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Sex Offenders

Ms Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Government will announce the conclusions of the review of the effectiveness of the register of sex offenders. [102711]

Mr. Charles Clarke: It is anticipated that the results of the review of the effectiveness of the register will be available next spring. Following its publication we will be looking at whether, and if so what, changes might be necessary to the Sex Offenders Act 1997 in consultation with the police and non-governmental bodies concerned.

Ms Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to introduce measures for the monitoring of sex offenders who travel. [102712]

Mr. Charles Clarke: We fully recognise the concerns expressed over the need to keep track of sex offenders who travel abroad or have convictions for sex offences committed abroad and who return to this country. We are at present conducting an evaluation of the operation of the registration requirement in the 1997 Act. Once this review is completed, we will need to consider whether, and if so what, changes are necessary. We intend to do this in full consultation with the police and non-governmental bodies working in this area. Primary legislation will be required for any changes to the Act.

Property Crime (Devon and Cornwall)

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has in respect of safeguarding homes in Devon and Cornwall against the rise in property crime forecast by his Department. [102683]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The £250 million Crime Reduction Programme that was launched in July 1998 and the Crime Reduction Strategy that we announced last week will benefit homes in Devon and Cornwall as well as elsewhere in England and Wales.

An important strand of the programme is the Reducing Burglary Initiative, under which more than £50 million will be used to support anti-burglary projects over three years covering some two million households in 500 areas of England and Wales with high levels of domestic burglary. As well as helping to reduce burglary locally, the initiative will provide practical evidence which will benefit all local crime and disorder reduction partnerships seeking to improve their anti-burglary strategies. Of the 63 first-round strategic development projects already underway, two are based in Devon and Cornwall: one in

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central Plymouth and the other in Tormohun (Torbay). Three second-round bids have been received so far from Devon and Cornwall and a decision on these bids will be taken in January.

A further £153 million will be invested over the next three years under the Closed Circuit Television Initiative and some projects will be funded in due course in Devon and Cornwall.

We have also recently launched the Property Crime Reduction Action Team which we expect to make a real impact on property crime by bringing together partners in central and local government, police, fire service and key players in the insurance and commercial sectors.

PRIME MINISTER

Cologne Summit

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the form, frequency and nature of the additional verifiable quantitative targets to be established for the Luxembourg process, as indicated in section 10 of the Presidency Conclusions of the Cologne Summit. [101021]

The Prime Minister: The issue of whether to introduce additional verifiable quantitative targets for the Luxembourg process has been discussed in respect of proposals for the Employment Guidelines for 2000. There are currently no proposals to do so. The Employment Guidelines were adopted by the European Council meeting in Helsinki on 10-11 December.

Downing Street Dinner

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Prime Minister if the dinner held at Number 10 Downing Street on 21 October was paid for out of public funds. [102121]

The Prime Minister: As under previous Administrations, all costs in relation to hospitality undertaken in an official capacity by the Prime Minister are met from public funds.

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CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Tourism

Mr. Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people have been employed by the tourism industry in each of the past 20 years (a) in total in the UK and (b) in each region. [101307]

Janet Anderson [holding answer 6 December 1999]: The estimates of the number of employee and self- employment jobs in the tourism-related industries in Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and each region in England in each of the last 20 years for which information is available is presented in the table.

There is a discontinuity in each data series in 1994 owing to introduction of revised UK Standard Industrial Classifications. From 1994, SIC 92 codes were used to classify industries in employment surveys. Prior to that, SIC 80 codes were used. While generally the same industries were included within the definition for the tourism-related industries under both sets of classifications, there are differences. For instance, under SIC 92, the tourism-related industries include travel agencies and tour operators, while under SIC 80 some activities, such as the operating of fairgrounds, were included.

Estimates for the number of self-employed are provided by the Labour Force Survey, which bases its annual figures on employment in the spring months (March to May).

The employee jobs figures presented are taken from the Census of Employment (prior to 1994), the Annual Employment Survey (1995 to 1997) and the Short-term Employment Surveys (1994, 1998, 1999). Prior to 1995, the major employee jobs surveys were not carried out on an annual basis. The annual data taken from the Census of Employment and the Annual Employment Survey are from September each year, while figures presented from the Short-term Employment Surveys are for June each year.

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Employee and self-employment jobs in the tourism-related industries by Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and English region 1984 to 1999Thousand

	1984 (10)	1987 (10)	1989 (10)	1991 (10)	1994 (11)	1995 (11)	1996 (11)	1997 (11)	1998 (11)	1999 (11)
Great Britain	1,419	1,502	1,679	1,700	1,667	1,741	1,734	1,812	1,786	1,786
Scotland	145	152	173	171	184	185	179	176	181	173
Wales	68	75	88	93	88	79	84	84	85	89
South East	247	254	289	285	285	309	321	341	326	326
London	206	222	228	230	240	263	249	280	286	282
East Anglia	49	54	61	61	61	63	69	64	70	74
South West	136	142	172	178	165	175	177	179	169	173
West Midlands	108	119	131	136	138	136	140	145	136	139
East Midlands	79	94	102	110	107	106	109	112	115	113
Yorkshire and Humberside	118	132	149	147	147	144	144	154	150	147
North West	183	170	190	195	168	189	171	188	176	184
North	81	87	95	94	84	91	90	90	92	85

(10) Industry definitions based on SIC 80 classifications

(11) Industry definitions based on SIC 92 classifications

Note:

Revisions to the 1995 and 1996 Annual Employment Survey resulted in an upward step in the employee jobs series from September 1995.

Data at this level of detail have not been corrected for this upward step.

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Union Flag

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on what days of the year it is (a) required and (b) permitted for the Union flag to be flown from (i) Government buildings, (ii) headquarters of public bodies, (iii) police stations and (iv) schools. [101708]

Mr. Alan Howarth [holding answer 15 December 1999]: There are currently 20 appointed days each year when it is required, by command of Her Majesty the

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Queen, that Government buildings fly the Union flag. While there is no formal definition of a Government building for this purpose, it is generally accepted to mean a building owned or used by the Crown and predominately occupied or used by Civil Servants or Her Majesty's armed forces. The headquarters of public bodies, police stations and schools are exempt from these instructions, but the police have chosen to follow the Central Government arrangements.

The days required are:

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Appointed days
6 February	Her Majesty's Accession
19 February	Birth of the Duke of York
1 March	St. David's Day (in Wales only)
10 March	Birthday of The Earl of Wessex
March (second Monday)	Commonwealth day
21 April	Birthday of Her Majesty the Queen
23 April	St. George's Day (in England only)
9 May	Europe Day
2 June	Coronation Day
June (date to be notified)	Official Celebration of Her Majesty's Birthday
10 June	Birthday of the Duke of Edinburgh
4 August	Birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
15 August	Birthday of the Princess Royal
21 August	Birthday of the Princess Margaret
November (second Sunday)	Remembrance Day
14 November	Birthday of the Prince of Wales
20 November	Her Majesty's Wedding Day
30 November	St. Andrew's Day (in Scotland only)
also	The day of the opening of a Session of the Houses of Parliament by Her Majesty
	The day of the prorogation of a Session of the Houses of Parliament by Her Majesty

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