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Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the "mandate agreed by the Alliance as a whole" (Baroness Chalker of Wallasey, H.L. Deb., 10 February, WA 2) on which the Secretary General of NATO is negotiating with the Russian Government.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey: It is the authority invested in the NATO Secretary-General by the governments of the NATO allies to explore with Russia, within agreed parameters, the possibility of an agreement to deepen and widen the scope of the relationship between NATO and Russia and provide a framework for its future development.

Gulf War: Causes of Animal Deaths

The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will publish in the Official Report the text of the letter sent to the Countess of Mar by Earl Howe on 6 March about the cause of death of animals during the Gulf War.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Earl Howe): The text of the letter is given below.

"When we met today I promised to write to you setting out the explanation for the mistakes made in answering two of the Parliamentary Questions you asked last June and July.

"Your questions essentially related to the cause of death of large numbers of camels, sheep and goats which you said had been found during and after the Gulf War, and whether they had died as a result of chemical weapons exposure. These questions were passed to the Defence Nuclear Biological and Chemical (NBC) Defence Centre at Winterbourne Gunner for advice. The staff could not track down anyone with any knowledge of the events you described and eventually sought advice from a British Army veterinary officer who had served in the Gulf.

"This officer had been employed principally on non-veterinary duties but had been asked by the Kuwaitis to attend to sick animals when he reached Kuwait at the end of the war. In a telephone conversation with the Defence NBC Centre, he gave an account of the condition of animals he treated in Kuwait, including some dairy cattle suffering from the effects of starvation which appeared to have developed mouth ulcerations as a result of licking car batteries abandoned within their enclosure. He contacted the Centre for

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Tropical Veterinary Medicine in Edinburgh to check whether he might be overlooking a tropical disease, and he also sent them nasal swabs from the cattle.

"He was given advice and information by the Edinburgh Centre but he never received any acknowledgement of receipt, or the results of any analysis in respect of the samples. In his experience it was normal practice in such circumstances for results to be returned only if a disease had been identified. Meanwhile, he gave conventional treatment to the cattle, to which they responded well.

"Unfortunately, an officer at the Defence NBC Centre misunderstood the above information and wrongly concluded that samples of the animals referred to in your questions were sent to Edinburgh for analysis. Based on this, an incorrect answer was drafted. An accurate answer would have said that we were unable in the time available to find any information on the events which you describe.

"I very much regret that this error occurred and am grateful to you for accepting that what happened was the result of a misunderstanding.

"The Ministry of Defence is currently reviewing its instructions on how Parliamentary Questions should be answered in the light of the wrong answers given on the use of organophosphate pesticides in the Gulf War. I have also asked the department to make a further search to see if we have any information relevant to your original questions. I shall write to you again when this work is complete.

"I am placing a copy of this letter in the Libraries of both Houses and intend that this letter be published in the Official Report at the earliest opportunity."

MoD Litigation: Costs

Lord Burnham asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they intend to enforce court orders which may be imposed against servicemen or ex-servicemen who are not entitled to legal aid and who are unsuccessful in litigation entered into as a result of illnesses alleged to have been contracted as a result of service in the Gulf.

Earl Howe: My department's general policy is to seek to recover its costs where a case is successfully defended except where claimants are legally aided. However, if illness or injury can be shown, to the satisfaction of a court if necessary, to have resulted from MoD negligence in individual cases which are legally aided, and the same particular circumstances can be shown to apply to non-legally aided claimants, those individuals will not be forced by the MoD to enter into litigation to establish their own right to compensation.

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"Information Warfare" Disruption

Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they disagree with the conclusions of the task force appointed by the US Defense Department's Defense Science Board that "information warfare" will be an inexpensive means of causing chaos in both military and civilian systems given that information on how to break into systems is freely available on the Internet, and what resources, financial and of personnel, the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Trade and Industry are devoting to the study of these forms of warfare.

Earl Howe: The Ministry of Defence and the Department of Trade and Industry agree that the potential nature of "information warfare" is such that considerable disruption could be inexpensively caused to any computer systems that were not designed and operated to resist such attack.

Within the Ministry of Defence (as in the US Department of Defense) systems are designed with features to reduce the possibility of successful attack. It would not be appropriate to comment on the details of these security features, nor on the resources expended in developing such designs. However, the potential threat is kept under constant review and efforts to counter it are adjusted accordingly.

So far as the Department of Trade and Industry is concerned, this is one of the information security issues being addressed by that Department's Information Security Policy Group dedicated to helping UK business manage information security effectively and to represent the information security interests of business both within the UK and internationally.

Proceedings of the House: Media Coverage Monitoring

The Marquess of Ailesbury asked the Chairman of Committees:

Whether the Senior Information Officer is (a) authorised or (b) encouraged to issue factual public statements in rebuttal of factually incorrect public criticisms.

The Chairman of Committees (Lord Boston of Faversham): The Senior Information Officer has a responsibility to monitor media coverage of the proceedings of the House. The postholder does not at present have authority to rebut factually incorrect public criticisms but draws them to the attention of the Clerk of the Parliaments and gives advice as to whether any response should be made. Any action taken would depend on the circumstances of each case. The appointment of a Senior Information Officer has been made on an experimental basis for a period of two years. The responsibilities of the post will be reviewed in due course in the light of experience gained.

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Parliamentary Estate: Hairdressing Services

Lord Avebury asked the Chairman of Committees:

Whether, considering that the hairdresser is responsible for the provision of hairdressing service for Members, officers and staff of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and for others employed on the parliamentary estate, he will ask the Administration Committee of the House of Commons to consult the Administration and Works Sub-Committee of the House of Lords about the proposed change in the hairdressing arrangements, including the redundancy of Mr. Stephen Silverne.

The Chairman of Committees: The provision of hairdressing services is a matter for the House of Commons only. Mr. Silverne is an employee of the House of Commons and the extension of the service to members and staff of the House of Lords is a courtesy granted by kind permission of the House of Commons. The new arrangements are being introduced to allow a unisex service and there is no requirement that the Administration Committee of the House of Commons should consult the Administration and Works Sub-Committee in the House of Lords on this matter.

Parliamentary Data and Video Network: Performance

Lord Marlesford asked the Chairman of Committees:

What has been the total cost to date, split between software, hardware and other expenditure, of the Parliamentary Data and Video Network and whether he will indicate the total number of persons who now have access to it showing separately the number of Members of each House.

The Chairman of Committees: The Parliamentary Video and Data Network has been created within the life of the present Parliament. It is funded according to a rolling programme of expansion and stabilisation which will last into the next century. The amount spent is primarily a matter for the House of Commons which has provided most of the funding to date. The current number of user accounts on the PDVN is 1,742, of which 75 have been requested by Members of the House of Lords.

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