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Full-time equivalent<1> numbers of education support staff and                        
administrative staff in maintained nursery, primary, secondary and                    
special schools in England                                                            
Position at January 1992                                                              
Local education        |Education support   |Administrative staff                     
authority              |staff                                                         
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corporation of London  |4                   |1                                        
Camden                 |284                 |104                                      
Greenwich              |428                 |160                                      
Hackney                |395                 |119                                      
Hammersmith            |246                 |88                                       
Islington              |339                 |95                                       
Kensington and Chelsea |158                 |66                                       
Lambeth                |403                 |129                                      
Lewisham               |281                 |118                                      
Southwark              |406                 |146                                      
Tower Hamlets          |444                 |152                                      
Wandsworth             |590                 |146                                      
Westminster            |225                 |111                                      
Barking                |232                 |102                                      
Barnet                 |423                 |171                                      
Bexley                 |175                 |118                                      
Brent                  |288                 |142                                      
Bromley                |193                 |175                                      
Croydon                |379                 |207                                      
Ealing                 |481                 |161                                      
Enfield                |340                 |135                                      
Haringey               |426                 |109                                      
Harrow                 |263                 |117                                      
Havering               |210                 |160                                      
Hillingdon             |407                 |153                                      
Hounslow               |331                 |146                                      
Kingston upon Thames   |134                 |120                                      
Merton                 |153                 |133                                      
Newham                 |439                 |125                                      
Redbridge              |196                 |158                                      
Richmond upon Thames   |121                 |86                                       
Sutton                 |149                 |127                                      
Waltham Forest         |403                 |179                                      
Birmingham             |1,692               |572                                      
Coventry               |499                 |243                                      
Dudley                 |309                 |166                                      
Sandwell               |502                 |217                                      
Solihull               |270                 |148                                      
Walsall                |509                 |195                                      
Wolverhampton          |421                 |157                                      
Knowsley               |283                 |134                                      
Liverpool              |618                 |289                                      
St. Helens             |235                 |106                                      
Sefton                 |295                 |199                                      
Wirral                 |331                 |173                                      
Bolton                 |316                 |162                                      
Bury                   |228                 |84                                       
Manchester             |901                 |289                                      
Oldham                 |369                 |124                                      
Rochdale               |269                 |142                                      
Salford                |402                 |157                                      
Stockport              |411                 |184                                      
Tameside               |357                 |122                                      
Trafford               |159                 |112                                      
Wigan                  |322                 |177                                      
Barnsley               |334                 |113                                      
Doncaster              |329                 |243                                      
Rotherham              |342                 |155                                      
Sheffield              |692                 |308                                      
Bradford               |1,134               |380                                      
Calderdale             |332                 |114                                      
Kirklees               |514                 |237                                      
Leeds                  |1,232               |405                                      
Wakefield              |430                 |220                                      
Gateshead              |217                 |109                                      
Newcastle upon Tyne    |426                 |163                                      
North Tyneside         |278                 |123                                      
South Tyneside         |168                 |62                                       
Sunderland             |425                 |155                                      
Isles of Scilly        |3                   |3                                        
Avon                   |1,332               |654                                      
Bedfordshire           |781                 |483                                      
Berkshire              |980                 |515                                      
Buckinghamshire        |1,082               |460                                      
Cambridgeshire         |1,271               |469                                      
Cheshire               |1,258               |596                                      
Cleveland              |772                 |384                                      
Cornwall               |752                 |263                                      
Cumbria                |601                 |251                                      
Derbyshire             |1,484               |487                                      
Devon                  |1,312               |640                                      
Dorset                 |608                 |369                                      
Durham                 |832                 |299                                      
East Sussex            |712                 |428                                      
Essex                  |1,540               |1,166                                    
Gloucestershire        |609                 |360                                      
Hampshire              |2,127               |1,273                                    
Hereford and Worcester |538                 |408                                      
Hertfordshire          |1,468               |698                                      
Humberside             |1,265               |570                                      
Isle of Wight          |193                 |98                                       
Kent                   |1,567               |1,017                                    
Lancashire             |1,563               |838                                      
Leicestershire         |1,290               |664                                      
Lincolnshire           |757                 |333                                      
Norfolk                |804                 |457                                      
North Yorkshire        |656                 |429                                      
Northamptonshire       |751                 |442                                      
Northumberland         |338                 |194                                      
Nottinghamshire        |1,376               |579                                      
Oxfordshire            |888                 |363                                      
Shropshire             |572                 |281                                      
Somerset               |755                 |300                                      
Staffordshire          |1,324               |698                                      
Suffolk                |706                 |434                                      
Surrey                 |972                 |824                                      
Warwickshire           |587                 |319                                      
West Sussex            |775                 |572                                      
Wiltshire              |701                 |377                                      
                       |-------             |-------                                  
England                |64,398              |31,193                                   
<1> The hours worked during the survey week by non-teachers in various job categories 
are converted to fuul-time equivalent staff numbers by dividing 32.5 hours for        
nursery assistants and 37 hours for other categories.                                 

Column 359

Local Management of Schools

Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the estimate of the unspent balances held by schools at the year end under local management of school schemes for 1990-91 and 1991-92.

Mr. Forth : Unspent balances in respect of all local education authority-maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools in England at the end of the 1990-91 financial year, as recorded on LEAs' annual revenue outturn returns to the Department of the Environment, amounted to £322 million. The estimated figure for 1991-92 is £394 million.

Grant-maintained Schools

Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many complaints his Department has received from parents concerning the conduct of head teachers or governing bodies during a ballot for grant-maintained status.

Mr. Robin Squire : The Department does not collate information on the number or source of complaints about conduct during ballots on grant- maintained status, nor on whose conduct is complained about. All such complaints are considered carefully and are investigated as appropriate. Particular attention is given to complaints alleging breaches of the law or where there may have been improper influence on the outcome of a ballot.

Special Needs

Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many special needs schools there were in each of the last five years ; and if he will break down the figures by category of special need.

Mr. Forth : Information about the number of maintained and non- maintained special schools is shown in the table. Many of these schools make provision for more than one kind of learning difficulty, so it is not possible to provide a breakdown of these figures by category of special need.


<
Maintained and non-maintained special schools in England    
(1988-1992)                                                 
Position at January of each year                            
Year           |Maintained    |Non-maintained               
------------------------------------------------------------
1988           |1,359         |84                           
1989           |1,332         |82                           
1990           |1,317         |81                           
1991           |1,299         |81                           
1992           |1,274         |78                           

Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children had statements of educational need, in each of the last five years nationally and by each educational authority.

Mr. Forth : I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Dr. Jones) on 7 June 1993, Official Report, columns 25-28.

Cumbria County Council (Court Case)

Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what were the costs incurred by his Department following his court case with Cumbria county council.


Column 360

Mr. Robin Squire : Fees in respect of this case are not yet available. I will write to the hon. Member when the information is available.

Education Assets Board

Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his answer of 5 July, Official Report, columns 19-20, if he will describe in general terms the nature and use of the premises at each educational establishment where his determination of an Education Assets Board recommendation is awaited.

Mr. Robin Squire : Of the 14 cases awaiting final determination by my right hon. Friend, only nine of them involve the transfer of land and/or property. These are as follows :

Grant-maintained schools

Dartford Grammar School for Girls, Kent--A dispute between the school and Kent county council over (i) transfer of an area of playing field, (ii) pedestrian rights of access and (iii) transfer of a further area of land.

Great Barr School, Birmingham--A dispute between the school and Birmingham county council over the ownership of an adjacent sports hall and an area of playing field which is used by both the school and the local community.

Kingsley Park School, Northamptonshire--A dispute between the school and Northamptonshire county council over the transfer of a gymnasium block in a building on the school site which is also used by another of the authority's schools.

Pate's Grammar School, Gloucestershire--A dispute between the school and Gloucestershire county council over the transfer of the site of a former secondary school which had been leased to Pate's grammar school while major building work was carried out on their own school site.

Stratford School, London--A dispute between the school and the London borough of Newham over the transfer of the freehold of a house.

Thamesview School, Kent--A dispute between the school and Kent county council on the transfer or retention of a house.

Higher education institutions

Greenwich--A dispute between the London borough of Wandsworth, which inherited the Inner London Education Authority's education responsibilities in the area, and Thames polytechnnic--now the university of Greenwich--over the transfer of the freehold of property known as Manresa house, and the grounds surrounding this property. Wandsworth uses part of Manresa house for adult education. Falmouth School of Art and Design--A dispute between Cornwall county council and Falmouth school of art and design over the transfer of properties in Falmouth and Camborne, used by the school.

Further education institutions

Somerset College of Arts and Technology--The EAB has determined that the freehold interest in the access road serving the college and Castle school should transfer to the college. Somerset county council have appealed to the Secretary of State against this determination.

Teachers' Pay

Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Education by what statutory authority he either permits or prevents any local education authority or governing body of a school wholly dependent on public funds to engage teachers on pay less than that of agreed national scales or


Column 361

without professional qualifications recognised in the United Kingdom ; and if he plans to bring forward proposals for any change of the law in either respect.

Mr. Robin Squire : Under the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Act 1991, school teachers employed by local education authorities or by the governing bodies of voluntary schools must be paid in accordance with a school teachers' pay and conditions document given force by an order of the Secretary of State. School teachers employed by the governing body of a self-governing--grant-maintained--school must also be so paid unless the school has sought exemption from the Act. The Act does not apply to teachers employed by other kinds of school or by private agencies.

Under the Education (Teachers) Regulations 1993, teachers employed at a school maintained by a local education authority, a self-governing--grant- maintained--school or a non-maintained special school must ordinarily possess qualified teacher status as defined in the regulations. There are exceptions for licensed teachers ; overseas trained teachers ; student teachers ; and certain existing unqualified teachers ; and a suitable unqualified teacher may be appointed if no suitable qualified teacher, licensed teacher or overseas trained teacher is available. This part of the regulations does not apply to other kinds of school. The Act and the regulations apply to England and Wales.

My right hon. Friend has no current plans to bring forward proposals for changing the law in respect of these matters.

DEFENCE

UN Troops (Cyprus)

Lady Olga Maitland : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to provide phone cards for British troops serving with the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus.

Mr. Hanley : All United Kingdom service personnel deployed in Cyprus receive a local overseas allowance to compensate them for the additional cost of living in that country. The allowance, which is the same for personnel under United Kingdom and United Nations command, contains an element to enable personnel to maintain telephone contact with the United Kingdom.

The only areas of deployment in which service personnel currently receive a telephone allowance are Northern Ireland and the former Yugoslavia. Neither of these attracts an overseas allowance, but in recognition of the particularly difficult and dangerous circumstances a telephone allowance is given.

There are no plans to change the current position.

Defence Expenditure

Mr. Harvey : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list, in real terms and as a proportion of gross domestic product, the expenditure on the armed forces for each year since 1979 and the projections in such terms for such annual expenditure for as many years into the future as is practicable.

Mr. Hanley : Previous and planned expenditure on the armed forces between 1979-80 and 1995-96 was set out in


Column 362

the "Statistical Supplement to the 1992 Autumn Statement", (Cm 2219). Planned defence expenditure between 1993-94 and 1995-96 as a proportion of the forecast GDP gross domestic product--not given in the supplement--is as follows :

1993-94--3.7 per cent.

1994-95--3.5 per cent.

1995-96--3.2 per cent.

Queen's Flight

Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which (a) Cabinet Ministers and (b) others are entitled to use aircraft from the Queen's Flight.

Mr. Hanley : Subject to the approval of Her Majesty the Queen, and the availability of aircraft, the following are entitled to use aircraft of the Queen's Flight when travelling on official business. Members of the Royal Family

The Prime Minister

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs The Chancellor of the Exchequer

The Home Secretary

The Secretary of State for Defence

The Secretary of State for Scotland

The Secretary of State for Wales

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

The Minister of State for the Armed Forces

The Minister of State for Defence Procurement

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence

Chief of the Defence Staff

Chief of the Naval Staff

Chief of the General Staff

Chief of the Air Staff

General Officer Commanding London district

Visiting Heads of State and foreign dignitaries of equivalent status to the above.

Members of the Privy Council travelling to attend meetings of the Council outside London.

Navy Salaries

Mr. Viggers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will state the amount of pension receivable by (a) a lieutenant commander and (b) a chief petty officer each with 25 years service assuming that each had retired on (i) 1 June 1992 and (ii) 1 June 1993.

Mr. Hanley : For a lieutenant commander and a chief petty officer each with 25 years reckonable service, the amounts of pension are as follows :


;
Date of retirement   |Amount of award                      
                     |£                                    
-----------------------------------------------------------
Lieutenant commander                                       
1 June 1992          |11,784                               
1 June 1993          |11,962                               
                     |                                     
Chief petty officer                                        
1 June 1992          |7,101                                
1 June 1993          |7,207                                

Research and Development

Mr. Jim Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on research and development from 1991.


Column 363

Mr. Aitken : My Department's research and development expenditure is detailed in table 1.5 of the 1993 edition of "Defence Statistics". The total gross expenditure in 1991-92 was £2,680 million and the estimated outturn in 1992-93 is £2,912 million.

Service Projects

Mr. Jim Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the five current service projects involving the most expenditure ; and what is the manpower requirement involved in each such project.

Mr. Hanley : The five current service projects involving the most expenditure are shown in table 1.15 of "Defence Statistics" 1993. They are Trident, EH 101, Eurofighter 2000, Rapier Field Standard C and Warrior.

It is not possible without disproportionate cost to identify all staff effort involved in these projects throughout the Department. Procurement executive staff directly and exclusively involved in the management of these projects are as follows :


Project Manpower                                 
                 |Number of staff                
                 |involved                       
-------------------------------------------------
Trident          |335                            
EH 101           |42                             
Eurofighter 2000 |91                             
Rapier (FSC)     |41                             
Warrior          |25                             

Anthrax Inoculation

Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service men and women in the Gulf conflict were inoculated against anthrax ; and if the inoculation included inculation against penicillin-resistant anthrax.

Mr. Hanley : Vaccines giving protection against a number of biological warfare agents considered to be a threat during Operation Granby were administered to all consenting British personnel on a voluntary basis. The details of these vaccines are classified.

Nuclear Test Veterans

Mr. Wareing : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many claims for compensation by veterans of the British nuclear tests are currently pending ; what action he is taking on their cases ; what factors are delaying his making of a final decision ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Hanley : Five such claims are pending. They are being examined in the usual way, to establish whether there is any evidence of exposure to radiation, and if so whether this caused any subsequent disease. So far, however, no case of death or disease among British nuclear test veterans has been shown to have resulted from radiation from the tests.

Successive British Governments have explained that almost all the personnel involved received little or no radiation from the tests. If these assurances were wrong and people actually had been subjected to substantial additional radiation, medical experts would expect to find an excess of total cancer deaths subsequently. But


Column 364

according to the study published in 1988 by the National Radiological Protection Board, the total incidence of death and malignant disease has been no greater among test veterans than for people who were not involved in the tests. We know of no new evidence that would change this position.

Air Defence Alerting Device

Mr. Trotter : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out the purpose of the air defence alerting device recently brought into servive with the Army ; which systems it replaces and in what roles ; what similar equipment is in service with, or on order for, the other services ; what are the approximate costs involved ; who are the principal contractors ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Aitken : The air defence alerting device (ADAD) is a passive, infra-red surveillance device, manufactured by Thorn EMI, which has recently entered service. It will be deployed with the Army's and the Royal Marines' close air defence weapon systems to provide passive early warning of potential aerial targets. In addition to the free-standing version, which is now being deployed with the Javelin system, ADAD will be vehicle mounted for use with the self-propelled version of the Starstreak high- velocity missile, due to come into service in 1994. ADAD is a completely new system which will provide a significant enhancement to the Army's close air defence alerting capability, which previously relied on human detection. The overall investment in the programme will exceed £100 million.

NATIONAL FINANCE

Quangos

Mr. Grocott : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the former Members of this House who have been appointed since 1988 by his Departments to quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations ; and if he will list in each case the title of the post, the salary, the duration of the appointment, and the party which the former hon. Member represented.

Mr. Nelson : No such appointments have been made.

Mr. Grocott : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the names of individuals who (a) are spouses of hon. Members, (b) are members of the House of Lords, (c) are spouses of members of the House of Lords and (d) have been party candidates for Parliament, indicating for which party, who have been appointed by his Department since 1988 to quasi- autonomous non-governmental organisations giving, in each case, the title of the post, and salary payable, and the duration of the appointment.

Mr. Nelson : The information requested is as follows :

(a) none.

(b) none.

(c) Marchioness of Anglesy ; Member, Royal Mint Advisory Committee ; appointed in February 1991 for 7 years ; no salary payable. (

(d) This information is not held.


Column 365

Gross Domestic Product (Hong Kong)

Dr. Marek : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he estimates that the gross domestic product per capita of Hong Kong will equal that of the United Kingdom.

Mr. Nelson : The future comparative paths of GDP per capita in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong will depend on exchange rate movements and relative growth rates of GDP and population.

Mortgage Interest Tax Relief

Mr. Dafis : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list his estimates by range of income for (a) 1992-93 and (b) 1993-94 of the number of tax units receiving mortgage interest tax relief, the average value per mortgagor and the total cost of the relief.

Mr. Dorrell : The estimates are shown in the tables. The figures for 1993-94 are based on the conventional assumption of no further changes in interest rates.


Mortgage interest relief by range of total income<1>                                           
Range of total     |Number of single  |Average mortgage  |Cost of mortgage                     
income<1> (lower   |people or married |interest relief   |interest relief                      
limit)             |couples benefiting                                                         
                   |from mortgage                                                              
                   |interest relief                                                            
£                  |thousands         |£                 |£ million                            
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992-93                                                                                        
0                  |840               |410               |340                                  
5,000              |1,130             |460               |520                                  
10,000             |2,670             |510               |1,360                                
15,000             |2,400             |560               |1,340                                
20,000             |1,050             |570               |600                                  
25,000             |510               |590               |300                                  
30,000             |610               |610               |370                                  
40,000             |590               |630               |370                                  
                   |-------           |-------           |-------                              
Total              |9,800             |530               |5,200                                
                                                                                               
1993-94                                                                                        
0                  |840               |370               |310                                  
5,000              |1,120             |380               |420                                  
10,000             |2,540             |410               |1,050                                
15,000             |2,330             |450               |1,050                                
20,000             |1,220             |460               |560                                  
25,000             |570               |460               |260                                  
30,000             |640               |500               |320                                  
40,000             |640               |510               |330                                  
                   |-------           |-------           |-------                              
Total              |9,900             |430               |4,300                                
<1> Total income of husband for married couples.                                               

Civil Servants (Offices)

Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the office accommodation costs for civil servants and give an analysis under appropriate headings including a notional rental amount in respect of premises held on freehold or long-leasehold tenure for (a) 1979 and (b) the most recent period.

Mr. Nelson : The information required is not centrally collected in the format requested. The table sets out the information in respect of departmental accommodation costs for central Government Departments for 1992-93, the last year available. Data for 1979 are not available and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.


Column 366


£ million                                                                            
                          1992-93                                                    
                         |Rent               |Other accommodation                    
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Defence                  |184.7              |129.6                                  
FCO (including ODA)      |61.9               |43.0                                   
Agriculture              |39.7               |23.9                                   
Trade and Industry       |58.9               |46.2                                   
Employment               |121.9              |92.4                                   
Transport                |30.1               |23.2                                   
Environment              |39.8               |25.5                                   
Home Office              |63.1               |91.3                                   
Legal Departments        |99.5               |94.6                                   
Education                |10.8               |5.6                                    
Heritage                 |0.5                |1.1                                    
Health                   |30.0               |19.6                                   
Social Security          |131.9              |124.5                                  
Scotland                 |37.8               |19.3                                   
Wales                    |2.8                |3.7                                    
Northern Ireland         |8.4                |35.3                                   
Chancellor's Departments |199.9              |134.1                                  
Cabinet Office etc.      |10.9               |0.3                                    
                         |-------            |-------                                
                         |1,132.7            |913.2                                  

Public Sector Pay

Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are his current plans for a review of the 1.5 per cent. limit on public sector pay increases for the next pay round ; and what will be the position in that pay round of those employees in the public sector who had been awarded a higher figure than 1.5 per cent. for the present pay round.

Mr. Dorrell : The Government will review the situation with regard to public sector pay at the appropriate time bearing in mind all the relevant circumstances. Public sector pay is an important part of public expenditure and will have to be kept under tight control. Under the Government's current approach to public sector pay restraint, every public sector group will be subject to one pay settlement only in the range 0 to 1.5 per cent. Those groups who received settlements in excess of 1.5 per cent. last year in respect of the 1992-93 pay round will have their 1993 settlement constrained appropriately.

Public Sector Pension Schemes

Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state for each of the main public sector pension schemes the financial year when he expects the average pension in payment to reach £10,000 per annum based on current trends in lengths of service, earnings and price increases.

Mr. Portillo : The table shows when the average pension in payment from the main public service pension schemes would reach £10,000 per annum if the average level of price inflation were 1 per cent. or 4 per cent. in the longer term. These represent the top and bottom of the Government's target range for inflation.


Financial year when average pension                              
is expected to reach £10,000 per annum                           
Scheme                        Rate of growth                     
                              per annum                          
                             |1 per cent.|4 per cent.            
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Civil Service                |2083-84    |2016-17                
NHS (England and Wales)      |2082-83    |2016-17                
NHS (Scotland)               |2094-95    |2019-20                
Teachers (England and Wales) |2039-40    |2005-6                 
Teachers (Scotland)          |2037-38    |2004-5                 
Armed Forces                 |2077-78    |2014-15                
Local Government                                                 
  (England and Wales)        |2124-25    |2026-27                
                                                                 
Average                      |2084-85    |2016-17                

Pension Commitments

Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to publish in the next Budget and autumn statement documents a statement of the Government's best estimate of the funded and unfunded pension commitments with an analysis by year and a statement of each unfunded liability of the public sector in excess of £10 million.

Mr. Portillo : We have no plans to do so at present.

Over-paid Income Tax

Mr. Viggers : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the speed with which the Inland Revenue handles repayments of overpaid income tax.

Mr. Dorrell : The Inland Revenue gives priority to claims for repayment of tax, and this means that many people receive their repayments in a very short time. However, some of the Inland Revenue's specialist offices deal with people who make their claims at around the same time of year and, while every effort is made to cope with these peaks, they slow down the speed with which repayments of tax can be made to the people concerned.

Inland Revenue (Employers' Returns)

Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons end-of-year returns to employers from the Inland Revenue included promotional material from commercial organisations ; how many employers received the material ; and what arrangements are made for those who do not wish to receive such material to refuse it.

Mr. Dorrell : No evidence has been produced which substantiates rumours and allegations about the deliberate or systematic inclusion of promotional material from commercial organisations in the annual pay-as-you -earn packs issued to employers.


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