions which exclude from the planning permissions granted by the schemes any developments which would require environmental assessment under the Town and Country Planning (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1988 or the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Regulations 1988.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Kurdish Refugees Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations have been made to the Government of Iraq concerning the treatment of Kurdish people.

Mr. Waldegrave : We have repeatedly expressed our concern for the treatment of the Kurdish community in Iraq and the need to respect their human rights.

Alex Lein Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make urgent representations to the Soviet Government to allow Alex Lein to join his sister in Israel ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Waldegrave : We regularly make representations to the Soviet authorities on behalf of those, such as Alex Lein, refused exit visas to allow them to leave the Soviet Union. We raised Mr. Lein's case most recently at the bilateral consultations on human rights in Moscow on 23 June and will continue to raise it at every appropriate opportunity, including during Mr. Gorbachev's forthcoming visit, until he is allowed to emigrate.

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