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Dr. Mawhinney : My right hon. and noble Friend the Paymaster General recently announced the conclusions that the Government have reached about the future of further education in Northern Ireland. These took account of the responses received to the consultative document "Signposts for the 90s". In particular, my right hon. and noble Friend announced proposed new arrangements designed to achieve the Government's aim of a better planned and co-ordinated system of further education in the Province. The Government are satisfied that this aim can be achieved without disturbing the existing statutory position of the further education colleges and the education and library boards.
Mr. Stott : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will specify the number of lecturing posts in each college of further education which have been transferred from youth training programme funding to mainstream further education funding since April 1991.
Dr. Mawhinney : Following the introduction of the block funding arrangements for the youth training programme (YTP) on 1 April 1990, the Department of Education was advised that, in a number of further education colleges, some full-time teaching posts which had been funded from YTP resources in previous years were now deployed mainly on mainstream (non- YTP) courses. The number of posts, and the colleges involved are :
Name of College |Number
|of posts
-------------------------------------------------------------
Institute of Further and Higher Education-Belfast
College of technology |4
College of busines studies |3
Rupert Stanley college |3
Antrim |3
Ballymena |1
Coleraine |2
Magherafelt |3
Newtownabbey |5
Fermanagh |4
Limavady |3
North West college |6
Omagh |2
Down |9
Lisburn |2
Newcastle |5
North Down and Ards college |8
Mr. Stott : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will specify how much has been allocated by each education and library board to further education out of his recent announcement to allow boards to spend £2.7 million to help to prevent teacher redundancies and to specify the mechanism by which boards allocated this money to colleges.
Dr. Mawhinney : Of the total sum of £2.7 million allocated by the Department, £1.3 million was earmarked for primary schools. Boards then decided how the remaining £1.4 million should be allocated to their post-primary schools and further education colleges. The amounts allocated by boards to further education colleges were as follows :
Education and |£ library board ------------------------------------------ Belfast |70,000 Western |50,000 North-Eastern |80,000 South-Eastern |Nil Southern |40,000
Boards allocated these sums to colleges by application of the formula set out in their FE delegation schemes or on the basis of greatest need.
Mr. Stott : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will specify the amount of the unit of resource being applied by each education and library board to fund a full-time equivalent student in further education.
Dr. Mawhinney : I shall write to the hon. Member as soon as possible.
Mr. Stott : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the relative value of the unit of resource for further education to the level of funding for an A-level student in each grammar school in each board area.
Dr. Mawhinney : I shall write to the hon. Member as soon as possible.
SCOTLAND
Staffing Levels
Mr. Maxton : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the whole time equivalent number of (i) medical staff, (ii) hospital doctors, (iii) general practitioners, (iv) community doctors and (v) nursing and midwifery staff employed in the Scottish health service in each year since 1974, inclusive.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The information requested for each year from 1974 to 1989 is contained in editions of Scottish Health Statistics, copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library.
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Figures for 1990 are shown in the following table :
A
Staff in post at 30 September 1990, whole-time equivalents
|Wte |Wtu
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Medical staff |9,918.0
Comprising hospital doctors |5,746.3
Community doctors |428.7
General medical practitioners |<1>3,743.0
General dental practitioners |1,694.0
Nursing and midwifery |63,687.2
<1> Provisional, including assistants and trainees.
Council Housing
Mrs. Irene Adams : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many council houses there are ; and how many council (a) houses and (b) flats have been sold in (i) Scotland and (ii) Renfrew district since May 1979.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : Information on local authority housing stock was published in table 14 of Statistical Bulletin HSU No. 17. Copies were sent to all Members representing Scottish constituencies and are available in the House Library.
Information on the number of council houses and flats sold to sitting tenants between April 1979 and December 1990 is set out in the table.
|Total |Houses |Flats
-------------------------------------------------------
Scotland |<1>159,020|116,334 |42,267
Renfrew |7,064 |4,204 |2,860
(1) Includes sales where dwelling type is not known.
Mortgage Repossessions
Mrs. Irene Adams : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many mortgage repossessions there have been in (a) Strathclyde region and (b) Renfrew district during each of the past 12 months for which records are available ; and what were the annual figures for each of the past 12 months.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : This information is not available in the form requested. The Council of Mortgage Lenders publishes statistics in their regular newsletters on various aspects of mortgage lending by building societies but this is on a Great Britain basis and no corresponding information is available for Scotland only. No information about other mortgage lenders is held centrally.
Road Safety
Mr. David Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to improve road safety in Scotland ; and if he will make a statement.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The Scottish Office is committed to playing its full part towards achievement of the Government's target of reducing road accident casualties by one-third by the year 2000. The Scottish Office will work closely with local roads authorities to draw up the road safety plans recommended in the Local Authority Association's "Code of Good Practice" endorsed by COSLA in 1989. It will initiate appropriate engineering works and standards, publicity, education and enforcement measures and legislative changes to improve road safety in Scotland.
In addition to a very substantial ongoing investment on the road network in Scotland, the Scottish Office has set up
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an accident investigation and prevention (AIP) unit with its own budget to finance safety schemes on trunk roads. A rolling programme has been prepared by the local authority agents, whose accident remedial unit's viability and establishment has been largely underwritten by the volume of trunk road work, thus allowing expanded expenditure on local roads.The Scottish road safety campaign, which is largely funded by the Scottish Office, has an ongoing programme providing publicity and education materials in Scotland to raise public awareness of the importance of road safety. This is in addition to the Department of Transport's national campaigns.
Sexual Offences
Mr. David Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many reported cases of rape there were in Scotland in 1989 and 1990 ; how many men were prosecuted for rape in each of these years ; how many were convicted ; what were the sentences ; and how many had previously served a sentence for the same offence.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : In 1989 and 1990, 328 and 326 cases respectively of rape were recorded by the police in Scotland. In 1989, 89 men were proceeded against, 50 of whom had a charge of rape proved against them. Of these 50, 39 were imprisoned, seven were sent to a young offenders' institution, two were admonished, one was fined and in one case no order was made.
In 1989, three men successfully prosecuted for rape were recorded as having previously served a sentence for this crime. Court disposal figures for 1990 are not yet available.
Mental Handicap
Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will amend the current community charge legislation so as to exempt from any liability those with a mental health handicap who live in accommodation of the Ark housing association and other special housing associations.
Mr. Lang : I have no plans to make any changes to the existing community charge arrangements. However, I have previously made it clear that I would be prepared to do so if particular circumstances showed that changes were necessary.
Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will exempt those with a mental handicap who live in property of the Ark housing association and other special housing associations from liability to all or part of the proposed council tax.
Mr. Lang : We shall be considering the responses to the consultation paper on our council tax proposals before reaching final decisions on issues of this kind.
Student Accommodation
Mr. Livsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many students were resident in college accommodation at each university in Scotland in 1990 ; and what was the proportion of the total number of students in such accommodation.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The information requested is given in the table :
Column 600
Session 1989-90
University |Number of students |Percentage of total
|in university-owned|full-time students
|residence
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aberdeen |2,808 |46.0
Dundee |1,494 |39.7
Edinburgh |4,270 |39.3
Glasgow |2,682 |23.3
Heriot-Watt |1,026 |23.3
St. Andrews |2,448 |62.1
Stirling |2,086 |61.1
Strathclyde |1,520 |18.2
All Scotland |18,328 |35.0
Primary School Testing
Mr. Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many representations have been made to him by school boards or parent-teacher associations which have been in favour of compulsory primary school testing.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : To date, about 1,300 representatives including those from school boards and parent teacher associations have been received, covering a complete spectrum of views on testing.
Dogs
Mr. Geraint Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his estimate of the number of dogs in Scotland ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Allan Stewart : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Springburn (Mr. Martin) on 5 June 1991 at column 262.
Farm Employment
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many farmers, partners, directors and farmworkers were employed by region in Scotland in June 1980.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The number of farmers, spouses doing farm work and farmworkers employed on main holdings in June 1980, by local authority region, is shown in the following table. Partners and directors are not separately enumerated in the June census but are included either as farmers or farmworkers.
Region |Number of |Number of |Number of
farmers |spouses doing|farmworkers
|farm work
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Borders |1,143 |309 |3,513
Central |738 |265 |1,322
Dumfries and
Galloway |2,352 |806 |5,176
Fife |755 |225 |2,623
Grampian |4,826 |1,290 |7,549
Highland |2,997 |938 |2,734
Lothian |805 |253 |2,802
Strathclyde |4,393 |1,989 |7,316
Tayside |2,025 |532 |6,212
Islands |3,027 |1,265 |1,355
|--- |--- |---
Scotland |23,061 |7,872 |40,602
Note:
The coverage of main holdings has changed since June 1980. In 1986
some 6,000 holdings were transferred from the main to the minor
holdings list. At that time these holdings returned 3,480 farmers, 1,
071 spouses and 463 farm workers.
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Education
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which organisations representing parents the Minister of State is willing to meet to discuss educational matters.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : I am happy of course to receive the views of parents on educational matters at any time, whether or not they are members of an organisation.
House Repairs and Maintenance
Mr. Sillars : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish a table showing the number of private sector houses in Glasgow over each of the past five years, and the total amount of grant for repairs and maintenance in each year, and express that total as divided by the number of private sector houses.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 22 May 1991] : The available information is set out in the table. Grant is not payable for ongoing works of maintenance.
|Private sector|Amount of
|dwellings<1> |repair grant
|paid<2>
|£
|(a) |(b) |(b)ö(a)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1986 |119,172 |24,143,865 |203
1987 |122,176 |24,116,945 |197
1988 |125,401 |23,575,413 |188
1989 |128,093 |30,197,296 |236
1990 |n/a |18,690,760 |n/a
<1> Source: Valuation roll. Includes housing association dwellings.
<2> Source: Returns from Glasgow district council.
n/a not available.
New Towns (Employment)
Mr. Norman Hogg : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many jobs were created, and how many jobs were lost, in each of the Scottish new towns in 1990.
Mr. Allan Stewart [holding answer 6 June 1991] : This information is not available for the 1990 calendar year. The development corporations' estimates for the 1990-91 financial year are as follows :
B
New town |Number of |Number of |Net loss
|jobs created|jobs lost |or gain
------------------------------------------------------------------
Cumbernauld |872 |189 |+683
East Kilbride |864 |378 |+486
Glenrothes |1,571 |2,296 |-725
Irvine |1,091 |746 |+345
Livingston |3,864 |3,462 |+402
|--- |--- |----
Total |8,262 |7,071 |+1,191
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Common Agricultural Policy
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food further to his answer of 26 March, Official Report, column 375, if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the amount spent on agricultural support in the United Kingdom under the common agricultural policy and by national grants and subsidies in both actual and real terms for 1960-61 and for each year from 1973-74 to 1990-91.
Column 602
Mr. Curry : Separate figures for expenditure under the Common Agricultural Policy and on national grants and subsidies are not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Sir Peter Emery : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the positive steps taken by his Ministry to move the emphasis from quantitative to qualitative support in agriculture policy in the EC.
Mr. Curry : The Government have supported a number of changes to the common agricultural policy designed to make Community agriculture more market orientated. Such changes should encourage farmers to respond to consumer demand and to rely less on artificial outlets such as intervention.
Sheep Dip
Mr. Speller : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will meet constituents of the hon. Member for Devon, North who suffer from the effects of using organophosphorous sheep dip compounds.
Mr. Maclean : I met representatives from the Pesticides Exposure Group of Sufferers (PEGS) on 23 October 1990. I can see little advantage in having a further meeting at this time.
Mr. Speller : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many complaints he has received about the physical side effects of organophosphorous sheep dip compounds ; if he will refuse future licences for these compounds ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : I have received 63 reports since 1985 of suspected adverse reactions concerning the physical side effects to humans of organophosphorous sheep dips. Twelve of these reports relate to products no longer licensed. In addition I have recently received 18 brief reports from the National Poisons Centre which my officials are currently investigating. I am not yet able to say whether these reports include duplicates of those mentioned above.
These 63 reports should be set in the context of more than 1 million dippings since 1985.
All suspected adverse reaction reports are investigated. Future licence applications for such compounds will continue to be determined in accordance with the Medicines Act criteria of safety, quality and efficacy. Existing organophosphorous sheep dip products are currently being reviewed to see whether they meet up-to-date standards. Any products which fail to do so will have to be withdrawn from the market. The review will be completed later this year.
Pigs
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will place in the Library copies of representations he has received concerning his proposed regulations on sow stalls and tethers ; and when he expects these regulations to become effective.
Mr. Maclean : Those consulted on the draft Welfare of Pigs Regulations 1991 were not warned that their responses might be made public and I do not therefore propose to make them available. If Parliament approves the proposed regulations this month, they will make it illegal to use new close
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confinement systems for pigs from 1 October this year and will phase out existing installations of this kind by the end of 1998.Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the evidence of blue ear disease among pigs in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Maclean : Symptoms not immediately attributable to any specific disease have occurred on eleven premises in Humberside. Blue-eared pig disease, which has occurred in a number of other Community countries, cannot be ruled out as the cause. Movement restrictions have been imposed on the areas surrounding the holdings concerned and investigations are continuing.
Meat Inspection Charges
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received concerning the practices of meat inspection charges being passed directly to producers.
Mr. Maclean : We are aware of the concerns expressed by livestock producers about the passing back of an element of the meat inspection charges. The purpose of meat inspection and residue sampling at slaughterhouses is, of course, to protect the final consumer. We are also aware that the Director General of Fair Trading is considering this issue and this Department stands ready to provide any inspection he may require.
Dogs
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, further to his answer to the hon. Member for Caerphilly of 3 June, Official Report, what information he holds concerning the details of dogs imported into the United Kingdom.
Mr. Maclean : Prospective importers of dogs into this country are required to supply details of their animal such as breed, age and sex in order that the Department can issue an import licence. This information is used to check that a dog arriving in the United Kingdom is covered by an import licence. Subsequently the information is not
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required and it could only be retrieved at disproportionate cost. The numbers of import licences issued for dogs during the last five years are :
|Number
---------------------
1986 |4,738
1987 |5,249
1988 |5,132
1989 |5,915
1990 |5,999
Sugar
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the 1991-92 farm prices as they affect sugar production and prices.
Mr. Curry : In the 1991-92 price settlement, EC support prices for sugar beet and white sugar were frozen at 1990-91 levels in ECU terms. A green pound devaluation will result in a 2.04 per cent. increase in these prices in the United Kingdom.
Green Pound Devaluation
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the impact on consumers arising from the recent green pound devaluation.
Mr. Curry : It is estimated that when the effects have fully worked through the devaluations will increase the food price index by approximately 0.25 per cent. and the retail price index by less than 0.05 per cent.
Farm Employment
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many farmers, partners, directors and farmworkers were employed by county in England in June 1980.
Mr. Gummer : The information requested is given in the table. Data are taken from the June 1980 agricultural census and hence exclude estimates for minor holdings not in the annual census.
Column 603
Distribution of farmers and workers by county
June 1980 census (England)
|Principal |Other |Spouses of |All other |Total
|farmers or |partners or|farmers/ |workers
|partners |directors |partners or
|directors
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avon |1,890 |604 |584 |4,129 |7,207
Bedfordshire |1,118 |620 |467 |3,177 |5,382
Berkshire |735 |268 |220 |2,353 |3,576
Buckinghamshire |1,653 |620 |528 |3,477 |6,278
Cambridgeshire |3,497 |1,576 |1,182 |10,859 |17,114
Cheshire |3,848 |1,289 |1,336 |5,915 |12,388
Cleveland |430 |168 |122 |703 |1,423
Cornwall |6,243 |1,807 |2,263 |6,461 |16,774
Cumbria |5,698 |2,269 |2,103 |5,313 |15,383
Derbyshire |3,420 |1,194 |1,105 |3,796 |9,515
Devon |9,834 |2,722 |3,708 |10,390 |26,654
Dorset |2,501 |891 |938 |5,243 |9,573
Durham |2,002 |783 |722 |2,386 |5,893
East Sussex |1,864 |616 |635 |3,973 |7,088
Essex |3,154 |1,487 |1,084 |10,131 |15,856
Gloucestershire |2,652 |1,018 |877 |5,233 |9,780
Greater London (East) |130 |57 |42 |493 |722
Greater London (South-East) |281 |95 |92 |995 |1,463
Greater Manchester |1,393 |514 |510 |1,862 |4,279
Hampshire |2,478 |959 |818 |8,412 |12,667
Hereford and Worcester |5,787 |2,204 |1,915 |11,672 |21,578
Hertfordshire |1,112 |489 |322 |3,544 |5,467
Humberside |3,189 |1,682 |894 |8,890 |14,655
Isle of Wight |423 |116 |135 |1,054 |1,728
Isles of Scilly |61 |18 |30 |109 |218
Kent |3,690 |1,464 |1,231 |16,448 |22,833
Lancashire |5,399 |1,951 |2,095 |7,011 |16,456
Leicestershire |2,507 |1,011 |728 |4,026 |8,272
Lincolnshire |5,451 |2,626 |1,882 |17,901 |27,860
Merseyside |470 |219 |178 |1,109 |1,976
Norfolk |4,620 |1,786 |1,451 |17,761 |25,618
North Yorkshire (Beverley) |3,114 |1,256 |1,114 |5,546 |11,030
North Yorkshire (North Allerton) |4,636 |2,080 |1,438 |6,907 |15,061
Northamptonshire |1,674 |731 |496 |3,238 |6,139
Northumberland |2,024 |907 |709 |3,822 |7,462
Nottinghamshire |1,804 |799 |464 |4,408 |7,475
Oxfordshire |1,801 |751 |536 |4,701 |7,789
Shropshire |4,350 |1,635 |1,478 |6,788 |14,251
Somerset |4,812 |1,639 |1,767 |7,307 |15,525
South Yorkshire |1,251 |518 |373 |1,954 |4,096
Staffordshire |3,939 |1,336 |1,316 |5,304 |11,895
Suffolk |3,190 |1,428 |1,040 |10,476 |16,134
Surrey |1,354 |440 |475 |4,845 |7,114
Tyne and Wear |284 |116 |77 |580 |1,057
Warwickshire |2,041 |770 |653 |3,838 |7,402
West Midlands |461 |162 |156 |854 |1,633
West Sussex |1,628 |709 |681 |8,102 |11,120
West Yorkshire |2,519 |882 |751 |3,116 |7,268
Wiltshire |2,549 |981 |717 |6,019 |10,266
Source: Agricultural census June 1980 (excludes minor holdings).
Milk Marketing Board
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has for the future of the Milk Marketing Board.
Mr. Curry : The Government's approach has been to encourage the dairy industry to come forward with proposals for more open and competitive milk marketing arrangements. We welcomed the milk marketing board's decision to submit plans for transforming itself to co-operative status. The next step is for the board to bring the dairy trade into its discussions and there will need to be an opportunity for wider consultation with all interests affected before decisions are taken. The Government are ready to facilitate change provided it commands industry support and is compatible with competition law.
DEFENCE
JP233 Weapons
Sir Eldon Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he has completed his evaluation of the effectiveness of the JP233s delivered by the RAF in the Gulf war ; if this weapon is still being produced ; and if any have been sold to other nations.
Mr. Alan Clark : We are continuing to study all aspects of the Gulf campaign. Production of the JP233 has now ceased. It is not our normal practice to comment on whether particular items of defence equipment have been sold abroad.
Column 606
Gulf War
Sir Eldon Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to complete the lessons of the Gulf weapons and tactics used by Her Majesty's Forces in the recent war.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Detailed analysis of the campaign and the conclusions to be drawn from it is continuing, and will not be complete for some time.
Sir Eldon Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he is now able to state how many of the seven Tornado aircraft lost in the Gulf war were shot down by enemy action ; and how many crashed after flying into the ground without being hit by hostile fire.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Of the six Tornados lost in action during the Gulf conflict, it now seems likely that two aircraft were lost to anti- aircraft fire and a third to a surface-to-air missile at medium level, but detailed investigations are continuing.
Boxer System
Sir Eldon Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence why the Royal Air Force needs a new advance communications network ; how many towers are to be built as part of the Boxer system, and where ; how much these new arrangements will cost ; what discussions he had with British Telecom and Mercury with a view to their providing such a network for leasing by the Royal Air Force ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Alan Clark : The Royal Air Force's existing communications system within the United Kingdom,
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which relies almost entirely on commercially -rented facilities, lacks sufficient capacity for high-speed digital data transfer. The Boxer network which will replace it, will include a total of 212 microwave link towers, using existing towers wherever possible. For security reasons locations cannot be disclosed. The estimated cost of the project is £230 million. The option of continuing to rely on commercially-rented facilities has been considered but rejected on cost grounds.Married Quarters, Hampshire
Sir David Price : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the sufficiency of availability of married quarters for the various units due to be withdrawn from BAOR under the new NATO arrangements ; and what assessment he has made of the effect upon housing requirements in Hampshire.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The future requirement for married quarters in the United Kingdom is currently being reviewed as part of the "Options for Change" studies.
Low Flying
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the avoidance areas for low-flying military aircraft over Wales.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : As set out in the Government's reply to the Defence Committee's report on low flying last year (HC 659/90), it remains our policy not to release such information.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the corridor for low-flying aircraft running north from the Severn estuary to the Black mountains was narrowed in the past 10 years ; and what were the reasons for the change.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : I am not aware of any such corridor. The structure of the current United Kingdom low flying system is designed to make the widest possible area available for low flying training so as to minimise the level of disturbance to those on the ground.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if fhe will define the boundaries of the transit areas for low-flying aircraft over Wales now and those which existed prior to 1985.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : I will write to the hon. Member.
Rapid Reaction Force
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what United Kingdom nuclear weapons will be allocated in support of the new allied command in Europe rapid reaction force ; and what additional costs will result to the armed forces budget as a result of the NATO Ministers' meeting on 28 May.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : We do not comment on nuclear weapon deployments. The costs of the force structure
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emerging from the "Options for Change" study and from consultations with NATO are being further refined and the Government's spending plans for defence will be set out in the Autumn Statement following this year's public expenditure discussions.Challenger Tank
Mr. Hayward : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will ask General Dynamics to detail those aspects of its tender for the Challenger tank replacement which cover senior executives' emoluments.
Helicopter Flights, Northern Ireland
Mr. Mallon : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the average daily number of helicopter flights to and from Army installations at (a) Crossmaglen, (b) Bessbrook, (c) Forkhill, (d) Drummuckavall, (e) Crievekeeran and (f) Glassdrummond in each month since 1 January 1988.
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