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Deregulation and EU Directives

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next hopes to pay an official visit to (a) Athens, (b) Madrid and (c) Lisbon to discuss deregulation measures and the enforcement of EU directives. [6843]

Mr. David Davis: Neither my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary nor I has plans to visit Athens, Madrid or Lisbon to discuss deregulation measures and the enforcement of EU directives. My colleague the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster visited Madrid for this purpose in October and intends to meet Ministers from Athens and Lisbon early in 1996.

British Nationals (Assistance)

Mr. Barry Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many United Kingdom citizens required financial assistance from Foreign Office representatives last year; and how much of the money loaned has been recovered. [6854]

Mr. Hanley: In 1994 1,041 British nationals were given financial assistance totalling £75,635. So far, 62 per cent. has been recovered.

Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group

Mr. Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans the Commonwealth ministerial action group has to take evidence in public. [7605]

Mr. Hanley [holding answer 9 January 1996]: The Commonwealth ministerial action group agreed on 20 December 1995 to receive written submissions and to review its modus operandi wherever necessary but did not decide to take evidence in public.

Mr. Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how the Commonwealth ministerial action group will be funded. [7607]

Mr. Hanley [holding answer 9 January 1996]: The Commonwealth Secretariat will provide administrative support for meetings of the group. Travel costs for members of the group will be met by their respective Governments.

Mr. Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many occasions the Commonwealth ministerial action group is expected to meet over the next two years; and where the meetings will be held. [7604]

Mr. Hanley [holding answer 9 January 1996]: The group has no set meeting schedule and agreed at its meeting in London on 20 December 1995, to meet "as and when necessary". It agreed to hold a further meeting in London in April and to send a five-member mission to

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Nigeria to pursue "dialogue with the Nigerian Government". A date for this mission has not yet been agreed.

Mr. Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the reports of the Commonwealth ministerial action group to the Heads of Government will be published. [7606]

Mr. Hanley [holding answer 9 January 1996]: The group published a "Concluding Statement" after its first meeting on 20 December 1995, a copy of which has been placed in the Libraries of the House. The group's mandate is to report to Commonwealth Heads of Government who will exercise ultimate responsibility for deciding whether the group's reports should be published.

NATIONAL HERITAGE

Public Libraries (Internet)

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many public libraries in the United Kingdom are connected to the Internet. [8072]

Mr. Sproat: According to a recent survey by the Library and Information Commission, 142 library service points in the United Kingdom, 3 per cent. of the total, have at least one Internet connection, while 0.7 per cent. of service points provide Internet access for the public.

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Queen Adelaide Coronation Crown

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage where the coronation crown of Queen Adelaide is to be kept for the nation. [8125]

Mr. Sproat: I refer to the reply I gave to the hon. Member on 18 December 1995, Official Report, column 855. The coronation crown of Queen Adelaide has not yet been presented to the nation. The manner of the presentation and to whom are matters for HRH Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei.

Sports and Arts Councils

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will detail (a) the amount allocated to each of the United Kingdom's sports and arts councils from the national lottery and the amount of that allocation each body has offered, to date, to applicants, (b) the number of recipients in each sector and (c) the number and amount of applications lodged but not yet fully processed; and what assessment she has made of the performance of the distributing bodies and their present arrangements. [6690]

Mr. Sproat: It is too early to assess the performance of the distributing bodies in managing lottery funds.

The information on awards requested by the hon. Member is as follows:

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	Amount allocated	Value of awards made	Number of awards made	Value of applications in progress	Number of applications in progress
	£ million	£ million		£ million
Sports
The Sports Council	248.5	144.5	880	504.5	994
The Scottish Sports Council	26.5	16.4	146	14.1	77
The Sports Council for Wales	14.9	9.8	111	39.9	88
The Sports Council for Northern Ireland	8.3	7.0	101	9.0	52
Sports Total	298.2	177.7	1,238	567.5	1,211
Arts
The Arts Council of England	248.5	207.8	398	469.8	575
The Scottish Arts Council	26.5	14.4	105	21.7	86
The Arts Council of Wales	14.9	9.1	126	23.1	204
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland	8.3	4.3	49	10.0	80
Arts Total	298.2	235.6	678	524.6	945
Arts and Sports Total	596.4	413.3	1,916	1,092.1	2,156

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Library Authorities

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what was the spending per head of population of each library authority in England and Wales in each of the last five years. [8012]

Mr. Sproat: Such information is contained in the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy's "Public Library Statistics", copies of which are held in the

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House Library. Actual figures for 1995-96 are expected to be published later this month, but estimates are already available for 1996-97.

Mobile Phones

Mr. William Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many mobile telephones have been supplied to her Department in each of the last eight years; and in each of those years how many different suppliers were involved. [8033]

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Mr. Sproat: The Department of National Heritage was established on 13 April 1992 and figures can be provided only from that date. The number of mobile phones provided to the Department since then is as follows:

	Number of mobile phones	Number of suppliers
1993-94	7	2
1994-95	20	3
1995-96	4	2

Director General of Oflot

Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage on which date her Department first became aware of the flights taken by the Director General of Oflot; who was the most senior person to be aware of the flights prior to 11 December; for what reasons no member of her Department notified (a) the National Audit Office and (b) the Committee of Public Accounts prior to 11 December; in what circumstances her Department became aware of the flights; and when, thereafter, the first meeting took place between the director general and departmental officials or Ministers. [8118]

Mrs. Bottomley [holding answer 9 January 1996]: The brief prepared by the Office of the National Lottery for the director general's appearance before the Committee of Public Accounts on 11 December stated that the GTech corporate jet was used on occasions when it made operational sense to do so. My Department was first aware of this when the grade 3 head of arts, sports and lottery group read this brief on 4 December 1995. Full reports on the visits and travel arrangements were on Oflot's files and thus open to inspection by the National Audit Office from November 1994. It was for the director general as accounting officer, rather than for my officials, to answer any questions raised by the Committee about these matters.

The subsequent meetings at which the subject was discussed were on 12 December at one of the director general's regular informal liaison meetings with my officials; on 15 December, when the director general submitted to my Department his draft report to me; and on 18 and 19 December, when first the permanent secretary, and then I, discussed the report with the director general.

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