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Water Pollution (Nitrates)

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will place in the Library a copy of the fiche d'impact prepared in connection with Council

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directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources. [18636]

Mr. Clappison: A copy of the explanatory memorandum was placed in the House of Commons Library at the time of the publication of the proposals for a directive. This did not contain a fiche d'impact.

Local Agenda 21

Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the annual spending by his Department on Local Agenda 21 work; how much is distributed to local authorities; what allowance is made in standard spending assessments for Local Agenda 21 to each local authority; and if he will make a statement. [19067]

Mr. Clappison: In 1995-96, my Department is contributing up to £12,000 for local authorities to set up round table discussions with different groups interested in Local Agenda 21. It is also giving £20,554 to the local authority associations for the provision of guidance to local authorities on auditing sustainable development, and £25,000 for the development and promotion of the

5 Mar 1996 : Column: 105

eco-management and audit scheme for local government. Many of the projects funded by the Department's environmental action fund, which totals £4 million in 1995-96, also support Local Agenda 21. Standard spending assessments take account of the wide range of local authorities' spending, including Local Agenda 21 work, but do not include a specific element for such expenditure.

Local Government Reorganisation

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the Local Government Commission's future programme of work; and if he will make a statement. [19550]

Mr. Curry: The Local Government Commission has today announced a programme for the next three years of periodic electoral reviews of district and county councils. We want the commission to give priority to those reviews which it has an independent duty to carry out, but we will direct it to carry out a small number of other reviews--of Southport in Merseyside and of the parish arrangements in four local authority areas: Milton Keynes, Hampshire, Surrey and the new unitary authority of the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Depending on our decisions on the recommendations for unitary authorities, which the commission made in its report of December 1995, we may also direct it to carry out electoral reviews of those areas in time for elections in May 1997.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

Scott Inquiry

Mr. Allen: To ask the Lord President of the Council what consultations he had with the Secretary to the Cabinet concerning the Government's response to the Scott inquiry; and where and when such consultations took place. [16600]

Mr. Newton [holding answer 22 February 1996:]: Successive Governments have not disclosed the nature of the specific sources of the advice they receive from the civil service.

Parliamentary Televising Operator

Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Lord President of the Council what progress has been made towards the selection of an independent parliamentary televising operator for the five-year period from 1 August. [19078]

Mr. Newton: The Broadcasting Committees of both Houses have accepted the recommendation of a tender board, following a public tender process, that CCT Productions Ltd., the current operator, should be awarded the parliamentary televising contract for a further five-year period from 1 August 1996. The contract is formally between CCT Productions Ltd. and Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit Ltd.--PARBUL--and is subject to the successful negotiation of detailed terms by the parties. A copy of the tender submitted by CCT Productions Ltd. will be placed in the Library shortly, after the removal of any commercially sensitive information. The two Select Committees have also agreed

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the terms of new copyright licences required by PARBUL under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to cover the same five-year period as the operating contract with CCT Productions Ltd. The decision of the House of Commons Broadcasting Committee is in the form of a recommendation to Madam Speaker who, under the terms of the Act, exercises the House's function as owner of the copyright in its televised proceedings.

New Parliamentary Building

Mr. Spellar: To ask the Chairman of the Accommodation and Works Committee when he plans to make an announcement about the award of the cladding contract for the new parliamentary building. [17810]

Mr. Ray Powell: In accordance with the House's policy that the receipt of a contract may not be treated as a commercial endorsement of the successful company and that the contract should not be used in any promotional material, it is not the practice to make an announcement when contracts are awarded.

The placing of the fenestration contract for the new building is very much dependent on current negotiations, particularly on the willingness of the companies to accept the conditions of the contract. It is not possible therefore to forecast when this might be achieved.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Murders

Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many terrorist-related murders in Northern Ireland since 1969 have yet to result in prosecution. [17100]

Sir John Wheeler: Unfortunately, in the time available, it is not possible to answer this question. I shall write to the right hon. Gentleman as soon as the information is available and place a copy in the Library of the House.

Childless Couples

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which health boards provide NHS treatment for (a) assisted; and (b) surrogate pregnancy to childless couples; and if he will make a statement. [17967]

Mr. Moss: Health service treatment for assisted pregnancy is available to the residents of all health and social boards in Northern Ireland. Surrogate pregnancy, on the other hand, is not a matter for which boards have--or have sought--any provision.

Road Safety

Mr. Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland for what reasons he has not included in the Northern Ireland road safety plan the Local Authority Association's recommendation contained in its road safety code of practice, of a ratio of one road safety education officer per 50,000 of population; and how many road safety education officers there would be in Northern Ireland if this ratio were adopted. [18228]

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Mr. Moss: Northern Ireland's road safety education officer service is a part of an integrated effort involving education, engineering and enforcement. Resources devoted to this effort are being increased considerably year-on-year.

Road safety instruction in schools in Northern Ireland is carried out by schools' own teaching staff, with the advice and guidance of road safety education officers, rather than directly by road safety education officers--as has been the practice throughout most of Great Britain. This substantially increases the effective output of road safety education in Northern Ireland. In view of the different arrangements for the delivery of road safety education, it was decided that this recommendation from the code of good practice was not appropriate.

Were the ratio advocated in the code to be adopted, 31 road safety education officers would be required.

Mr. Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the reasons for the reduction in the complement of road safety education officers from 1 April. [18227]

Mr. Moss: Funding for the road safety education officers service has been critically examined in the light of competing demands for resources throughout the

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Department of the Environment. As a result, the number of road safety education officers is to be reduced from 13 to 11 with effect from 1 April 1996.

While resources allocated to the road safety education officer service have been reduced, the service will continue to make a real and significant contribution to our drive to reduce the toll of deaths and injuries on our roads. The reductions should be seen against considerable increases in other areas of the Department's road safety effort such as engineering and enforcement.

Employment (Irish Nationals)

Mr. William Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the number of people born in the Irish Republic who presently live, in and work, in Northern Ireland, broken down by gender, how many of each sex are employed in each sector of the economy; and how many are employed in each council area. [18223]

Sir John Wheeler: The 1991 census of population contains the most recent information on the breakdown of the resident population of Northern Ireland by country of birth, sector of the economy and place of employment. The information requested is as follows:

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Population aged 16 years and over, born in the Republic of Ireland, in employment in Northern Ireland, by sex, by sector of the economy.

	Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing		Production		Construction		Services		Total
Place of employment	Males	Females	Males	Females	Males	Females	Males	Females	Males	Females
Antrim	15	2	15	15	3	2	82	110	115	129
Ards	21	1	17	17	4	2	62	120	104	140
Armagh	25	1	18	16	9	3	142	193	194	213
Ballymena	9	--	18	12	6	2	62	84	95	98
Ballymoney	1	1	2	2	3	--	17	26	23	29
Banbridge	2	3	10	2	2	2	27	36	41	43
Belfast	--	1	99	42	29	7	863	1,180	991	1,230
Carrickfergus	--	1	9	3	1	1	19	44	29	49
Castlereagh	2	1	25	7	2	3	73	177	102	188
Coleraine	8	2	7	14	2	1	100	120	117	137
Cookstown	3	2	7	4	2	--	26	26	38	32
Craigavon	5	1	67	43	4	2	134	198	210	244
Derry	17	5	141	87	37	4	367	624	562	720
Down	5	3	12	7	3	1	90	126	110	137
Dungannon	21	3	30	14	6	1	76	121	133	139
Fermanagh	111	13	66	54	9	1	240	357	426	425
Larne	--	1	14	2	--	--	22	35	36	38
Limavady	5	1	7	5	1	--	33	47	46	53
Lisburn	13	1	22	10	10	5	124	161	169	177
Magherafelt	2	2	5	9	5	--	28	34	40	45
Moyle	3	2	2	4	1	--	10	24	16	30
Newry and Mourne	26	7	43	29	19	2	192	349	280	387
Newtownabbey	1	1	27	9	4	3	84	113	116	126
North Down	2	--	17	7	6	2	85	158	110	167
Omagh	38	7	15	12	9	--	109	191	171	210
Strabane	32	5	37	49	12	--	110	105	191	159

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