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Mr. Robin Squire: The net institutional expenditure per pupil in respect of LEA-maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools was £1,857 in cash terms for 1992 93 the latest year for which figures are available. This does not include the costs of school meals, home to school transport, LEA central administration and financing costs of capital expenditure.
WALES
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many representations the Welsh Office has received on the review of the hill livestock compensatory allowances in 1994; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones: I have received representations from individual farmers, industry bodies and Members of Parliament.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations the Welsh Office has made to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on the review of the hill livestock compensatory allowances; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones: The review of hill livestock compensatory allowances is conducted jointly by Ministers from all the agriculture Departments having regard to the representations made to them by the farming industry.
Sheep Quotas
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many representations he has received on the operation of the siphon in relation to inter-partnership transfer of sheep quota; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones: I have received a number of representations from the industry over the operation of the siphon in relation to transfers of quota within partnerships.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has made to the Commissioner responsible for agriculture in the European Union on the operation of the siphon in relation to inter- partnership transfer of sheep quota; what responses he has received; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones: Following representations from the United Kingdom concerning the siphon, the Commission is expected to bring forward proposals next year to allow transfers of quota between members of producer groups to be exempt from the operation of the siphon.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many representations he has received on the subject of sheep quota in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones: I have received several representations from Members of Parliament, industry bodies and individual producers covering a number of different aspects relating to sheep quota.
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Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when the claims for sheep quota from the national reserve will be determined; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones: Applicants to categories 1 and 2 of the 1993 national reserve have already been notified of the outcome of their bids. Claims for the remaining categories--3 to 7--are being processed and producers will be advised of the outcome of the applications shortly.
Cambrian Coast Railway Line
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps the Welsh Office has taken to ensure the promotion of and the future development of the Cambrian coast railway line; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones: The Government's plan for transferring the railways to the private sector is the best way of ensuring the promotion of the Cambrian coast line.
Flooding
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what European funding is available to combat the effects of severe flooding and the damage caused thereby; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones: There is no European funding directly available to combat the effects of severe flooding and the damage caused thereby. However, following certain very severe incidents such as the flooding at Towyn and Llandudno the European Community has kindly made money available for flood victims from its fund for aid to disaster victims.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement about his Department's handling of the claims made by the people of Llanrwst for compensation arising out of flood damage; when settlement is to be made; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones: The Welsh Office agreed to take over consideration of claims in June 1994 following denial of liability by the contractor, who undertook the bridge works at Llanrwst, and his insurers. Before any claims could be determined, it was necessary to establish that the works were a contributory factor in the incident. A specialist hydrologist was appointed, his preliminary report has been received and is being considered. It is the intention to conclude this matter as quickly as possible.
Llanrwst Bypass
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the present estimate of the cost of the Llanrwst bypass scheme; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones: The answer is £9 million. The preferred route for the bypass was published on 18 October 1994. The route will now be protected for planning purposes. Draft orders under the Highways Act 1980 will be published in due course.
A5
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the present estimate of the Padogbends A5 road improvement scheme; how many representations he has received on the subject in the past 18 months; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones: The estimated costs of the Pont Padog approaches improvement is shown in "Roads in
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Wales: 1994 Review" as £6 million. Thirty-three representations have been received in the last 18 months. The nature of the work that may be undertaken at Pont Padog is the subject of further consideration. My right hon. Friend expects to discuss options with the National Trust before reaching a decision.Conwy Valley Railway Line
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps the Welsh Office has taken to promote and further develop the Conwy valley railway line; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones: The Government's plan for transferring the railways to the private sector is the best way of ensuring the promotion of the Conwy valley line.
Crime
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations his Department has made to the Home Office on the crime rate in Wales in 1993 94.
Roads
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when the road improvement at Bryn Coed Ifor on the Dolgellau to Bala road is going to be commenced; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gwilym Jones: There are no road improvements planned for Bryn Coed Ifor on the A494 trunk road. The hon. Member may be referring to the proposed Drws y Nant improvement which is approximately one mile to the north east towards Bala. Work is planned to start following the completion of design and statutory procedures and subject to the availability of finance.
Welsh Development Agency
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the chairman of the Welsh Development Agency concerning (a) the number of consultancy companies and (b) the total cost of preparing the agency's corporate plan for submission to his Department; if he will make a statement on the status of the corporate plan; and if he will place a copy in the Library at the earliest possible date.
Mr. Redwood: The preparation of the corporate plan is a matter for the agency. I have, however, recently met the chairman and the board to discuss a draft.
I understand that the agency is considering the publication of a summary when the plan has been finalised.
I wish Parliament and others to be told of the action that will follow from the plan. I will be asking the agency to control its use of consultants more tightly.
Public Appointments
Mr. Ron Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his estimate of the number of people employed in bodies either funded by his Department or in bodies where appointments to the board require his approval for each year since 1974; and to how many bodies his answer refers.
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Mr. Redwood: Information giving the number of staff employed on 1 April in each public body from 1981 to 1993 is shown in the annual report "Public Bodies"--HMSO--Information for the years 1979 to 1981 is shown in the "Report on Non-Departmental Public Bodies"--1980 Cmnd 7797--, and in "Non-Departmental Public Bodies Facts and Figures" for 1980 and 1981. These publications are available in the Library of the House. Information for years prior to 1979 is not available. In my reply to the hon. Member on 3 November, Official Report, column 1330, the information relating to NDPBs for the years 1979 80 and 1980 81 was omitted in error. It is given as follows:
Welsh Office Expenditure (£
million)
NDPBs
1994-95
|Cash |Prices
-----------------------------
1979-80 |70.0 |177.3
1980-81 |97.0 |207.7
Ministerial Travel
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many overseas visits he and each of his Ministers made between 1 January and 30 June 1994; during how many of them he or each of his Ministers participated in fund-raising activities for the Conservative party; and if he will list the Ministers and the countries in which these activities took place.
Mr. Redwood: Between 1 January and 30 June 1994, Ministers in my Department made four overseas visits in their official capacity. Fund- raising activities for the Conservative party are not part of our official duties.
Open Government
Mr. Ron Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish the pricing structure applied to members of the public or organisations applying for information under the open government code of practice.
Mr. Redwood: In line with guidance on charging produced by the Office of Public Service and Science, which recognises the diversity of cost and operational structure across the range of bodies implementing the code, the Welsh Office and its agency Cadw operate the following scheme for charges under the code of practice on access to government information
No charge is made for straightforward requests, including information necessary to explain: benefits, grants, rights and entitlements; the standards and availability of services; the reasons for administrative decisions made in the applicant's case; the ways in which the citizen may exercise rights to appeal or complain about a decision; regulatory requirements affecting affairs of a business, or commercial interests; and the main points of existing departmental policies or initiatives. A charge will be levied where requests do not come within any of these categories and where the staff costs, including overheads as set out in the Treasury guide to fees and charges, to provide the information exceed £100. Up to £100 would normally cover, for example, a day's worth of an administrative officer's time.
For applications expected to cost more than £100 to process, applicants will be given a written estimate and
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their confirmation that they wish to proceed will be obtained before the work goes ahead. Applicants are informed of their rights of appeal against the imposition of charges, to the Department and Cadw in the first instance and ultimately to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.The charging policy of the Planning Inspectorate executive agency in Wales, for which I am jointly responsible with the Secretary of State for the Environment, follows the charging policy for the Department of the Environment.
The charging policy of ADAS, for which I am jointly responsible with the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, follows the charging policy for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Non-departmental Public Bodies
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to the letter of 29 October to the hon. Member for Cardiff, West (a) what was the cost of the KPMG and departmental review of compliance with statutory and other requirements of all Welsh Office executive non-departmental public bodies and (b) if he will place a copy of the review in the Library.
Mr. Redwood: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my reply in the Library of the House.
DEFENCE
LSD Experiments
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) in what year LSD experiments on members of the armed forces at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment (a) commenced and (b) concluded;
(2) from what source the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment got the LSD for use in experiments with members of the armed forces, referred to in his answer of 3 November, Official Report, column 1235 ;
(3) what contact his Department has had with the United States counterpart concerning any military utility in the use of LSD; (4) what was the highest dose of LSD administered to members of the armed forces during experiments at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, referred to in his answer of 3 November, Official Report, column 1235;
(5) what long-term physical and psychological monitoring has been used for members of the armed forces involved in LSD experiments at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, referred to in his answer of 3 November, Official Report, column 1235;
(6) how many members of the armed forces were used in the experiments involving LSD at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment at Porton Down, referred to in his answer of 3 November, Official Report, column 1235.
Mr. Soames: These are matters for the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, Porton Down, under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive, CBDE, to write to the hon. Member.
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Letter from G. Pearson to Dr. David Clark, dated 21 November 1994:Questions 13, 22, 28, 31, 34 and 40, Order Paper 16 November 1994
1. Your Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Defence about work carried out by the Ministry of Defence with LSD have been passed to me to answer as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.
2. The role of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment (CBDE) is to carry out work to ensure that the United Kingdom Armed Forces are provided with effective protective measures against the threat that chemical or biological weapons may be used against them. As part of that programme, evaluation is carried out of chemicals that may be utilised by an aggressor as a chemical warfare agent. 3. Our records indicate that work and studies involving LSD took place between 1961 and 1972 and included about 72 Service volunteers who were involved in laboratory and field trails during the period from 1962 to 1968. The maximum dose administered was no more than 200 micrograms and given orally in water. All the volunteers were informed that the purpose of the tests was to assess the effects of LSD on troops in a military setting where the behaviour of those volunteers who were given LSD could be compared with those control volunteers who had not been given LSD. Immediately after the study, all volunteers were told which treatment they had received.
4. The effects of LSD on the Service volunteers were variable and were unpredictable. Although the effects of having received LSD only lasted for about 90 minutes the Service volunteers would have returned to normal behaviour after a night's sleep. All volunteers were medically checked before leaving CBDE and found to be fully recovered. There is no evidence to link controlled administration of a single does of pure LSD with any long term effects. In addition, over the past 40 years there is no evidence that Service volunteers have had any deterioration in their health as a result of their participation as a volunteer in a study at CBDE.
5. The LSD used in the work and studies carried out at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment came from one of three sources: synthesis or partial synthesis at CBDE, purchase from a commercial supplier, as it was not a controlled drug at that time, or provision by the then US Army Chemical at Edgewood, Maryland. The results were published in the scientific literature and one of these papers shows that the LSD used in that study was purchased from a commercial supplier.
6. The results from the work and studies have been published in several articles in scientific journals:
a. Brimblecombe R. W. (1963). Effects of psychotropic drugs on open field behaviour in rats. Phychopharmacologia, 4 , 139 147. b. Bebbington A. and Brimblecombe R. W. (1969). Actions of some toxic substances (psychotomimetic) on the central nervous system. Br. Med. Bul. 25, 293 298.
c. Brimblecombe R. W. (1970). The use of animal tests to predict behavioural effects of chemicals on man. Ciba-Found-Study-Group, 35, 6 24.
d. Barrass B. C. and Coult D. B. (1972). Effects of some centrally acting drugs with ceruloplasmin. Prog. Brain. Res. 36, 97 104
e. Barrass B. C. and Coult D. B. (1972). Effects of some centrally acting drugs with ceruloplasmin. Biochem. Pharmacol. 21, 677 685.
f. Bewster K., Coult D. B. and Pinder R. M. (1972). 1-phenylpiperazines. Potential antagonists of lysergic acid diethylamide. Clim. Ther. 7, 87 91.
g. Buxton D. A. (1972). Behavioural actions of some substituted amphetamines. Prog. Brain. Res, 36, 143 158.
h. Green D. M. and Aldous F. A. B. (1972). The effects of anticholinergic drugs, chloromazine and LSD25 on evoked potentials, EEG and behaviour. Prog. Brain. Res. 36, 171 181.
i. Upshall D. G. and Wailling D. G. (1972). The determination of LSD in human plasma following oral administration. Clin. Chim Acta. 36, 67 73.
j. Barrass B. C. and Coult D. B. (1973). Phenol oxidase activity in brain tissue. Biochem. Pharmacol, 22, 2897 904.
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k. Brimbelcombe R. W. (1973). Psychotomimetic drugs; biochemistry and pharmacology. Adv. Drug. Res. 7, 165 206.l. Aldous F. A. B., Barrass B. C., Brewster K., Buxton D. A., Green D. M., Pinder R. M., Rich P., Skells M. and Tutt K. J. (1974). Structure-activity relationships in psychotomimetic phenalkylamines. J Med. Chem 17, 1100 1110.
m. Leyland C. M., Gwyther R. J. and Rylands J. M. (1979). Improved method for detecting drug effects in the open field. Psychopharmacologia. 63 , 33- 37.
7. These results formed part of the technology database held by the Establishment in the area of evaluation of the potential hazard to Service personnel from possible chemical warfare agents. This information was drawn upon during the 1960s and 1970s in the agreements with our NATO allies to exchange information and so promote collaboration and cooperation in areas such as research and development in chemical and biological defence. The agreements with the United States at that time included:
a. The Technical Cooperation Programme involving UK, US, Canada and Australia which had subsumed the earlier trilateral UK/US/Canada meetings.
b. American, British, Canadian and Australian Armies (ABCA) agreement Quadripartite Working Group (QWG) on NBC defence. c. The NATO Panel VII on chemical and biological defence. 8. As I indicated to you in my reply of 3 November 1994, ( Official Report, column 1235 1236 ) it was concluded that LSD would not present a significant battlefield hazard as it was extremely expensive and being a solid it would be difficult to disseminate further and the effects were not highly predictable.
European Army
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consideration his Department has given to the creation of a European army; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Soames: We have no plans for the creation of a European army.
United Nations Peacekeeping Operations
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consideration his Department has given to preparing a common UN peacekeeping military doctrine; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Soames: A common military doctrine would significantly assist the conduct of UN peacekeeping operations. The United Kingdom has been active in discussions on this issue. As part of our contribution to this debate the British Army are preparing a manual on peacekeeping on which we have consulted closely at the United Nations.
Bosnia
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his Department's evaluation of the military implications in Bosnia of any lifting of the UN arms embargo.
Mr. Soames: We judge that lifting the arms embargo would lead to an intensified conflict, with severe risks that UNPROFOR would be caught up in the fighting and lose its impartiality in the eyes of the warring factions. In such circumstances, UNPROFOR could no longer carry out the UN mandate and would have to withdraw.
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent meetings he has had with his United States counterpart concerning the Bosnian arms embargo; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Soames: My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Defence has regular discussions with his United States counterpart on a wide range of issues. In the course of these discussions, our opposition to lifting the arms embargo has been made clear, on the grounds that this would only serve to fuel an intensified conflict and that, in such circumstances, UNPROFOR would have to withdraw.
Gulf War
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the licence holders of each of the licensed vaccines administered to military personnel in the Gulf war 1990 91.
Mr. Soames: The licence holders of the vaccines administered to military personnel in the Gulf war 1990 91 are:
a. Wellcome medical division--licence holder for:
Tetanus
Typhoid
Poliomyelitis
Yellow Fever
Cholera
The licence holder for the above products is now Evans Medical. b. Smithkline Beecham--licence holder of Hepatitis B vaccine. c. Merieux and Smithkline Beecham--licence holders for meningococall vaccine.
d. Details relating to vaccines employed by British forces against the biological warfare threat are classified.
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many patients have been examined by his Department's appointed specialist for problems associated with Operation Granby; if these patients undergo tests to ascertain their immune status; and if there were any toxic residues in their blood or body tissues.
Mr. Soames: Forty patients have so far been examined by the military medical consultant physician appointed to investigate personnel who believe their health has been adversely affected by Operation Granby.
The special tests employed in these assessments are tailored to the particular requirements of each patient after considering the medical and occupational history, the reported symptoms and clinical signs found on examination. If considered clinically necessary, these special tests include immunological and toxicological investigations.
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the vaccines administered to military personnel in the Gulf war 1990 91.
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