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RMR |Centre |Total Strength |Detachments --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RMR |London |19 |London-99 | | |Chatham-20 | | |Henley on Thames-30 | | |Portsmouth-42 | | | RMR |Scotland |172 |Glasgow-94 | | |Greenock-26 | | |Grangemouth-18 | | |Dundee-34 | | | RMR |Bristol |267 |Bristol-90 | | |Cardiff-32 | | |Poole-46 | | |Lympstone-46 | | |Plymouth-53 | | | RMR |Merseyside |198 |Liverpool-121 | | |Rochdale-53 | | |Birmingham-24 | | | RMR |Tyne |179 |(no detachments)
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library aerial and ground
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photographs of the bomb craters and bomb damage at Bihac caused by aircraft attack.Mr. Soames: There is no aerial or ground photographic evidence of bomb craters or bomb damage in Bihac available.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he now expects the decision on the replacement for FLAC130J.
Mr. Freeman: We hope to be in a position to make an announcement on tranche 1 of the Hercules rolling replacement programme shortly.
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the timetable for an announcement of his decision on the replacement of the Hercules C-130.
Mr. Freeman: We hope to be in a position to make an announcement shortly.
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what offers he has received from British Aerospace to offset the cost of maintaining and repairing of the existing fleet of Hercules C-130s.
Mr. Freeman: British Aerospace forwarded a proposal for the maintenance of the existing Hercules fleet on 3 November this year.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many (a) senior officers of the armed forces and (b) civil servants of assistant secretary grade or above have in each year since 1979 within two years of leaving their posts joined companies engaged in contracts with his Department; and for each year how many in each rank in both the armed forces and the civil service did so;
(2) how many (a) senior officers of the armed forces and (b) civil servants have within two years of leaving the armed forces joined companies engaged on contracts with his Department since 4 May 1979.
Mr. Freeman: My Department keeps no record of this information.
Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the times at which, during exercise Operation Seafire on 17 October off the west Wales coast a helicopter from RAF Chivenor (a) was alerted, (b) was tasked, (c) took off from Chivenor, (d) landed at Menistan, (e) took off from Menistan, (f) arrived over the casualty and (g) began lowering fire fighters.
Mr. Soames: Exercise Seafire took place on 10 October. RAF records show the times requested as:
-------------------------------------------------------------- Helicopter alerted. Helicopter tasked. Helicopter took off from RAF Chivenor. Helicopter took off from Morriston. Helicopter arrived over the Helicopter began lowering fire fighters.
The response was well within the guidelines laid down for civil search and rescue operations. The answer given to the hon. Member for Pembroke (Mr. Ainger) on 23 November, Official Report , column 148 , unfortunately contained an error; the distance from RAF Chivenor to the rendezvous point is 36 nautical miles, not 86 nautical miles.
Mr. Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for how long the military corrective training centre at Colchester has been operational; and how many (a) escapes and (b) attempted escapes have occurred at the establishment since it opened.
Mr. Soames: The military corrective training centre has been in operation since 1 January 1956. Since then there has been a recorded total of 215 escapes and 38 attempted escapes, most of which took place between 1956 and 1961. Since 1990, there have been a total of four recorded escapes and no attempts.
Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what he said about the role of THORP in United Kingdom -Japanese trade at the British-Japanese parliamentary group in London on 23 November; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Goodlad: The role of THORP in UK-Japanese trade was not mentioned in my right hon. Friend's speech to the UK-Japan parliamentary group seminar. However, in response to a question from the floor regarding the recovery of plutonium from reprocessing spent fuel from countries such as Japan, he explained that all views had been carefully considered before the decision was taken in favour of going ahead with THORP. We attach great importance to the continuance of such trade with Japan, which is commercially beneficial to both countries.
Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of his speech to the British-Japanese parliamentary group in London on 23 November.
Mr. Goodlad: No transcript of my right hon. Friend's remarks on this occasion is available.
Sir Dudley Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the United Kingdom's relationship with Slovenia; what ministerial visits have taken place there in the past 12 months; what bilateral trade initiatives and contracts the United Kingdom has with that country; and how many official Slovenian visits have been made to the United Kingdom in the past year.
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Mr. David Davis: Relations between the United Kingdom and Slovenia are very good. In the past year there have been visits to Slovenia by two British Ministers and four Slovenian Ministers have visited the UK. Prime Minister DrnovsÎek also paid a visit as a guest of Government from 7 to 9 November.
As a result of an increase in interest being shown by British companies in Slovenia, which has recently entered into our top 80 list of overseas markets, the DTI has recently appointed an export promoter to cover the country. A trade mission is also due to visit Slovenia from 5 to 9 December.
Lady Olga Maitland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy that United Nations sanctions should not be lifted until all United National resolutions against Iraq have been complied with, with particular reference to the release of missing Kuwaitis.
Mr. David Davis: The UN has repeatedly made clear to the Iraqi regime that there can be no question of relaxing sanctions until they are in full compliance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. We raise the subject of missing Kuwaitis and other third country nationals at every opportunity for example, when the Security Council last reviewed sanctions on 14 November.
Lady Olga Maitland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made in talks with the Iraquis in relation to Kuwaiti detainees and prisoners of war.
Mr. David Davis: Iraq is beginning to co-operate with the ICRC in commenting on ICRC case files on missing persons passed to Iraq over 18 months ago. It has so far offered an incomplete response on 127 of the 609 case files. The tripartite commission will meet again on 8 December to review progress and approve the establishment of a technical sub-commission to speed up the substantive review of the case files. We continue to attach great importance to this issue.
Sir Dudley Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the United Kingdom's relationship with Estonia; what ministerial visits have taken place there in the past 12 months; what bilateral trade initiatives and contracts the United Kingdom has with that country; and how many official Estonian visits have been made to the United Kingdom in the past year.
Mr. David Davis: We have good relations with Estonia based on our strong support for her independence and democratic and economic development. My right hon. Friends the Foreign Secretary and the Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. and learned Friend the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, have visited Estonia in the past 12 months. We are actively promoting trade and investment, for example through the appointment of an export promoter and support for trade-related events. There have been four visits by Estonian Ministers, including the then Prime
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Minister, to the United Kingdom in the past year, and numerous other official visits.Dr. Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the Government's policy regarding the UN Year of Tolerance 1995.
Mr. Baldry: We are content that non-governmental organisations should play an active role in the activities of the UN Year of Tolerance 1995, but it is not our policy, given heavy demands on public expenditure, to commit scarce resources to the marking of UN years dedicated to specific themes. We therefore have no plans at present to engage in specific activity to mark this UN year.
Dr. Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his counterpart in South Africa regarding membership of UNESCO; and what assessment he makes of the impact of South Africa's policy on UNESCO.
Mr. Baldry: My right hon. Friend has not had any discussions with his South African counterpart regarding membership of UNESCO. I understand, however, that the Government of South Africa have expressed the wish to rejoin the organisation but as of yet has not done so.
The South African Government's position on UNESCO has been noted. We are keeping the question of a United Kingdom return to UNESCO under close review. For the moment, however, we have taken no decision.
Dr. Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish a statement on the forthcoming business in the Council of the European Union.
Mr. David Davis: The information is as follows:
Monthly Forecast of Business for December 1994
Justice and Home Affairs and Research Councils were held on 30 November and 1 December.
The following meetings are planned:
Date |Subject --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 December |ECOFIN, Education 6 December |Social Affairs 8 December |Internal Market 8 December |Consumer Affairs 9 December |European Council Essen 10 December |European Council Essen 12 December |Agriculture 13 December |Agriculture 15 December |ECOFIN meeting not yet | confirmed 15 December |Environment 16 December |Environment 19 December |FAC, Fisheries 20 December |FAC, Fisheries 22 December |Health
The following subjects were discussed:
30 November to 1 December Justice and Home Affairs Council Agenda:
Adoption of the agenda
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Approval of the list of 'A' itemsPresidency progress report on the draft convention on the establishment of Europol
EDU/Europol staff
Presidency report to the Council on burden-sharing with regard to the admission and residence of displaced persons
Draft common measure on travel facilities for third country nationals (school pupils resident in a member state)
Draft resolution on minimum guarantees for asylum procedures Presidency progress report to the Council on the proposal for a Council regulation laying down a uniform format for visas
Draft Council resolution on the further improvement in security at external borders
Draft resolution on the admission of third country nationals to the territory of member states of the European Union for study purposes
Draft Council resolution relating to limitations on the admission of third country nationals to the territory of the member states for the purposes of pursuing activities as self-employed persons 1994 Budget--draft Council decision on a joint action concerning cooperation measures to be taken in the JHA sector
Relations with Cyprus and Malta
Implementation of the Berlin declaration of 8 September 1994 Draft interim report on combating racism and xenophobia Draft interim report on cooperation in the campaign against international organised crime
Report and draft resolution on protection of the financial interests of the Communities
Draft convention to improve extradition between the member states of the European Union
Draft convention jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgements in matrimonial matters--Brussels 11 convention
Draft convention on insolvency proceedings
Draft report to the European Council on the implementation of the December 1993 action plan in the JHA field
Other Business
1 December
Research Council
Agenda
Adoption of 10 specific research programmes
Council conclusions on future work of CREST
Commission presentation of its communication on research co-ordination
The following subjects are likely to be discussed:
5 December
Ecofin
White paper follow up
Report on implementation of broad economic guidelines and multilateral surveillance
Fraud
Financial perspectives
Macro-economic assistance to third countries
Taxation of savings
Bio-fuels
C02 tax
Adoption of agenda
Adoption of the list of `A'points
Decision establishing the community action programme Socrates Training
The quality and attractiveness of vocational education and training.
The promotion of education and training statistics in the European Union
Negotiations on EC/United States and EC/Canada agreements in the field of higher education and training
Cooperation in the field of education with the associated countries of central and eastern Europe and with the Russian Federation.
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Education aspects of a European Union overall strategy against racism and xenophobia.White paper on growth, competitiveness and employment.
6 December
Social affairs
Adoption of agenda
Adoption of the list of "A" points
Draft directive on posted workers
Draft directive on part time work and fixed term employment relations and draft resolution on social security.
Commission report on employment: preparation for the Essen European Council.
Draft decision on the Leonardo vocational training programme. White paper on European social policy--political debate. Draft resolution on women and employment.
Draft decision on the continuation of the handynet system. Application of regulation 1408/71 EEC--on social security for migrant workers--to posted workers: note from the Belgian delegation. AOB
8 December Consumer Affairs Council
Unit pricing
Commission Green Paper on access to justice and consumer guarantees.
Product labelling
Distance selling
8 December
Internal Market Council
Agenda (including possible "A" points)
Functioning of the internal market
Legislative and administrative simplification
Information procedure
Cross-border payments
Information society
Data protection directive
Legal protection of databases
Community patents
Pension funds
External trade statistics--possible "A" point
Counterfeit goods regulation--possible
Mutual assistance in customs and agricultural matters--possible European medicines evaluation agency fees regulation
Food additives directive
New foodstuffs and ingredients
Flavourings
Food labelling
Irradiated foodstuffs
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