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Birch Varieties for Commercial Planting
Lord Moran asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What progress has been made with research on the possible use of varieties of birch in commercial forestry in this country.
Lord Sewel: The Forestry Commission has asked the Timber Research and Development Association to investigate how modern technology has expanded the range of use for birch timber. The results of this investigation will be used to plan a research programme to help select appropriate varieties for planting. In the meantime, as part of a continuing project to improve the quality of birch in Britain, the Commission has established research plots of seedlings grown from seed collected from high quality stands in northern Britain. In addition, the Highland Birchwoods Initiative was set up in 1992 with the main aims of restoring and extending the birchwoods in the Highlands and promoting the positive management of birchwoods for conservation, amenity and sustainable utilisation of timber and other products.
Armed Forces: Overseas Service
Lord Trefgarne asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will list the countries of the world in which Her Majesty's Armed Forces are serving, showing the numbers in each case.
The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Gilbert): According to available records, on 1 April this year there were 45,139 UK Service personnel serving overseas in the following countries and dependent territories:
- Ascension Island
- Australia
- Austria
- Algeria
- Angola
- Antigua
- Bahrain
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bermuda
- Belgium
- Botswana
- British Virgin Islands
- Brazil
- Brunei
- Canada
- Colombia
- Congo
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Diego Garcia
- Egypt
- Estonia
- Ethiopia
- Falkland Islands
- France
- Former Yugoslavia
- Gabon
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Indonesia
- Italy
- Jordan
- Kenya
- Kuwait
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lithuania
- Malaysia
- Mauritius
- Nepal
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Pakistan
- Portugal
- Oman
- Republic of Ireland
- Rwanda
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Sierra Leone
- South Africa
- South Georgia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- Turkey
- United Arab Emirates
- Ukraine
- United States
- Zaire
- Zimbabwe
Joint Services Command and Staff College
Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether additional costs have arisen, and further costs are expected to arise, from temporary accommodation for the Joint Services Combined
Staff College, from refurbishing the original accommodation at Greenwich, and from moving the reactor and reactor training away from Greenwich.
Lord Gilbert: The Consultation Document placed in the Library of the House on 5 March 1996 indicated that the cost of establishing the necessary interim accommodation for the Joint Services' Command and Staff College was some £11.45 million. The work is currently on course for completion by September 1997, on time and at a cost of under £10 million. When Greenwich accommodation is vacated, the Government, as the outgoing occupant, are obliged to fund dilapidations rather than refurbishment. Such costs would also have been incurred had MoD remained at Greenwich. Investment appraisals over a 14-year period have shown that the costs of decommissioning JASON are more than counterbalanced by the savings attributable to the relocation of the Department of Nuclear Science and Technology to HMS "Sultan", instead of maintaining it, and JASON, at Greenwich.
Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What would now be the cost of developing appropriate accommodation for the Joint Services Combined Staff College (JSCSC) at the present JSCSC property at Greenwich Palace and in the immediate neighbourhood.
Lord Gilbert: I am advised that, when the various options for the future Joint Services' Command and Staff College were considered in early 1995, (the Consultative Document published in January 1995 refers), the Greenwich-based option at £256.0 million Net Present Value over 25 years (subsequently revised to £253.9 million, both in 1994-95 prices), was some 25 per cent. higher than the Camberley option, which then became the basis for the Public Sector Comparator in the PFI competition. A detailed reassessment of the cost of a Greenwich option would be time-consuming and costly and could not be justified at this stage. However, using an index for general defence inflation to uprate the £253.9 million to current costs gives a figure of approximately £289.4 million. Under this option the teaching and single living accommodation
would have been at Greenwich, but married accommodation at Biggin Hill and possibly even Chatham would have been needed.
Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether the Strategic Defence Review will include a re-examination of the decision to build a new
£500 million home for the Joint Services Combined Staff College in a green-field site in South Oxfordshire.
Lord Gilbert: The provision of a new JSCSC by means of a competitive PFI procurement is one of the MoD's highest priorities. The requirement for high quality Command and Staff training and the importance we attach to increasing the opportunities for joint training will not be affected by the Strategic Defence Review. Since their selection as preferred bidders in February, negotiations have continued with Defence Management regarding their proposals for a permanent JSCSC at Shrivenham. A contract will be placed as soon as negotiations can be satisfactorily completed.
Plutonium
Lord Jenkins of Putney asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What is the total amount of plutonium currently deployed in the United Kingdom's nuclear weapons.
Lord Gilbert: I am withholding the information requested in accordance with the Code of Practice on Open Government, Exemption 1.
Meat Product Imports from EU: Controls
The Earl of Haddington asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What measures they are taking to ensure that meat products imported from the European Union are of the same high standard as that presently adopted in the United Kingdom; and if these meat products are not of the same standard, what measures they will take to encourage the attainment of such standards by European Union exporters of meat products into the United Kingdom market.
The Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Donoughue): All consignments of meat products imported into the UK from other member states must have been produced in accordance with harmonised Community rules laid down in Council Directive 77/99/EEC (as amended). As regards fresh meat, the harmonised rules are laid down in Council Directive 64/443 (as amended).
My right honourable friend announced on 5 June that the Government were opening consultations on proposals which would mean that the requirement in the Specified Bovine Material Order to remove and dispose of specified tissues would apply not only to carcases of bovine animals which have died or been slaughtered in
the United Kingdom but also to bovine material which has been imported into the UK and to imported products containing or derived from such material. The timing of implementation of the proposed measures will be considered in the light of progress in discussions in the Agriculture Council this week on EU-wide controls on specified risk materials in cattle, sheep and goats.Foodstuffs: Chemical Contamination
Lord Carmichael of Kelvingrove asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they hold statistics of chemical contamination incidents involving foodstuffs and, if so, whether these statistics are available to the public.
Lord Donoughue: The department compiles annual reports on all such incidents reported to it. These reports are available to enquirers, free of charge. The latest report by the department's Incident Response Team, entitled Food Protection 1996, has been placed in the Library of the House.
Common Agricultural Policy
Lord Pearson of Rannoch asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How much money each country of the EU gives or receives annually under the common agricultural policy and how they expect these figures to change over the next two years.
Lord Donoughue: Member states contribute to the EU budget as a whole, and not to any particular part. The CAP currently accounts for about half of EU budget expenditure. As an indicator of contributions and receipts in 1996, the table below shows by member state, in column (a) percentage gross contribution to the EU, in column (b) percentage distribution of common agricultural policy receipts, and in column (c) the sterling equivalent (£ million) of CAP receipts. Developments over the next two years will depend on a variety of factors, including the weather, trade flows, changes in the animal health situation, and decisions to be taken by the Council of Ministers, and cannot be predicted.
| (a) | (b) | (c) | |
| Belgium | 3.9 | 2.9 | 952 |
| Denmark | 1.9 | 3.5 | 1,126 |
| Germany | 30.0 | 15.5 | 5,023 |
| Greece | 1.5 | 7.2 | 2,340 |
| Spain | 6.3 | 10.4 | 3,361 |
| France | 17.4 | 24.5 | 7,939 |
| Ireland | 0.9 | 4.4 | 1,412 |
| Italy | 12.0 | 10.8 | 3,505 |
| Luxembourg | 0.2 | 0.1 | 17 |
| Netherlands | 5.9 | 3.9 | 1,275 |
| Austria | 2.9 | 3.1 | 1,007 |
| Portugal | 1.4 | 1.7 | 536 |
| Finland | 1.5 | 1.7 | 538 |
| Sweden | 2.9 | 1.6 | 517 |
| UK | 11.3 | 8.9 | 2,880 |
Notes:
The UK gross contribution is net of the Fontainebleau abatement.
CAP receipts converted into sterling from ecu equivalent using 1996 average exchange rate of £1 = 1.204 ecu.
Sources:
Gross contributions: 1996 Supplementary and Amending Budget.
CAP receipts:
Draft 1996 FEOGA Report.