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Nuclear Industry
Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate he has made of CO 2 emission levels from the nuclear industry in the United Kingdom, with particular reference to emissions during (a) construction, (b) generation and (c) decommissioning and disposal; and if he will make a statement. [50833]
Mr. Battle: I have been asked to reply.
No separate figures in the form requested are available. It is estimated that nuclear electricity generation leads to emissions of about 4 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour of electricity delivered to the final user. Of these 4 grams, 3.2 grams are emitted in the process of uranium extraction and the remainder during fuel processing.
Carbon dioxide emissions from nuclear generation are less than 1 per cent. of equivalent figures for any of the major fossil-fuelled electricity generation technologies.
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum applicants were unable to pay for legal representation to assist them in the preparation of their cases during the last 12 months. [50105]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
I regret that it is not possible to determine how many asylum applicants were unable to pay for advice or legal representation. The available information is that the Immigration Advisory Service and The Refugee Legal Centre--Home Office funded bodies--provided free advice to 10,578 refused asylum applicants at the appeal stage over the last financial year (4,455 and 6,123 respectively). In addition to this, the Refugee Legal Centre gave advice in 3,152 asylum applications. These figures do not include those advised
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by charitable organisations or others working without reimbursement who are unconnected with the Home Office.
Mr. Wigley:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current average waiting time for decisions on applications for asylum in the United Kingdom; and what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times. [50824]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
Applications lodged before the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993 are currently estimated to be taking on average 58 months to reach an initial decision, while those lodged after the Act are taking an average of 14 months. Both of these figures reflect the proportion of inherited old cases within the system, but figures for 1997 show that 38 per cent. of initial decisions on asylum applications were taken within six months, as against 10 per cent. in 1992.
We have been conducting a wide-ranging review of asylum and immigration policy. We hope soon to be able to make a full statement about our future strategy, including proposals to improve the handling of asylum applications. Quite separately, plans are now well advanced for the introduction of more efficient working practices and for the computerisation of casework in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. A trial of the new working practices is to start on 17 August.
Mr. Cox:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the cost to the United Kingdom Government of the co-operation by UK police forces with French police over policing of World Cup matches involving teams from Scotland and England. [50708]
Mr. Michael:
In the case of officers from England and Wales, the cost of travel, overseas allowances and overtime will be met by the Football Association. The salary costs will be met by the officers' respective forces. The Football Association contributed to the costs of police equipment. The salary and associated costs and the cost of travel for officers from Scottish police forces will be met by their respective forces. Equipment costs were met by respective police forces from existing stock. Accommodation costs in France for both sets of officers were met by the French authorities.
The Government will contribute to the costs associated with the 24-hour manning of the National Criminal Intelligence Service Football Unit during the Finals, and will meet some of the costs associated with the provision of additional football intelligence officers who were in France for some England matches. Detailed information about actual costs incurred is operationally sensitive.
Mr. Linton:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce further regulations to control the display of pornographic magazine covers and video cases in shops accessible to children. [50754]
Mr. Michael:
Current legislation governing the display of pornographic magazines includes the Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981, which makes it an offence to display any indecent matter which is exposed to view in a public place or where it can be seen from a public place. It is
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the responsibility of the police to decide whether there are sufficient grounds to launch a criminal investigation, and that of the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether to prosecute those alleged to be responsible for the publication.
Most newsagents also abide by a voluntary code of practice, refusing to sell "adult" magazines to persons under the age of 18 and placing pornographic magazines on the top shelf and out of reach of children.
With respect to videos, before the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) gives full certification to a video work, the sleeve must be seen and approved by the Video Packaging Review Committee. This Committee is chaired by a representative of the BBFC and comprises members of the British Video Association and the Video Standards Council. The sleeves seen by the Committee account for over 90 per cent. of all video works on the market.
While the issue of indecent displays is kept under constant review, there are currently no plans to introduce further regulations in this area.
Dr. Starkey:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has for reducing the backlog of applications for licences, and amendments to licences, under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. [50866]
Mr. George Howarth:
We are continuing to explore and, as far as possible, exploit all possible options for managing and reducing the backlog in our London office. This backlog arose primarily due to the loss of experienced staff (for unavoidable reasons) and has built up due to difficulties in attracting and retaining staff for this type of work.
We are in the process of recruiting staff, through open competition, and we are arranging a selection Board for promoting existing Home Office staff to fill two posts currently held by casual staff. These two recruitment exercises should provide the best choice of candidates and a more permanent solution than employing casual staff for short periods.
In the meantime, we have recently recruited another member of casual staff and now have a full complement of staff in our London office. To reduce the backlog, staff are continuing to work overtime and have been joined in London, on occasions, by colleagues from our regional offices.
A minor technical problem has recently been overcome to allow London cases to be transferred to other regional offices to process.
We are also looking to see whether there are elements of work currently carried out by the licensing team which they might stop doing whilst the backlog is cleared--one possibility is to no longer advise project licence holders that their licence will shortly expire. Licensees would, as a consequence, need to remain alert to the date on which their authorities expire and the need to apply for any replacement licence well before that date.
In the longer term, we are exploring how modern IT systems can improve the licensing operation and whether the personal licence system can be streamlined.
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Dr. Starkey:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications, under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, for licences, and amendments to licences, were awaiting decision on (a) 1 July 1998, (b) 1 January 1998 and (c) 1 July 1997. [50867]
Mr. George Howarth:
This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost, and the process would significantly worsen the backlog problem about which my hon. Friend is rightly concerned.
Mr. Nigel Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many duplicated experiments were carried out in 1997 under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. [51122]
Mr. George Howarth:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Lewes (Mr. Baker) on 19 January 1998 Official Report, column 387.
Mr. Nigel Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he plans to announce a ban on the use of animals for cosmetic ingredient testing; and what is the time scale for a ban becoming operative. [51121]
Mr. George Howarth:
This is an extremely complex issue and we are still exploring the implications of various courses of action.
Under European Directives, including the Cosmetics and Dangerous Substances Directives, ingredients must be tested on animals to show that they are safe in use, manufacture and transport. Industry strongly contends that there is a need for certain types of new ingredients for cosmetic products, particularly UVA filters for such products as sunscreens.
We must ensure that any action we take is sustainable and does not unnecessarily disadvantage United Kingdom research, medicine and industry or compromise public safety.
Mr. Nigel Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what factors underlay the reduction in the proportion of non-legislative animal tests carried out for cosmetic purposes between 1995 and 1996. [51120]
Mr. George Howarth:
Additional data on cosmetic testing, above that required for the annual statistics report, are collected separately. In 1996, the way in which this additional information was collected was changed. The data needed to identify the factors in which the hon. Member is interested are not available before 1996.
Mr. Nigel Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the countries from which dogs were imported into the United Kingdom for experiments in 1996 and 1997, indicating the number from each country; how often his Department's inspectors visited these overseas breeding establishments under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986; and if the code of practice for breeding establishments is enforced in these non-United Kingdom establishments. [51123]
Mr. George Howarth:
In total, 478 dogs in 1996 and 214 dogs in 1997 were acquired from the United States of America. All were purpose-bred and were obtained from breeding establishments which meet their national standards.
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Home Office inspectors have not visited these establishments. They have no right to access to establishments in other countries nor can we enforce our codes in non-United Kingdom establishments.
Mr. Nigel Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many animals were bred for scientific procedures but killed prior to use in any procedure in (a) 1995, (b) 1996 and (c) 1997. [51124]
Mr. George Howarth:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Lewes (Mr. Baker) on 19 January 1998, Official Report, columns 388-89.
Mr. Nigel Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in reviewing section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986; and what plans he has to amend it following the Government's freedom of information proposals. [51207]
Mr. George Howarth:
No decision has yet been taken. We are still awaiting final details on the proposals for freedom of information legislation.
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