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Fish Stocks

Mr. Jim Murphy: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list by port of registration the number of pressure stock licensed to be sold outside the United Kingdom. [10180]

Mr. Morley: Under the UK's restrictive licensing arrangements for fishing vessels, no new licences are issued. Licences may be transferred from one UK registered fishing vessel to another at the discretion of Ministers. We have no information readily available about the number of such transfers which may take place in the future. However, we estimate that currently there are some 160 UK-registered and licensed fishing vessels which have significant foreign interests in their ownership.

Cod Quotas

Sir Richard Body: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much cohesion cod is allotted annually to each European Union state; what criteria determine such allocations; and if he will make a statement. [10211]

Mr. Morley: This quota to fish cod in Norwegian waters north of 62°N, granted to the European Union by Norway as part of the European Economic Area agreement, is allocated to the four cohesion countries on the basis of fixed allocation keys. The shares, and quantities received in 1997 are as follows:

	Per cent.	Tonnes
Greece	5	550
Ireland	5	550
Portugal	45	4,950
Spain	45	4,950

Beef Exports

Sir Richard Body: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the risks to health posed by British beef exported in breach of the beef export ban. [10013]

Mr. Rooker: Health and identification marks have been partly or wholly removed from beef which has been seized in another country on suspicion that it has been illegally exported from the UK. Without those marks, it is not possible to confirm either that it met hygiene standards at the time of slaughter or its origin. Standards for the production of beef in the UK are, nevertheless, as high as anywhere in Europe. There are stringent safeguards to ensure that carcases from BSE suspects cannot enter the human food chain and UK controls to prevent specified bovine material from entering the human food chain are the toughest in Europe.

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Hormones

Sir Richard Body: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment his Department has made of the World Trade Organisation hormone panel conclusions; and if he will make a statement. [10203]

Mr. Rooker: The disputes panel has upheld complaints by the US and Canada about the EU's ban on meat from animals treated with growth promoting hormones, finding it to be inconsistent with the World Trade Organisation agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary measures. The reports cannot be adopted by the WTO until the appeals process has been completed; we expect this will not be before the autumn at the earliest.

PRIME MINISTER

Law Agent's Letter

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Prime Minister what response he has sent to the letter of 14 July of the law agent, George More, of Edinburgh, relating to the suffering of the Libyan people. [9829]

The Prime Minister: As far as I am aware, I have not yet received this letter.

House of Commons (Radio Broadcasts)

Mr. Winnick: To ask the Prime Minister what plans he has to consult leaders of other parties represented in the House over the future radio reporting of the House; and if he will make a statement. [9832]

The Prime Minister [holding answer 21 July 1997]: None; in all matters concerning the editorial content and scheduling of programming, responsibility rests with the BBC itself. I am sure, however, that the BBC will take into account the strong views which have been expressed on the matter by Madam Speaker and by hon. Members on both sides of the House.

Offshore Trusts

Mr. Prior: To ask the Prime Minister if he will make it his policy to prohibit the holding of shares in offshore trusts by Ministers. [9786]

The Prime Minister [holding answer 21 July 1997]: "Questions of Procedure for Ministers" is currently being reviewed. Until the review is complete, I have asked my ministerial colleagues to abide by the general principles contained in the 1992 version, which has been published.

Honours

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Prime Minister how many staff are employed in preparation and scrutiny of applications for honours; and what was the annual cost of (a) preparation of the honours list and (b) the Political honours scrutiny committee, in the latest year for which figures are available. [9412]

The Prime Minister: The ceremonial branch of the Cabinet Office which handles all honours applications and related matters, including public nominations, comprises 18 people and has an annual budget of £368,000. The wider cost of operating the honours system, including estimates of small parts of the work of many people at

22 Jul 1997 : Column: 554

home and overseas, could not be provided other than at disproportionate cost. Members of the Political Honours Scrutiny Committee receive no remuneration.

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Prime Minister what plans he has for changes in the procedures for the allocation and scrutiny of honours. [9411]

The Prime Minister: I plan to continue recommending bi-annual honours lists, for which the sole criterion will be quality of service in a wide range of areas of national life. I have asked that those scrutinising nominations should give weight to achievements in areas of service identified by the Government as priorities for improvement.

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the names of the members of the Political Honours scrutiny committee and the number of occasions on which it met in each of the last five years. [9413]

The Prime Minister: The members of the political honours scrutiny committee are Lord Pym MC DL, chairman, the Lord Cledwyn of Penhors CH and the Lord Thomson of Monifieth KT. The number of meetings to scrutinise those proposed on account of their political services, including working life peers, were as follows:

1993: 4

1994: 3

1995: 4

1996: 4

1997: 2 (to date)

Lockerbie

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his oral answer of 16 July, Official Report, columns 387-88, in reference to the letter from Alain Dejammet, Stephen Gomersall and Bill Richardson, permanent representatives of France, the United Kingdom and the USA, to the President of the Security Council, what recent review of the evidence relating to the Lockerbie case has been conducted by the UN Security Council. [9830]

The Prime Minister [holding answer 21 July 1997]: None. It is not the Security Council's job to do so. The evidence is held by the national investigating and prosecuting authorities and is not in the public domain.

Political Appointments

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Prime Minister how many political advisers or their political appointees have been appointed since 1 May, who are not paid from public funds; if he will name them and their departments; if each such appointment has been approved by him; by whom they are paid; whether they are in all other respects subject to the same rules of employment as political advisers paid from public funds; and if he will list the precedents for such appointments. [2838]

The Prime Minister [holding answer 10 June 1997]: The appointment of unpaid political advisers is subject to the same rules as were followed by the previous Administration. Unpaid advisers are personal appointments by the Minister concerned and carry no remuneration or reimbursement from public funds. They are not civil servants and are not subject to the same rules of employment as special advisers paid for from public

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funds. In making an appointment, Ministers and unpaid advisers must ensure that there is no conflict between the issues on which the unpaid adviser will be advising and their private concerns; unpaid advisers are also subject to the normal rules of confidentiality. I am notified before these appointments are made.

In addition to the political office in No. 10 Downing street, the following appointments have been made:

Appointing Minister	Appointee	Individual or organisation paying their salary
Chancellor of the Exchequer	Sue Nye	Not in receipt of any pay
Deputy Prime Minister	David Taylor	Lancashire Enterprises PLC
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs	David Mathieson	Labour Party
Minister without Portfolio	Benjamin Wegg-Prosser	Labour Party
President of the Board of Plc Trade	Lord Hollick	United News and Media
Secretary of State for Social Security	Anna Coote	Institute of Public and Policy Research

There are precedents for appointments on the same basis under previous Administrations.

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