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Organophosphates

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will place in the Library the background note that accompanied the draft answer to the question by the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent, 11 July, Official Report, column 436, on organophosphate pesticide use; [14764]

(2) if he will place in the Library a copy of the fax dated 18 July 1994, sent by the Department of Entomology at the Royal Medical College, London to the Department of Health concerning insecticides used in the Gulf war cited in his Department's recent memorandum relating to provision of advice to Ministers between 1994 and 1996 on organophsphate pesticide use during the Gulf War. [14708]

Dr. Reid: No. The information contained within these documents is advice to Ministers and as such is covered by exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. On an exceptional basis, the information from these documents relating to organophosphate pesticides has already been made available in the Further Memorandum on the provision of advice to Ministers on the use of OP pesticides during the Gulf War, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.

Offset Exhibition

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assistance the Ministry of Defence and its agencies gave to the organisers of the Offset exhibition at the North Wales Centre, Aberconwy; and what was the cost to public funds. [15295]

Mr. Spellar: Officials attended this exhibition in the course of their normal duties, but the Ministry of Defence gave no financial support to the organisers.

Defence Exports (Ethical Code)

Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many defence companies have sought his Department's assistance over the Government's ethical code on defence exports. [15543]

Mr. Spellar: As part of their normal daily business, officials in the Defence Export Services Organisation provide advice to defence companies on the criteria used by the Government in considering licence applications for the export of conventional arms. It is not practical to identify every company that has sought this advice.

Information Warfare

Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of the defence budget in (a) cash and (b) percentage terms is allocated to information warfare. [15335]

Dr. Reid: Information warfare is a broad term which covers all aspects of the security of information and communications systems from front line weapons to office IT equipment. Measures to counter information warfare are integral features of most systems and it is not therefore possible to identify their costs separately.

13 Nov 1997 : Column: 615

Non-lethal Weapons

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to introduce non-lethal disabling weapons for peacekeeping and battlefield use. [14415]

Mr. Spellar [holding answer 7 November 1997]: Research is conducted into non-lethal weapon technologies to assess technical options to meet endorsed military capability requirements, but we have no present plans for the procurement of further NLWs.

Eurofighter

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his Department's estimate of the cost of the Eurofighter programme to the United Kingdom and to the participating states as a whole; and how many aircraft are due to be ordered by (a) the United Kingdom and (b) participating states. [14679]

Mr. Spellar [holding answer 10 November 1997]: The latest estimated procurement cost of the Eurofighter programme is £42.8 billion, £15.9 billion of which is the estimated cost to the UK. The participating nations have declared a total requirement for 620 Eurofighter aircraft, 232 of which are for the UK.

US Defence Trade Report

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the medium-term implications of US Commerce Department report "Offsets in Defense Trade 1997". [15294]

Mr. Spellar: The US Department of Commerce report "Offsets in Defense Trade 1997" is still under consideration by the Ministry of Defence. I will write to the hon. Member in due course.

PRIME MINISTER

Special Advisers

Mr. Hawkins: To ask the Prime Minister if he will provide a current list of all (a) paid and (b) unpaid special advisers to Ministers. [14837]

The Prime Minister: The following are employed as paid Special Advisers:

Appointing Minister	Name of appointee
The Prime Minister	Jonathan Powell
	Alastair Campbell
	Anji Hunter
	Kate Garvey
	Tim Allan
	Hilary Coffman
	David Miliband
	Roger Liddle
	James Purnell
	Derek Scott
	Robert Hill
	Geoff Mulgan
	Geoffrey Norris
	Pat Macfadden
	Peter Hyman
	Liz Lloyd
	Roz Preston (part-time)
	Fiona Miller (part-time)
Chief Whip	Tom Greatrex
	Kieran Simpson
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food	Cathy McGlynn Tim Walker
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport	Julian Eccles (part-time)
	John Newbiggin
Secretary of State for Defence	Bernard Gray
	Alasdair McGowan
Secretary of State for Education and Employment(1)	Conor Ryan Hilary Benn
	Sophie Linden (part-time)
	Lisa Barclay (part-time)
Deputy Prime Minister	Joe Irvin
	Paul Hackett (part-time)
	Joan Hammell
	Darren Murphy (part-time)
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs	David Clark Andrew Hood
Secretary of State for Health	Joe McCrea
	Simon Stevens
Secretary of State for the Home Department	Ed Owen Norman Warner Ruth Allen (part-time)(2)
Secretary of State for International Development	Jessica Crowe Daniel Harris
Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords	Marianne Morris Damien Welfare
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland	Anna Healy
	Nigel Warner
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster	Andrew Lappin
	James Cornford
President of the Council(3)	Ian McKenzie
Secretary of State for Scotland	Wendy Alexander
	Murray Elder
Secretary of State for Social Security	Juhn McTernan
	Liz Kendall
President of the Board of Trade	Dan Corry Sheila Watson
Minister of Transport	Kate Davies Tony Grayling
Chancellor of the Exchequer(4)	Ed Balls Charles Whelan
Chief Secretary	Andrew Maugham Edward Miliband
Secretary of State for Wales	John Adams Huw Roberts
The following have been appointed as unpaid Advisers:
Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Education and Employment	Dennis Stevenson
Deputy Prime Minister	David Taylor
President of the Board of Trade	Lord Hollick
Minister without Portfolio	Benjamin Wegg-Prosser
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs	David Mathieson
Chancellor of the Exchequer	Sue Nye

(1) In addition, Professor Michael Barber has been appointed as Standards and Effectiveness Adviser to the Secretary of State for Education and Employment.

(2) Appointment is time limited to the life of the Task Force on Youth Justice.

(3) In addition, the President of the Council has appointed Keith Hellawell as the UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator (from 5 January 1998) and Michael Trace as the Deputy UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator on special adviser terms.

(4) In addition the Chancellor of the Exchequer has appointed Chris Wales and Paul Gregg as members of the Council of Economic Advisers on special adviser terms.

13 Nov 1997 : Column: 617

Monitor Consultancy

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list (a) the nature and value of contracts his office has entered into and (b) discussions Ministers or officials have held with the Monitor Consultancy since 1990. [14944]

The Prime Minister [holding answer 7 November 1997]: For this purpose my Department is the Cabinet Office. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Office of Public Service on 11 November 1997, Official Report, columns 463-64.

Fair Trade (Coffee and Tea)

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to the oral Statement by the Secretary of State for International Development, Official Report, 5 November, column 332, if he will instruct officials to serve coffee and tea furnished by suppliers who adhere to fair trade standards in his Office. [15487]

The Prime Minister: No. Individual Government Departments are responsible for taking decisions on the goods and services they acquire, taking into account the Government's policy of seeking value for money for the benefit of the taxpayer. However, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development has made clear, the Government are also committed to promoting and supporting ethical trading wherever possible.

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