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Training Prisons

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many empty places for inmates serving life sentences there were at training prisons in England and Wales on 15 April. [26305]

Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 25 April 1996:

The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking how many empty places for inmates serving life sentences there were at training prisons in England and Wales on 15 April.
There are currently 48 prisons with regime arrangements for life sentence prisoners. However, only Kingston prison, at Portsmouth, is an all-lifer prison. Lifer places in training prisons are not reserved and therefore the question of empty places for such prisoners does not arise.

Police Finance Services

Mr. Devlin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are his proposals for bringing competition to bear on police finance services. [27163]

Mr. Maclean: It is the Government's intention that compulsory competitive tendering should be introduced to police white collar support services as part of a rolling programme. Detailed consultation proposals for police finance services were issued on 27 July 1995. The Government have now considered the responses received from the police service, local authority associations and other interested bodies.

The Government have decided that police authorities will be subject to the same CCT regime for finance services as other authorities defined under the Local Government Act 1988, except for a number of specific exemptions, and a reduction in the overall competition requirement. The exemptions take account of the

25 Apr 1996 : Column: 266

specialist nature of police work, and focus on the financial advice given in support of operational aspects of crime investigation.

Racial Incidents (South Wales)

Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the statistics for the number of reported racial incidents in south Wales since 1988, indicating the annual percentage changes; and if he will make a statement about Government policy on this matter. [26368]

Mr. Maclean: Figures for the total number of racially motivated incidents recorded by South Wales police since 1988 are shown in the table.

A further report from the inter-department racial attack group is expected to be available by the summer.

Racially motivated incidents(24) recorded by South Wales police since 1988

Year	Number of incidents recorded	Percentage change
1988	103	--
1989	93	-9.3
1990(25)	308	+231
1991	385	+25
1992	311	-19.3
1993	401	+28.9
1994	501	+24.9
1995	472	-5.8

(24) A racial incident is defined by the Association of Chief Police Officers as any incident in which it appears to the reporting or investigating officer that the complaint involves an element of racial motivation, or any incident in which an allegation of racial motivation is made by any person.

(25) Changes in monitoring and recording practices of racially motivated incidents were introduced in 1990 together with a campaign of awareness raising within ethnic minority communities in South Wales.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Race Relations Legislation

Ms Mowlam: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he plans to implement race relations legislation in Northern Ireland. [25462]

Mr. Ancram: My right hon. and learned Friend expects to issue a draft legislative proposal for an Order in Council later this year.

Common Agricultural Policy

Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases of CAP fraud were reported in Northern Ireland in each year since 1993. [26220]

Mr. Ancram [holding answer 22 April 1996]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on 22 April, Official Report, columns 50-51. It is not possible to give a full breakdown of these figures in respect of Northern Ireland because market-based irregularities are compiled by the Intervention Board on a UK-wide basis. The figures for

25 Apr 1996 : Column: 267

Northern Ireland for farm-based irregularities reported are:

1993: 2
1994: 5
1995: 1

Fair Employment

Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of complaints taken up by the Fair Employment Tribunal in Northern Ireland since the implementation of the Fair Employment Act 1989 have concluded in a pre-trial settlement. [26234]

Mr. Ancram [holding answer 22 April 1996]: This information is not available as applicants to the Fair Employment Tribunal are not legally obliged to state the reasons for the withdrawal of a complaint.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest

Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many sites of special scientific interest there are in Northern Ireland. [26195]

25 Apr 1996 : Column: 268

Mr. Moss [holding answer 22 April 1996]: Responsibility or this matter has been delegated to the Environment and Heritage Service under the chief executive, Robert C. Martin. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Robert C. Martin to Mr. Eric Illsley, dated 24 April 1996:

Mr Moss has asked me to reply to your parliamentary question about the number of areas of special scientific interest (ASSI) in Northern Ireland.
There are now 92 such areas covering approximately 75,800 hectares involving 2,787 landowners/occupiers.

Copyright

Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress his Department has made towards obtaining a photocopying licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency to ensure compliance with copyright law. [26718]

Sir John Wheeler: Negotiations have not yet taken place with the Copyright Licensing Agency to determine the photocopying licence requirements of the Northern Ireland Office and Northern Ireland Departments.

25 Apr 1996 : Column: 267

25 Apr 1996 : Column: 269

WALES

Methane Gas

Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his policy guideline in respect of methane gas drilling and extraction near residential communities. [26518]

Mr. Gwilym Jones: Government policy on planning control over oil and gas operations is set out in Welsh Office circular 3/85--copies of which will be placed in the Library of the House--the annex to which makes clear that commercial and economic considerations are subject to the environmental acceptability of specific projects, as determined by the land use planning system and by other environmental controls.

Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will take action to halt methane gas extraction at Cimla in Neath; and if he will make a statement. [26520]

Mr. Jones: No.

Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received on drilling for methane gas near Resolven, Neath; and if he will make a statement. [26519]

Mr. Jones: None.

Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what environmental constraints he has placed upon Enron Oil in relation to its proposals to extract methane gas in neath.[26521]

Mr. Jones: The two appeals by Enron Oil determined in January 1996 were allowed with conditions. These conditions are intended to protect the environment and the amenity of residents. Copies of the decision letter, which sets out the conditions on which permission was given will be placed in the Library of the House. Enron Oil must also obtain a licence from the National Rivers Authority in respect of the disposal of water from its drilling operations.

Community Health Councils

Mr. Donald Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what response he has made to the Society of Chief Officers of Welsh Community Health Councils following its criticisms of the relevant consultations carried out by his Department about the transitional arrangements for community health councils consequent upon the changes in health authorities and local government. [26769]

Mr. Richards: Officials wrote to the secretary of the society of chief officers on 22 April. A copy of the reply has been placed in the Library of the House.

Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many members he will appoint to each of the Welsh community health councils; how many he appointed before 1 April; and how many he has appointed to date. [26800]

Mr. Richards: Community health councils in Wales have between 16 and 20 members. My right hon. Friend is responsible for appointing two members to each council; none of these has yet been appointed. The balance of the appointments are filled by representatives of the voluntary sector and nominees of unitary authorities. Most of these members are in place.

25 Apr 1996 : Column: 270

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