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Mr. Frank Field : To ask the right hon. Member for
Berwick-upon-Tweed, as representing the House of Commons Commission, what is the number of Clerks in the Department of the Clerk of the House ; and how many are in grades with a higher salary than that to which a Member of Parliament's salary is linked.
Mr. Beith : Sixty and 35 respectively.
Mrs. Roche : To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee when he expects a day nursery to be installed and operating within the precincts of the Palace of Westminster.
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Mr. Michael M. Martin : The Administration Committee is currently considering this matter, and has begun preparations for a survey to be conducted of potential demand for a nursery or a child care voucher system.
Mr. Trimble : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he intends to review the legislation relating to the registration of clubs.
Mr. Ancram : Yes. Following widespread consultation locally, a review is already in progress.
Mr. Trimble : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) loyalist and (b) republican prisoners were released on licence from indeterminate sentences for the terrorist murder of civilians in 1991 and 1992 ; and if he will indicate in each case the number of years served.
Mr. Mates : The information is as follows :
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Indeterminate sentence prisoners released on licence for terrorist murder of civilians Number released by years served Released on licence |11-12 |12-13 |13-14 |14-15 |15-16 |16-17 |17-18 |18-19 |Total released ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1991 Loyalist |- |- |1 |1 |4 |4 |- |1 |11 Republican |1 |- |- |1 |2 |1 |1 |- |6 1992 Loyalist |- |2 |3 |6 |9 |4 |1 |- |25 Republican |- |- |- |- |3 |3 |- |2 |8 Notes: 1. Prisoners sentenced to detention during the Secretary of State's pleasure are included. 2. The table excludes licensees in whose cases the period served for retribution took into account significant assistance given to the authorities and prisoners whose licences have been revoked.
Dr. Hendron : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what limits have been placed on the number of coronary angiogram procedures which can be performed each week in the Royal group of hospitals ; and what effect these are having on the volume of candidates being considered for coronary artery bypass grafting.
Mr. Ancram : Cardiologists at the Royal group of hospitals treat patients on the basis of clinical need. The present capacity of the coronary catheterisation unit at the Royal group of hospitals, which performs coronary angiograms, is being fully utilised. No artificial restrictions have been placed on the number of procedures performed.
Dr. Hendron : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how the waiting list for cardiac surgical operations in Northern Ireland has increased or decreased during the last 12 months.
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Mr. Ancram : The total number waiting in Northern Ireland for treatment in the cardiac surgery specialty fell by 205 between March 1992 and March 1993 from 964 to 759.
Dr. Hendron : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how the average waiting time for those people waiting for their first appointment with a cardiac surgeon has increased or decreased during the last 12 months.
Mr. Ancram : The information is not available. Information on waiting time for first appointments was not collected centrally until this year.
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list the buildings currently owned or rented by his Department, together with (a) the estimated value, (b) the annual rent and (c) the annual maintenance cost of each building in the current financial year.
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Mr. Waldegrave : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment on 8 June, Official Report, column 194. In addition to arrangements made by Property Holdings, projected expenditure by the Office of Public Service and Science during 1993-94 on maintenance in buildings occupied by the Department is £651,000.
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, pursuant to his oral answer to the hon. Member for Rochford (Dr. Clark) on 7 June, Official Report, columns 17-18, how many members the advisory group on scientific links with Japan and Pacific rim nations will have ; what criteria he will use to choose the members of the advisory group ; and if he will make it his policy to ensure the scientific implications of civil nuclear collaboration and co-operation is included on the agenda of the first meeting.
Mr. David Davis : The composition of the advisory group has not yet been decided. It will include representatives of industry, academia and Government who have extensive experience of scientific co-operation with this region. No agenda has yet been drawn up for the first meeting, but it will look at the whole range of science and technology relations, to identify areas where co-operation can be strengthened.
Dr. Wright : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is the total cost to date of all the public information published and distributed as a consequence of the citizens charter programme.
Mr. Waldegrave : A key aim of the charter is that customers should have ready access to public services through clear and effective information. It is not possible to provide a total cost for all the charter -related information published and distributed : charters, charter standard statements and explanatory leaflets have been issued by a wide range of public service providers, including Government Departments, agencies, nationalised industries and local authorities.
Mr. Nigel Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children have died from respiratory stress syndrome in each year since 1983.
Mr. Sackville : Numbers of deaths (underlying cause) from respiratory distress syndrome ICD 769 for the years 1983 to 1991 is contained in the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys publication "Mortality statistics : cause" series DH2 nos. 10-18 ; copies of which are available in the Library. The information for 1992 is shown in the table.
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Number of deaths from Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ICD 769)<1> for England and Wales, 1992<2> Age group<3> |Number --------------------------------------- Under 1 |8 <1> International Classification of Diseases, ninth revision. <2> Data from 1983 to 1992 are not comparable due to the changes to cause of death coding in 1986. From 1986 the number of deaths by cause excluded neonatal deaths, ie deaths of babies aged under 28 days. A new neonatal death certificate was introduced in January 1986, from which it is not possible to assign an underlying cause of death. Consequently, table 2 in series DH2 does not include neonatal deaths except in the figures for all causes. <3> Deaths occurred only in those aged under one.
Mr. Nigel Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have died from Battens disease in each year since 1983.
Mr. Sackville : The information is shown in the table.
Deaths from Battens disease (underlying cause of death) in England and Wales, 1983-92 Year |Number --------------------- 1983 |8 1984 |5 1985 |6 1986 |8 1987 |7 1988 |6 1989 |5 1990 |7 1991 |8 1992 |3
Mr. Nigel Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures she is taking to increase the number of neonatal intensive care cots available in NHS hospitals.
Mr. Sackville : Health care provision, including neonatal intensive care facilities is a matter for decision by purchasing health authorities in the light of their assessment of local needs. The Clinical Standards Advisory Group, set up by the United Kingdom Health Departments, was asked to examine access to and availability of a number of specialised services, including neonatal intensive care, following the introduction of the national health service reforms. Its report and the Government's response will be published shortly. Health authorities will need to take account of these in planning future provision.
Mr. Nigel Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many bone marrow transplants have been carried out in each year since 1983.
Mr. Sackville : This information is not available centrally.
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will give the percentage on average of NHS psychiatric patients in private hospitals in each of the last five years.
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Mr. Sackville : This information is not available centrally.
Ms Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list all the market tests that have taken place in her Department since November 1992 and indicate, in each case, whether the result was the maintenance of in-house provision, or whether the service was contracted out.
Mr. Sackville : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Mr. McAllion) on 15 February at col. 76.
Since then, the market test of the 1994 health survey has been completed. The contract has been awarded jointly to Social and Community Planning Research and University College, London. The health survey has previously been conducted by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys.
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the approximate budget for condoms in each region and in total for NHS family planning clinics in each of the last five years ; and what percentage of this budget was used to provide condoms for general practices.
Mr. Sackville : This information is not available centrally.
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the expenditure on drugs by the family health services in England in 1992-93.
Dr. Mawhinney : The final outturn for 1992-93 is not yet available, but the latest supply estimate for the year was £2,660 million.
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of gross national product was spent on health in the EC as a whole, the United Kingdom and the USA in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Mr. Sackville : Total national health service expenditure in the United Kingdom as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in each year since 1988-89 is shown in the table. GDP has been used rather than gross national product for consistency with other sources of information on public spending. Figures for the European Community and the United States of America are not available on a comparable basis.
United Kingdom health service expenditure as a percentage of GDP Year |Gross expenditure as |a percentage of GDP --------------------------------------------------------------- 1988-89 |5.1 1989-90 |5.1 1990-91 |5.3 1991-92 |5.7 <1>1992-93 |6.1 <1> Forecast Outturn
Ms Lynne : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money she expects to save by the Help Us to Help You campaign ; what mechanisms are or will be put in place to monitor the savings that are being made by the campaign ; what is the total budget for the Help Us to Help You campaign ; and how much of that budget has already been spent.
Dr. Mawhinney : Help Us to Help You is an initiative to help the development of local campaigns to promote messages about how people can help the health service improve its efficiency and effectiveness and thereby help other patients. It will be for the national health service locally to decide on the exact form and resourcing of local campaigns. Any savings will depend upon the effectiveness of these local campaigns and cannot be estimated centrally.
All regional, district and family health service authorities, NHS trusts, directly-managed hospital units and community health councils have been sent copies of a Help Us to Help You information pack which gives advice about how to develop a local campaign. The total cost of producing the Help Us to Help You packs was £31,870. Copies of the packs are available in the Library.
Mr. Dunn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hip operations were carried out during the last 10 years for which figures are available.
Mr. Sackville : The information is shown in the table.
Hip operations in England<1> Year |[000s] ---------------------- 1979 |28.8 1980 |31.7 1981 |32.8 1982 |33.2 1983 |36.2 1984 |36.9 1985 |36.5 1986 |41.0 1989-90 |50.8 Sources: 1979-1986 Hospital Activity Analysis ( Total hip replacement and other arthroplasty of hip). 1989-90 Hospital Episode Statistics ( Total prosthetic replacement of hip joint, with/without cement, other replacement of hip joint and prosthetic replacement of head of femur, with/without cement, other replacement of head of femur). Information for 1990-91 will be available in the autumn. <1> Data for 1987-88 and 1988-89 is not available.
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the United Kingdom-based non- governmental organisations assisting street children which are receiving funds from his Department in the current year, together with the amount of funding.
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Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Complete information is not yet available for the current year. However, in 1992-93 we supported, through the joint funding scheme, the following NGOs specifically to assist street children :
Non-governmental |£ organisation ----------------------------------------------------------- Childhope |34,759 National Children's Home |33,176 World Vision |117,333 CAFOD |13,210 Oxfam |17,552
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the total United Kingdom bilateral disbursement for aid to street children in 1991 and 1992 ; how much was spent in each country receiving this help ; and what are the planned contributions, by country, for 1993.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We help street children through a number of specific activities but, more significantly, by integrating their needs into projects with a wider poverty focus. Information about the location and costs of all projects where street children may be among the beneficiaries could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Viggers : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations through the United Nations and other appropriate international bodies to warn of the dangers of thalidomide used in Brazil and elsewhere.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd [holding answer 14 June 1993] : We have consulted the World Health Organisation about the use of thalidomide. WHO has confirmed that it recommends its use for the treatment of certain immunological reactions that may occur in leprosy patients either before or during specific treatment. However, because of its well-known embryopathic effects, WHO stipulates that the drug should be given only to men and postmenopausal women ; women of child-bearing age should never be given thalidomide.
WHO guidance on the use of thalidomide is made available to national Governments, who are responsible for the control of the manufacture, distribution and use of this drug in their own countries.
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Attorney-General how many prosecutions handled by the Crown Prosecution Service have been initiated in magistrates courts in each of the most recent 12 months for which figures are available.
The Attorney-General : The figures are not available in the form requested by the hon. Member. I will write to him.
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Mr. Hunter : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment which training and enterprise councils are currently using training credits within their adult training programmes.
Miss Widdecombe : In 1992-93, the following training and enterprise councils (TEC)s started national development projects involving the use of training credits in adult training programmes : Bradford ; Barnsley and Doncaster ; Rotherham ; Manchester ; South and East Cheshire ; Hertfordshire ; Birmingham ; East London ; and South Thames. Good practice from these projects will be available later this year.
In addition, South and East Cheshire TEC and Northumberland TEC are using training credits and a number of other TECs are considering or developing projects using existing resources.
Mr. Hunter : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer of 6 May, Official Report, column 236, what are the appropriate circumstances in which the Government will encourage training and enterprise councils to consider adult credits.
Miss Widdecombe : Training and enterprise councils (TEC)s are required to set out a comprehensive approach to the delivery of adult training in their draft business plans, which are the subject of annual negotiation with my regional directors. The approach adopted by each TEC will depend on the circumstances prevailing in its area, and may include adult credits where appropriate.
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many employers in each training and enterprise council area have been given the investors in people award ; and what is the accreditation standard for this award.
Miss Widdecombe : The number of investors in people recognitions at 14 June by TEC area is as follows :
|Number ---------------------------------------- Avon |5 AZTEC |4 Barnsley and Doncaster |3 Bedfordshire |7 Birmingham |6 Bolton/Bury |4 Bradford |1 CAMBSTEC |1 CEWTEC |5 CILNTEC |1 Calderdale and Kirklees |1 Central England |3 CENTEC |3 County Durham |4 Coventry and Warwickshire |2 Cumbria |1 Devon and Cornwall |21 Dorset |8 ELTEC |2 Essex |3 Gloucestershire |14 Greater Nottingham |1 Gwent |4 HAWTEC |3 Hampshire |10 Heart of England |6 Humberside |2 Kent |1 Leeds |4 Lincolnshire |1 London East |2 METROTEC |5 Manchester |1 Merseyside |1 Mid Glamorgan |3 Milton Keynes |1 NORMIDTEC |2 Norfolk and Waveney |6 North Derbyshire |5 North Nottinghamshire |5 North West Wales |3 North Yorkshire |6 Northamptonshire |3 Northumberland |5 Rotherham |1 SOLOTEC |1 Sandwell |1 Sheffield |1 Shropshire |4 Somerset |2 South and East Cheshire |6 South Glamorgan |3 South Thames |1 Southern Derbyshire |3 Staffordshire |3 Suffolk |2 Surrey |3 Sussex |3 Teesside |4 Thames Valley Enterprise |17 Tyneside |7 Wakefield |1 Walsall |1 Wearside |2 West Wales |5 Wiltshire |5 Wolverhampton |2
A copy of the "Investors in People National Standard--Links to Assessment Indicators" will be placed in the Library.
Mr. Hain : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the percentage of economically inactive adult males for each district of England (a) in 1981 and (b) at the latest available date.
Miss Widdecombe : The information requested is available from the 1981 and 1991 censuses of population and can be obtained from the NOMIS database in the Library.
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many young people were on youth training for each of the last six years.
Miss Widdecombe : The information requested is given in the table.
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Youth Training Scheme/Youth Training<1> Numbers in training Great Britain March 1988 to March 1993 March |Number ------------------------ 1988 |375,600 1989 |376,600 1990 |343,800 1991 |314,200 1992 |290,400 <2>1993 |288,100 Source: SPECTRUM, Training and Enterprise Council Operating Agreement (Annex J) and Scottish and Welsh Management Information. <1> Includes Youth Credits. <2> March 1993 figure is provisional.
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what action the Health and Safety Executive is taking to examine the safety of AWE Aldermaston ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : On 13 May 1993 the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) announced its intention to carry out a comprehensive review of health and safety management systems and standards of risk control at all atomic weapons establishment (AWE) premises, including Aldermaston.
The review team will include HSE specialist radiation, factory, explosives, and nuclear installations inspectors, employment medical advisers and experts in health and safety management systems. A report will be published and HSE will be as open about the findings of the review as national security considerations will allow. HSE does not expect to complete the review until the spring of 1994 at the earliest.
AWE and the Ministry of Defence have indicated their full support and their wish to co-operate with the review.
Mr. Clapham : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many fatalities per 1,000 man-shifts there were for each of the last 10 complete years for which statistics are available (a) in private coal mines, (b) among sub-contract workers doing work for British Coal and (c) amongst British Coal's employees.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : A fatality rate based on man-shifts is not available for private mines.
The table shows the fatalities per 100,000 man-shifts at British Coal Corporation--BCC--mines from 1985-86, the first year for which a discrete rate for BCC mines was calculated by the Health and Safety Executive's--HSE --inspectorate of mines.
Fatal accidents to sub-contractors at BCC mines are included in the rates shown in the table. Separate records for sub-contractors have not been maintained by the HSE.
British coal corporation mines Year |Fatal injury rate |per 100,000 |shifts<1> ------------------------------------------------------ 1985-86 |0.08 1986-87 |0.05 1987-88 |0.04 1988-89 |0.08 1989-90 |0.01 1990-91 |0.07 1991-92 |0.08 <2>1992-93 |0.03 <1> Includes accidents to contractors working at BCC mines. <2> Provisional.
Mr. Callaghan : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many young people entered employment in 1992 with no access to training.
Mr. Boswell : I have been asked to reply.
Information on young people entering employment with no access to training is not collected centrally.
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent representations he has made to the European Commission on the subject of European funding.
Mr. Redwood : My predecessor met with Commissioner Millan on 15 March and also with Commissioners Steichen, Ruberti and Flynn on 2 April to discuss a wide range of issues of mutual interest. He also wrote to Commissioner Matutues since it proved impossible for them to meet. In each instance he invited them to visit
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Wales but we must wait and see whether these invitations are taken up. I also intend, however, to visit Brussels later in the year and to meet a number of the Commissioners.Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received concerning the issuing of cattle identification documents ; and what plans he has to review the administrative arrangements associated with the beef premium scheme in Wales.
Mr. Redwood : I have received several representations about cattle identification documents and am monitoring the introduction of the new scheme to see what scope exists to simplify arrangements.
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) how much his Department has paid in each of the last five years under the Bellwin formula to local authorities in Wales ; if he will list each receiving authority ; how much they received ; how much each authority had to spend before receiving any grant ; and what percentage the grant represented of that total eligible expenditure by the authority on the particular emergency ;
(2) how much his Department has paid in grant in each of the last five years under the Bellwin formula to local authorities in Wales ; and if he will list (a) each receiving authority, (b) how much each authority had to spend up to and beyond the threshold before receiving grant and (c) what percentage the grant represented of that expenditure at (b) .
Mr. Redwood : The information required is given in the table :
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Local Authorities |Grant Paid |Per cent |Threshold |Grant Paid |Per cent |Threshold |Grant Paid |Per cent |Threshold Recieving Bellwin<2> |£ |<1> |£ |£ |<1> |£ |£ |<1> |£ |£ |<1> |£ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dyfed CC |204,726 |75 |621,000 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- Colwyn |- |- |- |527,726 |85 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |772,017 |95 |14,200 |274,649 |95 |- |- |- |- Rhuddlan |- |- |- |195,892 |85 |14,246 |340,236 |85 |- |- |- |- Torfaen |- |- |- |32,164 |75 |22,307 |- |- |- |- |- |- Preseli Pembs |- |- |- |111,683 |75 |16,771 |- |- |- |- |- |- Swansea |- |- |- |3,764 |75 |44,882 |- |- |- |- |- |- Merthyr |- |- |- |46,573 |75 |14,128 |- |- |- |- |- |- Ynys Mon |- |- |- |23,448 |85 |16,069 |7,115 |85 |- |- |- |- Neath |- |- |- |612 |75 |16,046 |- |- |- |- |- |- Islwyn |- |- |- |30,659 |75 |15,042 |- |- |- |- |- |- Newport<1> |- |- |- |2,838 |75 |32,706 |- |- |- |- |- |- Aberconwy |- |- |- |3,292 |85 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |246,352 |95 |16,275 |850 |95 |- |- |- |- Delyn |- |- |- |14,137 |95 |16,275 |850 |95 |- |- |- |- Clwyd |- |- |- |- |- |- |298,041 |95 |- |- |- |- Dwyfor |- |- |- |- |- |- |13,253 |75 |<5>9,000 |- |- |- Blaenau Gwent |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |20,813 |85 |23,080 Rhondda |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |7,940 |85 |23,872 Cynon Valley |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |24,102 |85 |19,806 |------- |--- |------- |------- |--- |------- |------- |--- |------- |------- |--- |------- Total |204,726 |- |- |2,014,285 |- |- |943,416 |- |- |92,863 |- |- Notes: <1> Percentage rate of eligible expenditure. <2> There was no Bellwin Expenditure in1989-90. <3> Newport repaid all its grant in 1991-92 folloeing audited claim (money surrendered to CFER). <4> Audited returns for 1990-91; therefore 1990-91 thresholds apply. <5> Grant in respect of 1987 storms (audited return). <6> Unaudited class; final claims to be received in 1993-94.
Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will disregard emergency expenditure by local authorities on emergencies such as the recent flooding in west and north Wales from his calculations on capping limits for local authority expenditure in 1993-94.
Mr. Redwood : Local authorities have set their budgets for 1993-94 and as indicated in the reply given by my predecessor to the hon. Member for Monmouth (Mr. Evans) on 26 April at columns 284-85, the only authority in west or north Wales being considered for capping is Aberconwy borough council. On 21 May Aberconwy borough council challenged the proposed cap and put forward an alternative cap that is the same as its budget for 1993- 94. I am still considering the authority's representations and I intend to announce my decision shortly.
Mr. Aspinwall : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what measures are being taken to ensure that benefits payable to new age travellers comply with all the relevant rules.
Mr. Burt : New age travellers must satisfy the same conditions of entitlement to benefit as all other people. Those who claim benefit because of unemployment must be available for and actively seeking work, and all claimants are tested by the employment service to confirm that they are taking steps to find employment.
In order to ensure stricter compliance with Government objectives regulations were introduced in December 1992 to remove entitlement to income support from able-bodied single people and childless couples who do not actively seek work.
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