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Sir Wyn Roberts : The information for the academic year 1988-89 is as follows :
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|Students on higher |Resident Welsh |Resident Welsh
|education courses |students<1> on higher|students as a
|education courses |percentage of HE
|students
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Polytechnic of Wales |5,897 |3,183 |54
South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education |3,452 |2,426 |70
Gwent College of Higher Education |3,365 |2,657 |79
North East Wales Institute of Higher Education |2,728 |1,709 |63
West Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education |2,659 |2,131 |80
Trinity College |643 |443 |69
Normal College of Higher Education |577 |482 |84
Carmarthen College of Technology and Art |353 |314 |89
College of Librarianship, Wales |314 |48 |15
Welsh College of Music and Drama |310 |111 |36
Bridgend College of Technology |209 |208 |100
Gwynedd Technical College |167 |166 |99
Llandrillo Technical College |157 |127 |81
Newport College of Further Education |98 |91 |93
Welsh Agricultural College |71 |45 |63
Pontypridd Technical College |64 |64 |100
Ebbw Vale College of Further Education |62 |60 |97
Pembrokeshire College of Further Education |56 |56 |100
Aberdare College of Further Education |48 |48 |100
Neath College |43 |43 |100
Merthyr Tydfil Technical College |13 |13 |100
Afan College |13 |13 |100
Crosskeys Tertiary College |8 |8 |100
Ceredigion College of Further Education |7 |7 |100
|--- |--- |---
Total Wales |21,314 |14,453 |68
<1>Students whose home (grant-awarding) local authority is in Wales.
Juvenile Offenders
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list any circulars and advice documents he has circulated on the subject of cautioning juvenile offenders in Wales during the last five years.
Mr. David Hunt : "Handling Juvenile Crime in Wales" published in November 1986 and "Juvenile Crime in Wales" published in October 1989 both contain relevant information.
Children Act 1989
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he intends to implement the Children Act 1989 in Wales in whole or in phases.
Mr. Grist : Some minor provisions of the Children Act 1989 are already in force. We expect to implement all the remaining provisions in October 1991.
ENVIRONMENT
Research
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much money was spent on research by his Department in 1988-89 ; and how much was allocated for expenditure in 1989-90.
Mr. Chris Patten : Full details of my Department's expenditure on research in 1988-89 and the financial provision for research in 1989-90 are given in the 1989 Cabinet Office review of Government funded research and development, copies of which are held in the Library of the House.
Environmental Audit
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to conduct an environmental audit of all civil service departments.
Mr. Trippier : The Government's environmental policies, including the implications for Government Departments, will be set out in the Environment White Paper, to be published in the autumn.
Polychlorinated Biphenyls
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will call in a planning application over proposals by Leigh Environmental to build incinerators in Nash road, Trafford Park, Manchester, for the burning of chemical waste.
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Miss Lestor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will institute a public inquiry over plans to build two incinerators to process polychlorinated biphenyl chemicals in Nash road, Trafford Park, Manchester, and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : I have no present plans to do so. The planning application is still being examined by the local planning authority, Trafford Park urban development corporation.
Departmental Research (Expenditure)
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total identifiable expenditure on research by his Department in each year since 1979 ; what proportion was awarded on a customer-contractor basis ; and what proportion of his total departmental budget was expended on research for each year.
Mr. Chris Patten : Expenditure by my Department on research since 1979 is as follows :
|£ million
------------------------------
1979-80 |33.4
1980-81 |39.0
1981-82 |35.8
1982-83 |32.2
1983-84 |31.5
1984-85 |34.9
1985-86 |41.4
1986-87 |54.0
1987-88 |56.1
1988-89 |56.6
The proportion of this research commissioned on a
customer-contractor basis was in excess of 97 per cent. for each of the above years. The proportion of my Department's total budget spent on research is as follows :
|Per cent.
------------------------------
1984-85 |0.75
1985-86 |0.98
1986-87 |1.37
1987-88 |1.48
1988-89 |1.63
Homelessness
Mr. Squire : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has for dealing with the problem of people sleeping rough in London.
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Mr. Michael Spicer : The Government are seriously concerned about people sleeping rough on the streets of London and other cities. The problem of rough sleeping in small but concentrated numbers is one that has begun to affect major cities throughout the western world. It has developed for complex reasons, involving in particular the break-up of families and other social ties.This is placing substantial new pressures on hostel accommodation, especially in London, despite the Government's hostels initiative which has created nearly 25,000 hostel spaces throughout the country since 1981 and the availability in London of 23,000 hostel spaces. Most hostel dwellers in the past have moved on to ordinary accommodation in the private sector, and will continue to do so. We are already encouraging householders to offer lodgings and we have put a number of new policies in place to help revitalise the private rented sector. We are considering what further initiatives to take in this field.
In addition, I am announcing today that we are bringing forward a special programme of resources to provide additional subsidised accommodation for single homeless people. This will take the form of direct access accommodation for people on the streets, and of "move-on" accommodation to provide longer-term housing for people in hostels.
We will allocate £15 million for these new initiatives in the present financial year ; the provision of resources for future years will be discussed in the public expenditure survey process in the next few months. Effective use of these new resources requires close co-operation between a number of Government Departments and other agencies. Police officers working on the streets will point those sleeping rough towards the new accommodation being made available. The success of the strategy also depends very much on the co-operation of the voluntary bodies active in dealing with single homeless people and on co-operation with housing associations and the local authorities. We have had informal preliminary discussions with the voluntary groups and we will now talk to them and to the London boroughs urgently about the provision of both direct access and "move-on" accommodation. It is essential that we should ensure that any additional accommodation provided is well directed and meets acceptable standards, but that we do not create a magnet to attract more people into sleeping rough.
We also intend to discuss with the voluntary groups concerned the possibility of establishing a special fund to enable people living in hostels to get over the first hurdle of finding a deposit to gain access to rented accommodation. I hope that we will be able to secure the co- operation of voluntary groups in providing more counselling for people who have been sleeping on the streets. I hope, too, that it will be possible to enlist the support of the private sector in providing advice and support to help single homeless people to obtain jobs, making full use of the range of employment services and training provision which can be made available.
Those resources are additional to the allocation of £250 million that we have provided for local authorities and housing associations to house homeless families this year and next and to this year's programme of £2 million for voluntary bodies which provide advice and practical help to homeless and potentially homeless people. These special programmes in turn supplement £3 billion a year support
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for local authority housing revenue accounts and a programme of expenditure on housing associations which is rising over the next two years to almost £1.7 billion a year.My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Health is announcing a separate initiative today. It is designed to address the particular needs of young people who are sleeping rough or might be tempted to do so. He will also announce soon an initiative to help homeless mentally ill people.
The Government are determined that there should be no excuse for sleeping out on the streets. Emergency accommodation will be made available. Sleeping rough is unacceptable. It is unhealthy and often dangerous. We must see an end to the concentrations of people sleeping out in city centres.
Drinking Water Inspectorate
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many professional staff are currently employed by the drinking water inspectorate.
Mr. Trippier : The complement of the drinking water inspectorate is 23 posts, of which 16 will be held by professional staff. Currently, eight professional staff are employed in the inspectorate, including two on secondment from the Water Research Centre. Recruitment of other professional staff is in progress.
Migrating Birds (Italy)
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what efforts he is making to strengthen EEC regulations on the slaughter of migrating birds in Italy.
Mr. Trippier : Member states are already required to protect migratory birds by EC directive 79/409 EEC on the conservation of wild birds. It is the responsibility of the EC Commission to ensure that effective measures have been taken to comply with the terms of the directive.
Voluntary Organisations
Mr. Gould : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for each local authority the voluntary organisations in receipt of funds from his Department ; and if he will make a statement concerning his policy towards the funding of such groups.
Mr. Chris Patten : I refer the hon. Gentleman to my answer of 5 June to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North (Ms. Walley)-- Official Report, column 481 --in which I provided a complete list of organisations and persons in receipt of direct grants from my Department in 1989-90 and the size of each grant. Many of those organisations are national rather than local. For local organisations information broken down by local authority area is not readily available.
My policy towards the funding of voluntary groups follows the line set out by my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary, on 4 April 1990, Official Report, column 639 , when he announced publication of the report of the efficiency scrutiny of Government funding of the voluntary sector.
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Natural History Museum
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the implication for research relating to the development of policies on the environment of the reduction of the Aculeate Hymonoptera section of the natural history museum.
Mr. Trippier [holding answer 19 June 1990] : None. My Department is not responsible for the development of policies on stinging insects.
DUCHY OF LANCASTER
Armenia
Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster by what means he travelled to and from Armenia during his recent visit to the Soviet Union.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : I flew privately with Sir Jeffrey Sterling, one of the sponsors of the Lord Byron school.
LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL
Energy Consumption
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will give the expenditure during 1988-89 on solid fuels and liquid fuels of the buildings occupied by the Privy Council Office and the consumption of solid fuels in tonnes and of liquid fuels in litres.
Sir Geoffrey Howe : The Privy Council incurred no expenditure during 1988-89 on solid fuels and liquid fuels.
SCOTLAND
Railways
Mr. David Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the grants paid and the projects or rolling stock grant-aided by him to British Rail since 1968, at outturn prices.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : There was none.
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Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Brian Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what action is taken against livestock producers who send cattle suffering from bovine spongiform encephalopathy for slaughter without declaration of the disease.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a progressive disease of cattle which was made notifiable under the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (No. 2) Order 1988 and failure to notify the divisional veterinary officer is an offence against the Animal Health Act 1981. However, there is at present no blood or other tissue test available for detecting the disease in the live animal ; a presumption that the disease may be present can therefore only be made on the basis of clinical symptoms as observed. Confirmation can be made only after slaughter on the basis of analysis of brain tissue.
Stress appears to cause exacerbation of clinical symptoms in some animals, particularly, for example, if transported. In some cases, therefore, it is possible that little or no evidence of the disease may be apparent on the farm and the disease may not be recognised until after transportation and arrival at the abattoir.
The question of whether a prosecution should be undertaken in such cases must be decided in the light of the individual circumstances relating to the case.
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland in how many cases bovine spongiform encephalopathy has been identified (a) on farms and (b) in abattoirs in Scotland, in each of the past six months.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The number of cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy identified on farms in Scotland between 8 December 1989 and 8 June 1990 is 230.
The requirement separately to record cases found in abattoirs was introduced on 1 February 1990 and since that time four cases have been reported.
Transport Grant
Mr. David Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give details of all section 56 grants paid to Strathclyde regional council, or Greater Glasgow passenger transport authority or executive since its creation at out-turn prices, including the nature of the infrastructure works or the numbers of electric units grant-aided on each occasion.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The information requested on section 56 grants is set out in the table :
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Project details |Section 56 grant |Period
|(out-turn prices)
|£ million
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modernisation of Glasgow underground including signalling and 33 new sets of Electrical Multiple Units (EMUs) |32.0 |1974-75 to 1980-81
Clyderail-re-opening, electrification, signalling and 16 new sets of EMUs |27.2 |1974-75 to 1987-88
EMU Life Extension-modernatisation of 50 EMU sets |14.2 |1983-84 to 1987-88
Ayrshire Electrification-modification/modernisation of 11 EMUs and purchase of 9 new EMU sets |10.3 |1985-86 to 1986-87
Ardrossan/Largs Electrification-purchase of 1 new EMU set |0.7 |1987-88
New Rolling Stock-purchase of 22 new sets of EMUs and 14 new sets of Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) |<1>18.8 |1988-89 to 1989-90
<1>A further £10.5 million is still to be paid.
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Geriatric Day Hospitals
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the numbers of geriatric day hospitals in Scotland, their location and the numbers of patients seen annually by each.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : There were 68 day hospitals--that is, day care facilities--with geriatric day patients attending in the year ending 31 March 1990. These hospitals are listed in the table together with the numbers of new patients attending. Information on the number of patients seen annually is not available centrally.
|c|New day patients in geriatric day care facilities|c|
|c|year ending March 1990 (provisional)|c|
Hospital |Number
|of new
|patients
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Argyll and Clyde
Calton Hospital, Campbeltown |<1>0
Dalintart Hospital, Oban |28
Dunoon and District General Hospital, Dunoon |36
Braeholm Hospital, Helensburgh |3
Dumbarton Joint Hospital, Dumbarton |116
Vale of Leven District General Hospital, Alexandria |179
Victoria Infirmary, Helenburgh |3
Ravenscraig Hospital, Greenock |252
Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley |97
|-------
Health Board Total |714
Ayrshire and Arran
Ayrshire Central and Maternity Hospital, Irvine |117
Kirklandside Hospital, Kilmarnock |45
Brooksby House Hospital, Largs |1
Holmhead Hospital, Cumnock |40
Davidson Cottage Hospital, Girvan |20
Biggart Hospital, Prestwick |221
|-------
Health Board Total |444
Borders
Knoll Hospital, Duns |33
Drumlanrig Hospital, Hawick |<1>0
Inch Hospital, Kelso |75
Hay Lodge Hospital, Peebles |26
Borders General Hospital, Melrose |188
|-------
Health Board Total |322
Dumfries and Galloway
Castle Douglas and District Hospital, Castle Douglas |2
Nithbank Hospital, Dumfries |25
Thomas Hope Hospital, Langholm |8
Lochmaben Hospital, Lockerbie |4
Moffat Cottage Hospital, Moffat |10
Newton Stewart Hospital, Newton Stewart |12
Dalrymple Hospital, Stranraer |12
Thornhill Hospital, Thornhill |14
Annan Hospital, Annan |26
|-------
Health Board Total |13
Fife
Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy |126
Randolph Wemyss Memorial Hospital, Buckhaven |92
Glenrothes Hospital, Glenrothes |105
West Fife District General Hospital, Dunfermline |180
|-------
Health Board Total |503
Forth Valley
Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary, Falkirk |286
Bonnybridge Hospital, Bonnybridge |94
Orchard House Hospital, Stirling |498
|-------
Health Board Total |878
Grampian Health Board
Woodend General Hospital, Aberdeen |642
|-------
Health Board Total |642
Greater Glasgow
Lightburn Hospital, Glasgow |554
Lenzie Hospital, Kirkintilloch |170
Ruchill Hospital, Glasgow |78
Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow |275
Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow |351
Southern General Hospital, Glasgow |275
Blawarthill Hospital, Glasgow |222
Drumchapel Hospital, Glasgow |190
Knightswood Hospital, Glasgow |228
|-------
Health Board Total |2,343
Highland
Dunbar Hospital, Thurso |3
Caithness General Hospital, Wick |8
Lawson Memorial Hospital, Golspie |22
Migdale Hospital, Bonar Bridge |1
County Hospital, Invergordon |107
|-------
Health Board Total |141
Lanarkshire
Coathill Hospital, Coatbridge |469
Red Deer Day Centre/Hospital, East Kilbride |193
|-------
Health Board Total |662
Lothian
Eastern General Hospital, Edinburgh |153
East Fortune Hospital, North Berwick |181
Royal Victoria Hospital, Edinburgh |166
City Hospital, Edinburgh |538
Southfield Hospital, Edinburgh |180
Bangour General Hospital, by Broxburn |235
St. Michael's, Linlithgow |3
Whitburn Day Hospital, Whitburn |114
|-------
Health Board Total |1,570
Tayside
Royal Victoria Hospital, Dundee |430
Perth Royal Infirmary, Perth |81
Aberfeldy Cottage Hospital, Aberfeldy |3
Irvine Memorial Hospital, Pitlochry |9
Blairgowrie Cottage Hospital, Blairgowrie |17
Stracathro Hospital, by Brechin |23
|-------
Health Board Total |563
Western Isles
Lochmaddy Hospital, North Uist |<1>0
|-------
Health Board Total |<1>0
<1> There are geriatric day patient attendances for all day care
facilities listed, although some may not have new patients during the
year.
Schools, Angus
Mr. Andrew Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much money was spent on running costs for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Angus.
Mr. Lang : The information on expenditure provided to my Department by education authorities is not broken down to district level.
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Mr. Andrew Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much money has been spent on funding school boards in Angus's primary and secondary schools ; and on what basis the allocation of funds was made.Mr. Lang : Information for the first year of the school board system will be contained in local financial returns for 1989-90 which we expect from authorities in the autumn. The returns do not break down information to district level.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Andrew Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the poll tax of each official residence of Cabinet Ministers ; and who is the responsible person.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The only ministerial residence in Scotland is Bute house in Edinburgh. Lothian region's community charge registration officer has determined that, with the exception of the caretaker's flat in the basement, the property is non-domestic in nature and is therefore subject to non-domestic rates. There is therefore no responsible person except in respect of the caretaker's flat.
Sheriff Officers
Mr. Wareing : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many sheriff officers there are in Scotland.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The number of commissions issued by sheriffs principal authorising individuals to act as sheriff officers was 191 on 1 January 1990, the latest date for which figures are available centrally.
Aquagard
Mr. Allan Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish the findings of research carried out by scientists of his Department on the effects of Aquagard sea lice treatment.
Mr. Lang : Scientists of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland's marine laboratory have carried out the following studies on the use and the effects of dichlorvos (the active ingredient of Aquagard).
1. Toxicity of dichlorvos to larvae of the common lobster ( Homarus gammarus L.) and herring ( Clupea harengus L.). 2. Comparative toxicity of dichlorvos to marine invertebrates. 3. Toxicity of dichlorvos to stage 4 Homarus gammarus larvae. 4. Effects of repeated short exposures to dichlorvos on lobster larvae.
5. Effects of dichlorvos treatment at fish farms upon lobster larvae and mussels maintained in cages.
6. Survey of invertebrate communities in the vicinity of salmon farm cages in Scottish west coast sea lochs.
7. Toxicity of insecticides to larvae of the common lobster ( Homarus gammarus L.).
8. Fate of dichlorvos (DDVP) in sea water following treatment for salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis infestation in Scottish fish farms.
I have arranged for copies of reports on these studies to be placed in the Library and they will also be made available as Scottish fisheries working papers.
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Toxic Waste (Scottish Ports)
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the Scottish ports that received toxic waste in 1987, 1988 and 1989 respectively ; and what was the quantity of such waste imported, the composition of the waste and the country of origin and ultimate destination of the waste.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 21 June 1990] : There is no requirement under the legislation on waste disposal for specific ports to be registered for imports. Returns made by Scottish local authorities indicate that the total amounts of waste imported into Scotland in 1987 and 1988 were as follows :
1
Country of |Amount |Destination |Nature of waste
origin |(tonnes) |(District
|Council)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1987
Holland |15 |Strathkelvin |Sub-soil
1988
Sweden |2 |Inverness |Sodium metal
Eire |451 |Edinburgh |Solvent and contamin-ated methylated spirits (for recycling)
Information is not yet available for 1989.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Correspondence
Mr. Steen : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he hopes to reply to the letter dated 24 May from the hon. Member for South Hams concerning South Devon Shellfisherman Ltd. and gear losses ; and if he will meet the hon. Secretary of South Devon Shellfisherman Ltd. with the hon. Member for South Hams.
Mr. Curry : I shall be writing to my hon. Friend the Member for South Hams shortly.
Quota Hopping
Mr. Harris : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on measures to deal with quota hopping.
Mr. Curry : The Government are firmly committed to the view that quotas allocated to this country under the 1983 agreement on the common fisheries policy should be for the benefit of British fishing communities. The measures that we have taken to deal with the problem of quota hopping uphold the common fisheries policy and its essential components--national quotas and relative stability.
The action that we have taken to seek to ensure that the quota system operates for the benefit of the genuine United Kingdom fishing fleet has been on two fronts. First, we have imposed operating conditions to ensure that fishing vessels entitled to fly the United Kingdom flag have a real economic link with this country, through licence conditions imposed under powers contained in the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967. Secondly, we have gone to the heart of the problem by enacting the provisions of part
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II of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988, as amended, where we require British-registered fishing vessels to be mainly owned, managed and controlled by people resident in Britain.These provisions have been attacked in our courts by
representatives of Spanish interests and questions have been referred to the European Court of Justice. The Commission has also taken proceedings, and is considering further proceedings, in the European Court of Justice.
We have defended, and will continue to defend, these cases before the Court of Justice. The recent judgments of the court in the Agegate and Jaderow cases, although critical of some aspects of our licence conditions concerned with the nationality and residence of crews, upheld our right to require fishing vessels to operate in a way which would ensure that vessels fishing against our national quotas should have a real economic link with this country. We will continue to enforce these conditions vigorously.
The substantive question whether the fishing vessel registration requirements of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 are compatible with Community law has still to be considered by the European Court of Justice. The recent judgment of the court in case 213/89 Factortame means that our national courts now have jurisdiction to grant interim protection of Community rights in appropriate cases, pending a final decision of the European Court. But it will be for our domestic courts to decide, on a case -by-case basis, whether interim protection should be given to individual quota hoppers and, if so, what conditions or limitations should be imposed. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport will continue to contest vigorously the grant of interim relief in the circumstances of this case.
PRIME MINISTER
Armenian School Infrastructure
Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Swansea, West, Official Report, column 405, 18 June, how much of the funding for the Armenian school infrastructure comes from Government sources.
The Prime Minister : The total cost to public funds of the British school at Leninakan will be about £4.6 million.
Energy Consumption
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Prime Minister if she will give the 1989-90 consumption of solid fuel by the Cabinet Office in tonnes and in expenditure.
The Prime Minister : The Cabinet Office consumed no solid fuel in 1989-90.
Official Visit (USSR)
Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Prime Minister what was the cost to public funds of her official visit to the USSR, and if she will list (a) those covered by and (b) those making a contribution towards the cost.
The Prime Minister : The details of the total cost of my visit to the USSR are not yet available. I was accompanied by four officials and 17 support staff, mostly security and communications personnel, whose costs are met from
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public funds. In addition, 24 media representatives travelled with the official party. Their travel costs will be recovered from their employers.Science and Technolgy
Mr. David Evans : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list the recommendations contained in reports from the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology during the 1988-89 Session, which have been accepted wholly or in part by Her Majesty's Government, indicating which have already been implemented.
The Prime Minister : The reports of the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology during the 1988-89 Session, together with Government responses, are available in the Library of the House, with the exception of the Government response to the report on agricultural and food research which will be published early next month.
HEALTH
Steroids
Mr. Ken Hargreaves : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will introduce free eye tests for long-term users of steroids to bring them into line with other glaucoma high-risk groups ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : There are no plans to extend the current national health service exemption categories to include long-term users of steroids. Patients receiving such treatment are normally under continual medical care where examination of the lens for symptoms of eye disease by the doctor or hospital clinician involved would be routine.
NHS Reform
Mr. Robin Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the professional organisations which were sent invitations to take part in the consultation on working paper 11 "Framework for Information".
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