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Atomic Weapons Establishments
Mr. Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library the documents pertaining to future development of the atomic weapons establishments from the time the current management took over to date. [63450]
Mr. Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if employees (a) of the atomic weapons establishments and (b) from his Department (i) have had involvement in, (ii) are involved in and (iii) are intended to be involved in the advanced warhead concept teams being established by the US nuclear weapons laboratories. [63454]
Dr. Moonie: Exchanges of information between the United Kingdom and US on nuclear weapon matters take place only under the auspices of the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement. In particular, employees of the Ministry of Defence and AWE Management Ltd. Participate in the Joint UK/US Working Groups that meet regularly to discuss and exchange technical information. Details of their discussions are withheld under Exemption 1 (Defence, Security and International Relations) of the Code of Practice on access to Government Information.
Mr. Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list construction and engineering projects at the atomic weapons establishments scheduled to begin over the next 12 months, with their estimated cost. [63455]
Dr. Moonie: With the exception of routine minor works in support of operations (at a cost of around #10 million a year), no construction and engineering projects are currently expected to progress beyond project requirement definition in the next 12 months. My hon. Friend may wish to note in this context that the widely publicised high performance computer, which AWE have purchase to support the science-based programme, is being commissioned in an existing building.
Mr. Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list construction and engineering projects under way at AWE Aldermaston and Burghfield, and their estimated cost. [63449]
Dr. Moonie: With the exception of routine minor works in support of operations (at a cost of around #10 million a year), no construction and engineering projects are currently underway at these sites.
Psychiatric Services
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with representatives of Prior Healthcare regarding the provision of psychiatric services for armed forces personnel; what agreements have been reached; what they will cost; and if he will make a statement. [63188]
Dr. Moonie [holding answer 20 June 2002]: The Ministry of Defence has no formal agreements with the Priory Group but uses their services on an ad hoc basis for the treatment of a small number of armed forces personnel.
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F680 Procedure
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how a favourable judgment under the F680 Procedure is communicated to the applicant for that export licence; and how many export licences have been refused in each of the last five years following a favourable judgment upon them under the F680 procedure. [63689]
Dr. Moonie: The Government provides companies with marketing advice under the F680 procedure through issue of a standard letter. It is routinely made clear in such letters that the advice given does not constitute an export licence, nor does it prejudge a decision on the eventual consideration of an export licence application.
It is not possible to correlate F680 advice with export licensing decisions, as the processes are quite separate. For example, F680s may be seeking advice in general terms about marketing prospects which may relate partially to the export that is eventually licensed.
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many applications have been made for advice under the F680 procedure in each of the last five years. [63688]
Dr. Moonie: The total number of F680 applications received by the Ministry of Defence requesting marketing advice and release of classified information is shown in the table below:
| Year (1 January–31 December) | Number of Applications |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 2,219 |
| 1998 | 2,325 |
| 1999 | 2,092 |
| 2000 | 1,892 |
| 2001 | 1,732 |
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Household Waste (Composting)
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will publish quality standards for the composting of household waste. [51415]
Margaret Beckett [holding answer 19 April 2002]: There is currently a fully developed industry standard, produced by the Composting Association (CA), that is available to compost producers. The high quality of this standard is more likely to be met by source-separated organic waste (commercial or household), rather than by mixed household waste.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) are working with the CA and the British Standards Institute (BSI) to convert the existing industry standard into the fast track version (Publicly Available Specification) of a full national British Standard. They anticipate this will be available in the Autumn of this year. The CA, WRAP and BSI are considering options regarding certification schemes that could be linked with the PAS to encourage users of compost to demand a product that meets this standard;
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this in turn will encourage producers to make the investment necessary to achieve the standard in their production process.
Rural Economy
Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average wage was in rural communities in the last 10 years, broken down by constituency. [60864]
Alun Michael: Information on the average gross weekly earnings of employees in rural wards in 57 constituencies in England is contained in the table below. The sample sizes in the New Earnings Survey do not permit information to be generated for the other 243 constituencies that contain at least one rural ward.
Notes:
— Suppressed due to sample size and resultant imprecision.
1. Information is only readily available for 1996 and 2001.
2. Includes employees whose pay for the survey pay period was unaffected by absence.
3. Includes both full-time and part-time employees, but excludes those in self-employment.
4. Based on 1998 ward and constituency boundaries.
Sources:
Figures for average gross pay come from the New Earnings Survey, Office for National Statistics.
Classification of rural wards made by the Countryside Agency.
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GM Crops
Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to commission an economic assessment of the costs and benefits of GM crops. [62321]
Mr. Meacher: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 31 May that the Government are commissioning an economic assessment of the costs and benefits of GM crops. This will consider conventional and organic farming interests that might be affected by the commercialisation of GM crops, other commercial interests and the international dimension. The assessment will contribute to a full and informed public debate on GM issues.
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