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31 Jul 1997 : Column WA77

Written Answers

Thursday, 31 July 1997.

EU Preferential Access for African Countries

Lord Moynihan asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they intend to improve market access to Africa and speed the reduction in debt to countries demonstrating significant economic reform.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean): The European Union already provides generous access to those African countries which are members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group, under the Lome Convention. The EU is currently looking at ways to improve preferential access for least developed countries, most of which are in Africa. The EU is also looking at ways to improve and simplify the rules of origin in order to allow developing countries to make better use of preferential access.

The Government believe that relief should be granted as quickly as possible to the poorest countries which are heavily burdened with debt, once they have demonstrated their commitment to significant economic reform.

Overseas Police and Military Training Commitments

Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will publish a list of the countries to which the United Kingdom gave bilateral aid in the form of training of police or military training respectively, giving in each case the cost in 1996-96 and 1996-97.

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: New commitments in 1995-96 and 1996-97 of development aid for policing are listed below. They include commitments of £100,000 or more; smaller commitments are not recorded centrally. The objectives of the projects that were approved include the strengthening of strategic planning, management and training capacity, the reorientation of police services to community policing, equality of opportunity, the development of anti-drugs, fraud and corruption programmes, and strengthening of communications and record keeping.

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	Commitments (£'000)
Country	1995-96	1996-97
Botswana		250
Ethiopia	2,394
Lesotho	300	330
Malawi	128	682
Rwanda		357
South Africa	1,350	7,196
Uganda	215
Zambia	696	172
Zimbabwe	364	6,438
British Virgin Islands	140
Montserrat	100	190
St. Kitts-Nevis	967
Asia Regional(1)		366
China		1,000
West Bank/Gaza		110
Hungary	128
Poland	103	130

(1) Anti drugs enforcement in east Asia.

The following countries have received military or associated police training sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office UK Military Training Assistance Scheme since 1995-96:

Albania

Angola

Anguilla

Antigua

Argentina

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Bahamas

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belarus

Belize

Bosnia

Botswana

Brazil

British Virgin Islands

Bulgaria

Cameroon

Cayman Islands

Chile

China

Costa Rica

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Dominica

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador

Estonia

Ethiopia

Fiji

Georgia

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Ghana

Grenada

Guatemala

Guyana

Honduras

Hungary

India

Indonesia

Ireland

Jamaica

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kyrgyzstan

Latvia

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia

Lithuania

Macedonia

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives

Malta

Mauritania

Mauritius

Moldova

Mongolia

Montserrat

Morocco

Mozambique

Namibia

Nepal

Nicaragua

Pakistan

Papua New Guinea

Philippines

Poland

Romania

Russian Federation

St. Kitts

St. Lucia

St. Vincent

Senegal

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Singapore

Slovakia

Slovenia

South Africa

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Sri Lanka

Swaziland

Tanzania

Thailand

Trinidad

Turks & Caicos

Turkmenistan

Uganda

Ukraine

Vanuatu

Yemen

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Estimated costs of the scheme were £17 million in 1995-96 and £16 million in 1996-97.

In addition, the Ministry of Defence subsidises military assistance provided to foreign governments when necessary to meet defence objectives.

International Development

The Earl of Sandwich asked Her Majesty's Government:

How the Department of Trade and Industry will be consulted in advance of the White Paper on International Development.

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: The Department of Trade and Industry is represented on a White Paper steering group comprising officials from the Department for International Development and other Whitehall Departments. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for International Development is also consulting the President of the Board of Trade and other ministerial colleagues on the contribution of their departments to the paper.

Development Education

The Earl of Sandwich asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will provide a new definition of "development education" as distinct from "public affairs" within the Department for International Development.

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: The Department for International Development is currently carrying out a fundamental rethink of its communications strategy. This will include a scrutiny of the means used to raise public awareness of international development issues as well as the department's public affairs function. The term "development education" is widely regarded as inadequate to describe the process by which people's awareness of and engagement in development issues is increased. We will be looking to strengthen our capacity for involving adults as well as educating school students and other young people.

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Callander Rifle and Pistol Club: Records

Lord Burton asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will place in the Library of the House a list of all the documents that were taken by the Procurator Fiscal from the Callander Rifle and Pistol Club in respect of the Dunblane shootings

The Lord Advocate (Lord Hardie): It would not be appropriate to place such a list in the Library, but lists of the documents which were taken into possession on behalf of the Procurator Fiscal will be made available to the club at its request.

Treasury Building: Refurbishment Project

Lord Graham of Edmonton asked Her Majesty's Government:

What progress has been made on the proposal to refurbish the Treasury building in Great George Street under the Private Finance Initiative.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: At a time when all departments are undertaking comprehensive spending reviews and are subject to tight expenditure controls, my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer was unwilling to embark on a major construction project of this scale, which would have involved substantial expenditure and significant financial risks for the other government occupants of the building in terms of the disposal of property elsewhere. The plans to refurbish the main Treasury building under the Private Finance Initiative represented good value for money in their own terms, but Ministers judged they had to have regard to wider considerations.

My right honourable friend the Chancellor has therefore decided to terminate negotiations with our private sector partner, Exchequer Partnership plc.

Windfall Tax: Impact

Lord Tebbit asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether, in pursuit of their policy of open government and freedom of information, they will publish all correspondence, notes, minutes, memoranda and submissions concerning the consultations between Ministers, officials, advisers and regulators relating to the likely effect of the "windfall tax" upon the companies upon whom it is to be levied.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: No. In line with normal practice, the Government will not publish the regulators' advice to Ministers. This was confidential and contained some observations that are commercially confidential. Similar considerations apply to other written material.

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Gambling Industry: Contribution to GDP

Lord Burnham asked Her Majesty's Government:

What, in percentage terms, the gaming industry in the United Kingdom (including bingo, betting shops and gaming machine arcades, but excluding the National Lottery) contributes to the United Kingdom's GDP.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics, who has been asked to reply.

Letter to Lord Burnham from the Director of the Office for National Statistics, Mr. T. Holt dated 31 July 1997.

I have been asked to reply as Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question on what, in percentage terms, the gaming industry in the United Kingdom (including bingo, betting shops and gaming machine arcades, but excluding the National Lottery) contributes to the United Kingdom's GDP.

The most recent assessment of the contribution of the gambling industry to GDP is that which shows its contribution to Consumers' Expenditure. At current market prices, including the National Lottery, Consumers' Expenditure in 1996 on betting and gaming (£6.4 billion) comprised 0.9 per cent of GDP (£742.3 billion).

Estimates of Consumers' Expenditure on betting and gaming excluding the National Lottery are not published separately. However, information on National Lottery ticket sales and prizes awarded is available from OFLOT, the regulatory body.

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