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Lockerbie

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 11 July, Official Report, column 626, what was the policy of the South African Government towards Libyan sanctions and Lockerbie, as set out at his meeting with President Mandela. [9018]

The Prime Minister [holding answer 17 July 1997]: I have nothing further to add to the reply that I gave my hon. Friend on 16 July, Official Report, column 388.

Official Histories

Mr. Hutton: To ask the Prime Minister what further official histories have been commissioned. [10008]

Mr. Prime Minister: I have appointed Professor Lawrence Freedman, Head of War Studies at Kings College, London as an official historian with effect from 1 July 1997 to write the official history of the Falklands Campaign.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Domestic Workers

Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many overseas domestic workers have been admitted to the United Kingdom in each year since the 1979 Immigration Rules concession came into force; and if he will make a statement. [8525]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Comprehensive information on domestic workers admitted to the United Kingdom is not available. Information is available on domestic workers granted entry clearance in 1995 by the 21 posts in the Middle East and Far East which are likely to have dealt with the vast majority of applications by domestic workers. Some 14,000 entry clearances were issued by those posts to domestic workers, the great majority to servants accompanying their employers on a visit to the United Kingdom. I regret that corresponding information for other years is not available.

Departmental Budgets

Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what new plans he has to introduce cuts and savings in his Department as a result of the effect on his Department's budgets for 1997-98 and 1998-99 of the upward revisions to the GDP deflators in the Budget on 2 July; and if he will make a statement. [8292]

Mr. Straw [holding answer 14 July 1997]: All Departments are reallocating spending within their Departmental ceilings as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review.

Mr. Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, following the recent Budget, he will give his estimate of the total real level of his Department's budget, in 1995-96 prices, in (a) 1997-98 and (b) 1998-99; if he will estimate what such figures were for (1) 1997-98 and (2) 1998-99 following the November 1996 Budget on the basis of the estimates of the GDP deflator contained in that Budget; and if he will make a statement. [8291]

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Mr. Straw [holding answer 14 July 1997]: Following the recent Budget, my Department's spending plans within the Control Total in real terms using 1995-96 prices are (a) £6,517 million in 1997-98 and (b) £6,269 million in 1998-99.

The corresponding figures following the November 1996 Budget, based on the GDP deflator contained in that Budget, were (1) £6,484 million in 1997-98 and (2) £6,385 million in 1998-99.

In comparing these figures the following points should be noted. The Home Office Annual Report 1997 (Cm 3608), published in March this year, announced a cash increase of £110 million in Home Office spending plans for 1997-98 compared with those set out in the November 1996 Budget. That increase reflected the inclusion of new provision for firearms compensation and related costs. Since then, a change in the way that certain receipts are handled has resulted in a cash decrease, incorporated in the recent Budget, of around £8 million on previous Home Office spending plans for each of the years 1997-98 and 1998-99. Because of these changes, the real terms figures shown at (a) and (b) are based on different underlying cash totals to those at (1) and (2).

Animal Experiments

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria govern the choice of the veterinary surgeon and the person responsible for day-to-day care of laboratory animals, in connection with premises registered to perform animal experiments under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. [8678]

Mr. George Howarth: The named persons responsible for day-to-day care of animals and the named veterinary surgeons are extremely important to the operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. The criteria for their selection are derived from their roles and responsibilities which are detailed in sections 2.9 to 2.15 of the "Guidance on the Operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986".

Named veterinary surgeons must also be members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. The College has published a Code of Practice for named veterinary surgeons and, in 1995, the Home Office introduced mandatory training to ensure that new named veterinary surgeons are made fully aware of their duties under the Act.

The Institute of Animal Technology has published guidance notes for named persons responsible for the day-to-day care of animals.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reports have been published by the Animal Procedures Committee since 1986; and when it plans to publish its next report. [8685]

Mr. Howarth: Section 20(5) of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 requires the Animal Procedures Committee to publish a report on its activities each year. Reports for every year between 1987 and 1995 have been published and the report for 1996 will be published in September. It will include a section on the Committee's review of the operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

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In addition to its annual reports, the Committee published a report on regulatory toxicity in 1994.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what account is taken of the therapeutic necessity of new products in the procedure for issuing licences for experiments on animals under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. [8667]

Mr. Howarth: Section 5(4) of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 requires that, when determining whether and on what terms to grant a licence, the likely adverse effects on the animals concerned must be weighed against the benefits likely to accrue. The need to find better medical and veterinary treatments constitutes one of the potential benefits which can be considered when this assessment is made.

Work would be licensed only if there was no alternative means of meeting the objective; if the programme of work is likely to be successful; and the protocols have been refined as far as is practical to minimise the number of animals used and the suffering caused.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many laboratories the Animal Procedures Committee has visited since 1986; and on what dates. [8683]

Mr. Howarth: Historical information is not available but in the last year Members representing the Committee have visited three laboratories. These visits were made on 20 November 1996, 5 March 1997 and 5 June 1997 and will be discussed in the Committee's annual reports for the relevant years.

Two more visits are planned for this year, one to an establishment designated as a breeder and supplier of laboratory animals and one to another laboratory.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many inspectors are currently employed under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. [8666]

Mr. Howarth: There are 17 inspectors and one vacancy which is expected to be filled in September. We are currently considering ways of strengthening the Inspectorate without adding to the demands on the public purse.

Information on the complement of the Inspectorate at 31 December each year is published in the "Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain".

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress the Animal Procedures Committee has made in assessing the use of animals in painful psychological and behavioural experiments. [8682]

Mr. Howarth: The Committee and its predecessor, the Advisory Committee on Animal Experiments, considered psychological and behavioural research in the 1980s. The outcome of these considerations was published in the 1989 annual report of the Animal Procedures Committee. No further consideration has been given specifically to this area since then.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what organisations the Animal Procedures Committee has consulted since 1986; and on what dates. [8684]

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Mr. Howarth: A part of its review of the operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, the Animal Procedures Committee wrote in March 1996 to all designated establishments ¹ , to a number of animal welfare groups and to other organisations with an interest in the operation of the Act. One hundred and fifty-seven responses were received.

The Committee holds bi-annual meetings with the Farm Animal Welfare Council.

Less recent information about organisations the Committee has consulted can be acquired only at disproportionate cost.

¹ Establishments certified under section 6 of the 1986 Act as places where scientific procedures may be carried out, or as breeders or suppliers of laboratory animals.

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