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BSE

Mr. Hinchcliffe: Mr. Hinchcliffe:To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 6 November, Official Report, column 581, if he will list the ages of confirmed BSE cases in (i) 1996 and (ii) 1995, in the categories, (a) under two years, (b) two to three years of cows at slaughter aged typically six to seven years, (c) three to four years, (d) four to five years, (e) five to six years, (f) six to seven years, (g) seven to eight years, (h) over eight years and (i) age unknown. [5599]

Mrs. Browning [holding reply given on 26 November 1996]: The following table details the number of confirmed BSE cases reported in Great Britain in 1995 and 1996 by age. It includes estimated ages.

Age	1995	1996(15)
Under 2	0	0
2-3	10	7
3-4	483	217
4-5	1,784	1,144
5-6	3,521	1,247
6-7	3,265	1,280
7-8	3,174	912
8 and over	1,548	1,146
Unknown	513	236
Total	14,298	6,189

(15) This data is incomplete because of the time lapse between report and confirmation.

It has not been possible to provide the data requested in the second part of (b) as it is unclear precisely what is required.

Sheep Dips

Sir Cranley Onslow: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, for Fisheries and Food if he will ensure that farmers and land owners in England and Wales are aware of the danger to the environment involved in the use of sheep dips based on synthetic pyrethroids. [6256]

Mrs. Browning: No veterinary medicine is authorised for use unless it meets stringent statutory criteria of safety, quality and efficacy. Safety includes risk to the environment. The Government are advised on this by the independent scientific veterinary products committee. Warnings on the labels for synthetic pyrethroid dips include:

"Disposal: the product is dangerous to fish. It is unlawful to permit any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter any river, stream or watercourse. Guidelines giving advice on safe disposal of pesticides and their containers are available from the Agricultural Departments."

Copies of current guidelines have been placed in the Library of the House.

Information Technology Projects

Ms Church: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 7 November, Official Report, column 660, what were the proposed annual savings for the information technology projects in the phases which fall into (a) the £1 million to £10 million and (b) more than £10 million categories undertaken since 1992; and what have been the realised annual savings. [6699]

2 Dec 1996 : Column: 525

Mr. Boswell [holding answer 28 November 1996]: The proposed and realised annual savings for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's information technology projects for the cost bands of (a) up to £1 million, and (b) greater than £1 million, are as follows:

£ million

Project costs	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96	Total
Proposed savings
Up to 10	3.23	5.07	4.80	13.36
More than 10	1.77	6.73	3.50	17.84
Total	5.0	11.8	8.3	31.2	56.3
Realised savings
Up to 10	4.10	2.90	7.90	17.60
More than 10	0.42	7.20	13.43	24.70
Total	4.5	10.1	21.3	42.3	78.2

Currently only proposed savings figures are available for 1996-97 -- "Up to £10 million" £22.02 million and "More than £10 million" £31.77 million.

Mr. Hinchcliffe: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proposals he has to restrict the availability for human consumption of dried, canned or frozen beef from cattle aged over 30 months of age and slaughtered before 29 March. [827]

Mrs. Browning [holding answer 6 November 1996]: Regulation 3 of the Fresh Meat (Beef Control) Regulations 1996 prohibits, subject to limited exceptions, the sale for human consumption of meat from cattle over 30 months old slaughtered on or after 29 March 1996. There is no restriction on the sale of meat or meat products derived from animals slaughtered before this date. The Government's independent adviser on spongiform encephalopathies, the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, did not consider this necessary. We therefore have no proposals to restrict the availability for human consumption of these products.

DEFENCE

Fishing Boats (Medical Evacuations)

Mr. Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the cost of medical evacuations from foreign-owned fishing boats off the United Kingdom in the last 12 months; and if he will list the names and the national ownership of the fishing boats involved. [6428]

Mr. Soames: Emergency medical rescue of civilians at sea is the responsibility of the Coastguard which may call on military search and rescue assets if required. During the last 12 months, our military SAR aircraft have carried out 17 medical rescues from foreign-owned fishing vessels off the United Kingdom, as follows:

Vessel	National ownership
Scarlet Bucaneer	Irish
Ocean Monarch	Irish
Lui 2	French
Hakin	Spanish
Rafael Nemina	Spanish
Mar 4	Spanish
Deo Juvianti	Dutch
Opcn	Belgian
Madre Querido	Spanish
Jesus de Belem	Spanish
Albatross	French
Not known	Danish
Not known	Danish
Jose Castro	Spanish
Manuel DaCosta	Spanish
St Carolus	Belgian
Helen Mary	German

2 Dec 1996 : Column: 526

Details of rescues carried out by the Coastguard may be obtained from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport. The cost of medical rescues is not separately identified as these operations form part of the normal duties of SAR assets. The only extra cost incurred by MOD is in supporting the Coastguard in some out-of-hours operations.

Free Cigarettes

Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what date cigarettes ceased to be issued free to the armed forces. [6591]

Mr. Soames: We have been unable to ascertain from departmental records still in existence as to whether there was ever a universal free issue of cigarettes to service personnel, but we believe that this did occur under some circumstances during the second world war, particularly for those serving overseas. To the best of our knowledge, no evidence exists to indicate that members of the Royal Navy or the RAF received free cigarettes after the end of world war 2. Records do indicate, however, that some Army personnel were issued with free cigarettes up to the late 1950s, but we believe that this practice ceased in the early 1960s. Should any additional evidence come to light on this matter, I will inform the hon. Member.

Miss Nicola Goode

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set a date for the Medical Review Board to examine the case of the injury to Miss Nicola Goode of 2 Victoria heights, Dartmouth; and if he will make a statement on the reason for the present delay. [6798]

Mr. Soames: My noble Friend has written to my hon. Friend about his constituent.

Nuclear Safeguards Project

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what (a) funding and (b) personnel his Department has contributed to the International Atomic Energy Agency's 93+2 project concerning nuclear safeguards. [6780]

Mr. Soames: My Department makes no direct financial contribution to the 93+2 programme. As part of their normal duties, officials from my department participate in the Government's routine consideration of the subject. This activity is not separately identified, and details could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

HMS Vigilant

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary for Defence at what time the Trident nuclear submarine HMS Vigilant

2 Dec 1996 : Column: 527

was (a) scheduled to arrive and (b) arrived in Faslane on 24 November; what action was taken against protesters demonstrating against HMS Vigilant's departure from Barrow docks on 22 November; and what is the projected annual operational cost of HMS Vigilant. [6788]

Mr. Soames: Under the code of access to government information, it is not our policy to give details of submarine movements on the grounds that it would harm national security or defence. My Department took no action against demonstrators at Barrow docks on 22 November: this was a matter for the local police. It is too early in the programme accurately to assess the annual operational cost of HMS Vigilant, but our expectation is that the cost of the total Trident fleet will average around £200 million per annum over the lifetime of the system.

Northern Ireland Battalions

Mr. Home Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the average shortfall in manning of resident battalions in Northern Ireland; what is the average percentage of nights out of bed for soldiers in those battalions; and what is their average weekly working time. [6998]

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

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