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National Insurance

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff of the Contributions Agency are employed on soliciting national insurance contributions for non-employed persons currently resident abroad; at what cost in the last year for which figures are available; and what the average annual revenue from such overseas residents was over the last three years. [71181]

Dawn Primarolo: The information is not available.

Commonwealth Education Fund

Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his press release of 26 June on the Commonwealth education fund, under which expenditure heading of which Department matching funding for Sports Relief fund-raising appears; what his provisional estimate of expenditure under this heading is; and whether such matched funding represents net additional Government expenditure which would not have occurred in the above of Sports Relief's activities. [70940]

John Healey: Matching funds provided by the Government to Sports Relief will be disbursed through the Department for International Development and will form part of DFID's development assistance spending on education. Based on provisional estimates provided by Sports Relief, DFID is expecting to provide up to £4.4 million to support Sports Relief's education projects in Commonwealth developing countries.

The matched funding provided to Sports Relief represents net additional Government expenditure, and is additional to the provision made for DFID in 2002–03 and 2003–04.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Gibraltar

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what recent representations he has received from the citizens of Gibraltar about the future status of their territory; [69657]

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(2) what measures his Department has undertaken to collect the views of (a) citizens of Gibraltar and (b) the elected local representatives of those citizens regarding negotiations with Spain; [69655]

(3) what recent representations his Department has received regarding the views of (a) citizens of Gibraltar and (b) the elected local representatives of those citizens regarding negotiations with Spain. [69656]

Peter Hain [holding answer 17 July 2002]: I visited Gibraltar on 6 September and my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary visited Gibraltar on 3 May. We both met a wide range of citizens and local representatives, many of whom I have also subsequently met during their visits to London. We remain in regular contact with the Chief Minister in writing and through the Governor of Gibraltar.

As my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary said in the House on 12 July 2002, Official Report, column 1167, we have wanted the Chief Minister of Gibraltar at the Brussels Process talks. The Chief Minister has been invited to all three Brussels Process meetings since the Process was relaunched in July 2001. He has chosen not to attend. That offer still stands under the long-standing "two flags three voices" formula. Both we and Spain want the Government and people of Gibraltar to be fully engaged in talks about their own future.

International Criminal Court

Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his European counterparts with regard to the United States Government's position on the International Criminal Court; and if he will make a statement. [70670]

Mr. MacShane: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary was in close contact with his European counterparts in the period leading up to the unanimous adoption by the UN Security Council, on 12 July, on the International Criminal Court.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Advertising

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the expenditure was per campaign for the five most expensive media advertising campaigns her Department undertook in the past five parliamentary Sessions including the current parliamentary Session in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland; and, for the last two parliamentary Sessions and the current Session, when each advertising campaign (i) began and (ii) ended in (A) England, (B) Wales and (C) Northern Ireland. [37416]

Mr. Morley: As DEFRA did not exist prior to June 2001, information on expenditure for previous years is unavailable. DEFRA centralised publicity expenditure is not recorded in the format requested.

Supporting the eradication of the foot and mouth disease outbreak overshadowed all normal DEFRA media campaign activity during the financial year 2001–02. The

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Department chose to focus its publicity activities on poster campaigns, events, shows, publications and direct targeted mailings.

Separate to the foot and mouth crisis, one major advertising campaign was launched. This was the 'Your Countryside, You're Welcome' campaign which cost £250,000.

Centralised DEFRA publicity expenditure by geographical territory for the financial year 2001–02 is as follows:

	£
England	688,907
England and Wales	421,855
United Kingdom	2,209,319
Total	3,320,081

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the publicity and advertising campaigns run by her Department in each of the last four years, specifying the (a) purpose, (b) cost to public funds, (c) number of staff involved and (d) method of evaluation in each case. [39093]

Mr. Morley: As DEFRA was created in June 2001; information prior to this date is unavailable.

The purpose of any DEFRA publicity or advertising campaign is determined by the Department's aims and objectives. In the financial year 2001–02, DEFRA's centralised publicity expenditure was £3.5 million. A list of publicity activities including advertising is as follows: the items shown include campaigns, events and literature.

The average number of staff in the publicity section of DEFRA's communications directorate is 20.

Publicity and advertising campaigns for financial year 2001–02
Corporate publicity campaign
Action Plan for Farming material
'Countryside Matters' campaign
State Veterinary Journal (recruitment advertising)
Pet Travel Scheme material
Fruit Focus 2001 event
The East of England Show 2001
The Game Fair 2001
The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2001
The Tatton Park Flower Show 2001
BBC TV Gardeners' World Live 2001 event
Countryside Stewardship Letter
DEFRA Touring Exhibition
Agenda 2000 and Rural Payments Agency (CAP)
Literature
Arable Area Payments Scheme literature
Beef Special Premium Scheme literature
Hill Farm Allowances literature
Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) literature
Sheep Annual Premium Scheme literature
Sheep Annual Premium Scheme Quotas literature
Suckler Cow Premium Scheme literature
Agricultural Wages Board literature
Arable Stewardship Scheme literature
Countryside Stewardship Scheme literature

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Environmentally Sensitive Areas literature
EAGGF Objective 1 (CAP scheme) literature
EAGGF (Objective 5B and Leader II Programme CAP schemes) literature
Farm Waste Grant (Nitrate Vulnerable Zone) Scheme literature
Farm Woodland Premium Scheme literature
Flock Record Book/Herd Register material
Habitat Scheme literature
Organic Conversion Information Service literature
Organic Farming Scheme literature
Pet Passport Certificates
Pig Industry Restructuring Scheme literature
Producer Organisations Aid Scheme literature
Rural Development Regulations literature
Scrapie National Plan literature
Slaughter Premium Scheme literature
Extensification Payments Scheme literature
England Rural Development Programme material
Energy Crops Scheme literature
Hill Farm Allowance Scheme literature
Processing and Marketing Scheme literature
Rural Enterprises Scheme material
Vocational Training Scheme literature
Agricultural Wages Board literature
Landscape (Staff Magazine) re-design
Managing Stress Booklet
Modernising Government Booklet
'Leader Plus' staff development project literature
Stewardship Newsletter
Environment R and D Newsletter
Flood Defence Newsletter
Good Agricultural Practice Codes.

Asbestos

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the level of water supply in the UK carried through blue asbestos pipes. [39243]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 28 February 2002]: The principal asbestos constituent of water supply pipes has been white asbestos. No water supply in the UK is carried through pipes constructed in blue asbestos, although traces of blue and brown asbestos are likely to have been present in the white asbestos construction materials.

Regional use of asbestos cement water supply pipes varied considerably but approximately 10 per cent. of existing pipes in the UK are believed to consist of that material.

The World Health Organisation included an opinion on asbestos cement pipes in their 1993 edition of "Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality". The guidelines include the following statement "Although well studied, there has been little convincing evidence of the carcinogenicity of ingested asbestos in epidemiological studies of populations with drinking water supplies containing high concentrations of asbestos. Moreover in extensive studies in animal species, asbestos has not consistently increased the incidence of tumours of the gastrointestinal tract."

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