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Written Answers
30 MARCH 1987
Mr. Eggar: We intend shortly to make public the report of the Constitutional Commission on the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Hong Kong
Mr. Frank Cook asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer on 2 December 1986, Official Report, column 542, to the hon. Member for Stockton, North on the responsibilities of Her Majesty's Government for the people of Hong Kong, whether contingency plans exist in the event of a nuclear accident at the Daya bay nuclear power station necessitating evacuation for refuge in the United Kingdom for citizens of Hong Kong seeking refuge.
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Mr. Renton: The Hong Kong Government preparing plans to make all possible provision for ensuring the safety of Hong Kong people in the event of an accident at the nuclear power station now under construction at Daya bay. The Hong Kong Government intend to complete these plans well before the station is commissioned in 1992.
Mr. Frank Cook asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer on 2 December 1986, Official Report, column 542, to the hon. Member for Stockton, North on the responsibilities of Her Majesty's Government for the people of Hong Kong, if he will provide an estimate of how much money Britain has earned from Hong Kong over the last decade.
Mr. Renton: Commercial and financial transactions between Britain and Hong Kong are complex and their net value cannot readily be estimated. Although Hong Kong is, after Japan, the UK's second largest export market in the Far East, for many years, the visible trade balance has been in Hong Kong's favour. No reliable estimate of capital flows is available.
Mr. Frank Cook asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government will now provide a contingency fund for assistance to businesses in Hong Kong in the event of an accident at Daya bay nuclear power plant; and whether his Department has made any estimate of the likely cost of a worst case nuclear accident at Daya bay under adverse meteorological conditions.
Mr. Renton: Any question of assistance to businesses in Hong Kong is a matter for the Hong Kong Government. The Hong Kong Government have requested their consultants, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, to prepare an accident assessment report on the Daya bay power station. Once this report has been received and examined, the Hong Kong Government will consider the possible implications for Hong Kong of any accident at the Daya bay plant.
AIDS
Mr. Nicholas Winterton asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) whether he has any plans to arrange for staff of his Department to be screened for antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus; (2) whether any current or former staff of his Department have been found to have developed AIDS antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus;
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Written Answers
(3) what steps he has taken to ensure that staff of his Department are warned about those homosexual and other activities which are deemed to involve a high risk of AIDS infection.
Mr. Eggar: I shall let my hon. Friend have a reply as soon as possible.
Mr. Eliot Abrams
Mr. Foulkes asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he or any of his officials met United States Assistant Secretary of State Eliot Abrams in London during 1986; and on what dates.
Mr. Eggar: We maintain a regular dialogue at all levels with members of the United States Administration on a wide range of international issues.
Blowpipe Missiles
Mr. Foulkes asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he has taken to investigate allegations in the Tower commission report that representatives of Short Bros. held discussions with United States Government officials regarding supplying Blowpipe missiles to the Contra forces.
Mr. Eggar: There is no evidence to suggest that Short Brothers has acted in breach of United Kingdom law. Blowpipe has not been supplied to the Contras. The question of an investigation does not arise.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Burglaries
Mr. Boyes asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the number of domestic burglaries was in (a) 1979 and (b) 1986.
Mr. Mellor: Police in England and Wales recorded 252,800 burglaries in dwellings in 1979 and 506.000 in 1986. These statistics are published annually in the Command Paper "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales", and, for 1986, in the Home Office statistical bulletin 4/87. Results from crime surveys imply that much of this increase in recorded offences of burglaries in dwellings was due to a rise in the proportion of such offences being reported to the police. This rise in reporting is discussed in chapter 2 of the 1984 Command Paper (Cmnd. 9621: paras 2.6 to 2.13).
Life Sentences
Mr. Anderson asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average time served by those who have completed their sentence of life imprisonment for murder.
Mr. Mellor: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Langbaurgh (Mr. Holt) on 17 March at columns 451-54..
Harmondsworth Detention Centre
Mr. Soley asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the cost per inmate of running the Harmondsworth detention centre by Securicor Services Ltd.; and what is the cost of running comparable services with prison officers.
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