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Parades

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the circumstances were that determined the police decision to allow members of the Castlederg Young Defenders to parade through the nationalist area surrounding Ferguson Crescent, Strabane, on 11 July; and what correspondence he has had with representatives of the local community. [133091]

Mr. Ingram: I have assumed my hon. Friend is referring to a parade by the Castlederg Young Loyalists Flute Band which took place in Castlederg on 11 July 2000.

The Parades Commission issued a determination on 5 July, namely that the parade is prohibited from entering that part of the notified route which includes Ferguson Crescent and Killeter Road. Following the Commission's decision an application for a review was made. On 7 July the Commission met to hear oral representations and to review its decision in light of these representations. After hearing all the available information against the factors contained in the Commission's guidelines document, the Commission upheld its original decision.

Diplock Review Group

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will commission an independent

28 Jul 2000 : Column: 1007W

study to complete the work undertaken by the Diplock Review Group in drawing up arrangements for a return to jury trial. [133088]

Mr. Ingram: There are no plans for an independent review of the provisions. However, under section 126 of the Terrorism Act the Government are required to lay a report on the working of the Act before both Houses of Parliament at least every 12 months. The report will be completed by an independent reviewer. Part VII of the Terrorism Act contains temporary measures for Northern Ireland only including the Diplock court system provisions. All these powers are subject to annual review and renewal by affirmative order taking account of the Government's overall objective, under the Belfast Agreement, to remove the powers as soon as it is safe to do so. The Reviewer's report would obviously inform any debates on the renewal of Northern Ireland powers.

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will place the external submissions to the Diplock Review Group in the Library. [133089]

Mr. Ingram: The Review Group received a total of eight written submissions from external organisations and the full list of those who responded is set out at Annexe B of the report. A number of the organisations requested that their submissions should remain confidential therefore I would suggest my hon. Friend approach the organisations directly if he wishes to obtain a copy of their written submission.

Reports

Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the reports submitted to his Department by bodies that were created after May 1997 and that include significant and plural membership from outside the civil service, stating in each case the body writing the report, the date the report was submitted, how many recommendations were made, the number of those recommendations that have been implemented to date and the number of recommendations that have been rejected; and if he will make a statement. [133562]

Mr. Mandelson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, 27 July 2000, Official Report, column 799W.

SCOTLAND

Assisted Areas

Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what additional representations have been made by his Department calling for the possible inclusion of all wards within the Inverness and Nairn, and Moray, Badenoch and Strathspey Local Enterprise Company areas since the publication of the assisted area status map for Scotland on 10 April submitted to the European Commission for consideration. [130560]

Dr. Reid [holding answer 17 July 2000]: I shall write to the hon. Member and arrange for a copy of my reply to be placed in the Library of the House.

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Official Visits

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the visits outside Britain made by his Department's Permanent Secretary on official business since 1 January 1999, indicating the date and purpose of the visit in each case. [133273]

Dr. Reid: In the period between 1 January 1999 and 30 June 1999 the Permanent Under-Secretary of State at The Scottish Office made one overseas visit on official business, to Dublin on 10 and 11 February 1999, for discussions with senior Irish civil servants about aspects of their administration relevant to Scottish devolution. Since 1 July 1999 the Head of the Scotland Office has made no overseas visits on official business.

Electronic Communications Act 2000

Mr. Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what orders he (a) has made and (b) intends to make using section 8 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000; and if he will make a statement. [133379]

Dr. Reid: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office.

Saltire

Mr. Gorrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will take steps to ensure that the blue in the Saltire is a consistent shade of sky blue. [133627]

Dr. Reid: No. The heraldic description of the Saltire is an argent cross on an azure background. There is no officially recognised shade of blue for the Saltire, the longstanding convention being that any blue that is clearly "blue" is acceptable.

Reports

Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the reports submitted to his Department, by bodies that were created after May 1997 and that include significant and plural membership from outside the Civil Service, stating in each case the body writing the report, the date the report was submitted, how many recommendations were made, the number of those recommendations that have been implemented to date and the number of recommendations that have been rejected; and if he will make a statement. [133559]

Dr. Reid: I shall write to the hon. Member and arrange for a copy of my reply to be placed in the Library of the House.

TREASURY

Employment (Merseyside)

Mr. Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the employment rate for people of working age for each quarter since 1997 in each of the Merseyside constituencies. [119820]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 20 April 2000]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

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Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Frank Field, dated 28 July 2000:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question on employment rates in the Merseyside constituencies (119820).

The attached table shows employment rates for people of working age in each of the Merseyside constituencies from 1996 to 1998 from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) which is the main source of labour market data on individuals. Estimates for parliamentary constituencies are compiled on an annual basis to provide more reliable estimates for these small areas. Quarterly estimates at constituency level are not available.

People aged 16 or over are classed as in employment by the LFS if they have done at least one hour of paid work (as an employee or self-employed) in the week prior to their LFS interview or if they have a job that they are temporarily away from. People who do unpaid work in a family business and people on Government- supported training and employment programmes are also included according to the International Labour Organisation convention.

Employment rate for those of working age⁽¹⁾ employed in Merseyside constituencies, not seasonally adjusted

	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99
Birkenhead	59.4	60.5	54.5
Bootle	55.5	53.1	53.4
Crosby	70.2	79.2	74.9
Knowsley, North and Sefton, East	59.3	56.2	58.8
Knowsley, South	59.8	60.3	56.9
Liverpool, Garston	58.9	62.3	57.4
Liverpool, Riverside	42.9	45.1	47.4
Liverpool, Walton	54.5	51.5	55.0
Liverpool, Wavertree	64.6	62.4	65.0
Liverpool, West Derby	54.2	56.6	53.3
Southport	75.4	73.8	75.2
St. Helens, North	68.3	75.2	70.3
St. Helens, South	63.8	69.2	70.4
Wallasey	67.1	71.8	64.7
Wirral, South	71.5	76.8	73.7
Wirral, West	77.0	72.0	69.7

⁽¹⁾ Men aged 16-64 and women aged 16-59.

Source:

ONS Labour Force Survey

Budget Expenditure

Mr. Ashdown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the real terms increase in budgeted expenditure between 1996-97 and 2000-01 for (a) the Home Office, (b) the Chancellor of the Exchequer's departments, (c) the Foreign Office, (d) Scotland Office, (e) Wales Office, (f) the Department of Social Security, (g) the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, (h) overseas aid spending, (i) Department of Health, (j) Department of Education and Employment, (k) Lord Chancellor's Department, (l) No. 10 Downing street, (m) Cabinet Office, (n) the Ministry of Defence, (o) the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, (p) the Department of Trade and Industry, (q) the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and (r) Northern Ireland; and if he will rank these from highest to lowest increases. [122240]

Mr. Andrew Smith [holding answer 16 May 2000]: Real terms increases in Departmental Expenditure Limit spending between outturn for 1996-97 and plans for 2000-01 for these areas are set out in the following table, ranked from the highest to lowest increases. Data are taken from "Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses", published in April.

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	£ million
Department/function	Real terms increase 1996-97 to 2000-01(1)
(i) Department of Health	7,121
(j) Department for Education and Employment	2,402
(a) Home Office	886
(o) Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions	569
(e) Wales	468
(b) Chancellor's departments(1)	439
(h) Overseas aid spending(1)	400
(d) Scotland	286
(r) Northern Ireland	255
(q) Department of Culture, Media and Sport	-46
(p) Department of Trade and Industry	-48
(c) Foreign and Commonwealth Office	-53
(k) Lord Chancellor's Department	-54
(m) Cabinet Office(1)	-229
(f) Department of Social Security	-549
(n) Ministry of Defence	-927
(g) Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food(1)	-1,148

⁽¹⁾ 1998-99 prices

⁽¹⁾ Changes and transfers of responsibility over the period mean that figures should be interpreted with care. For example, MAFF spending was exceptionally high in 1996-97 because of spending on BSE-related measures which are now unwinding; Chancellor's department figures are affected by machinery of government changes (principally the transfer of responsibility for the Contributions Agency from DSS) offset by reductions elsewhere

⁽¹⁾ Includes all DFID Departmental Expenditure Limit programme spending

⁽¹⁾ For budgeting purposes 10 Downing street is treated as part of the Cabinet Office

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