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Bovine TB

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average time taken is (a) in the territory of each of her Department's regional offices, and (b) in England, between an animal reacting positive to a test for Bovine TB and that animal being taken for slaughter. [65472]

Margaret Beckett: The information requested is given in the table below.

The average length of time taken to remove TB-infected reactors from farms in each State Veterinary Service region with a breakdown between 21 June 2001 and 20 June 2002

SVS Region	Number of observations	Average no. days between date of reading the tuberculin test and date of slaughter
West	968	30.4
East	21	13.1
North	92	9.7
England total	1081	17.7

Note:

The TB-infected reactors reported are animals with a reaction to the tuberculin test that were compulsorily slaughtered and had samples submitted to VLA for microbiology. Provided that they (a) had lesions of TB visible at the slaughterhouse, and/or (b) VLA found the TB organism in the sample.

The time reported represents the number of days between reading the skin test and removing an animal from the farm.

Figures for West region include cases where animals became reactors in the month before the disruption of normal TB control procedures caused by Foot and Mouth Disease.

12 Jul 2002 : Column 1238W

Comprehensive Spending Review

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff have contributed to her Department's input to the Spending Review. [68680]

Mr. Morley: A small team of six staff reporting to the Director of Finance has co-ordinated input to the Spending Review, drawing on material contributed by staff across the Department.

National Parks

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the report of the Review of National Park Authorities will be published. [70288]

Mr. Michael: The report will be published tomorrow. Copies will be available in the House libraries and the vote office. The report will also be available on the Department's website: www:efra.gsi.gov.uk/ countryside-wildlife. The responses to the public consultation will be deposited in the Department's library.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Crown Prosecution Service

Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Solicitor-General what category of offences require the appointment of (a) a senior Treasury counsel, (b) a leading junior counsel and (c) a disclosure counsel by the CPS. [68084]

Solicitor-General: There are no categories of offence which require the appointment of a particular type of counsel but guidance is as follows: (a) Senior Treasury counsel:

The appointment of Treasury Counsel ought to be considered for prosecutions of the following offences:

Murder (including attempt/conspiracy/incitement).
Manslaughter.
Offences involving terrorism.
Official Secrets Act.
Unduly Lenient Sentences.
Cases where the Director (or the court) wishes to brief counsel as Amicus (Advocate to the Court), e.g. where PII is an issue.
Obscene Publications Act offences involving difficult questions of law or which are considered "sensitive", e.g. racial hatred.
Offences of "special rarity", e.g. blasphemy, piracy.
Serious offences committed by public servants (including police officers) tried at the Crown Court, the magistrates having declined jurisdiction.

12 Jul 2002 : Column 1239W

Serious offences by a public figure or person in the public eye.
Serious offences by a CPS employee.
Large scale public disorder.
Serious offences where the evidence includes a participating informer/cover police operation.
Offences where the prosecution is likely to make an ex parte application to withhold disclosure of sensitive material on PII grounds.
Offences by members of organised crime syndicates, e.g. Mafia; Triads; Yardies.
Multiple indictable only offences committed by one or more people, e.g. serial/gang rapes.
Robberies where a firearm was discharged.
Large scale/complex frauds.
"Sensitive" frauds, e.g. frauds:
(i) involving foreign government or foreign public bodies;
(ii) involving British public bodies or public figures in this country as either victims or defendants, e.g. very high profile businessmen; national or local politicians;
Local government officers; persons holding public office:
(i) which might generate grave public disquiet, e.g. offences by doctors or pharmacists against hospitals or the NHS;
(ii) involving national or local government spending and procurement;
(iii) where public confidence may be undermined, e.g. Pension fund frauds.

The list is not exhaustive and there will be other cases of sensitivity or complexity, which, regardless of the offence type, may warrant instructing Treasury Counsel.

Treasury Counsel are appointed by the Attorney General to advise on, and if necessary present, on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service, prosecutions of important and complex cases at the Central Criminal Court and other London Courts. (b) leading junior counsel

The CPS will adopt objective criteria in its decision to instruct a leading junior counsel. This will depend on a number of factors:

Number of defendants charged on the indictment.
The volume of the case (pages of documents).
The weight and complexity of the evidence.
Whether there are significant factors of gravity, sensitivity complexity or responsibility to warrant a leading junior counsel. (c) disclosure counsel by the CPS

The appointment/instruction of a disclosure counsel is considered by the CPS according to the merits of the individual case rather than by reference to any category of offences.

The term "disclosure counsel" is not commonly applied across CPS. In a small number of cases, junior counsel can be instructed specifically to assist in complex cases where there are voluminous quantities of unused material to be examined.

12 Jul 2002 : Column 1240W

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Drugs (Sport)

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will place a copy of Dr. Richard Johnson's report on drugs administration in the UK commissioned by the UK Sports Council in the Library. [69508]

Mr. Caborn: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the member for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey) on 9 July 2002, Official Report, column 865W.

Overseas Tourist Offices

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many tourist offices the UK has overseas; where they are located; and what plans she has to extend the UK tourist offices overseas. [66084]

Dr. Howells [pursuant to his reply, 4 July 2002, c. 515W]: The British Tourist Authority is active in Austria, Finland and Saudi Arabia but does not have physical offices in these countries. These markets are operated from the BTA's offices in Zurich, Stockholm and Dubai respectively.

CABINET OFFICE

Government Targets

Tony Wright: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list those targets which apply across Government and which are not contained in individual Departments' public service agreements. [64608]

Mr. Alexander: The Cabinet Office is responsible for the following such targets.

Targets which apply across government have been incorporated into its own Public Service Agreement (PSA) and across Departments through the guidance on Service Delivery Agreements (SDAs) which underpin PSAs. Examples include targets on:

electronic delivery;
handling correspondence promptly;
Civil Service Reform including diversity, interchange, sickness absence and other aspects of managing people.

Departmental PSAs/SDAs and related guidance are available on the HM Treasury website.

An area which is not currently included in PSA/SDAs is the National Learning Targets for 2002 which were adopted by the Civil Service in 1999:

50 per cent of adults to have at least a "level 3" qualification (roughly equivalent to 2 A-levels);
28 per cent of adults to have at least a "level 4" qualification (roughly equivalent to a first degree).

These are monitored separately by the Civil Service Corporate Management and Reform group within Cabinet Office.

12 Jul 2002 : Column 1241W

TREASURY

Waste Minimisation

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set aside funds in the comprehensive spending review to invest in waste minimisation. [68670]

Mr. Boateng: Spending Review 2002 is still under way, and until its completion it would be premature to comment on specific elements.

Waste growth is part of the broader challenge of reforming waste management in the UK. The Performance and Innovation Unit is currently undertaking a thorough review of waste policy, and waste minimisation is one of the issues that the Performance and Innovation Unit will address in their forthcoming report.

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