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Crown Servants in Overseas Posts: Eligibility
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Why the conditions of appointment of a forest resources management adviser, on contract to Her Majesty's Government, in service to the Government of Guyana, exclude applicants who are Commonwealth citizens without an established right of abode and right to work in the United Kingdom.
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Chalker of Wallasey): People employed by ODA in overseas posts are Crown servants and the eligibility criteria follow the rules governing entry into the United Kingdom Civil Service. Applicants must therefore be citizens of one of the member states of the European economic area or Commonwealth citizens with an established right of abode and the right to work in the United Kingdom.
Turkey: Treatment of Prisoners
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether remand and convicted prisoners in Turkey are subjected to the same regime; and if so, whether that violates any international conventions, and which.
Baroness Chalker of Wallasey: We understand conditions for remand and convicted prisoners in Turkey are the same. It is open to individuals to petition the European Commission of Human Rights directly where they consider that their detention conditions violate obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Botswana: Wildlife Conservation
Lord Beaumont of Whitley asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What steps they are taking following recent suggestions (for example, in Ecological Economics Vol. 18, No. 3) that the international community should be assisting Botswana to find sustainable means of maintaining the elephant population.
Baroness Chalker of Wallasey: We are assisting the Government of Botswana to conserve and manage their wildlife resources through a programme to support and strengthen the management and operation of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks.
Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds
Lord Freyberg asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether there was a shortfall in the estimated number of paying visitors to the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds in the first six months of its operation, and, if so, how great was this shortfall.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of National Heritage, (Lord Inglewood): I understand that visitor figures for the first nine months of operation of the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds will be released by the commercial partner, Royal Armouries International plc, at the end of its current financial year, December 1996.
Lord Freyberg asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether funds set aside for purchasing items for the new Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds have been transferred to any part of the administration of the museum.
Lord Inglewood: I understand that the Board of Trustees of the Royal Armouries agreed in April 1994 to transfer £100,000 from its collection acquisitions budget for the marketing of the new museum in Leeds in the financial years 1995-96 and 1996-97.
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority: Review
Baroness Seccombe asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will announce changes in membership of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and whether they will announce what was the outcome of the quinquennial review of the Authority.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Cumberlege): We are pleased to announce that the following have been appointed members of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for three years from today:
- Dr. Gulum Bahadur, Clinical Biochemist at the University College and Middlesex School of Medicine;
- Dr. Ruth Chambers, General Practitioner and Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Primary Health Care, University of Keele; and Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners;
- Professor Christine Gosden, Professor of Medical Genetics, University of Liverpool, at Liverpool Women's Hospital;
- Professor Stuart Lewis, Professor of Psychology Applied to Medicine in the School of Clinical Medicine at Queen's University, Belfast.
In all, 15 members of the authority completed their terms this year. Ten members have been re-appointed, for terms varying between one and three years in order to avoid a large number of members completing their period of tenure at the same time:
| Members | Period |
| Diana Lady Brittan (Deputy Chairman) | 1 year |
| Ms Liz Forgan | 2 years |
| Most Reverend Richard Holloway | 1 year |
| Professor Martin Johnson | 3 years |
| Mr. Richard Jones | 2 years 3 months |
| Dr. Brian Lieberman | 3 years |
| Ms Angela Mays | 1 year |
| Dr. Anne McLaren | 2 years |
| Julia Lady Tugendhat | 3 years |
| Mr. John Williams | 2 years 3 months |
These appointments were all made in accordance with guidance issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments following the First Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life (the Nolan Report Cm 2850-1, May 1995).
The members have been selected on the basis of their experience and personal qualities. They have been chosen so as to ensure that the authority is informed by
views and experience across a wide range of relevant disciplines.We are very grateful to Professor Robert Berry, Ms Joan Harbison, Professor Stephen Hillier, and Ms Penelope Keith who are retiring, having served with the authority since its inception in 1990.
In common with all executive non-departmental public bodies, the HFEA is subject to a review every five years. The first such review of the HFEA, carried out by Mr. M. G. Lillywhite, has been completed. We have placed a copy of the report to United Kingdom Health Ministers in the Library.
The review concluded that the case for an independent statutory body in the field of human
fertilisation and embryology remains valid and that there is no other body which might perform the function of the HFEA more effectively. Mr. Lillywhite made 17 recommendations, which we have accepted and for which the HFEA has agreed an implementation plan. In particular, the authority's management statement, which we placed in the Library, announced on 24th July 1996, in another place, (at col. 524 of Hansard) provides for the production of annual business plans and a corporate plan. We shall also be holding the authority to account in future through an annual accountability review.We are very grateful to Mr. Lillywhite for his thorough report. We reaffirm our appreciation of the work undertaken by the HFEA in line with its responsibilities under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.
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