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CABINET OFFICE
Next Steps Agencies
Mr. Welsh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to her answer of 26 October 1999 to the hon. Member for North Tayside (Mr. Swinney), Official Report, column 858, if she will list those Next Steps agencies operating in Scotland which are not responsible to the Scottish Executive; and if she will list for each such agency the (i) number of civil servants employed in Scotland, (ii) the total wage bill and (iii) the wage bill for staff based in Scotland. [96721]
Marjorie Mowlam: The next steps agencies operating in Scotland which are not responsible to the Scottish Executive are:
(22) As at 1 July 1998, there were 8,448 staff employed in Scotland by executive agencies responsible to the Secretary of State for Defence. This is the last year for which figures are available. The MOD has since restructured and a number of the Agencies mentioned have ceased to exist and other new agencies have been created.
(23) The data cover UK regular forces and UK based permanent civilian personnel counted in official Ministry of Defence civil service figures. Civilian figures are full-time equivalents, where part time staff are counted in proportion to the hours worked.
(24) The data exclude all Defence Evaluation and Research Agency staff and the UK Hydrographic Office on whom reliable data is not available.
(25) Figures are on the basis of full-time equivalents. Casuals are excluded.
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Information on the total wage bill and the wage bill for staff based in Scotland is not held centrally.
Joint Cabinet Consultative Committee
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what advice and guidance are given to former members of the Joint Cabinet Consultative Committee concerning disclosures of JCCC deliberations in memoirs. [96745]
Marjorie Mowlam: All members of the JCC are bound, in respect of the proceedings of the Committee, by the recommendations of the Radcliffe Report on Ministerial memoirs.
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what is the most recent estimate of the annual cost of servicing the Joint Cabinet Consultative Committee. [96743]
Marjorie Mowlam: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to him by my predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Copeland (Dr. Jack Cunningham) on 1 July 1999, Official Report, column 254.
PRIME MINISTER
Engagements
Sir Peter Tapsell: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 3 November. [96613]
The Prime Minister:
This morning I had meetings with Ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I will have further such meetings later today.
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Marriage Support Funding
Mr. Pollard: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when he will announce his formal response to Sir Graham Hart's review of marriage support funding. [96629]
Jane Kennedy: Sir Graham Hart's report on marriage support funding will be published shortly, together with the Lord Chancellor's response.
Tobacco and Alcohol Smuggling
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what advice his Department gives to licensing magistrates on action to take against clubs, pubs and other licensed premises where smuggled or bootlegged tobacco and alcohol have been sold either by the licensee and staff or by customers. [96645]
Jane Kennedy: The Lord Chancellor's Department has given no advice to licensing magistrates on action to take in the circumstances described. Guidance provided jointly by the Magistrates Association and the Justices' Clerks Society refers generally to the fitness of the applicant for a licence but not specifically to smuggled or bootlegged tobacco and alcohol.
Motoring Offences
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what guidance determines the choice by magistrates of sentences for motoring offences. [96642]
Jane Kennedy: Within the statutory sentencing framework, the nature and severity of the sentences which magistrates impose for motoring offences, as with all offences, are matters for the independent exercise of judicial discretion. Guidance on sentencing in motoring cases exists in the form of judgments by the higher courts and guidelines issued by the Magistrates Association.
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what processes are in place to monitor the appropriateness of sentences imposed by magistrates for motoring offences. [96643]
Jane Kennedy: Sentences imposed by magistrates for motoring offences may, as with all offences, be appealed to the Crown Court.
TREASURY
Pensions
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the annual pensions liabilities of the European Communities; and what is the projected figure for 2020. [96579]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
Appropriations for pensions and severance grants for the institutions of the European Community were 466.8 million euro in 1998, and 501 million euro in 1999.
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This includes Retirement pensions, Invalidity pensions, Survivors' pensions and Severance grants.
The EC budgetary authorities have not agreed estimates for 2020.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost was (i) to the Communities budget and (ii) to the UK of producing the von Weizsacker/Dehaene/Simon report to the Commission; who instigated it; what UK assistance was provided; and if he will make a statement. [96578]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The Von Weizsacker/ Dehaene/Simon Report is an independent report, produced at the request of the President of the European Commission, Mr. Romano Prodi.
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Mr. Brady:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list all shareholdings currently held by Her Majesty's Government, together with an approximate market value for each where this is available. [96403]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The information is shown in the table. This shows the nominal values of government shareholdings held at 31 March 1999, as reported to the Treasury, excluding shares held for possible distribution as bonus shares to eligible shareholders. An approximate market value, based on their closing prices on 31 March 1999, is also shown for those of the shares quoted on the London Stock Exchange. This information is not available in other cases, either because the assets held are not marketable or because a market value could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.
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