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Health and Safety

Mr. Ian McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the cost in each of the past five years of (a) sick pay and (b) compensation paid to employees of his Department or their families, or members of the public, as a result of (i) minor, (ii) major and (iii) fatal injuries related to the work of his Department, detailing incidents involving information technology and those involving expenditure of more than £5,000. [33474]

Mr. Soames: Information on sick pay is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Compensation payments are not categorised as minor, major or fatal. However, the table shows the total value of payments in respect of injury-related compensation in each of the financial years shown, and the number of payments made where compensation was more than £5,000, including interim payments. The table also shows total payments made for repetitive strain injury compensation due to the use of information technology equipment, together with the number of cases where such payments exceeded £5,000.

	Total payments in respect of injury compensation	Number of such payments of more than £5,000	Compensation paid--information technology	Number of such payments of more than £5,000
Year	£		£
1995-96	21,279,000	446	11,037	--
1994-95	24,288,000	522	44,250	2
1993-94	16,225,000	329	25,109	2
1992-93	15,618,o00	354	6,614	--
1991-92	9,058,000	259	2,812	--

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Deployment (Germany)

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British troops are stationed in Germany and what was the cost of this deployment in 1995. [33704]

Mr. Soames: At 31 March 1996 the personnel establishment for Army and Royal Air Force posts in Germany stood at some 29,500. At any time a number of these may be deployed on operations outside Germany, for example in former Yugoslavia. The running costs for these forces in financial year 1995-96 was some £1,340 million.

Military Aid (Colombia)

Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much military aid and assistance has been granted to Colombia in the last year. [33815]

Mr. Soames: Details of military assistance are confidential between Governments.

First World War (Pardons)

Mr. Foulkes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give further consideration to requests for pardons for soldiers convicted during the first world war for the offences of (a) cowardice, (b) desertion, (c) disobedience and (d) hitting a superior officer; if he will reassess the case for a pardon for Private Bert McCubbin of the Enniskillen Fusiliers; and if he will make a statement. [33740]

Mr. Soames: Nothing has emerged since my comments during the Committee Stage of the Armed Forces Bill to suggest that the Government's decision not to recommend pardons for those soldiers executed during the first world war was inappropriate. Consequently, there are no plans to consider the issue of pardons further.

Armed Forces (Dismissals)

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel were discharged from the British military forces for the use of illegal drugs during each of the last five years. [33710]

Mr. Soames: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn) on 13 June, Official Report, columns 252-53.

Deployment (Cyprus)

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel are based in Cyprus; and how many have their families with them. [33711]

Mr. Soames: There are currently 3,854 service personnel serving in British Forces Cyprus, of whom 2,192 are accompanied. These figures exclude British service personnel serving with the UN force in Cyprus.

Military Bases (Land Contamination)

Mr. Foulkes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the results of the surveys undertaken by the Army and Royal Air Force into the contamination of land surrounding military bases. [33879]

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Mr. Soames: My Department does not normally undertake surveys of land beyond the perimeter of sites which it occupies. If, exceptionally, such work proves to be necessary, the question of publication of the resulting documentation would be a matter for the owner of the land and, where necessary, the appropriate regulatory body.

Abbey Wood

Mr. Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his written answer of 11 March, Official Report, column 451, what has been the outcome of the dialogue between his Department and the shell and core contractors for the new MOD building at Abbey Wood, Bristol, following their claim for additional payments. [34111]

Mr. Arbuthnot: Discussions between the Department and the Abbey Wood shell and core contractor are continuing. In order to preserve the confidentiality of the discussions, I am currently not in a position to elaborate further on this issue.

Public Rights of Way

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many public rights of way cross MOD property. [34433]

Mr. Soames: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION

Sudan

26. Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about bilateral aid to the Sudan. [32633]

Mr. Hanley: More than £90 million has been provided in bilateral assistance to Sudan since April 1990, including £3.4 million since January 1996. Incidentally, our share of multilateral aid has been over £62 million since January 1990.

Montserrat

Mr. Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action Her Majesty's Government are taking to ensure (a) that the people of Montserrat are provided with assisted passage to, and refuge in the United Kingdom, and (b) that those who remain on the island have adequate access to shelter and emergency supplies; and if he will make a statement. [33617]

Mr. Hanley: Her Majesty's Government are already providing refuge to those Montserratians resident on the island as at 1 April 1996 who travel to the United Kingdom at their own expense. They can enter the UK for up to two years under relaxed immigration conditions, which allow them to take employment, enrol in schools, claim financial support for their living and housing costs, and become eligible for health care. The question of providing assisted passage to the United Kingdom for those who remain is under consideration. Since last

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August we have provided a wide range of supplies, services and shelter on the island. We are actively continuing a programme of provision and improvement.

HIV

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to what extent funding for HIV programmes will be affected by the ODA expenditure review. [33264]

Mr. Hanley: ODA's fundamental expenditure review will not affect ODA's spend on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. ODA expenditure on these has increased from £7.316 million in 1990-91 to £9.43 million in 1994-95. In 1996-97, ODA expects to spend around £10 million on preventing HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the current estimate of the number of orphaned children in countries affected by the HIV epidemic. [33263]

Mr. Hanley: Reliable figures on the present number of children orphaned worldwide as a result of HIV/AIDS are not available, but estimates from the joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS--UNAIDS--suggest that there have been 8.5 million maternal orphans under the age of 15 due to HIV/AIDS since the start of the pandemic, more than 8 million of these in sub-Saharan Africa. Other sources estimate that 15 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have lost both parents to the HIV/AIDS disease.

SCOTLAND

Goods and Services

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department paid to the private sector for goods and services in 1995-96. [29451]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The Scottish Office spent £152 million in 1995-96 on goods and services from external suppliers, including a number of public sector bodies such as HMSO.

Health Boards

Mr. George Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what has been the spending on pay and administrative costs for each health board in Scotland in each year since 1991-92. [33246]

Mr. Michael Forsyth: The information is set out in the table. The figures have been calculated using audited annual accounts of health boards. The figures for 1995-96 are currently not available.

Pay and administrative costs£000

Health boards	1991-92	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95
Argyll and Clyde	130,319	141,432	114,907	53,434
Ayrshire and Arran	102,042	84,441	6,413	5,815
Borders	30,901	34,130	37,348	40,194
Dumfries and Galloway	49,564	54,847	52,491	33,851
Fife	94,579	101,986	110,575	9,068
Forth Valley	90,280	98,962	64,110	25,908
Grampian	167,220	117,390	14,587	12,482
Greater Glasgow	424,383	456,135	330,505	53,625
Highland	74,503	80,911	40,108	6,939
Lanarkshire	146,091	155,864	154,993	68,820
Lothian	273,619	300,841	244,028	34,722
Orkney	5,870	6,610	7,436	8,420
Shetland	7,271	6,877	7,533	8,224
Tayside	169,442	178,331	118,151	12,952
Western Isles	10,271	11,848	13,109	13,413
Scottish Totals	1,776,356	1,830,603	1,316,294	387,866

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