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Animal Experimentation
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those of his Department's establishments at which animal experiments are conducted indicating how many animal experiments were conducted at each in each year since 1993. [1876]
Mr. Spellar:
This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.
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Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. John Spellar, dated 5 June 1997:
Mr. Hancock:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he plans to review the legislation relating to claims by former service personnel for compensation for asbestos-related diseases contracted before 1987. [1895]
Dr. John Reid:
I have no plans to review the legislation regarding the entitlement of Service personnel to common law compensation from my Department for injuries received before 1987.
Ms Walley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to introduce an official award for national service; and if he will make a statement. [2140]
Mr. Spellar:
National servicemen were eligible to receive the full range of campaign stars and medals available to the Armed Forces, subject to individual qualification.
Service between 1939 and 1945 was recognised by the 1939-45 Star, 1939-45 War Medal, the Defence Medal and the Campaign Stars for the various campaigns in which they served.
Similarly, servicemen called up between 1946 and 1963 were eligible for the various clasps to the General Service Medal for the operations in which they served for example, Palestine, Malaya or Cyprus, and those who served in Korea were also eligible for the campaign medal and the United Nations Service Medal Korea.
There are no plans to institute any additional awards for service during the above periods.
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Mrs. Ewing:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy that HMS Ark Royal is refitted at Rosyth. [1881]
Dr. John Reid:
I can confirm that HMS Ark Royal is included in the programme of surface ship refitting which, subject to satisfactory price and contractual agreement, has been allocated to Babcock Rosyth Defence Limited as part of the recent privatisation of Rosyth Royal Dockyard.
Mr. Matthew Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if intermediate level wastes arising from the reprocessing of nuclear fuel from overseas will be retained in the United Kingdom; [1780]
Mr. Meacher:
The Government is considering implications for radioactive waste management policy of the former Secretary of State's dismissal of the United Kingdom Nirex Ltd.'s appeal against refusal of planning permission for a Rock Characterisation Facility at Sellafield. These include the return to the country of origin of intermediate-level waste generated by reprocessing of foreign spent fuel.
The previous Government's policy of "waste substitution" required BNFL to return intermediate-level waste to its foreign reprocessing customers (rather than a much smaller volume but radiologically equivalent amount of high-level waste) should the Nirex repository not be established by the time BNFL is contractually obliged to return the waste--i.e. 25 years after they are generated. It is unlikely that a repository could become operational within that timescale.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on Nirex's plan to establish a dump on the Stanford training area, Thetford. [1954]
Mr. Meacher:
Following the dismissal of Nirex's appeal against refusal of planning permission for a Rock Characterisation Facility at Sellafield, I understand that Nirex has no plans to investigate any other sites.
Mr. Matthew Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what research capacity is available to the Environment Agency to evaluate the transmutation capacity of MOX fuel fabrication. [1784]
Mr. Meacher:
Partitioning and transmutation of long lived radionuclides is under review internationally as a means of treating radioactive waste. A senior member of
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the Environment Agency is involved in a Nuclear Energy Agency working group which is assessing the potential of such techniques. The Department of the Environment is also maintaining a watching brief on international developments in this field.
Ms Walley:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will apply in full Section V of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to basking sharks; and if he will make a statement. [2226]
Ms Angela Eagle:
Public consultations on the Joint Nature Conservation Committee's recommendation that the basking shark be afforded full protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and recommendations concerning 33 other species, took place between January and April. Responses received during the exercise are being considered.
It is premature to indicate if the basking shark will be afforded full protection until Ministers have considered all representations. Ministers hope to make a decision in the summer.
Mr. Dismore:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what funding decisions have been reached for the 12 areas offered assistance under the third phase of the rough sleepers initiative. [2187]
Ms Armstrong:
The Government's aim is to ensure that there is no necessity for people to sleep rough. I am therefore delighted to announce £17.2 million funding under the Rough Sleepers Initiative and the Rough Sleepers Revenue Fund for voluntary sector organisations and housing associations in Bath, Bournemouth, Brighton, Cambridge, Ealing, Exeter, Leicester, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, Richmond upon Thames and West London, to alleviate the difficulties faced by people sleeping rough in those areas.
Temporary and permanent accommodation, including specialist accommodation for people suffering mental ill health and drink and drugs misuse problems, will be funded in Brighton and West London. Outreach and resettlement workers will be funded in all 12 areas, and organisations in some of the 12 areas will also receive funding for additional hostel staff.
I am also particularly pleased that the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health has confirmed that the Department of Health will be contributing nearly £3 million to the initiative. As part of the expansion of the Homeless Mentally Ill Initiative beyond central London, nearly £2 million will be allocated to local authorities over the next three years to provide extra services for people sleeping rough who have mental health problems; £2.5 million will be provided in 1997-98 under the Drug and Alcohol Specific Grant to 81 projects, with £740,000 of that going to 21 new projects providing services to people sleeping rough who have alcohol and drug misuse
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problems. The co-ordination of funding between the Departments of the Environment and Health will reinforce the partnership approach which is a key to the success of strategies to help people sleeping rough.
My Department and the Housing Corporation are writing today to each of the voluntary sector organisations and housing associations who submitted a bid for funding to let them know what decisions have been reached.
My Department, in conjunction with the Department of Health, has also written today to the relevant local authorities explaining the funding allocations in detail. The Government welcomes the part played by local authorities and voluntary sector organisations in preparing strategies aimed at tackling rough sleeping and in working up the bids for funding.
I have considered a number of proposals to increase staffing in existing hostels for people sleeping rough. It is clear that more thought needs to be given to the co-ordination of provision in some areas and I have decided, therefore, to invite the local authorities in Bath, Bournemouth, Cambridge, Ealing, Exeter, Nottingham, Oxford and Richmond upon Thames to work with local hostel providers to develop further proposals to ensure that provision meets the needs of people sleeping rough in those areas. There will be a further opportunity for organisations in those areas to apply for additional hostel staff later in the year.
Earlier this year, my Department produced guidance to enable local authorities to evaluate the extent of rough sleeping in their areas and develop strategies to ensure that there is no necessity for people to sleep rough. Ian Brady, deputy Chief Executive of Centrepoint, has been seconded to the Department to promote the guidance and encourage the development of local strategies. We will consider offering funding to support local strategies in further areas where major rough sleeping problems are identified. Mr. Brady is also chairing a Rough Sleepers Forum of homelessness charities to help co-ordinate national efforts to tackle rough sleeping.
A list of the schemes being offered funding today has been placed in the House library.
In answering this question we have discovered a small statistical error in the numbers quoted for 1993 in a previous answer to you in 1995 (PQ 5852). The number quoted above is the correct figure and I can only apologise for the earlier error. For ease of reference the above number for 1993 is 79 greater than the one given earlier.
I am replying to your Question to the Secretary of State for Defence about those of his department's establishments at which animal experiments are conducted indicating how many animal experiments were conducted at each in each year since 1993 as the matter falls within my area of responsibility as Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA).
Two DERA sites currently conduct animal experiments, Porton Down and Alverstoke. In 1993 the former RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine based at Farnborough, concluded a programme of work with animals. The number of animal experiments conducted at each in each calendar year since 1993 are in the table below.
Porton Down Alverstoke IAM Total
1993 6,697 166 12 6,875
1994 7,416 238 -- 7,654
1995 8,747 167 -- 8,914
1996 11,097 124 -- 11,221
(2) what plans he has to commission research into a long-term management proposal for radioactive wastes which incorporates retrievability. [1786]
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