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Class Sizes (Leicestershire)

Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he is taking to ensure that Leicestershire LEA meets his target that no infant is taught in a class size of 30 or more by September 2001. [137058]

Ms Estelle Morris [pursuant to her reply, 9 November 2000, c. 360W]: I gave a figure of "nearly £4 million", which should have read "£5 million". I am happy to make this clarification.

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

BSE

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the Government will apply the recommendations of the BSE Inquiry to its regulation of cattle product imports. [139641]

Mr. Nick Brown: The Government are studying all of the BSE Inquiry team's findings with care and our substantive response to their report will be published in the coming months. I will provide the House with an update on progress before the end of the year.

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Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on his response to the Phillips report as it relates to the procedures for specified bovine offal removal, for (a) knackers' yards and (b) hunt kennels. [137248]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 7 November 2000]: The Government are studying all of the BSE Inquiry team's findings with care and our substantive response to their report will be published in the coming months. I will provide the House with an update on progress before the end of the year.

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made since 26 October of the potential health hazards associated with buried carcases of BSE-positive animals. [136093]

Ms Quin: We have considered the BSE Inquiry findings in this area, none of which indicate that there is any need to reconsider the safety of the BSE carcases which were buried between 1988 and 1991.

No BSE suspects have been disposed of by landfilling since 1991 when sufficient carcase incineration capacity came on stream to process the number of cases arising at that time.

The Environment Agency has regulatory responsibility for supervising the safe operation of landfill sites. The Agency monitors ground water quality in the vicinity of licensed landfill sites as a check for any leachate contamination. Following their assumption of responsibility in this area in 1996, the Agency carried out detailed assessments of all the sites concerned, and a quantitative assessment to be typical of those sites that appeared to be most vulnerable. The results showed potential risks from the landfilling that took place to be extremely low.

SEAC had previously advised that in relation to landfill sites where BSE suspects were buried it was unlikely that leachate would pose a significant problem, but that such sites should be appropriately engineered and managed to minimise leachate migration.

Shellfish

Mr. Nicholls: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent assessment he has made of future trends in employment in the shellfish industry in England and Wales. [138494]

Mr. Morley: We have not made any assessment of this kind. We do, however, work through the Fisheries Conservation Group to develop conservation measures to help ensure the long-term future of the shellfish sector.

Floods

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the shortfall in the (a) numbers and (b) availability of sandbags during the November floods which could have been used to positive effect. [138546]

Mr. Morley: No such estimates have been made, although around 2 million sandbags have so far been deployed. While I am aware that supplies did come under pressure in some areas, the current indications are that their availability has generally been adequate. This is

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encouraging given the large-scale flooding we have witnessed. The humble sandbag has played a vital role in reinforcing existing defences.

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action was taken to retain water running off the mountains and hills near the source of the River Severn above the main settlements on that river. [138558]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 16 November 2000]: At present, the only way of retaining water running off the mountains near the source of the river Severn is by utilising the storage capacity in Clywedog Reservoir, situated near Llanidloes.

The reservoir is managed by the Environment Agency and is principally for regulating flows in the River Severn. There are statutory controls which require the lowering of water levels to reduce the risk of flooding locally. However, the geographic location of the reservoir means that any flood protection benefit of retaining water is limited to settlements close to the reservoir. There are little or no similar benefits to other settlements further downstream.

I understand that, prior to the flooding in October and in common with practice over recent years, the Agency managed water levels in the reservoir so that they were below that which is statutorily required, so helping to maximise its storage potential. Given the very large flows of water run off from recent exceptional weather, options to retain it are very limited.

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what the Environment Agency's estimate is of the cost of protecting all the homes flooded in the last month from future flooding. [138557]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 16 November 2000]: The Government's aim is to alleviate the risk of flooding. It is not possible always to guarantee full protection. Once the flood waters have subsided enough for them to assess the situation fully, the Environment Agency will be able to estimate the cost of necessary and justifiable flood alleviation schemes.

Abattoirs

Mr. Gill: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many abattoirs have closed since 6 June. [137567]

Ms Stuart: I have been asked to reply.

Abattoirs producing meat for sale for human consumption must be licensed in order to operate. Since 6 June 2000, 10 abattoirs producing red meat and three abattoirs producing white meat in England, and one abattoir producing red meat in Scotland, had their licences revoked because they had ceased to operate. No licences were revoked in Wales or Northern Ireland.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

New Millennium Experience Company

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list those contracts

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entered into by the New Millennium Experience Company which (a) did and (b) did not comply with public procurement procedures. [134493]

Mr. Chris Smith [holding answer 26 October 2000]: No. That information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Since February 1997, the New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC) has entered into contracts with about 4,500 suppliers, contractors and service providers. Furthermore, NMEC is a public corporation for which compliance with formal public procurement procedures, that derive from EC law, is in principle voluntary. In practice, however, the company has chosen to comply with those EC rules, where they would otherwise apply, in seeking value for money in accordance with the Government's procurement guidelines.

Special Advisers

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to his answer of 5 June 2000, Official Report, column 97W, on special advisers, if he will list the destination and the total cost, including travel, accommodation and subsistence allowance, on each of the occasions when departmental or non-departmental special advisers travelled abroad in an official capacity. [135243]

Mr. Chris Smith: During the period 31 March 1999 to 31 March 2000, special advisers in this Department travelled on official business to Hong Kong and China, to the United States of America and Canada, to Rome and to Paris (twice) at an average cost of £2,460.

Departmental Policies

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will set out, including statistical information relating as directly as possible to the constituency, the effect on the Manchester, Gorton constituency, of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [136149]

Mr. Chris Smith: The only available statistical information broken down by parliamentary constituency is that relating to the National Lottery, Millennium Award Winners, the New Opportunities Fund and English Heritage. Manchester, Gorton has received £4,142,999 from the National Lottery since 2 May 1997 (nearly five times as much as the period prior to May 1997). Twenty-one Millennium Award winners have been identified from Gorton and between them they have received grants totalling £76,817.

Schools in the Gorton constituency have benefited from more than £295,000 from the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) ICT Training for Teachers and Librarians programme, which improves staff ICT skills within the classroom to attain higher pupil standards. English Heritage (EH) contributed £15,000 towards the development of a conservation and feasibility study for the future development of the Monastery of St. Francis, Gorton (Grade II* building at risk) in August 1997. The study formed a major part of the Monastery of St. Francis Gorton's Trust application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). This year the HLF made an offer of £2.77 million to the Trust. They required funding to work up and submit their final proposals to HLF. EH contributed £20,000 towards funding of development of their proposals.

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Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester has received £286,552,685 from the National Lottery since 2 May 1997. Major projects include £21,869,600 for Manchester Commonwealth 50 Pool; Diving Pool; Main Pool and Training Pool and an additional £17,110,250 for the Royal Exchange (which received £2,747,000 in March 1997).

There are of course other initiatives in the wider context of Manchester which will have an effect on the Gorton constituency. These are:

The "Space for Sport and the Arts" scheme has targeted nearly £7 million at local education authorities in the Manchester area, which should lead to the creation of some 15 new facilities for sport and the arts for use by primary schools and the community. Half of the total (£3.5 million) is for the Manchester LEA which covers the Gorton constituency area.

Just over a mile away the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games stadium is being built. Under DCMS' policy to encourage major and international events £112 million of Lottery funds have been made available to develop facilities. A volunteer programme will be launched, which will recruit 15,000 local people to help in all aspects of the Games, including a large number in the opening and closing ceremonies. There will be a positive effort to ensure that residents of disadvantaged areas, the unemployed, young people aged 16-24 and ethnic minority communities are made aware of the opportunities and actively encouraged to participate.

Free entry for children from April 1999 and pensioners from April 2001 to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.

National Foundation for Youth Music Awards--£58,000 for Band on the Wall which promotes live music, specialising in jazz and will run a two-year series of composition and performance programmes for 13 to 18-year-olds in a variety of venues in Manchester, Salford, Tameside and Trafford including at the Bridgewater Hall, Contact Theatre and Lowry. £59,800 to the Halle Concerts Society. The Education Programme of the Halle Orchestra wants to provide young people aged 8-18 with the opportunity to play music in a group on a regular basis using the Halle's Javanese Gamelan and traditional orchestral instruments.

The North West Arts Board received an additional £9,766,313 from the Arts Council this year to support arts and cultural activity across the region.

Gorton constituents may benefit from the New Opportunities Fund Living with Cancer programme which has awarded more than £10 million to hospitals in the Northwest for new and replacement cancer equipment. Christie Hospital and Manchester University Hospital (NHS Trusts) have benefited from state of the art equipment to improve access to new and existing provision for patients suspected of being diagnosed with cancer, in line with nationally defined standards.

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