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Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Mr. McMaster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidance he intends to issue to (a) departments, (b) executive agencies, (c) non-departmental public bodies and (d) outside bodies at arm's-length organisations which he has responsibility for, or an interest in, regarding the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995; and if he will make a statement. [9222]

Mrs. Angela Knight: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the Minister for Social Security and Disabled People on 16 January 1996, Official Report, column 417.

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The Departments and other bodies responsible to the Chancellor of the Exchequer will be made aware of their responsibilities under the Act.

Newarthill

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what reports the Bank of England has received from its representative in the Cayman Islands about losses suffered by local subsidiaries of the company Newarthill; what action the bank has taken in respect of these; and if he will make a statement. [7805]

Mrs. Angela Knight [holding answer 11 January 1996]: None. The Bank of England has no representative in the Cayman Islands. Neither Newarthill plc nor any of its subsidiaries is subject to Bank of England supervision.

Delegated Legislation

Mr. Hutton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of the powers to make statutory instruments exercisable by the Chancellor of the Exchequer under primary legislation enacted since 1979 are subject to (a) the negative and (b) the affirmative resolution procedure. [9588]

Mrs. Angela Knight [holding answer 16 January 1996]: No primary legislation enacted since 1979 has empowered the Chancellor of the Exchequer as such to make statutory instruments. Information concerning the procedure applicable to the power to make instruments given to HM Treasury, HM Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue by primary legislation enacted since 1979 is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Tiger Products

Mr. Tony Banks: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list all tiger products seized in 1995 by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise. [8909]

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory [holding answer 17 January 1996]: HM Customs and Excise have yet to finalise their statistics for 1995. I can say, however, that in the first three quarters of the year to 30 September 1995 the following tiger products were seized as having been imported in breach of convention on international trade in endangered species requirements:

1 bottle of tiger bone pills
1 bottle of tiger bone tincture
10 packets of tiger bone pills
10 packets of tiger bone plasters
5 bottles of tiger liniment
5 sheets of musk and tiger bone plasters.

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Iraqi Assets

Mr. Fatchett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total sum of Iraqi assets held frozen by United Kingdom banks; and what interest has accrued since the order freezing them. [9568]

Mrs. Angela Knight [holding answer 17 January 1996]: The Bank of England advises that the value of Iraqi assets frozen in the United Kingdom was $769,000,000 as at 30 September 1995. This figure includes private as well as Iraqi Government assets. No figures are available for interest which has accrued, since banks are not required to and do not report them.

OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION

Aid Budget

Miss Lestor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much and what percentage of official United Kingdom aid was spent on (a) basic needs and (b) direct poverty reduction between 1990 and the latest year for which figures are available. [9115]

Mr. Hanley: (a) The following table gives the requested breakdown of bilateral ODA programme expenditure on basic needs ¹ both including and excluding bilateral emergency aid.

	Including emergency aid		Excluding emergency aid
	£ million	Share of total bilateral aid Percentage	£ million	Share of total bilateral aid(3) Percentage
1990-91	133.9	12.8	73.8	7.5
1991-92	218.5	20.3	80.1	8.6
1992-93	230.3	20.5	87.5	8.9
1993-94	279.1	24.2	99.5	10.2
1994-95	303.3	27.1	94.4	10.4

(2) Comprises basic education, primary health care, mother/child health, family planning, nutrition, water and sanitation, and block grants to NGOs.

(3) Total bilateral aid excluding emergency aid.

Expenditure on UK aid for direct poverty reduction can be identified only for that part of ODA expenditure which is covered by the ODA policy information marker system ¹ --PIMS. The following table gives a breakdown of ODA expenditure which has a direct assistance to poor people marker on the PIMS system along with emergency aid which is counted as direct assistance to poor people although it is not PIMS marked.

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	Principal expenditure	Significant expenditure	Emergency aid	Total	Share of total PIMS marked expenditure(5)
	£ million	£ million	£ million	£ million	Percentage
1990-91	n/a	n/a	60.2	n/a	n/a
1991-92	30.3	51.1	138.5	219.9	30
1992-93	30.8	54.3	142.8	227.9	30
1993-94	51.2	39.4	179.6	270.2	33
1994-95	51.8	65.0	208.9	325.7	39

(4) Details of PIMS are available in the 1995 edition of "British Aid Statistics", a copy of which has been placed in the House of Commons Library.

(5) Including emergency aid.

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Dominica

Mr. Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much overseas aid has been granted by Her Majesty's Government to Dominica in each year since 1990; and how much will be awarded in 1996. [9321]

Mr. Hanley: I refer the hon. Member to my answer to the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Mr. Smith) on 16 January 1996, Official Report, column 507 regarding past aid disbursements to Dominica.

The aid figure for 1995-96 is not yet known. It is likely to be somewhat higher than in 1994-95 but will depend on how quickly the problem of Dominica's repayment arrears is resolved, and our capital aid programme resumed.

Aid and Trade (Biwater Group)

Mr. Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the financial years since 1986 in which assistance under the aid and trade provision has been paid in respect of projects involving the Biwater group of companies. [10171]

Mr. Hanley: I refer the hon. Member to the replies given by my hon. Friend the then Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to the hon. Member on 17 February 1994, Official Report, column 937 and the hon. Member for Monklands, West (Mr. Clarke) on 14 February 1994, Official Report, column 568. No new ATP commitments involving Biwaters have been entered into since 1988. Expenditure on previous ATP commitments ended in 1991-92.

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Mr. McMaster: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what guidance he intends to issue to (a) Departments, (b) executive agencies,

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(c) non-departmental public bodies and (d) outside bodies and arm's-length organisations which he has responsibility for, or an interest in, regarding the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995; and if he will make a statement. [9230]

Mr. Douglas Hogg: I refer to the answer given by the Minister for Social Security and Disabled People, on 15 January 1996, Official Report, column 417. I shall ensure that my Department, and any bodies for which it is responsible, will be made aware of their responsibilities under the Act.

Champagne

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many litres of champagne were imported from France in each year since 1992. [10635]

Mr. Boswell: Imports of champagne from France, as recorded in the overseas trade statistics, are as follows:

1992: 11
1993: 14
1994: 18
1995 to September: 9.
Figures given in million litres.

The 1995 figures are provisional and may be subject to amendment.

Bovine Offals

Sir Jim Spicer: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the outcome of the state veterinary service's surveillance of the handling of specified bovine offals in November and December 1995; and if he will make a statement. [10858]

Mrs. Browning: The state veterinary service, SVS, continued to make unannounced visits to slaughterhouses, hunt kennels and knackeries in November and December 1995 to monitor their handling of specified bovine offals, SBOs. The results of these visits were:

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	November 1995			December 1995
	Number visits	Number unsatisfactory visits	Percentage unsatisfactory	Number visits	Number unsatisfactory visits	Percentage unsatisfactory
Slaughterhouses	365	44	12	272	17	6
Hunt kennels and knackeries	234	38	19	193	14	7

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Many of the failings found were of a comparatively mild nature, for example problems with staining SBOs or with record keeping. There were, however, some more serious cases, including incidents in which small pieces of spinal cord were left attached to carcases after dressing in slaughterhouses. Eight such instances were detected in November and two in December, the most recent on 14 December. There have been none so far in January 1996. A total of 21 instances in which spinal cord was left attached to carcases have now been detected since the SVS surveillance programme of slaughterhouses began in the summer.

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The results of similar surveillance visits to rendering and incineration plants handling SBOs will be announced shortly.

I welcome these significant improvements in the handling of SBOs by slaughterhouses, hunt kennels and knackeries. I expect those that have attained a satisfactory level of performance to maintain the standards they are now achieving, and would expect that those plants which have failed to do so will work harder to ensure they do fully comply with the controls. The SVS will continue its unannounced surveillance visits to plants handling SBOs.

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