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School Meals

Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is for each local education authority the percentage of (i) the total number of pupils and (ii) the number of pupils taking school meals who receive a free meal. [35365]

2 Jul 1996 : Column: 379

Mrs. Gillan: The latest available information is in the following table:

Day pupils taking free school meals in maintained schools in each Local Education Authority area in England January 1995

	Day pupils taking free meals as a percentage of: all day pupils	pupils taking a meal
Corporation of London	47	62
Camden	28	50
Greenwich	30	60
Hackney	45	66
Hammersmith and Fulham	35	52
Islington	39	63
Kensington and Chelsea	34	51
Lambeth	39	58
Lewisham	31	54
Southwark	39	61
Tower Hamlets	47	77
Wandsworth	30	48
Westminster	37	58
Barking and Dagenham	19	44
Barnet	14	26
Bexley	12	35
Brent	24	53
Bromley	13	30
Croydon	20	41
Ealing	23	48
Enfield	16	41
Haringey	33	57
Harrow	10	54
Havering	11	25
Hillingdon	11	37
Hounslow	19	39
Kingston upon Thames	7	37
Merton	16	43
Newham	29	65
Redbridge	14	29
Richmond upon Thames	11	30
Sutton	10	23
Waltham Forest	27	50
Birmingham	30	54
Coventry	20	63
Dudley	15	36
Sandwell	20	53
Solihull	13	26
Walsall	20	42
Wolverhampton	21	49
Knowsley	36	70
Liverpool	32	59
St. Helens	18	37
Sefton	18	43
Wirral	23	45
Bolton	17	31
Bury	14	28
Manchester	39	65
Oldham	22	39
Rochdale	24	43
Salford	28	52
Stockport	14	29
Tameside	19	37
Trafford	16	38
Wigan	16	38
Barnsley	20	40
Doncaster	21	35
Rotheram	17	45
Sheffield	20	46
Bradford	23	44
Calderdale	17	33
Kirklees	17	35
Leeds	16	39
Wakefield	15	40
Gateshead	20	46
Newcastle upon Tyne	28	52
North Tyneside	18	35
South Tyneside	27	45
Sunderland	21	48
Isles of Scilly	19	43
Avon	15	39
Bedfordshire	16	31
Berkshire	10	28
Buckinghamshire	7	40
Cambridge	12	32
Cheshire	13	29
Cleveland	24	48
Cornwall	15	34
Cumbria	12	25
Derbyshire	14	25
Devon	15	33
Dorset	8	39
Durham	18	36
East Sussex	16	39
Essex	13	33
Gloucestershire	11	35
Hampshire	12	34
Hereford and Worcester	9	34
Hertfordshire	10	23
Humberside	16	30
Isle of Wight	18	44
Kent	14	36
Lancashire	18	38
Leicestershire	13	31
Lincolnshire	7	32
Norfolk	12	33
North Yorkshire	9	19
Northamptonshire	10	43
Northumberland	13	25
Nottinghamshire	18	42
Oxfordshire	9	29
Shropshire	14	25
Somerset	10	37
Staffordshire	14	30
Suffolk	11	30
Surrey	9	18
Warwickshire	10	25
West Sussex	10	29
Wiltshire	11	30
England	17	38

2 Jul 1996 : Column: 380

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Nuclear Power Stations

Mr. Wilson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the damage to fuel pins at Hunterston B nuclear power station with particular reference to the causes, cost, anticipated period of repair and implications for each nuclear power stations. [35231]

Mr. Eggar: Currently available details are contained in the British Energy prospectus that was issued on 26 June and appear under the heading "fuel brace fretting" on page 66.

2 Jul 1996 : Column: 381

Animal Welfare

Mr. Morley: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) if he will list the animal welfare issues for which his Department has responsibility; [34290]

(2) if he will list by group, division or other work unit the number of grades of staff working within his Department on animal welfare issues. [34292]

Mr. Lang [holding answer 25 June 1996]: My Department has no direct responsibility for animal welfare issues. However, this is one of the many factors that are taken into account when Ministers and officials consider aspects of the Department's policies in the normal course of their duties.

Torture Equipment

Mr. Madden: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many licences for the export of equipment assessed by his Department as capable of being used for torture are currently under review by his Department. [35209]

Mr. Oppenheim [holding answer 1 July 1996]: The Export of Goods (Control) Order 1994 does not cover a category of goods "capable of being used for torture". There is a vast range of otherwise innocuous goods that could be so misused. The most likely categories of controlled goods to include those that might be used for torture are PL5001a and PL5001d of group 1 of part III of schedule 1 to the order. No export licence applications in respect of any such goods are currently under review.

Action Single Market

Mr. Steen: To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 30 April, Official Report, column 471, if he will list (a) the United Kingdom businesses action single market has helped, (b) the single market trade barriers he has helped them to overcome and (c) the number and location of the wider network of staff who work in British embassies overseas assessing and pursuing complaints. [35033]

Mr. Oppenheim [holding answer 1 July 1996]: Action single market has helped UK businesses overcome a wide range of problems. These include: homologation (type approval) procedures in Spain; Dutch insistence on retesting of electric fencing; Irish regulations on the labelling of canned fruit; delays in securing German type approval for road cones; Spanish regulations on sizes of cider bottles; a Belgian refusal to accept a British fire certificate for carpets; Greek rules on the fruit juice content of soft drinks; Belgian customs officials asking for inappropriate documentation; Italian failure to implement an EU directive concerned with paints; a Danish levy on imported goods; and Greek restrictions on electronic cash registers.

Company details are passed to action single market on a commercially confidential basis, and cannot be divulged unless specific permission has been given. Some companies that action single market has helped have given permission for their details to appear in recent Government publications. These include H P Bulmer Ltd. Swintex Ltd. Del Monte Foods International Ltd. and Rutland Electric Fencing Co. Ltd.

2 Jul 1996 : Column: 382

Action single market has contacts who assist in assessing and pursuing complaints, in British embassies covering all the other member states of the EU and the rest of the European Economic Area and in some of the consulates-general in those countries.

TREASURY

Inheritance Tax

Mr. Alton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individuals saved inheritance tax as a result of the conditionally exempt works of art list in (a) 1995, (b) 1980 and (c) the list's first year of existence. [34219]

Mr. Jack: The number of estates granted conditional exemption from inheritance tax or capital transfer tax in respect of works of art and chattels that can be viewed by appointment was 31 in 1995 and eight in 1982, the earliest year for which figures were available.

Private Finance Initiative (Higher Education)

Mr. Forman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he is taking in response to the conclusions of the joint Treasury and Department for Education and Employment study group examining the scope for the private finance initiative in higher education. [34354]

Mr. Jack: The higher education sector has a long and impressive history of entrepreneurial activity, with universities already having raised some £1.5 billion from commercial sources. There remains, however, considerable untapped potential for private finance initiative schemes.

The group to which my hon. Friend refers is one of two joint working groups with the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals and the Standing Committee of Principals. It was set up in February at their request by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. Treasury officials attended the groups as observers. Like every year, and like other representations on public expenditure, the groups' reports will be taken into account in the review of the Government's expenditure plans in the 1996 public expenditure survey along with other relevant considerations.

Welsh Development Agency

Mr. Wigley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the role of his Department in relation to the powers of the Welsh Development Agency in securing inward investment. [34942]

Mr. Waldegrave: The powers of the Welsh Development Agency are set out in the Welsh Development Agency Act 1975.

Guidelines to the agency in relation to its inward investment activities are issued by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales. The Treasury approves the guidelines and a copy of the current version, issued in March 1995, can be found in the Libraries of the House.

2 Jul 1996 : Column: 383

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