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Gulf War (Pesticides)

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if the organophosphate pesticide Denenton-S-Methyl was used by his Department's medical personnel in Operation Granby in the Gulf war; [41293]

(2) pursuant to the letter from the Minister of State for the Armed Forces to the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent, on 4 October, if he will now correct his answer of 11 July 1994, Official Report, column 436, on the use of pesticides during the Gulf war. [41294]

Mr. Soames: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Euratom Treaty

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what activities of his Department come within the scope of the Euratom treaty. [41297]

Mr. Soames: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

War Graves (France)

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement concerning the desecration of war graves in northern France. [41256]

Mr. Soames: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

RAF Sealand

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects a decision on the market testing bids at RAF Sealand; and if he will make a statement.[41257]

Mr. Arbuthnot: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Dominie Aircraft Contracts

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what prospects there are for the Raytheon Hawker jet work force at Broughton, Flintshire, obtaining contracts to service the MOD's Dominie aircraft; and if he will make a statement. [41258]

Mr. Arbuthnot: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

A319 Tanker Airbus

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans his Department has to purchase British Aerospace's planned A319 tanker airbus; and if he will make a statement. [41259]

Mr. Arbuthnot: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

17 Oct 1996 : Column: 1095

Service Bares

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what is the present number of British naval bases in England and Wales; and if he will list them; [39224]

(2) what is the present number of British Army bases in England and Wales; and if he will list; [39226]

(3) what is the present number of Royal Air Force bases in England and Wales; and if he will list them. [39223]

Mr. Soames: I shall write to my hon. Friend and a copy of the reply will be placed in the Library of the House.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Consultants

Mr. Milburn: To ask the Attorney-General what are his latest estimates of the expenditure on all external consultants, including management consultants, for each year since 1992, in 1996 prices, for his Department and its agencies; and what are the quantified annual cost savings which such expenditure has resulted in. [41176]

The Attorney-General: The latest estimates of expenditure on external consultants for the departments and agencies for which I am responsible are set out in the table in 1996 prices. The legal secretariat to the Law Officers has not incurred any such expenditure. External consultants were engaged primarily to advise on matters of management or to develop new systems and, while their advice is considered to have contributed very significantly to efficiency, it is not possible to quantify the annual cost savings attributable to this expenditure.

£ thousand

Department	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96
Crown Prosecution Service	713	722	719	696
Serious Fraud Office	123	159	373	278
Treasury Solicitor's Department	367	456	131	148
Government Property Lawyers Agency	-	7	21	17

TRANSPORT

Driving Tests

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list, by Driving Standards Agency regional office, the number of application forms currently awaiting a booking date, the time it currently takes to answer a telephone call and the current average waiting time for a driving test application to be processed. [40688]

Mr. Bowis: At 30 September the numbers of driving test application forms awaiting processing in each of the Driving Standards Agency Area Offices were:

Area office	Number
London and South East	1,689
Midlands and Eastern	1,640
Wales and Western	1,504
Northern	1,420
Scotland	201
National	6,454

17 Oct 1996 : Column: 1096

The agency's target for telephone answering has been for 90 per cent. of calls to be answered within 60 seconds. The results for the week ending 27 September were:

Area office	Number of calls answered	In 60 seconds (per cent.)
London and South East	22,097	70
Midlands and Eastern	14,774	31
Wales and Western	12,894	88
Northern	17,722	96
Scotland	5,591	92
Total	73,078	75

The average number of days between receipt of valid application and issue of appointment cards at the start of October is estimated to be:

Area office	Average number of days
London and South east	5
Midland and Eastern	4
Wales and Western	5
Northern	3
Scotland	3
Average	4

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the average waiting times for driving tests for each of the past 18 months. [40693]

Mr. Bowis: The average waiting times for driving tests between March 1995 and August 1996 are shown in the table.

Weeks

	Cars	Motorcycles	Lorry/bus
1995
March	6.4	4.3	3.3
April	6.7	4.7	3.0
May	7.3	5.8	3.0
June	7.5	5.8	2.9
July	7.6	6.1	3.0
August	8.0	6.6	3.0
September	7.7	5.9	3.2
October	7.6	5.3	3.3
November	8.0	5.1	3.6
December	7.7	4.0	2.8
1996
January	8.2	4.2	3.6
February	9.2	6.3	4.0
March	10.5	12	8.2
April	12.4	13.6	7.7
May	13.0	14.6	7.6
June	11.7	14.5	7.1
July	10.4	14.5	6.6
August	9.9	14.4	6.3

17 Oct 1996 : Column: 1097

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if candidates undertaking driving tests are required to provide a signed driving licence before undertaking their test. [40703]

Mr. Bowis: Driving test candidates are required to present their signed driving licence at the start of a driving test as evidence of identity and driver status, though examiners have the discretion to allow the test to proceed if otherwise satisfied that the licence exists.

Mr. Corbett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the numbers of people (a) passing and (b) failing driving tests at driving test centres by location from 1 July to the latest convenient date; and what percentage change these figures represent over those for (i) 12 and (ii) 24 months previously. [40443]

Mr. Bowis: I will write to the hon. Member.

Oxygenated Fuel

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the potential environmental benefits of oxygenated fuel; and if he will make a statement. [40717]

Mr. Bowis: An assessment by the Department of Transport has shown that increasing the quantity of oxygenates in petrol can result in reduced emissions, primarily carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons, through more complete combustion of the fuel in the engine. The assessment also showed that the addition of oxygen to petrol as an alternative octane booster allows for a reduction in benzene in the fuel, but at the expense of increased aldehyde emissions.

City Diesel

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the potential environmental benefits of the use of city diesel; and if he will make a statement. [40719]

Mr. Bowis: The Government are currently considering the role that cleaner fuels, including ultra low-sulphur diesels such as "city diesel", might play in minimising road transport emissions. To that end "city diesel" is included in the continuing comparative trials of cleaner or alternative fuels which the Government are sponsoring. The trials will provide an indication of both the emissions reduction potential of such fuels and of their practicality and cost-effectiveness in comparison with conventional fuels.

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received about the potential environmental benefits of city diesel. [40718]

Mr. Bowis: Representations about the potential environmental benefits of city diesel and of a number of other alternative or cleaner fuels have been received from a number of bodies including fuel producers and retailers, operators, local authorities and environmental groups.

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