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Standard Assessment Tasks
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to reduce the paperwork associated with the SATs; and if he will make a statement. [3030]
Ms Estelle Morris: We are determined to reduce the administrative load on teachers wherever possible. We have already combined the Department's separate annual consultations on assessment and reporting into a single consultation paper. And we are setting up a new Working Group to find ways of cutting bureaucratic burdens on teachers from whatever source.
Assisted Places
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the number of assisted places available in the (a) Birmingham, Yardley, (b) North Tyneside and (c) Sheffield, Brightside constituencies. [3079]
Mr. Byers: There are no schools participating in the assisted places scheme in any of the constituencies mentioned.
Class Sizes
Mr. Burns:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the average class size in each grant-maintained and LEA-controlled primary and secondary school, in the west Chelmsford constituency on 31 March, or the latest available date before that. [2252]
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Mr. Byers:
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Spelthorne (Mr. Wilshire) on 10 June 1997, Official Report, column 365 which explains the Department's present position on the publication of data for individual schools.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many classes of five, six and seven-year-olds in each local education authority had more than 30 children on 1 January 1997 based on returns from the All Schools Census; and what this figure is as a percentage of the total number of classes of five, six and seven-year-olds in each case. [3192]
Mr. Byers:
Information on classes of five, six and seven-year-olds was not collected centrally.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage and how many documents in 1996 he estimates were (a) passed on to the Public Record Office intact, (b) passed on to the Public Record Office in censored form, (c) retained by his Department in full, (d) retained by his Department in part, (e) destroyed, (f) otherwise disposed of, and (g) otherwise unaccounted for. [2511]
Dr. Howells:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given today by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department.
Schengen Agreement
Sir Richard Body: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to how many pages the full Schengen Agreement runs; and how many of these pages are not released for public perusal. [2008]
Mr. Doug Henderson: The Schengen Agreement of 1985 consists of 11 pages, which are in the public domain. The Schengen Convention of 1990 consists of 81 pages, also in the pubic domain. In addition, we understand that there are a number of technical and operational documents relating to implementation of these agreements, which are not in the public domain.
Laos
Mr. Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to discuss the issue of unexploded bombs in Laos with (a) the Laotian Government, (b) the American Government, (c) the UN and (d) other relief agencies. [2972]
Mr. Fatchett: We are in touch regularly with the United Nations, who co-ordinate international assistance towards unexploded ordinance projects with the Lao Government. We have contributed more than £600,000 through various relief agencies in the last two years. There are no immediate plans for direct discussions with the Lao or United States Governments.
Leghold Traps
Mr. Mullin:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he
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has had with the EC Commission on the use of leghold traps in the importation of wild caught fur; and if he will make a statement. [3044]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
The Commission reported to the 2 June General Affairs Council on the negotiations with Canada and Russia to conclude a Framework Agreement on Humane Trapping Standards. A decision on the Framework Agreement will be taken by the 19-20 June Environment Council.
Mr. Menzies Campbell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when Her Majesty's Government will introduce the legislation necessary for the United Kingdom's ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban treaty. [2722]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
Legislation is being drafted and we hope to introduce it as soon as possible.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what percentage and how many documents in 1996 he estimates were (a) passed on to the Public Record Office intact, (b) passed on to the Public Record Office in censored form, (c) retained by his Department in full, (d) retained by his Department in part, (e) destroyed, (f) otherwise disposed of, and (g) otherwise unaccounted for. [2517]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
In 1996 records for 1965 held by this Department were due for transfer to the Public Record Office in accordance with the Public Records Acts of 1958 and 1967. Ninety-seven per cent. of those records selected for permanent preservation amounting to some 636 feet were opened to public scrutiny. Figures on the number of documents involved are not kept owing to the disproportionate cost of keeping such statistics. 1.5 per cent. of these records were released with parts blocked out and a further 1.5 per cent. were withheld in their entirety. All withheld documents will be re-reviewed at intervals of not less than 10 years and will be released when their sensitivity is judged to have passed. The criteria for release are set out in the White Paper on Open Government of July 1993 (Cmd 2290).
This Department generally selects records for permanent preservation when they are 27 years old. In 1996 402 feet of records were selected for permanent preservation and 2,743 feet were destroyed. This destruction rate of 85 per cent. was unusually high owing to the volume of duplicated material between the files of the Colonial, Commonwealth Relations and Foreign Office in that year. No records were otherwise disposed of and all were accounted for.
Mr. Menzies Campbell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is Her Majesty's Government's policy towards the establishment of a nuclear weapons register as proposed by the German Foreign Minister in December 1993. [2716]
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Mr. Tony Lloyd:
We will examine the contribution to our goal of the global elimination of nuclear weapons which might be made by proposals such as a nuclear arms register, particularly in the context of the Strategic Defence Review.
Mr. Mullin:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what aid and other forms of assistance the Government plans to give to the Governments of (i) Jamaica, (ii) Trinidad and (iii) Belize in each of the next three years. [3045]
Clare Short:
We will continue to provide bilateral assistance in the form of Technical Co-operation to Jamaica and Belize. Priority sectors are currently poverty alleviation, primary education, public sector modernisation and forestry projects.
We have no bilateral aid programme to Trinidad and Tobago.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what percentage and how many documents in 1996 she estimates were (a) passed on to the Public Record Office intact, (b) passed on to the Public Record Office in censored form, (c) retained by his Department in full, (d) retained by his Department in part, (e) destroyed, (f) otherwise disposed of and (g) otherwise unaccounted for. [2521]
Clare Short:
No document falls due for transfer to the Public Record Office until it is 30 years old. The suitability of a document for selection for permanent preservation under the terms of the Public Records Act 1958 will be reviewed during that period. The Act does not require statistics to be kept in the form requested. To do so would incur disproportionate cost. However, in order to comply with their duties under the Act, departments are obliged to make arrangements for the safekeeping of their records, with a view to their possible selection and transfer to the Public Record Office and eventual release to the public. The general arrangements for extended closure or retention of public records are set out in Chapter 9 of the White Paper Open Government of July 1993 (CM.2290).
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