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Small Cars

Mr. Fearn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what percentage of cars currently registered in the United Kingdom are estimated to be below 1100cc. [78408]

Ms Glenda Jackson: At the most recent statistical analysis of the vehicle records held by DVLA and DVLNI in September 1998, some 8% of vehicles registered in the Private and Light Goods class had an engine capacity not exceeding 1100 cc.

Genetically Modified Animals

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many genetically modified animals, including fish, have escaped into the environment in the United Kingdom since 1990. [78593]

Mr. Meacher: None, to our knowledge.

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Singh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will set out detailed future spending plans for his Department. [79071]

25 Mar 1999 : Column: 338

Mr. Prescott: I have today published my Department's Annual Report for 1999 (Cm 4204), and copies have been placed in the House Libraries. The Report sets out the Department's achievements over the last year and its detailed plans for delivering a fairer society, a cleaner environment and a more efficient economy. We have already published targets covering all areas of the Department's work in our "Public Service Agreement". Now we are setting out detailed spending plans showing how we will meet those targets and deliver our objectives. These include an additional £4.1 billion investment by the Department over the next three years, as well as an extra £8.3 billion for local authorities. The Report also includes a summary of our Departmental Investment Strategy, to be published shortly, which will set out how the Department ensures that capital investment delivers its objectives, whilst achieving value for money.

Business Aviation

Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when the remaining parts of his Department's study of Business Aviation in the South East will be published. [79203]

Ms Glenda Jackson: The report on Part 2 of the study of Business Aviation in the South East which we commissioned last year, "The Economic Impact of Business Aviation", has been published today and copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of the House. Part 1 was published in July last year. As policy decisions arising from the study of airports issues in the South East of England and the East of England, announced by the Government on 11 March, may impact on Business Aviation, work on the final part of the study, "Future Capacity for Business Aviation", will not be finalised until the South East airports study has reported. At that time, we shall consider the implications for the work which has been done so far on future capacity for Business Aviation, and whether further work is needed.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Civil Servants (Appraisal)

Mr. McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what were the appraisal performance markings awarded to civil servants in 1998 for (a) each agency in his Department and (b) the Department broken down by (i) grade, (ii) gender, (iii) ethnicity, (iv) part-time/full-time working and (v) disability; and for (1) each agency and (2) the Department whether the Cabinet Office's four fifths rule for detecting potential adverse impact was applied to the appraisal markings of civil servants in the 1998 report round. [78150]

Mr. Tony Lloyd: The following tables show the breakdown for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and overall figures for Wilton Park. The figures for box 4 and 5 have been combined as they are very small. At present, 80 per cent. of the 1998 Appraisal Performance Markings have been received.

Neither Wilton Park, nor the Department as a whole, uses the Cabinet Office's "four fifths rule" to assess potential adverse impact.

25 Mar 1999 : Column: 339

	(a) Wilton Park
	Box markings
	1	2	3	4/5	Not yet available	Total
Number	8	21	6	0	5	40
Percentage	20	52.5	15.0	0	12.5	100

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(b) FCO

	Box markings
	1	2	3	4/5	Not yet available	Total
Number	761	2,353	1,193	42	1,119	5,468
Percentage	13.9	43.0	21.8	3.8	20.5	100

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(i) Breakdown by grade

	Box markings
	1		2		3				4/5
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.
SMS	103	24.3	159	37.5	44	10.4	1	.2	424
DS5/5S and HCS6/7	107	18.3	230	39.4	62	10.6	3	.5	584
DS6/SEO	23	8.7	130	49.2	66	25	3	1.1	264
DS7D/8	45	28	65	40.4	25	15.5	0	0	161
DS7M/HEO	73	13.2	253	45.8	134	24.2	8	1.4	553
DS9/E	118	12.6	400	42.8	214	22.9	14	1.5	935
Specialist	62	7.6	410	50.1	179	21.9	2	.2	818
Secretarial	122	25.2	202	41.7	112	23.1	4	.8	484
Support grades	12	3.8	107	33.4	93	29.1	3	.9	320
AO/DS10/EA	87	10.3	362	43	238	28.3	3	.4	842
AA	9	10.8	35	42.2	26	31.3	1	1.2	83

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(ii) Breakdown by gender

	Box markings
	1		2		3		4/5
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	Total
Male	466	13.3	1,502	42.7	755	21.5	29	.8	3,516
Female	295	15.1	851	43.6	438	22.4	13	.7	1,952

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(iii) Breakdown by ethnic background

	Box markings
	1		2		3		4/5
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	Total
White	648	15.1	1,849	43.2	898	21	32	.7	4,280
Ethnic minority	19	9.6	81	40.9	59	29.8	1	.5	198
Not recorded	94	9.5	423	42.7	236	23.8	9	.9	990

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(iv) Breakdown by part-time or full-time

	Box markings
	1		2		3		4/5
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	Total
Full-time	760	14.1	2,315	43	1,167	21.7	42	.8	5,379
Part-time	1	1.1	38	42.7	26	29.2	0	0	89

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(v) Breakdown by disabled or not-disabled

	Box markings
	1		2		3		4/5
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	Total
Not disabled	754	14.1	2,303	43	1,165	21.7	39	.7	5,357
Disabled	7	6.4	50	45.9	28	25.7	3	2.8	109

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Cuba

Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the jailing of political dissidents in Cuba. [78123]

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Mr. Tony Lloyd: The Government are very concerned about the jailing of political dissidents in Cuba, and in particular with the sentencing of the four members of the "International Dissidence Working Group" in Havana on 15 March. This group exercised the freedom of

25 Mar 1999 : Column: 341

expression, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and were held without charge since July 1997. We do not accept that citizens who do so should be criminalised by state authorities.

Together with EU partners and bilaterally (including when Isabel Allende, Cuban Vice Foreign Minister met my noble Friend Baroness Symons on 25 February), we have made representations to Cuban authorities expressing serious concern and deep regret about the sentences. The EU Presidency issued a public statement on 17 March which said it was deeply disappointed that its repeated appeals for the unconditional release of the "Four" have been ignored, and that neither diplomats nor international media representatives were allowed to attend the trial.

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