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Written Answers to Questions

Friday 6 December 1996

HOME DEPARTMENT

Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989

Sir Michael Shersby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements he has made for this year's review of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989; and how observations from interested persons or organisations should be submitted for consideration. [8294]

Mr. Howard: I am pleased to say that Mr. John Rowe QC has accepted my invitation to carry out the annual review of the Act for a further two years.

Written observations on the operation of the Act should be submitted to Mr. Rowe, c/o room 647, Home Office, 50 Queen Anne's gate, London SW1H 9AT, by 15 January 1997.

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

Christmas Expenditure

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much his Department will spend on Christmas trees and decorations this year; how many Christmas trees will be bought for his Department's headquarters; and what are the type and country of origin of the trees. [7561]

Mr. Boswell: Such information is disaggregated and is not readily available. No Christmas trees will be bought with public funds for the Department's headquarters.

Set-aside Scheme

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what new plans he has in respect of using set-aside land to improve the environment. [7995]

Mr. Baldry: I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my hon. Friend the Minister for Rural Affairs gave him on 18 July, Official Report, column 1295. These changes have been welcomed by conservation organisations.

Potatoes

Mr. William Ross: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the legislation for Great Britain which corresponds to the statutory rules of Northern Ireland 1996, No. 524, relating to potatoes originating in the Netherlands. [7921]

Mr. Boswell: The corresponding legislation is the Potatoes Originating in the Netherlands Regulations 1996, statutory instrument 1996 No. 2563. A copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

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ENVIRONMENT

Tradeable Permits

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has for tradeable permits for (a) sulphur dioxide discharges and (b) water discharges for industry. [7230]

Mr. Clappison: A possible role for tradeable permits in relation to sulphur dioxide emissions was discussed in the consultation paper on a national strategy for meeting the UK's commitments under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe second sulphur protocol. The outcome of that consultation will be announced later this year.

The Government will also shortly be publishing a discussion paper on the scope for economic instruments to be used in respect of water pollution, including the potential to introduce tradeable permits for discharges from industry.

Private Sector Housing (Single Rooms)

Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the availability of single, non-self-contained rooms in the private sector. [7241]

Mr. Clappison: The rental market is flexible, as evidenced by the recent growth in student accommodation. We believe that it will respond to changes in demand arising from the new housing benefit rules that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security intends to introduce from October 1997 for single people under 60. To encourage people who have spare rooms in their house to let them out, my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in the Budget an increase in the current rent-a-room threshold of £3,250. From April 1997, rental income of up to £4,250 will be exempt from tax.

Dr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has made of (a) the number of single under-60s living in private deregulated accommodation and (b) the proportion of that accommodation which consists of single, non-self-contained rooms. [7242]

Mr. Clappison: An estimated 430,000 people aged under 60 formed one-person households in the deregulated private rented sector in England in 1995-96, and of these 70,000 were in single non-self-contained rooms. A further 670,000 single people were in house-shares or flat-shares in the deregulated sector. The number of these who had single non-self-contained rooms is not known, although it is likely to be the large majority.

These estimates are from the 1995-96 survey of housing in England and, like all estimates from sample surveys, are subject to sampling variability. The deregulated sector has been taken as all private lettings other than regulated lettings and those not accessible to the public. Single people have been taken as those not living as one of a couple or as a lone parent with a dependent child.

Bathing Water

Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to include statistics on UK

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compliance with EU bathing water directive standards, in addition to those for coliforms, in the next edition of "The Environment in Your Pocket" yearbook. [7448]

Mr. Clappison: The content of the 1997 edition of "The Environment in your Pocket" has yet to be decided. However, it is likely that it will again include one or two items on bathing waters, as in the 1996 edition, but there is a limit to what can be included in a booklet of this size.

The information given in "The Environment in your Pocket" is a distillation of some of the key statistics published in detail in the annual "Digest of Environmental Statistics". Full, detailed statistics on performance of all bathing waters against bathing water directive standards for all parameters for which a mandatory standard is set will continue to be published in "Digest No. 19" in 1997 and on the Internet World Wide Web site--address: http://www.open.gov.uk/doe/epsim.

Seals

Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what direct support in (a) cash and (b) other forms his Department has offered to organisations actively engaged in caring for ill and injured seals in the United Kingdom. [7390]

Mr. Clappison [holding answer 3 December 1996]: From a search of available information, my Department has not directly offered any cash support to organisations actively involved in caring for ill and injured seals in the United Kingdom. However, in conjunction with the Welsh Office, my Department is providing significant funding for investigations of marine mammal strandings, including seals, in England and Wales in order to monitor causes of disease and death and changes in their patterns of incidence.

Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many post mortems carried out on seals from west Wales have established the presence of the herpes virus in the last two months. [7392]

Mr. Clappison [holding answer 3 December 1996]: Five post mortems were conducted on grey seals washed up on the west Wales coast in the last two months under the Government-funded marine mammals strandings project. None of the carcases had lesions consistent with seal herpes virus infection. Post mortem examination of a larger number of carcases was not possible due in some cases to the decomposed state of the stranded animals and others being washed back to sea before collection was possible.

Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what requests his Department has received for help from organisations actively involved in caring for ill or injured seals in the last 10 years. [7394]

Mr. Clappison [holding answer 3 December 1996]: From a search of available information, my Department appears not to have received any requests for help from organisations actively involved in caring for ill and injured seals in the last 10 years.

Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many post mortems have been carried

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out on dead seals on his Department's behalf by the Zoological Society of London and by Liverpool university in each of the last five years. [7391]

Mr. Clappison [holding answer 3 December 1996]: The table records the numbers of post mortem examinations of stranded seals which the Zoological Society of London has carried out under contract to my Department during the last five years.

	England		Wales
Year	Phoca vitulina (Common seal)	Halichoerus grypus (Grey seal)	Phoca vitulina (Common seal)	Halichoerus grypus (Grey seal)
1991	0	10	1	8
1992	0	5	0	26
1993	4	15	0	15
1994	1	4	0	20
1995	1	3	0	5
1996	0	1	0	5
Total	6	38	1	79

Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to provide information gained from post mortem reports on dead seals to those individuals and organisations actively engaged in caring for seals; and if he will make a statement. [7393]

Mr. Clappison [holding answer 3 December 1996]: Results of post mortem investigations carried out as part of the Government-funded marine mammals strandings project are periodically published in scientific journals. Data are also available via published annual and five-yearly reports.

Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what (a) discussions and (b) exchanges of information have taken place between his Department and the seal rehabilitation and research centre, Pieterburen, the Netherlands, and Professor Osterhaus of Erasmus university, Rotterdam, about the discovery of a herpes virus in dead Atlantic grey seal pups washed ashore in south-west Wales in recent weeks. [7395]

Mr. Clappison [holding answer 3 December 1996]: No discussions or exchanges of information have taken place between my Department and the seal rehabilitation and research centre, Pieterburen, or Professor Osterhaus or Erasmus university, Rotterdam. However, under the marine mammals strandings project, results of post mortem investigations are made available via published articles and reports. The information contributes to an international pool of knowledge on the autecology of marine mammal species.

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