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Roslin Institute
Mr. Cash: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will place in the Library copies of the agreements between the Roslin Institute and other bodies since the inception of the Roslin Institute. [18967]
Mr. Ian Taylor:
The Roslin Institute enters into a very wide range of contracts and other agreements in the course of its business. All the contracts relating to commercial activities, including the exploitation of research, are classified as commercial in confidence.
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Overseas Police Officers (Scholarships)
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the countries whose police officers received scholarship awards in Britain in 1991. [19916]
Dr. Liam Fox: In 1991, the FCO diplomatic wing and the ODA did not keep centrally a record of police officers who received scholarship awards. It would involve a disproportionate cost to collate this information now for all such projects.
Namibia
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what date the human rights performance of Namibia was last graded for internal purposes by his Department. [19913]
Dr. Liam Fox: We have no formal grading system. But with Namibia, as with other countries, we take human rights performance into account when monitoring political developments.
Sudan
Mr. Corbyn: Asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the total bilateral aid contribution to multilateral aid programmes in the Sudan for each of the last five years. [19600]
Dr. Liam Fox: Since 1992, the UK has channelled £13.5 million of bilateral emergency assistance for Sudan through multilateral agencies. The breakdown of disbursements together with information on disbursements through international non-governmental organisations is as follows:
| Multilateral agencies | NGOs | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 1.6 | 8.0 | 9.6 |
| 1993 | 5.0 | 6.3 | 11.3 |
| 1994 | 3.9 | 10.2 | 14.1 |
| 1995 | 2.2 | 5.0 | 7.2 |
| 1996 | 0.8 | 5.2 | 6.0 |
| Total | 13.5 | 34.7 | 48.2 |
ENVIRONMENT
Radioactive Waste (Vitrification)
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what evaluation (a) his Department and (b) consultants to his Department have made of the assessment by the US Department of Energy's glass advisory panel of the safety of using vitrified glass to encapsulate high-activity radioactive waste; and if he will make a statement on the current operational status of vitrification plants for nuclear waste immobilisation in the United Kingdom. [19912]
Mr. Gummer:
Neither my Department nor consultants used by my Department are aware of an assessment by the US Department of Energy's glass advisory panel of
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the safety of using vitrified glass to encapsulate high-level radioactive waste. The status of vitrification plants are matters for the operators subject to meeting regulatory requirements. But I understand that the one vitrification plant in the UK is operated using two processing lines at the BNFL, Sellafield site in Cumbria. This plant was commissioned in February 1991 and has a consent to operate in full compliance with all UK regulations. BNFL is building a third operating line at Sellafield which is expected to be commissioned in the year 2000.
Sir Cranley Onslow:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to ensure that the installation of turbines by electricity generating companies does not cause damage to migratory fisheries on (a) the River Leven and (b) other rivers in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement. [19676]
Mr. Robert B. Jones:
Section 14 of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975--amended by schedule 15 the Environment Act 1995--requires the owner or occupier of any mill, defined as including any erection for the purpose of developing water power which diverts water from any watercourse frequented by salmon or migratory trout, to place and maintain, at his own cost, a screen to prevent access to the intake by those fish. Such a screen is required to be so located and constructed that, so far as reasonably practicable, those fish are not injured or damaged by it. This obligation applies only where the intake channel was constructed after 18 July 1923.
There are two abstractions on the River Leven for hydro-power generation. Both intakes were constructed before 1923 and so are not covered by the screen obligation. Neither currently has screens in place, but the Environment Agency is well aware of the issue and is seeking agreement with the abstractor for the installation of suitable screens.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those local authority delegations which met him or his Department's Ministers, and the hon. Member who accompanied each such delegation, and the subjects discussed between 1 November 1996 and 28 February 1997. [19717]
Sir Paul Beresford:
A total of 79 authorities, as listed, sent delegations to Ministers in the Department of the Environment during the consultation period on the proposed local government finance settlement for England for 1997-98. The composition of each delegation was entirely a matter for individual local authorities, which were free to invite hon. Members to accompany them as they saw fit. A range of local government finance issues was discussed at each meeting.
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1. County Councils (21 meetings)
Bedfordshire
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
Durham
Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Hereford and Worcester
Kent
Lancashire
Lincolnshire
Norfolk
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Shropshire
Somerset
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Warwickshire.
2. Shire Districts (26 meetings)
Blaby (Leicestershire)
Castle Point (Essex)
Castle Morpeth (Northumberland)
Copeland (Cumbria)
Darlington (Durham)
Derby (Derbyshire)
East Hampshire
Harlow (Essex)
Hertsmere (Hertfordshire)
Leicester (Leicestershire)
Luton (Bedfordshire)
Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire)
Northampton (Northamptonshire)
Nottingham City (Nottinghamshire)
Plymouth City (Devon)
Poole (Dorset)
Purbeck (Dorset)
Rutland (Leicestershire)
Salisbury (Wiltshire)
Stoke on Trent (Staffordshire)
Warrington (Cheshire)
Waverley (Surrey)
West Lindsey (Lincolnshire)
West Somerset
Woking (Surrey)
York City (North Yorkshire).
3. Metropolitan Districts (12 meetings)
Barnsley (South Yorkshire)
Bradford (West Yorkshire)
Birmingham (West Midlands)
Coventry (West Midlands)
Doncaster (South Yorkshire)
Manchester (Greater Manchester)
Newcastle upon Tyne
Rotherham (South Yorkshire)
Sheffield (South Yorkshire)
South Yorks districts
Stockport (Greater Manchester)
Wolverhampton (West Midlands).
4. London Boroughs (10 meetings)
Brent
Greenwich
Hammersmith and Fulham
Harrow
Havering
Hillingdon
Kingston upon Thames
Merton
Redbridge
Richmond upon Thames.
5. Unitary Authorities (7 meetings)
Bristol City
Ex Cleveland Unitaries
Isle of Wight
Middlesbrough
Redcar and Cleveland
South Gloucester
Stockton on Tees.
6. Police Authorities (1 meeting)
Greater Manchester.
7. Fire Authorities (2 meetings)
Humberside Fire
Tyne and Wear FCDA.
British Waterways
Sir Anthony Durant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what part regeneration plays in British Waterways' management and operation of the canal network. [20606]
Mr. Robert B. Jones: Waterways provide an important catalyst for urban and rural regeneration. One of British Waterways' aims is to promote and accommodate conservation and regeneration. In doing so it works with a range of partners in the private, public and voluntary sectors.
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