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Paintings (Restoration)

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Chairman of the Accommodation and Works Committee, pursuant to his answer of 31 October, Official Report, column 221, if he will list the 35 oil paintings that have been restored since July in the House, indicating the restoration cost of each painting. [4706]

Sir Raymond Powell: The paintings are those situated in the Strangers and Members Dining Rooms, the Pugin Room, the Smoking Room and the Tea Room. It is not possible to give the cost of restoring each painting separately since the work was done under a single sum contract.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Lord President of the Council, pursuant to the Government's response to recommendations 11 and 30 of the second report of the Public Service Committee, on ministerial accountability and responsibility, HC 67 Session 1996-97, if he will introduce proposals to remove the rules relating to the form and content of parliamentary questions. [3885]

Mr. Newton: The recommendations in the Public Service Committee's report, and the Government's response, relate to the answering of parliamentary questions. The recommendations and the responses do not bear on the rules of the House on whether questions are

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admissible or are in order. If the hon. Member has proposals for change in these rules, he may wish to draw them to the attention of the Procedure Committee.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

Repossessions (Northern Ireland)

Ms Mowlam: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many homes in Northern Ireland have been repossessed in each of the last 10 years. [3853]

Mr. Streeter: The number of writs and originating summonses issued in respect of mortgages by the Chancery Division of the Northern Ireland High Court for each of the last 10 years as follows:


There are no reliable figures available on the number of decrees for possession granted on foot of these.

The enforcement of judgments office, which is responsible for delivering vacant possession in Northern Ireland, has received the following number of applications to enforce an order for repossession of land for each year over the period:


The figures relating to the number of these which resulted in actual repossessions taking place are not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Legal Aid

Sir Dudley Smith: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (1) for what reasons the Legal Aid Board has refused to disclose to the hon. Member for Warwick and Leamington (a) the total amount Mr. X, whose name has been sent to him, has received in legal aid during the past five years and (b) the amount he is due to pay back for such aid which was wrongfully assigned; [4206]

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Mr. Streeter: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library.

Sir Dudley Smith: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what is the highest amount of legal aid granted to a litigant in the last five years. [4120]

Mr. Streeter: The information requested can be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, in 1995-96 the largest total payment in a criminal case amounted to £2,946,000, which was paid to lawyers representing a defendant involved in a serious fraud trial. The largest payment in a civil case in the same year was £531,246 in a personal injury case, although the net cost of this case to the fund was nil.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Marchioness Incident

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Attorney-General what representations he has received in the past 12 months from survivors of the sinking of the Marchioness, their relatives, friends and legal advisers; and if he will make a statement. [4305]

The Attorney General: Representations have mainly taken the form of questions by hon. Members in this House and in another place about the progress of the review undertaken by the Crown Prosecution Service, which earlier this year re-examined the evidence given to the inquest jury in combination with the pre-inquest evidence. The Director of Public prosecutions announced on 26 July 1996 that the evidence was insufficient to justify any further criminal proceedings.

I have received no subsequent representations.

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

Potato Industry Development Council

Sir Ralph Howell: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the result of the consultation on a proposal to establish a Potato Industry Development Council for Great Britain. [5464]

Mr. Douglas Hogg: Our industry-wide consultation revealed overwhelming support for such a body. Therefore, with my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Wales, I have decided to set up a Potato Industry Development Council for Great Britain.

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The council will be responsible for:


The council will be funded by a dual statutory levy--an area levy on growers and a tonnage contribution charged at the first point of sale and paid by those purchasing potatoes.

It is our intention that the order establishing the council, which will be made under the Industrial Organisation and Development Act 1947, will be laid before Parliament later this year.

Surplus Food Scheme

Sir Ralph Howell: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has for a surplus food scheme in 1997. [5465]

Mr. Baldry: Yes. We intend to implement a surplus food scheme in 1997. The scheme will involve UK intervention beef only. It will be supplied in the form of canned stew steak, as was the case in 1995, and will be distributed to those on income support, family credit, jobseeker's allowance, the homeless and destitute and those living in welfare hostels.

The scheme will involve up to 8,000 tonnes of beef containing no offal which will come from animals of less than 30 months of age. All this beef will have been purchased into intervention since April 1996.

I hope that charitable organisations will find the surplus beef to be a help in their efforts.

Woodlands

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what research his Department has (a) planned, (b) commissioned and (c) evaluated with regard to integrating proposals to increase deciduous woodland with the creation of woodland-based manufacturing economies; what financial commitments his Department has made in this area; and if he will make a statement; [3229]

Mr. Boswell: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 18 November, Official Report, columns 399-400, by the Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, my hon. Friend the Member for Kincardine and Deeside (Mr. Kynoch).

EDS Ltd.

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many contracts his Department, agencies and associated bodies have had with EDS for each year since 1985; what was the value of each contract; if he will indicate for each contract (a) if it was

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completed, (b) what modifications were made at the request of (i) the company and (ii) his Department and (c) if work under contract is being undertaken in-house; and if he will make a statement on the number of job reductions in his Department arising from the contracting out of work by EDS. [3802]

Mr. Boswell: Records held centrally show that neither the core Department nor any of its agencies or associated bodies have held contracts with EDS since 1985. Consequently, there are no values, completion and modification details or in-house working to be reported. No job reductions in the Department fall to be reported, therefore.

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