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Limestone Pavements
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his letter G/PSO/8040/96 to the hon. Member for Linlithgow, what assessment he has made of the success of the Limestone pavement action group's attempts to raise public awareness of the problem
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of vandalism against limestone pavements and the campaign to highlight the alternative rockery materials available; and if he will make a statement. [36646]
Mr. Clappison: None. The Government are content that the provisions under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to protect limestone pavements are adequate. However, the limestone pavement action group's efforts to draw the public's attention to the need to conserve this important habitat are welcome.
Residential Apartments
Mr. Parry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the companies who lease residential apartments at Birmingham Heartlands, Black Country, London Docklands, Merseyside development corporation, Trafford Park and Tyne and Wear; and if he will make a statement. [37544]
Sir Paul Beresford: Lists of the companies which lease residential apartments in these areas are not held by the respective urban development corporations.
Ordnance Survey
Mr. Deva: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to publish the Ordnance Survey strategic plan for 1996-2001. [37408]
Sir Paul Beresford: I have approved the Ordnance Survey strategic plan for 1996-2001 and have arranged for copies to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre
Mr. Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what performance targets he has set the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre executive agency for 1996-97.
Sir Paul Beresford: The agency's principal target for 1996-97 is to achieve a net operating surplus, excluding rent, of £493,000, after trading costs, and non-cash and notional costs, or of £1.03 million gross operating surplus.
The agency's other main targets are:
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Sir Robert Hicks:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to issue the written confirmation relating to the Duchy agricultural college, Stock Climsland application, SWP/2005/27/135, for European regional development funding; and if he will make a statement. [37250]
Sir Paul Beresford
[holding answer 15 July 1996]: I expect the Government office for the south west to be in a position to issue a decision very shortly.
a) to achieve total revenue of £6.297 million;
These targets reflect the agency's successful bid in the recent market test of the management of the conference centre, whose outcome was announced on Thursday 13 February 1996, Official Report, column 483.
b) to increase the proportion of events with more than 200 delegates to 26 per cent.;
c) to increase the proportion of target revenue achieved six months in advance to 50 per cent.;
d) to achieve at least four out of the following five quality of service targets:
an overall score for quality of service in client questionnaires of at least 77 per cent.;
99 per cent. of clients completing the client questionnaire to report that they would use the centre again;
the number of complaints received to be less than five per 100 events;
to achieve an average response time in dealing with complaints of less than 10 working days;
and to achieve at least one major industry award.
Administrative Grade Personnel
Mr. Spearing: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what was the number of administrative grade personnel in each Government Department employed (a) before and (b) after planned completion of the de-layering scheme. [36699]
Mr. Freeman: The number of staff in unified grades 1 to 7 fell from 17,500 on 1 April 1994 to 14,900 on 1 April 1996. Departmental senior management reviews are still being implemented.
Her Majesty's Stationery Office
Mr. French: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on progress of the sale of HMSO. [37872]
Mr. Freeman: Following the first phase of analysis of the bids for HMSO, I have invited three of the shortlisted bidders to continue in the competition. These are,
an independent consortium backed by Mercury Asset Management, 3i and Capita;
National Publishing Group, a consortium led by Electra Fleming; and
Westminster Information Systems led by NatWest Ventures.
Security Classifications
Mr. Livingstone: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what are his Department's definitions of the security classifications "secret", "confidential", "restricted" and "unclassified". [37614]
Mr. Freeman: Following the review of protective security, the classification system for identifying sensitive official information or material was replaced on 4 April 1994 by the protective marking system, as announced by
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my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 23 March 1994, Official Report, columns 259-60. The protective marking system contains four protective markings, the definitions of which are as follows:
Top secret
The compromise of this information or material would be likely: to threaten directly the internal stability of the UK or friendly countries; to lead directly to widespread loss of life; to cause exceptionally grave damage to the effectiveness or security of UK or allied forces or to the continuing effectiveness of extremely valuable security or intelligence operations; to cause exceptionally grave damage to relations with friendly Governments; to cause severe long-term damage to the UK economy.
Secret
The compromise of this information or material would be likely: to raise international tension; to damage seriously relations with friendly Governments; to threaten life directly, or seriously prejudice public order, or individual security or liberty; to cause serious damage to the operational effectiveness or security of UK or allied forces or the continuing effectiveness of highly valuable security or intelligence operations; to cause substantial material damage to national finances or economic and commercial interests.
Confidential
The compromise of this information or material would be likely: materially to damage diplomatic relations (i.e. cause formal protest or other sanction); to prejudice individual security or liberty; to cause damage to the operational effectiveness or security of UK or allied forces or the effectiveness of valuable security or intelligence operations; to work substantially against national finances or economic and commercial interests; substantially to undermine the financial viability of major organisations; to impede the investigation or facilitate the commission of serious crime; to impede seriously the development or operation of major government policies; to shut down or otherwise substantially disrupt significant national operations.
Restricted
The compromise of this information or material would be likely: to affect diplomatic relations adversely; to cause substantial distress to individuals; to make it more difficult to maintain the operational effectiveness or security of UK or allied forces; to cause financial loss or loss of earning potential to or facilitate improper gain or advantage for individuals or companies; to prejudice the investigation or facilitate the commission of crime; to breach proper undertakings to maintain the confidence of information provided by third parties; to impede the effective development or operation of government policies; to breach statutory restrictions on disclosure of information; to disadvantage Government in commercial or policy negotiations with others; to undermine the proper management of the public sector and its operations.
TRANSPORT
West Coast Main Line
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what upgrades are planned on the west coast main line. [36825]
Mr. Watts: Railtrack is currently assessing the likely costs and feasibilities for a wide variety of options for upgrading the west coast main line. These include increasing the line speed over all or part of the route and
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the introduction of new rolling stock, possibly utilising tilt technology. Advanced signalling systems are also being considered.
Once this assessment work has been completed a decision will be made on the specification for any upgrade project.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what will be the maximum speed for trains on the west coast main line by the year 2000. [36826]
Mr. Watts:
Any work undertaken to upgrade the west coast main line will not have been completed by the year 2000. The maximum line speed will therefore be 110mph, as it is now.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport by what year, on current projections, a rail journey will take (a) two hours between London and Manchester, (b) four hours between London and Glasgow and (c) one hour and forty-five minutes between London and Crewe. [36828]
Mr. Watts:
No such projections have been made by my right hon. Friend.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what instructions he has given to the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising to issue tender documents in respect of the upgrading of the west coast main line. [36824]
Mr. Watts:
The franchising director has invited and received, on 12 July, applications to pre-qualify for the InterCity west coast franchise. He will issue invitations to tender, including any relevant proposals for taking forward the upgrade of the west coast main line, in due course.
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