---

Climate Change Levy

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reason heat pumps have not been included on the initial list of recommended technologies eligible for climate change levy tax incentives; and if he will make a statement. [129648]

Mr. Timms: The list was drawn up to include technologies with the greatest potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Six were identified initially on this basis. Two more have been added subsequently. The Government will keep the list under review.

Office of Government Commerce

Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his plans are for the Quinquennial Reviews of CCTA and PACE which are due in the next year.

Mr. Andrew Smith: The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) and Property Advisers to the Civil Estate (PACE) are part of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) which became operational on 1 April this year. Since 1 April, key strategies for the new organisation have been developed, and a review has been put in hand to ensure that resources and the organisational structure support those strategies. The terms of reference for the review are:

To review the present structure of OGC, covering its executive agencies and all other units; and to make recommendations on how best to align OGC's resources to deliver successfully its vision and strategies. The review will take into account the views of stakeholders including staff, central departments, other departments, customers and suppliers. It will also take account of requirements for Agency quinquennial reviews, in order to provide the specific reviews required for CCTA and PACE in the next year.

In ensuring that the review will take account of the need for quinquennial reviews of CCTA and PACE, it will consider past performance, organisational options for service delivery and ways in which service can be improved. These issues are also relevant to the whole organisation, not just CCTA and PACE. Similarly, the organisational review will incorporate an independent input and will seek the views of both customers and suppliers about how the OGC as a whole can best catalyse the most efficient and effective use of the civil procurement budget.

12 Jul 2000 : Column: 593W

HOME DEPARTMENT

Animal Experiments

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many dogs were killed as part of experiments in British research laboratories in each of the past three years; and if he will make a statement. [129947]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: In my reply to the hon. Member on 17 April 2000, Official Report, column 380W, in which I stated that members of the public often find it particularly difficult to accept that species that are kept as domestic pets or companion animals, such as dogs, are also used in research to find cures for illness. Such animals must be purpose bred and supplied by designated establishments and can only be used if there is no viable alternative for that particular procedure. I should emphasise that dogs are only used in about a quarter of 1 per cent. of all procedures.

Table 1 of the Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain records the number of scientific procedures performed on dogs and Table 1a records the number of dogs used by primary purpose of the procedure. Numbers for the last three years for which figures are currently available are:

1998: 5,575 dogs used in 6,828 procedures

1997: 5,891 dogs used in 7,490 procedures

1996: 6,735 dogs used in 7,944 procedures.

They are primarily used in pharmaceutical research and development, or in pharmaceutical safety and efficacy evaluations. The results of this work have produced medicines which have cured illness, saved human lives and added to veterinary science which has assisted animal care. The figures reflect a downward trend in this use.

Swadlincote Magistrates Court

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements have been made to accommodate the local probation service and to provide its services in South Derbyshire, and at what cost, when the Swadlincote magistrates court closes. [130171]

Mr. Boateng: It is the responsibility of Derbyshire Probation Service to acquire new premises to accommodate its staff currently operating from Swadlincote magistrates court when it closes. The location and costs are not yet known, but we have given Derbyshire Probation Service an assurance that we will provide financial support to assist in acquisition of new accommodation in Swadlincote should that be part of the local strategy at the time.

Departmental Grants and Payments

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisations and individuals received grants and payments in (a) 1999-2000 and (b) 2000-01 for services in support of the work of (i) the Probation Service, (ii) local authority social services departments and (iii) for education as defined in the relevant budget line set out in his Department's Annual Report 1999-2000; and how much money was paid in each such grant. [130115]

12 Jul 2000 : Column: 594W

Mr. Boateng [holding answer 11 July 2000]: Information relating to those organisations directly funded by the Home Office in 1999-2000 for work in support of the Probation Service is as follows. Expenditure shown is the final outturn figure: figures for 2000-01 are available.

Society of Voluntary Associates (SOVA): £230,000

National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO): £441,660 ¹

National Offender Employment Forum: £50,000

Inner London and Surrey Probation Services--Evaluation of Asset and Springboard Projects: £35,387

Langley House Trust: £963,132

Middlesbrough Prostitution Task Force: £1,000

National Mentoring Consortium: £29,000

Prisoners' Abroad: £90,000

Venture Trust: £432,500

Lucy Faithful Foundation: £392,826

The remainder of the expenditure on that budget line (£177,495) was in respect of individual placements with various agencies for dangerous offenders.

Total: £2,843,000


¹ Amount shown represents project funding paid in addition to the core grant to NACRO which is shown under a separate budget line in the Home Office Annual Report.

No direct payments were made by the Home Office under local authority social service departments or for education as defined in the relevant budget line set out in his Department's Annual report 1999-2000.

Transsexuals

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the Home Office Working Group on Gender Allocation, with particular reference to the membership, frequency of meetings, submissions received and expected report date. [130089]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The terms of reference and the membership of the Interdepartmental Working Group on Transsexual People were announced, by means of a written answer on 15 April 1999, Official Report, columns 132-33W, by my noble Friend, the then Minister of State, Home Office, the Lord Williams of Mostyn. The Group met once every two months, under the chairmanship of a Home Office official, until January 2000.

Submissions were received from 99 individuals and from the Beaumont Society, the British Medical Association, Change, the FTM Network, Northern Concord, the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, the Gender Identity Research and Education Society. The Gender Trust, Liberty, and Press for Change. Representatives of the last five organisations met the Working Party in January. Further written material was received from a number of these organisations and from the Evangelical Alliance Policy Commission.

The Working Group's report is being carefully considered. It was presented to Home Office Ministers in April and is being circulated to ministerial colleagues in other Government Departments and in the Scottish Executive, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

12 Jul 2000 : Column: 595W

Football Hooliganism

Mr. Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many football hooligans (a) detained and (b) arrested at (i) Euro 2000, (ii) Copenhagen in May and (iii) the Scotland versus England match last year (A) were added to the Category C list and (B) had restriction orders placed upon them; [128155]

(2) how many of those football fans (a) detained and (b) deported at (i) Euro 2000, (ii) Copenhagen in May and (iii) the Scotland versus England match in Glasgow last year were (1) Category C hooligans and (2) subject to international restriction orders. [128154]

Mr. Straw: The police service in England and Wales ceased to designate individuals involved in football hooliganism by categories A, B, and C, some three years ago, and have replaced this by a more targeted, intelligence-led approach. International Football Banning Orders may be sought as a result of behaviour in jurisdictions outside England and Wales only where an agreement exists for that purpose ad the individual in question has been convicted in that jurisdiction of a football-related offence.

No one has yet been made subject to an International Football Banning Order as a result of events at Euro 2000; it was not possible to impose International Football Banning Orders on persons detained or arrested in Copenhagen as a result of the decision of the Danish authorities not to prosecute such persons; and two people have so far received International Football Banning Orders as a result of convictions associated with the Scotland versus England match last year: additional bans will be sought on receipt of the necessary documentation from the Scottish Crown Office. None of those detained or deported as a result of their behaviour at these events last year were subject at the time to Restriction Orders or International Football Banning Orders.

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his oral statement of 4 July 2000, Official Report, columns 170-73, on football hooliganism, if he will list the offences for which the 409 people arrested in Belgium and Holland were convicted. [129597]

Mr. Straw: Of the 965 England supporters arrested or detained during Euro 2000, 391 had previously been convicted of a criminal offence. The National Criminal Intelligence Service now advise that the convictions are as follows: 133 convictions for violence, 200 for disorder, 38 for the possession of an offensive weapon, 122 for criminal damage and 250 for other offences. Some supporters will have been convicted of more than one type of offence.

---