---

Mozambique

Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many military transporters that can carry helicopters are in service; and if he will estimate the journey time for them to travel to Mozambique. [113086]

Mr. Spellar: The only UK military aircraft capable of transporting helicopters is the RAF Hercules C130 of which there are currently 54 in service. A C130 can transport one Puma, two Lynx or two Gazelle per flight. The estimated flying time for a Hercules to fly from the

9 Mar 2000 : Column: 782W

UK to Mozambique is 25 hours. However, the estimated total time to transport a Puma to Mozambique in a Hercules, including dismantling, reassembling and stops to refuel and change crew, is a minimum of four days if relief aircrew are prepositioned along the route and up to six days if relief aircrew are not available.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Development about humanitarian aid to Mozambique. [113781]

Mr. Hoon: I have discussed the provision of humanitarian aid to Mozambique with my right hon. Friend on a number of occasions since the onset of the crisis. Other Ministers and officials have been in regular contact with DFID throughout.

Force Operating Costs

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the total cost of operating (a) an air defence squadron (43 Squadron), (b) a strike attack squadron (12 Squadron), (c) an offensive support squadron (1 Squadron), (d) a photo-reconnaissance squadron (41 Squadron and 51 Squadron), (e) a maritime reconnaissance squadron (120 Squadron), (f) a transport squadron (24 Squadron), (g) a transport flight (C130), (h) a refuelling squadron, (i) a refuelling flight, (j) a support helicopter squadron (18 Squadron and 33 Squadron), (k) an SAR squadron (202 Squadron), (l) UAS, (m) JEFTS and (n) No. 3 FTS in the last year for which figures are available. [112854]

Mr. Spellar [holding answer 7 March 2000]: We do not account for squadron operating costs in this way. Budgets are broken down to station level only. A station's operating budget would include the costs of personnel, fuel, maintenance and works services, infrastructure, utilities and other overheads, all of which contribute to the proper and effective functioning of squadrons based there. The costs for aircraft maintenance and spares would not be included, as these costs are managed separately on a fleet-wide basis.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Crown Prosecution Service

Dr. Tony Wright: To ask the Solicitor-General how many pupillages have been offered by the Crown Prosecution Service in the last 12 months. [113420]

The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service has not offered any pupillages in the last 12 months. The position is currently under review.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Street Signs

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland further to his answer of 24 January 2000, Official Report, column 6W, on street signs, what is his assessment of the community relations impact of the erection of bilingual street signs in (a) Irish and (b) Ulster Scots; how he will monitor the rise or fall of opposition

9 Mar 2000 : Column: 783W

and support for bilingual signs (i) internally within each tradition and (ii) between different traditions; how many bilingual signs have been erected and if any have subsequently been removed; and if he will issue guidelines to ensure that instances of criminal damage that have a sectarian or racist element are recorded as a distinct category. [111944]

Mr. George Howarth [holding answer 2 March 2000]: Current research, funded by the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister, will assess the demand for, and attitude towards, the use of Irish in the provision of services, including bilingual signage. Consideration is being given to commissioning similar research on Ulster-Scots. Otherwise, there has been no separate assessment made of the community relations impact of the erection of bilingual street signs.

As the erection of street nameplates is a function of district councils in Northern Ireland, information on the number of bilingual signs erected and on whether any have subsequently been removed, is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Currently, information recorded by the Royal Ulster Constabulary on the motivation of a crime can only be obtained manually. It is intended to introduce, during 2001, an Integrated Crime Information System which will permit the central recording of crime motivation, where this can be determined. The system is presently being designed to record the motive of any crime, be it racial, sectarian, domestic or other designated motive, in line with the Association of Chief Police Officers' guidelines.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Belize

Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations the Government have made to Guatamala, in support of the Government of Belize, in relation to the incursion into Belize territory and seizure of officials on 24 February; and what future action is proposed. [113615]

Mr. Battle: Following the detention by the Guatemalan Armed Forces on 24 February of three members of the Belizean Defence Force and a Belizean policeman, the British Ambassador in Guatemala City was instructed to call on the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry. He stressed our hope for an early and amicable resolution. I am pleased to report that the four Belizeans were conditionally released on 3 March. We shall continue to monitor developments closely.

Entry Clearance Times (Indian Sub-continent)

Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the waiting time for a person applying for entry clearance for settlement in (a) September 1999, (b) October 1999, (c) November 1999, (d) December 1999, (e) January 2000 and (f) February 2000 for an interview in each queue at each post in the Indian sub-continent; and if he will make a statement. [113587]

9 Mar 2000 : Column: 784W

Mr. Vaz: The statistics requested are as follows:

Waiting times in weeks on last day of each month

Post	Queue	September	October	November	December	January
Bombay	Q1	0	0	0	0	0
	Q2	4	4	6	5	6
	Q3	4	4	6	5	6
	Q4	4	4	6	5	6
Calcutta	(1)--	0	0	0	0	0
Colombo	(1)--	0	0	0	0	0
Dhaka	Q1	17	14	18	16	16
	Q2	26	28	28	30	28
	Q3	11	12	12	16	16
	Q4	49	60	59	61	56
Karachi	(1)--	8	8	10	14	10
Madras	(1)--	2	2	3	5	2
New Delhi	Q1	0	0	0	0	0
	Q2	4	4	6	5	8
	Q3	21	22	24	20	8
	Q4	25	28	24	25	8

(1) Calcutta, Colombo, Karachi and Madras do not operate separate queues

Notes:

Queue 1--Right of Abode cases and Dependant Relatives over 65

Queue 2--Spouses and Children under 18

Queue 3--Finance(e)s and Other First Time Applicants

Queue 4--Re-applicants

Statistics for the month of February are not yet available

PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL

Appointments Commission

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the President of the Council how much Price Waterhouse is being paid to headhunt applicants for the post of chairman of the Appointments Commission. [112817]

Mrs. Beckett: There is no single identifiable cost payable to PricewaterhouseCoopers Executive Search and Selection solely for the "headhunting" of the chairman.

The cost for recruiting the whole Commission will be £52,000 plus expenses and VAT. Advertising costs will be in addition to this.

Parliamentary Counsel

Mr. Kidney: To ask the President of the Council how many hours have been spent by Parliamentary Counsel in preparing (a) Government legislation announced in the Queen's speeches, (b) private members' Bills, (c) Law Commission work and (d) private legislation, and what proportion of Parliamentary Counsel's time was spent on each, in each of the parliamentary sessions (i) 1997-98, (ii) 1998-99 and (iii) 1999-2000 to date. [113349]

Mrs. Beckett: The Parliamentary Counsel Office answers to the Prime Minister, but I am replying to this question since it relates to the Government's legislative programme.

Information is not available on the number of hours spent by Parliamentary Counsel on different types of legislation. However, a reasonable indication of how the Counsel are deployed is given by their location. Counsel at 36 Whitehall work on Government Bills and on Private

9 Mar 2000 : Column: 785W

Members' Bills supported by the Government. Other Counsel are on loan to the Law Commission, to the Inland Revenue's Tax Law Rewrite Project and to the Department of Trade and Industry's Company Law Review.

The following table shows the total number of Counsel in these locations in the 1997-98 and 1998-99 Sessions (as at 1 January) and at present. The figures exclude Scottish and Northern Ireland Parliamentary Counsel.

9 Mar 2000 : Column: 786W

In the table, part-time Counsel are counted as equivalent to half a full-time Counsel. The split between Government legislation and Private Members' Bills supported by the Government is pro rata the number of pages of each enacted in the Session or, in the case of the 1999-2000 Session, the number of pages enacted to date plus the number of pages, on introduction, of Bills introduced but not yet enacted. A split of work on Government Bills between those in the Queen's Speech and others is not available. Parliamentary Counsel are not involved in drafting Private Bills.

9 Mar 2000 : Column: 785W

Deployment of Parliamentary Counsel by type of work (numbers of Counsel, full-time equivalents,as at 1 January 1998, 1 January 1999 and at present

	Session
	1997-98		1998-99		1999-2000(2)
Type of legislation	Counsel	Percentage	Counsel	Percentage	Counsel	Percentage
Government Bills (est.)	(3)27½	77	(3)24½	73	(3)30	80
Private Members' Bills supported by the Government (est.)	(3)1	3	(3)1½	5	(3)½	1
Sub-total 36 Whitehall	28½	80	26	78	30½	81
Law Commission	4½	13	5	15	4	11
Inland Revenue	2½	7	2½	7	2½	7
DTI	--	--	--	--	½	1
Total	35½	100	33½	100	37½	100

(2) To date

(3) Rounded to the nearest ½

9 Mar 2000 : Column: 785W

Although there are minor fluctuations from year to year, the figures show that, since the start of the 1997-98 Session, about one-fifth of the Parliamentary Counsel have been engaged on work for the Law Commission, for the Inland Revenue Tax Law Rewrite Project or (since the beginning of this month) for the DTI's Company Law Review. Some four-fifths of Counsel work on the Government's Bills and Private Members' Bills, with on average about 97 per cent. of that work concentrated on the Government's Bills.

---