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Written Answers to Questions
Monday 23 November 1992
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Access to Children
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to improve the operation of access to children by their fathers where mothers and children have moved away from the area where the families lived before divorce ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The law relating to access to children was comprehensively reformed in the Children Act 1989 and the Government have no current plans for further change. The arrangements enabling children to see a parent who lives in another area are primarily matters to be worked out by those concerned.
ACCOMMODATION AND WORKS COMMITTEE
Department of the Official Report
Mr. Steen : To ask the Chairman of the Accommodation and Works Committee at what level the expenditure on (a) new carpets, (b) new lighting and (c) new desks and chairs was approved for the rooms occupied by the Department of the Official Report ; what was the cost ; and which company in which EC country was the manufacturer and supplier.
Mr. Ray Powell : Detailed operational responsibility for these matters lies with the Director of Works. I shall ask him to write to the hon. Member.
ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE
Glasses
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee if he will make a statement on the reasons for the purchase of French-made glasses for use in Standing Committee rooms.
Mr. Michael J. Martin : This is a matter for the Serjeant at Arms. I shall ask him to write to the hon. Member.
EDUCATION
School Governors
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the percentage of school governors nationally from the ethnic minorities.
Mr. Forth : A survey carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research in 1990 found that
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just over 1 per cent. of school governors were from ethnic minority groups. A further survey is currently being carried out, the results of which should be available in March.Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what measures he has taken to increase the percentage of school governors from ethnic minorities.
Mr. Forth : Throughout this year's "Schools Need Governors" campaign we have made clear that we would like people from the ethnic minorities to put themselves forward to be school governors. Our publicity leaflet and poster were translated into eight ethnic minority languages. Of the six individual governors featured in the leaflet, two were from the ethnic minorities.
Textiles and Home Economics
Mr. Jon Owen Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what provisions will be made under the national curriculum to ensure that textiles and home economics will be taught.
Mr. Forth : Aspects of home economics are covered in a number of national curriculum subjects, including mathematics, science and technology. My right hon. Friends, the Secretaries of State for Education and for Wales are currently considering the recommendations of the National Curriculum technology review group and will make a full statement when their joint proposals are published for consultation towards the end of the year. There are no changes proposed to the national curriculum mathematics or science orders.
School Field Trips
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list the number of school field trips by local education authority for each year since 1985 and the number of pupils/students that have attended them ; and what assessment he has made of the effects charges have had upon school field trips.
Mr. Forth : Information on the number of school trips and the number of pupils attending them is not collected centrally. The Government have, however, been monitoring the effects of the legislation on charging contained in the Education Reform Act 1988. A survey of schools undertaken by the National Foundation for Educational Research, published in 1991 showed that the law had not led to any significant change in the number of school field trips.
Language Teachers
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement on the general availability of language teachers in the United Kingdom ; and what measures he will take to increase their number.
Mr. Forth : For England and Wales, in January 1992 secondary schools reported that only 1.2 per cent.--162--of teaching posts in modern foreign languages were vacant.
A £1,500 tax-free bursary has been offered since 1990 to encourage graduates to undertake initial teacher training in modern foreign languages. Recruitment to such training rose in 1990 and 1991 by 30.3 per cent. and 35.2 per cent. respectively, and 1992 is expected to show a further increase.
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Information in respect of Scotland and Northern Ireland is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.School Governors (Interviews)
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will issue guidelines to school governors on interviewing practice in respect of interviewing disabled applicants.
Mr. Forth : No. Governor training is an LEA responsibility and most provide training on appointing staff, which will include interviewing skills.
Disabled People
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) if he will make it his policy to amend the draft medical questionnaire distributed to initial teacher trainees so as to reflect a more positive attitude to disablement and disabled people ;
(2) if he will consult the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation in connection with the draft medical questionnaire sent out to prospective teachers ;
(3) if he will make it his policy to issue guidelines to local education authorities to secure the retention of disabled teachers.
Mr. Forth : Officials from the Department have recently met representatives from the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation to discuss these matters. Further representations from RADAR have been invited. I shall consider them carefully.
Choice and Diversity"
Mr. O'Hara : To ask the Secretary of State for Education which teacher unions he or his Ministers met to discuss the White Paper "Choice and Diversity" ; and which organisations otherwise representing teachers were consulted.
Mr. Forth : The main teacher unions and organisations representing teachers were invited to comment on the White Paper. Their comments along with close to 1,000 other responses received, were carefully considered. My noble Friend the Minister of State addressed a conference for the Professional Association of Teachers on the subject of the White Paper.
Grant-maintained Schools
Mr. Bradley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what are the criteria used to determine the spending levels on education for grant- maintained (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools ; what was the total spending in each category for each of the last two years ; and if he will divide these figures by region.
Mr. Forth : Grant-maintained schools receive the bulk of recurrent funding in annual maintenance grant--AMG. This is based on the levels of funding that schools could have expected to have received if still maintained by the relevant local education authority, including elements for spending on central services and school meals. The level of AMG for each school reflects spending decisions by individual local education authorities, from whom the grants are recouped.
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Grant-maintained schools are eligible to receive transitional, special purpose and capital grants direct from the Department. The level of these grants is fixed each year, taking account of the level of funding schools need to meet their particular responsibilities as self-governing schools. Most of this funding is allocated on a simple formula basis with no differentiation between primary and secondary schools. Allocations for major capital projects are based on an assessment of school bids against a set of priorities notified to schools in advance.Total spending on grant-maintained primary schools was nil in 1990-91 and £3 million in 1991-92. Total spending on grant-maintained secondary schools was £68 million in 1990-91 and £179 million in 1991-92. The table shows how these totals break down by region :
£ million
1990-91 1991-92
|Secondary|Primary |Secondary
-----------------------------------------------------------------
North |0.0 |0.0 |1.4
North West |11.7 |0.4 |14.0
Yorkshire and Humberside |2.3 |0.1 |7.3
West Midlands |7.5 |0.0 |18.8
East Midlands |9.2 |1.2 |21.1
East Anglia |0.5 |0.8 |2.3
South East |29.2 |0.6 |97.1
South West |8.1 |0.0 |16.6
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many letters of complaint he has received from parents in Nottinghamshire about the county council's approach to opt-out ballots.
Mr. Forth : Nottinghamshire county council has made plain its opposition to parents seeking grant-maintained status for their children's schools, including through letters to parents which may be misleading. The Department has not so far received letters of complaint from parents about the council's approach to ballots, though informal complaints are made through a number of channels including in correspondence with hon. Members.
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his reply of 12 November, Official Report, column 893, what was the number of formal complaints made to his Department from parents alleging misconduct by a headteacher or a governing body during the holding of a parental ballot on grant-maintained status.
Mr. Forth : The information is not available in the form requested.
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what level of grant was given in 1991-92 to the Grant Maintained Schools Trust.
Mr. Forth : No grant has been given to the Grant Maintained Schools Trust. Grant of £600,000 was paid to the Grant Maintained Schools Centre in 1991-92.
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his reply of 12 November, Official Report, column 893, how many formal complaints have been made to his Department from parents alleging misconduct by a local education authority during the holding of a parental ballot on grant-maintained status.
Mr. Forth : The information is not available in the form requested.
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Hearing-impaired Children
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps are currently being undertaken by his Department to encourage more young people to become qualified teachers of hearing-impaired children.
Mr. Forth : The Department assists local education authorities in England with the costs of training qualified teachers to become teachers of pupils with special educational needs. It does this through the grants for education support and training programme which supports the training of hearing-impaired pupils. The amount of LEA expenditure to be supported for this training is being raised from £7.2 million in 1992-93 to £10 million in 1993-94.
Police Vetting
Miss Lestor : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance has been issued during the past 12 months to local education authorities who because of staff shortages may need to employ persons not yet cleared by the established police vetting procedure.
Rising-Fives
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list those local education authorities in England and Wales which have a policy of once a year entry to school for rising five-year-olds ; what entry procedures the remaining authorities employ ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : Information on Welsh practice is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Wales. The term "rising fives" usually relates to children who are still four at the outset of a school term but will reach five before the term is over. A policy of admitting "rising fives" is thus one involving termly admissions to primary school. This practice has been widespread in England for years. We are aware that, more recently, numbers of local education authorities have adopted, or moved towards, a single entry date at the start of the school year in which a child becomes five, but records of individual authorities' practices are not kept centrally.
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance he gives to local education authorities about the timing of entry into schools of rising five-year-olds ; and if he has any plans to change the current arrangements.
Mr. Forth : Local education authorities are required to secure that all children receive schooling from the start of the term following their fifth birthday. The admission of younger children is a matter for local discretion. My right hon. Friend has issued no guidance on the arrangements that might be made in this discretionary area and has no plans to do so.
Teacher Training
Mr. Pickthall : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what measures he is taking to ensure the viability of enlarged in-school initial training for teachers in small primary schools ;
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(2) what information he has received on the effect of his proposals for changes in teacher education for the primary sector on teacher supply.Mr. Forth : My right hon. Friend has made no proposals for changes in the training of primary school teachers. He intends to introduce changes to primary training, to improve its quality by making it more school-based and more closely related to what schools will need to achieve the higher standards envisaged in "Choice and Diversity", by no later than September 1994.
Sandwich Courses
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take steps to collect information in respect of students undertaking sandwich courses in higher education who are having difficulty in securing the required industrial placements.
Mr. Forman : I am aware of the difficulty higher education institutions are having at present in securing industrial placements for some of their sandwich course students. This is essentially a matter for the institutions themselves, in conjunction with employers.
Undergraduates (Fees)
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the total expenditure in respect of tuition fees for undergraduate courses in universities and polytechnics in the latest year for which figures are available ; and how much of this was for students not qualifying for a mandatory maintenance grant on grounds of high parental income.
Mr. Forman : Tuition fee expenditure on mandatory awards for first degree students in universities, polytechnics and colleges in England and Wales was £680 million in the academic year 1990-91. Information on fee expenditure for students receiving a nil maintenance grant because of high parental or other income is not available. However, 27.4 per cent. of students in receipt of mandatory awards received nil maintenance.
Discretionary Awards
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will set out for each local education authority in rank order the expenditure on major discretionary awards per head of adult population for the latest year for which figures are available.
Mr. Forman : The available information is given in the table and excludes awards made to students by the London residuary body. Trafford and Isles of Scilly, included with Cornwall, made no full value awards.
Local authority |Total expenditure on
|full value
|discretionary
|awards per head of
|the adult
|population<1>
|1990-91 (£)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
North Yorkshire |13.63
Knowsley |9.97
Wandsworth |9.83
Liverpool |7.82
Powys |7.53
Cheshire |6.96
Leicestershire |6.91
Walsall |6.45
Wirral |6.41
Cumbria |6.38
Suffolk |5.78
Devon |5.56
Humberside |5.52
Gloucestershire |5.33
Kirklees |5.26
Lambeth |5.21
Hampshire |5.19
Dorset |5.16
Barnsley |5.13
Redbridge |4.83
Shropshire |4.75
Lancashire |4.73
City of London |4.67
Lewisham |4.50
Hackney |4.37
South Glamorgan |4.34
Gateshead |4.30
Bradford |4.26
Somerset |4.17
Richmond |4.12
Bolton |4.08
Clwyd |4.06
Southwark |4.06
Brent |4.05
Cleveland |4.05
Durham |3.94
Sefton |3.89
Kingston |3.85
Kent |3.83
South Tyneside |3.80
Ealing |3.74
North Tyneside |3.70
West Glamorgan |3.58
Waltham Forest |3.50
Norfolk |3.49
Isle of Wight |3.39
Bury |3.36
Nottinghamshire |3.35
Cambridgeshire |3.33
Tower Hamlets |3.33
Kensington |3.31
Wakefield |3.22
Calderdale |3.19
Bromley |3.11
Lincolnshire |3.03
Wiltshire |2.89
Cornwall/Isles of Scilly<2> |2.83
Newham |2.79
Northumberland |2.68
Hereford and Worcester |2.66
Leeds |2.66
Oxfordshire |2.63
Northamptonshire |2.56
Hammersmith |2.49
Harrow |2.39
Havering |2.35
Sandwell |2.34
Buckinghamshire |2.33
Gwent |2.32
Birmingham |2.31
Rochdale |2.25
Essex |2.21
Barking |2.15
Enfield |2.15
Bexley |2.09
Greenwich |2.09
Croydon |2.04
Doncaster |1.96
Sutton |1.91
Mid Glamorgan |1.91
Newcastle |1.81
Staffordshire |1.81
Bedfordshire |1.80
Solihull |1.76
Hertfordshire |1.70
Hillingdon |1.68
Westminster |1.64
Oldham |1.64
Surrey |1.62
Derbyshire |1.56
Merton |1.55
Stockport |1.51
Dyfed |1.50
Warwickshire |1.42
East Sussex |1.40
St. Helens |1.39
Tameside |1.39
Rotherham |1.29
Hounslow |1.28
Manchester |1.21
Wolverhampton |1.14
Dudley |1.12
Wigan |1.07
Coventry |1.05
West Sussex |1.01
Sheffield |1.00
Salford |0.84
Haringey |0.72
Barnet |0.56
Islington |0.41
Gwynedd |0.21
Trafford |0.00
Sunderland<3> |n/a
Camden<3> |n/a
Berkshire<3> |n/a
Avon<3> |n/a
Notes:
<1> Mid 1989 projections of mid 1991 population aged 16 and over.
<2> Cornwall and Isles of Scilly combined because separate population
data not available (Isles of Scilly made no full value awards during
1990-91).
<3> LEAs unable to supply appropriate information.
Choice in Education
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what official contact Ministers and officials in his Department have had with Choice in Education in the last 12 months.
Mr. Forth : Officials from the Department meet representatives of Choice in Education from time to time. Choice in Education receives no grant from the Government.
CHURCH COMMISSIONERS
Private Detectives
Mr. Cohen : To ask the right hon. Member for Selby, as representing the Church Commissioners, what use the Church Commissioners have made of private detectives in each of the last five years ; at what cost ; and if he will list the firms involved.
Mr. Michael Alison : The Commissioners have used private detectives over the last five years to trace and to
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serve legal documents on debtors. Information on the cost in each case is held on a case by case basis and the total cost is not, therefore, readily calculable. The firms involved are Andersons ; Barrington Investigations ; D-Tech ; Finlay's Bureau of Investigations Ltd. ; Lewis and Elliott ; MacNab and Co ; Madagans ; M. J. Kane and Associates ; Nicholas Linden and Pinkertons.FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Agencies
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those agencies in his Department which are being considered for privatisation or contractorisation.
Mr. Goodlad : The scope for privatisation or contractorisation of Wilton Park and the Natural Resources Institute is considered as part of each agency's three-year review. The three-year review of the Natural Resources Institute is currently being undertaken. It will consider, inter alia, the strategic options.
Iran
Mr. Jon Owen Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will lodge a formal complaint with the Iranian Government over recent breaches of human rights in Iran.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The abuse of human rights in Iran continues to cause us deep concern. We have made this clear on many occasions, both bilaterally and together with our EC partners, and will continue to do so.
Iraq
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what United Kingdom origin equipment or material was found by the United Nations special inspection team in Iraq at (a) the Al- Musayyib high explosive test site, (b) the Al-Atheer facility for manufacture of implosion bomb detonation devices, (c) the Al-Furat centrifuge factory for uranium enrichment or (d) the Akaswat phosphate mine and uranium extraction plants.
Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what evidence those monitoring the United Nations sanctions against Iraq found of United Kingdom-manufactured computer equipment playing any part in Iraqi nuclear, chemical or biological weapon plans.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We are aware that the inspections in Iraq by the United Nations special commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency have revealed the names of many companies around the world which have traded with Iraq, including some from Britain. It is possible that more names will be revealed as time goes on. It is not our practice to comment in detail on the information given to us by the IAEA or UNSCOM.
Any evidence of wrongdoing will be urgently investigated and, if appropriate, will be a matter for the courts. However, it would be quite wrong to conclude, without further analysis, that the companies named have
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behaved wrongfully. Until the invasion of Kuwait, trade with Iraq was not illegal provided strategic export controls were not breached.UNESCO
Dr. Spink : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much has been spent in monitoring the progress of UNESCO since the United Kingdom's withdrawal from membership.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : It would involve disproportionate cost to detail all the costs incurred in following developments at UNESCO since 1985. The main charges are those of a first secretary in Paris and another in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 50 per cent. of whose duties are devoted to UNESCO ; and a locally-engaged member of staff in Paris. The estimated 1991-92 cost of these staff is £143,630.
Cambodia
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking towards curtailing the activities of armed Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in breach of the 1991 peace accord.
Mr. Goodlad : The United Kingdom has provided 120 personnel to the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia--UNTAC--military component, including military observers and a mine clearance training unit. We, together with our partners in the United Nations Security Council, will shortly be considering what steps should be taken in the light of the Khmer Rouge's refusal to co-operate with UNTAC.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to initiate legal or diplomatic action in relation to infringements by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge of international law.
Mr. Goodlad : No international criminal court now exists with jurisdiction over the offences in question. Under the terms of the Genocide convention, the only national courts with jurisdiction over Pol Pot would be those in Cambodia. If the new, legitimate Cambodian Government formed after elections next year wished to bring Pol Pot and his associates to trial, we would have no regrets.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his policy with regard to the continued participation of the Khmer Rouge in the peace process in Cambodia.
Mr. Goodlad : Our aim is to see the agreements on a comprehensive political settlement of the Cambodia conflict implemented fully. The United Nations Security Council will again be addressing this question shortly. If the Khmer Rouge exclude themselves from the free and fair elections due to take place in April/May 1993, that is their choice.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on compliance with the Cambodian peace accord of October 1991.
Mr. Goodlad : We deplore the refusal of the Khmer Rouge to cooperate with the United Nations Transitional
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Authority in Cambodia--UNTAC--and to respect its obligations under the Paris agreements. There has been considerable progress towards the implementation of the comprehensive political settlement of the Cambodia conflict. Despite occasional ceasefire violations, peace has returned to most of Cambodia. More than 170,000 refugees formerly in the camps on the Thai-Cambodian border have returned to Cambodia without a single fatality as a result of mines ; and preparations are well in hand for the holding of free and fair elections in April/May 1993, with more than 1.5 million Cambodians now registered.Yugoslavia
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list for each month from January 1991 the number of (a) visa applications, (b) successful visa applications and (c) unsuccessful visa applications made by citizens of each republic of the former Yugoslavia.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Nationals of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have required visas for the United Kingdom only since 7 November 1992. To obtain the information required for the period of 7 November to date would require a special exercise to consult all visa- issuing posts overseas and would result in disproportionate cost.
I will, however, ensure that the hon. Member receives the information he requires when it is to hand.
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many visa applications from citizens of each of the former Yugoslav republics have been refused on the ground that the applicant does not have leave of absence from an employer.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The information is not at present available. Such statistics are normally provided monthly by posts abroad : since the visa regime was not applied on former Yugoslavia until earlier this month, to obtain them now would involve disproportionate cost. I will, however, ensure that the hon. Member receives the information he requires when it is to hand.
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the fees charged to visa applicants from the former Yugoslavia.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Visa applicants from the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are required to pay the same fees as all other visa applicants. Current visa fees are listed in the Consular Fees Order 1989-- SI (1989) 152--a copy of which is available in the Library.
Kurdish People
Sir David Steel : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Turkish counterpart on the treatment of Kurds in north Kurdistan, and the denial of parliamentary rights to Kurdish Members of Parliament ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Garel-Jones : The Turkish Government are well aware of our concern about the human rights situation in Turkey. We welcome Prime Minister Demirel's commitment to introducing further human rights reforms.
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It is not the case that the parliamentary rights of any Members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly of Kurdish origin have been withdrawn. But the public prosecutor has requested the removal of parliamentary immunity from some members of the People's Labour Party--HEP--so that they can be tried for charges arising out of alleged co -operation with terrorist organisations. The request for removal of immunity is currently under review by the parliamentary justice committee.The HEP members concerned are all of ethnic Kurdish origin. There is no question of lifting the immunity of other Kurdish members of the Grand National Assembly. We are following this issue closely.
Bosnia and Slovenia
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the posts in Bosnia and Slovenia where visa applications can be made for entry to the United Kingdom.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : There are none.
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the number of visa applications that have been refused from Bosnian citizens who are (a) parents, (b) grandparents, (c) siblings and (d) other relatives of people in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The information is not at present available. Such statistics are normally provided monthly by posts abroad : since the visa regime was not applied to Bosnian citizens until earlier this month, to obtain them now would involve disproportionate cost. I will, however, ensure that the hon. Member receives the information he requires when it is to hand.
OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT
Yugoslavia
Mr. Hendry : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made with the provision of humanitarian assistance to the former Yugoslavia since the Birmingham summit.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Good progress has been made in a number of areas. We have now committed more than £70 million in humanitarian assistance to the former Yugoslavia : approximately £41 million as our share of the EC's relief programme and over £29.5 million bilaterally.
We have played a leading role in establishing the European Community task force, an initiative which stems from the Birmingham summit. We have been the first member state to provide trucks and staff--including the leader for the task force. As also envisaged at Birmingham, member states have now appointed special representatives to oversee their humanitarian assistance to the former Yugoslavia : they meet shortly under the chairmanship of the United Kingdom special representative, Tim Lankester, the Permanent Secretary of the Overseas Development Administration.
In the meantime, we have also gone forward with direct action mainly in central Bosnia where the suffering is greatest. There are now 43 British trucks together with trailers, support vehicles and maintenance back up working on relief convoys. There are 75 British civilian
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