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Immigration (Former Yugoslavia)

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his Department's policy in respect of those who entered the United Kingdom under the 1,000 quota rule from the former Yugoslavia; and if he will allow them to regularise their status in the United Kingdom. [9852]

Mr. Mike O' Brien: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole (Mr. Cawsey) on 16 July, Official Report, columns 176-78.

Special Constables

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the Police Federation about representation of special constables following the disbandment of NASCO. [9869]

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Mr. Michael: I have not yet discussed the special constabulary with the Police Federation. I am aware that the working group on the special constabulary could not find a satisfactory answer to the question of representation and suggested that the Home Office meet the relevant bodies and representatives of the special constabulary to explore whether some form of formal representation for specials would be possible. This will be included in our work following the working group's report. I have an open mind on the issue and will seek the views of the Police Federation and other groups in due course.

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the percentage of special constables who have left the force in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [9844]

Mr. Michael: The in-post and wastage figures for special constables over the past five years are as follows:

Year ending	In-post	Resignations	Percentage
31 December 1992	19,243	3,982	20.7
31 December 1993	20,573	4,224	20.5
31 March 1995	20,026	4,474	22.3
31 March 1996	19,736	4,488	22.7
31 March 1997(1)	19,836	4,169	21.0

(1) The figures for 1996-97 are provisional.

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will assess the advantages of providing special constables with a retainer as an incentive to remain on the force. [9846]

Mr. Michael: A pilot scheme, whereby special constables could qualify for a bounty payment of £200 on completion of 125 hours in a six-month period, was conducted in Dorset between 1991 and 1993. The results were inconclusive. While the number of hours performed by the specials increased slightly, the scheme had no effect on recruitment or retention. There is therefore no evidence to confirm that a retainer would have a marked effect on the wastage rate.

Nevertheless, we will be considering the question of a bounty payment following the report of the working group on the special constabulary. The working group was against such a payment, but the Audit Commission, in its "Streetwise" report of last year, was in favour of retainers. These views will be taken into account and the police staff and local authority associations consulted before decisions are made.

Police forces are tackling the wastage rate in other ways with the support of the working group's recommendations and over £9 million of Government grant has been

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provided during the past two years to improve the training, equipment, and terms and conditions of specials. This is already having an effect as the number of specials leaving the service in 1996-97 is down by 319 on the previous year.

Police National Computer

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to update the police national computer directly from courts. [9840]

Mr. Michael: The technical options by which court results could be entered directly onto the police national computer are being investigated by the committee for the co-ordination of the criminal justice system, under the direction of the cross-departmental trials issues group. It is too early yet to arrive at any conclusions.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

Employment Advertisements

Ms Perham: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, how often since 1992 the Commission has been responsible for employment advertisements which contained age restrictions upon those who could apply. [9562]

Mr. Kirkwood: It is not the policy of the House of Commons to include age restrictions on eligibility in employment advertisements. The Establishments Office of the House, which is responsible for advising Departments on the content of employment advertisements, is not aware of any instance of age restrictions appearing in an advertisement since 1992.

Ethnic Minorities

Mr. Vaz: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many and what percentage of employees in the House of Commons are of (a) Asian origin and (b) Afro-Caribbean origin, broken down by grade. [9561]

Mr. Kirkwood : The ethnic monitoring of staff employed by the Commission has been in place since 1988. This is on a voluntary basis and not all staff choose to respond to the ethnic monitoring questionnaire. The numbers and approximate percentages, by grade, of employees of (a) Asian origin and (b) Afro-Caribbean origin are:

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Grades	Total number of Staff in Post	(a)	(a)	(b)	(b)
		Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
2-5	61	1	Approximately 2	Nil	--
6-12	362	4	1	Less than 1
12 and Below	538	6	1	13	2
Parliamentary Works Directorate Craft Grades	83	2	2	3	4
Refreshment Department Catering Grades	266	10	4	20	8

Grades have been grouped to protect confidentiality.

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Telephone Number

Mr. Gorrie: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire representing the House of Commons Commission if the Commission will consider introducing an 0345 phone number for the House. [9647]

Mr. Kirkwood: There are no plans currently to do so, since it would commit the House to bearing a large part of the costs of any call received on such a number.

ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS

Housing

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what discussions he is having with London borough councils in respect of new proposals to build houses; and if he will make a statement. [9097]

Mr Raynsford: The Government's capital receipts Initiative will make additional resources available to local authorities to help meet housing need. In some London boroughs this might entail support for the building of new houses in partnership with registered social landlords. The Government are currently consulting on its proposals and we look forward to receiving local authorities comments.

Energy Efficiency

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what support his Department has given to the development and commercialisation of the technology described in FP50 over the last 10 years. [8984]

Angela Eagle: Higher efficiency motors have been available for a number of years and my Department recommended their use. However, sales were very low because they were about 25 per cent. more expensive than an equivalent standard motor.

To overcome this cost barrier my Department supported, through the energy efficiency best practice programme, a club research project that lead to the development of a higher efficiency motor that did not carry a premium price. The project, managed by motor manufacturer Brook Hansen, cost £12 million and the Government's contribution was £4 million. More recently, further support has been provided to disseminate the results of the project via a range of publications and promotional events. We are also supporting the European Commission's work to promote the use of higher efficiency motors.

The new motors are currently saving industry around £2 million per year in reduced electricity costs. It is estimated that these savings will eventually reach about £120 million per year, when there is a much greater range of models available and other manufacturers catch up. In terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, savings of £120 million wold equate to a reduction of some 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

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Air Quality (Brent Cross)

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what are the present air quality standards in the vicinity of Brent Cross shopping centre, with reference to (a) carbon monoxide, (b) nitrogen oxide, (c) nitrogen dioxide and (d) particulate material below 10 microns; what are the pertinent European limits for (a) to (d); and if he will make a statement. [9185]

Angela Eagle: As part of its national air quality monitoring programme, my Department, in collaboration with local authorities, monitors air pollutants using automatic and non automatic methods across London. The two automatic monitoring stations closest to the Brent Cross shopping centre are (i) an urban background station in the Kingsbury area of the London boroughs of Brent and (ii) a roadside station situated next to the A41 Great North Way at Swiss Cottage, in the London borough of Camden. The results of this monitoring for carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate material below 10 microns, measured during 1996, are presented in the Table below.

Site	Carbon monoxide--max 8 hour running mean	Nitrogen oxide--98th percentile of hourly means	Nitrogen dioxide--98th percentile of hourly means	Particles (PM10) max 24 hour average
Brent	8.00 ppm	191 ppb	55 ppb	61 ug/m3
Camden	Not measured	397 ppb	57 ppb	77 ug/m3

My Department also monitors nitrogen dioxide using non-automatic methods, in collaboration with local authorities, in its national diffusion tube survey. The results from the sites nearest to the shopping centre, for 1995, are given in the table.

London Borough	Location	Site type	Annual mean (ppb)
Barnet	158 Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware	Kerbside	21
Barnet	32 Sanders Lane, Mill Hill	Background	18
Barnet	158 Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware	Intermediate	17
Barnet	42 Lytton Road, New Barnet	Background	17
Brent	Abbydale Road, Alperton, Wembley	Kerbside	29
Brent	Stanley Avenue, Wembley	Background	20
Brent	66 Lodore Gardens, Kingsbury	Background	20
Brent	349-357 High Road, Wembley	Intermediate	21
Camden	Camden Town Hall, Judd Street	Kerbside	33
Camden	Church Hall, Wakefield Street	Background	19
Camden	St. Andrew's United Reform Church, Finchley Road	Intermediate	23
Camden	9-11 Froghal Way	Background	18

European Community Directive 85/203/EEC sets a limit value for nitrogen dioxide of 104.6 ppb as a 98th percentile of hourly means. There are currently no European limits for nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide or particulate material below 10 microns.

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