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Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has had from driving instructors concerning the DVLA's mailing of provisional licences along with a British School of Motoring advertisement.
Mr. Chope : I have received many representations both direct from individual driving instructors and via Members of Parliament.
East London River Crossing
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport why it was decided to serve the compulsory orders for the east London river crossing roads before satisfying the European Commission about compliance with the directive on environmental assessment.
Mr. Chope : The decision to make all the outstanding orders was announced on 27 September. The making of these orders does not prejudice the outcome of the exchange with the European Commission on this matter. Major construction work will not start for some time. We intend to reply to the Commission shortly.
Driving Licence Fees
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his policy regarding charging drivers over 70 years of age a fee every three years to renew their driving licences ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Chope [holding answer 6 December 1991] : The driver licensing system is required to be self-financing. It is
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currently in deficit and will continue to be so unless the fee structure is revised. The main reasons for this are the sharp reduction in the number of 17-year-olds who are applying for first provisional driving licences--and provide the main source of income to the driver licensing system--and the increase in the number of drivers at age 70 and over who are renewing their licences.Unless the fee base is broadened, the first applicants will have to pay a substantially higher fee and will bear an increasingly disproportionate amount of the cost of running the system. The balance of equity within the new fee structure has been supported generally in public consultation. The new £6 fee for the over-70s renewal remains less than the average cost of dealing with applications from this age group. The cost of expensive medical examinations, often required at the Secretary of State's request, continue to be paid by DVLA. The over-70s are more likely to require these examinations and therefore benefit most from this continuing cross-subsidy within the system.
Provisional Car Licences
Mr. Terry Davis : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his estimate of the number of provisional car licences to be issued in 1992-93.
Mr. Chope [holding answer 6 December 1991] : It is estimated that 920,000 provisional car licences will be issued in 1992-93.
Road Advertisements
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Wakefield of 22 November, Official Report , column 319 , what action he has taken following his receipt of a copy of a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority regarding the placing of roadside advertisements with the slogan "Road Ahead Flooded".
Mr. Chope [holding answer 6 December 1991] : We are awaiting the adjudication of the Advertising Standards Authority.
ENVIRONMENT
Priority Homeless Statistics
Mr. George Howarth : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the proportion of all permanent lettings to new tenants in two-bedroom or larger dwellings going to the priority homeless for (i) lettings in the local authority's own stock, (ii) nominations to housing associations, (iii) nominations to mobility schemes and for each local authority all lettings (iv) in England and by his Department's regions in England in 1990-91.
Mr. Yeo : The information derived from English local authorities' annual housing investment programme returns is as follows :
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Percentage of lettings of 2 bedroom or larger dwellings to households accepted as priority cases under homelessness legislation-1 April
1990
to 31 March 1991
DOE region |Local authority |Nominations to |Nominations to |All lettings of local
|secure lettings to |housing associations |mobility schemes |authority dwellings<1>
|new tenants
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
North |29 |22 |- |19
Yorkshire and Humberside |28 |16 |2 |19
East Midlands |46 |30 |1 |29
Eastern |47 |31 |4 |27
Greater London |82 |70 |26 |59
South Eastern |47 |50 |15 |27
South West |51 |42 |14 |26
West Midlands |48 |27 |- |28
North West |26 |19 |- |17
|-- |-- |-- |--
England |43 |37 |8 |29
-Nil or negligible,
<1>All lettings of local authority stock of this type, including transfers of existing tenants and non-secure lettings to new tenants.
Inland Waterways Amenities Advisory Council
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether a representative of the Government attends meetings of the Inland Waterways Amenities Advisory Council ; when the last meeting between the Inland Waterways Amenities Advisory Council and a representative of the Government took place ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : An official from the Department commonly attends meetings of the Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Council. The chairman and the vice-chairman designate of the council met my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the Member for Banbury (Mr. Baldry), on 17 October 1991, and officials on 27 November 1991.
Noise Abatement
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he proposes to introduce any changes in the noise abatement zone procedures.
Mr. Baldry : The noise review working party last year recommended that noise abatement zone procedures would be more useful if they were to be simplified. We intend to consult a sample of local authorities next year on this proposition.
Housing
Mr. George Howarth : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the number of vacant dwellings by tenure for each local authority in England and Wales.
Mr. Yeo : Local authorities report the number of their own dwellings which were vacant and estimates of the numbers of vacant dwellings owned by housing associations, by other public sector landlords and in the private sector in their annual housing investment programme (HIP1) returns. "Other public sector" includes dwellings owned by another local authority.
The available figures for 1 April 1990 and 1991 are in columns A71, A72, A73 and A74, respectively, of the "HIP1 All Items Print" for those years. For 1 April 1980 the figures for local authority dwellings are in column A81, for local authority-financed housing association dwellings in A82, for other housing association dwellings in A83, for other public sector in A84 and for private sector in A85 of the "1980 HIP1 All Items Print".
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Copies of all these documents are in the Library.For information about Wales I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
Mr. George Howarth : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for each local authority in England and Wales, in 1979-80, 1989-90 and 1990-91, the number of unfit dwellings and number of dwellings not unfit but in need of renovation, by tenure.
Mr. Yeo : Local authorities provide estimates of the number of such dwellings at 1 April each year in their annual housing investment programme returns (HIP1). The available information for local authorities in England appears in the "HIP1 All Items Print" for the relevant year, at the column references stated. The figures are not necessarily comparable as authorities' criteria differ and they are generally best estimates based on available information rather than comprehensive surveys.
|1980 |1990 and 1991
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Local authority
Unfit<1> |A41 |A31
Lacking amenities<1> |A51
Needing renovation<2> |A61 |A41
Other public sector<4>
Unfit<1> |A44 |A33
Lacking amenities<1> |A54
Needing renovation<2> |A64 |A43
Housing association
Unfit<1> |A42, A43<3> |A32
Lacking amenities<2> |A52, A53<3>
Needing renovation<2> |A62, A63<3> |A42
Private
Unfit<1> |A45 |A34
Lacking amenities<1> |A55
Needing renovation<2> |A65 |A44
<1> The statutory definition of unfitness was changed in 1990.
The revised definition brings more dwellings into this category
which includes all those lacking amenities. Separate figures for
dwellings that were fit under the old definition but lacked
basic amenities were collected for previous years.
<2> The information collected for private sector dwellings that
were not substandard but in need of renovation in 1991 relates
only to dwellings whose owners were likely to be eligible for
discretionary renovation grants.
<3> For 1980 there were separate estimates for local authority
funded housing association dwellings and others.
<4> Other public sector includes dwellings owned by other local
authorities, government departments and other public sector
agencies.
Copies of all the documents are in the Library.
For information about Welsh authorities I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
Disabled Facilities Grant
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received regarding the operation of disabled facilities grant under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Yeo : Since the disabled facilities grant was introduced in July 1990, my Department has received about 150 representations from hon. Members and around 130 representations from local authorities and members of the public. A further 64 representations on the operation of the scheme have been received from local authorities and other bodies, in response to the Department's current review of the renovation grant system, and these are not being analysed. We hope to announce the results of this review in the new year.
Environmental Conferences
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many conferences Ministers or civil servants in his Department have attended on the environment from 1985 to date ; and if he will list the conferences at which his Department will be represented in each of the next four years.
Mr. Trippier : Comprehensive information on the period from 1985 could not be made available except at disproportionate cost. Information for each of the next four years is not available.
Toxic Waste
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much toxic waste in tonnes was produced by industries in the United Kingdom for every year since 1979.
Mr. Baldry : The amount of toxic wastes--that is, special waste as defined under the Control of Pollution Act (Special Waste) Regulations 1980 --produced in industries in the United Kingdom in each year since 1986 were :
|thousand
|tonnes
---------------------------
1986-87 |1,630
1987-88 |<1>2,140
1988-90 |2,320
1990-91 |<2>2,000
<1> Not including Wales.
<2> Figures incomplete,
awaiting final reports and
validations.
Figures for years before 1986 are not readily available.
Rents into Mortgages
Mr. Soley : To ask The Secretary of State for the Environment how many properties have been sold to date under the rents into mortgages pilot schemes in (a) Basildon and (b) Milton Keynes ; how many sales are expected in the remainder of the current financial year ; and what is the total estimated cost of setting up, promoting and administering the respective pilot schemes.
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Sir George Young : In Basildon, 28 sales have so far been completed and a further 53 are currently with solicitors ; 67 properties were sold in Milton Keynes before the pilot scheme was concluded in preparation for the bulk transfer of the development corporation's housing stock to new landlords. In addition, a total of more than 100 applicants have decided instead to exercise their right to buy. The pilot schemes were financed within the existing budgets of the Commission for the New Towns in Basildon and the Milton Keynes development corporation.
Household Waste (Burning)
Mr. Jacques Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the emission limits and storage controls on electric power-generating plants which burn household waste.
Mr. Baldry : All plant burning household waste will require an authorisation under part 1 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. For plants designed to incinerate such waste at a rate of less than 1 tonne per hour the emission limits and storage controls are given in "Environmental Protection Act 1990, Part 1 ; Processes Prescribed for Air Pollution Control by Local Authorities ; Secretary of State's Guidance" PG 5/4 (91) (ISBN 0-11-752397-6), available from HMSO. For plants designed to incinerate such waste at a rate of 1 tonne or more per hour the emission limits and storage controls are given in "Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution, Chief Inspector's Guidance to Inspectors. IPR 5/3". This guidance note is currently the subject of consultation and is scheduled for publication in April 1992. Copies of the draft note may be obtained from HMIP.
Corine Programme
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when his Department received the Commission report SEC(91) 958 final on the Corine programme concerning the gathering, co-ordination and standardisation of information on the environment and national resources in the EC ; and if he will make a statement on the programme's effects in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Baldry : A copy of the final Commission report was received by my Department in early June 1991.
The Corine programme has resulted in improved co-ordination in the environmental information field between all EC member states. In particular, common methodologies have been developed, and some data collection procedures established, thus enabling progress to be made towards a decentralised Community-wide environmental information system. These developments will contribute to the formulation and monitoring of EC environmental policy.
New Town Housing, Warrington
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the results of the ballot of former new town housing tenants in Warrington.
Mr. Yeo : The results of the ballot of new town tenants in Warrington on the future ownership of their homes
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were announced by the Commission for the New Towns on 2 December. A total of 85.5 per cent. of those eligible took part in the ballot and, of these, 81 per cent. (2,746) voted for a housing association as their future landlord and 19 per cent. (654) voted for their properties to be transferred to Warrington borough council. Each tenant was given the choice between the borough council and the housing association currently managing their estate for the commission on an agency basis, and the details for each housing association are :
(a) Grosvenor housing association and Warrington borough
council
|per cent.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Rate of participation |79
Percentage voting for housing association |<1>74
Percentage voting for borough council |<1>26
<1> Of valid vote.
(b) Manchester and district housing association and
Warrington
borough council
|per cent.
Rate of participation |87
Percentage voting for housing association |<1>82
Percentage voting for borough council |<1>18
<1> Of valid vote.
(c) Muir Group housing association and Warrington borough
council
|per cent.
Rate of participation |91
Percentage voting for housing association |<1>84
Percentage voting for borough council |<1>16
<1> Of valid vote.
(d) Warrington housing association and Warrington borough
council
|per cent.
Rate of participation |93
Percentage voting for housing association |<1>88
Percentage voting for borough council |<1>12
<1> Of valid vote.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Turner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment in determining the revenue support grant level for 1992-93, what recognition has been given to the fact that local authorities are experiencing difficulties in selling surplus assets at reasonable prices and that fewer tenants are willing to take on a mortgage to purchase their council house.
Mr. Key : Total standard spending for 1992-93 represents the Government's view of the appropriate amount of revenue spending by local authorities to provide services to a standard level taking account of what can be afforded nationally. Within that total, allowance is made for the revenue consequences of capital spending--any factors affecting the potential for generating capital receipts have been considered in reaching a view about that figure.
Mr. Turner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the basis of his assessment that the need for revenue resources to finance capital expenditure by local authorities will fall by £133 million next year ; and if he expects local authorities to reduce their capital
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programmes by this amount, or whether equivalent resources have been transferred to capital credit approvals for next year.Mr. Key : Total standard spending (TSS) for 1992-93 has been determined to permit an appropriate level of revenue spending on all local authority services, bearing in mind the need for efficiency and taking a realistic view of what taxpayers locally and nationally can afford. Within that, the total amount allowed for capital spending financed from revenue represents the Government's view of the relative priority to be accorded to this type of financing. It is, however, for individual authorities to determine their spending priorities as between services and their preferred methods of financing that expenditure.
Mr. Turner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the factors on which his assumption that the revenue support grant will enable local authorities to increase their interest received on cash flow balances etc. by £293 million are based.
Mr. Key : The element within standard spending assessments which takes account of the interest received on balances etc. will in fact be £292 million lower for 1992-93 on the basis of the proposals announced by my right hon. Friend on 26 November. This is because of a decrease in the assumed rate of interest on such receipts.
Mr. Turner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when local authorities will receive their credit approvals for 1992-93.
Mr. Key : Local authorities' basic credit approvals (BCAs) are calculated by reference to each authority's annual capital guidelines (ACGs), which are issued by the Secretary of State responsible for each service block. I hope it will be possible for all 1992-93 ACGs to be issued by Christmas. BCAs will be issued as soon as possible thereafter.
Local authorities may also receive supplementary credit approvals (SCAs) for certain types of project or programmes, which may be issued by the appropriate Minister up to six months after the end of the financial year to which the SCA relates.
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what facilities his Department has provided for staff from different local authorities to meet and exchange experiences of the use of bailiffs in poll tax recovery ; and at what cost to public funds.
Mr. Key : None. However, the local taxation working party, on which my Department and the local authority associations are represented, has discussed on a number of occasions the use of bailiffs in community charge enforcement.
Mr. Turner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of revenue support grant has been transferred to highways capital allocations ; what is the overall financial impact ; and why the transfer was necessary.
Mr. Key : Within the proposals for the 1992-93 revenue support grant settlement £100 million of expenditure on highway maintenance has been reclassified as capital rather than current spending. This represents 6 per cent. of the standard spending assessment for highway main-tenance 1991-92. There will be a corresponding uplift in
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the available capital resources through an increase of £50 million in both transport supplementary grant and credit approvals. This switch is part of a phased programme announced by the Department of Transport in 1989. It will bring the treatment of local authority spending on structural maintenance into line with that of central Government, which is already treated as capital.Mr. Turner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the likely impact of the reduction in the standard spending assessment on the provision of services by local authorities.
Mr. Key : Under my right hon. Friend's proposals the total of standard spending assessments for local authorities in England will increase by 6.8 per cent.
Mr. Turner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the basis on which the level of interest rate received on capital receipts is assumed by the standard spending assessment to fall by 12 per cent.
Mr. Key : The interest rate used to calculate the provisional 1992- 93 SSA element for interest on capital receipts at 10 per cent. is 1 per cent. less than that used for the 1991-92 settlement. That rate is based on an average of short and long-term interest rates for August 1991. The precise weighting of the various rates reflects the pattern of borrowing by all local authorities.
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will issue guidelines to local authority officers on their response to requests from district auditors to give examples of helpful and unhelpful actions by council members in regard to poll tax recovery procedures ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Turner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the impact on metropolitan districts of the changed methodology on the ability of different classes of authorities to generate interest receipts ; how much shire counties and outer London boroughs benefited in real terms by this change ; and how much metropolitan districts lost.
Mr. Key : The proposal to change the method by which the interest receipts element of the 1992-93 SSA is distributed results in a cash increase in SSA for the shire counties of £72.271 million ; and slight decreases for the metropolitan districts and outer London boroughs of £0.709 million and £1.019 million respectively. The figures are expressed in cash terms rather than real terms as the effects relate to the same period and are directly comparable.
Mr. Dixon : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what would be the total level of Government grant per head of adult population for 1992-93 for (a) Wandsworth, (b) Westminster and (c) each metropolitan district council in Tyne and Wear.
Mr. Portillo [holding answer 6 December 1991] : Under my right hon. Friend's proposals, the information for the total of revenue support grant and, where appropriate, area protection grant and inner London education grant per head of adult population is included in the list :
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|£
-----------------------------------
Camden |1,066
Greenwich |1,085
Hackney |1,734
Hammersmith and Fulham |1,118
Islington |1,338
Kensington and Chelsea |906
Lambeth |1,275
Lewisham |1,120
Southwark |1,260
Tower Hamlets |1,803
Wandsworth |1,077
Westminster |1,293
Gateshead |530
Newcastle upon Tyne |525
North Tyneside |453
South Tyneside |555
Sunderland |535
River Pollution
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has had over the levels of toxic chemicals found in fish due to high levels of contamination in rivers.
Mr. Baldry : Around 70 representations have recently been received concerning levels of chemicals in fish. Advice was issued to angling associations by the National Rivers Authority and MAFF earlier this year concerning the consumption of sport fish from contaminated waters.
Homelessness
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he last met representatives of Shelter to discuss housing policy and resources needed to reduce the number of homeless people this winter.
Mr. Yeo [holding answer 4 December 1991] : My hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning meets representatives of Shelter regularly. My Department has discussed with Single Homeless in London (SHIL) the need for the provision of shelters for those sleeping out in central London this winter. Through SHIL, my Department is providing 325 additional places in shelters between 1 December 1991 and 31 March 1992, as part of a co-ordinated strategy which includes shelters, transportation and support services to those sleeping rough in central London.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Subsidiarity
Mr. Rowlands : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will publish his proposals to include in the European union treaty the principle of subsidiarity.
Mr. Garel-Jones : At the start of the political union negotiations we proposed that the principle of subsidiarity should be written into the treaty. That suggestion has been taken up and article 3B of the draft treaty, available in the Library of the House, now contains a justiciable text of this principle.
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United Nations
Sir Gerard Vaughan : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish a statement of information available to him as to arrears of subscriptions to the United Nations by its various members.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The status of contributions by member states to the United Nations as at 31 October 1991 is contained in United Nations document ST/ADM/SER.B/361, a copy of which is being placed in the Library of the House.
Sir Gerard Vaughan : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information is available to him as to the apportionment of responsibility for arrears of subscription by the former Soviet Union to the United Nations organisation and as to the payment of these.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The payment of the assessed contribution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to the United Nations is the responsibility of the central Soviet authorities, who have been advised of our view that any arrears in their contribution should be paid promptly.
Western Sahara
Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps Her Majesty's Government, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, are taking to ensure the effectiveness of United Nations officials in securing a fair and orderly referendum in the western Sahara.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : As a permanent member of the Security Council, we are naturally concerned to ensure the success of the United Nations settlement plan. We have already contributed towards the cost of the United Nations mission for a referendum in the western Sahara. We have also provided 15 military observers. We shall continue to give our full support to the Secretary General's efforts to bring this long-standing dispute to a peaceful conclusion.
Zionism
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) whether the United Kingdom ambassador to the United Nations this year had raised the issue of UN resolution 3379 with all the members of the Security Council or whether there are any plans to do so ; and whom the ambassador has met to discuss this issue ;
(2) with which countries he intends to discuss the issue of repealing UN resolution 3379 in his forthcoming bilateral contacts ; (3) if he will list the states with which he has raised the issue of rescinding UN resolution 3379 in bilateral contacts.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The United Kingdom permanent representative to the United Nations in New York is currently discussing with his EC colleagues and representatives of other UN missions how best to secure the repeal of this odious resolution. We have said that we are ready to co-sponsor a draft resolution which revokes it.
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We expect to discuss the matter with a wide range of countries at the United Nations and shall be seeking the support of other delegations before a repealing resolution is put to a vote. The repeal of a General Assembly resolution is not, however, a matter for the Security Council.Japan (Plutonium)
Mr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what studies have been undertaken by his nuclear non- proliferation department into the requirement of the Japanese nuclear industry for the return of plutonium separated at Sellafield prior to agreeing to give an export licence for the plutonium ; and if his Department has received any recent representations from non-governmental organisations on the problems and risks of the international commerce in plutonium.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : None. The matters raised in the first part of the question are more properly an issue for the Department of Energy. However, the basic guidelines of British policy on exports and transfers of nuclear materials were announced by Lord Callaghan, then Foreign Secretary, in a parliamentary answer on 31 March 1976. The topic of international commerce in plutonium was raised at my recent meeting with 34 non-governmental organisations on 26 November.
Ukraine
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received for the recognition of Ukraine's independence ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Following Ukraine's declaration of independence on 24 August, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister received a letter from Mr. Kravchuk expressing his hope for Britain's recognition of the independence of Ukraine and the establishment of diplomatic relations. This wish also has been conveyed in official correspondence from Ukraine and at meetings between British and Ukrainian rerpresentatives. We are consulting closely our EC partners and NATO allies on the question of recognition, with a view to exploring with the Ukrainian Government how they intend to approach such key practical issues as the Soviet Union's foreign debt and control of nuclear weapons. I draw my hon. Friend's attention to the declaration on Ukraine by EC Foreign Ministers on 2 December which called upon Ukraine to take these matters forward with the centre and other republics in a peaceful, democratic and orderly way.
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on relations between the United Kingdom and the Ukraine.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We seek close, friendly relations with Ukraine and aim to broaden our contacts at all levels. A British representative is now in Kiev to help establish a permanent British mission. The British Council is also establishing a presence.
Romanian Children (Adoptions)
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information is currently being issued to prospective adopters of
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Romanian children by the British embassy in Bucharest ; if this advice is currently being revised following the Romanian Government's decision to permit foreign adoptions from 1 January 1992 ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Douglas Hogg : The Romanian adoption law, which came into effect on 17 July this year, continues to allow adoption of Romanian children by non-Romanians living abroad. The Department of Health has discussed the new adoption procedures with the Romanian authorities. Those seeking advice and assistance from the British embassy in Bucharest are told that all adoption applications will in future be processed through the Romanian Committee for Adoption ; that though currently closed for reorganisation the committee will resume its work in early 1992 ; and that the Department of Health will in future act direct with the committee on behalf of prospective adopters.
Pakistan
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received from the Government of Pakistan on the current investigation by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise over the illegal sale to Pakistan of computers with a military use by United Kingdom-based companies ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : None. Investigations into a possible export by a Norwegian company via the United Kingdom are being pursued by the Norwegian authorities with our assistance.
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