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DATE 2.4.688
Ca. 589
Written Answers
VOL.
135
22 JUNE 1988
| (2) for how long animals have to stay at the Hong Kong griculture and fisheries department cattle holding depot in order for quarantine to have the desired disease control effect; and who enforces this;
(3) if he will make a statement on the extent of veterinary services covering the Hong Kong agriculture and fisheries department cattle holding depot;
(4) whether he will make a statement on the reasons for, and the timing of, the declaration by the agriculture and fisheries department of Hong Kong of the cattle holding depot to be a quarantine station.
Mr. Eggar: Regulations governing the use of the cattle depot as a cattle quarantine station date from 1956. All cattle imported into Hong Kong for slaughter are segregated from local animals from the time of their arrival until their slaughter. While regulations allow imported cattle to be held in quarantine for up to 21 days their average stay, over the past 12 months, has been 4-4 days. Care of the cattle in the depot is under the supervision of trained staff and this is supplemented by regular inspections by a Hong Kong Government veterinary officer.
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will ensure that RSPCA inspectors will in future be able regularly to attend the Hong Kong agriculture and fisheries department cattle holding depot.
Mr. Eggar: The depot is managed and operated under the close supervision of a qualified veterinary surgeon. Routine visits by RSPCA staff are not required.
Mr. Alex Zelichenok
Mr. Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last raised the case of the Jewish refusnik Alex Zelichenok of Leningrad with the Soviet authorities; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar: Mr. Zelichenok's case has been raised by us on several occasions in the past. His name was included in a list of refusniks about whom we are particularly concerned which was handed to the Soviet authorities last December. We shall be raising it again during Anglo- Soviet talks on human rights on 23 June in Moscow, when we shall be pressing for all Soviet citizens who wish to emigrate to be allowed to do so.
El Salvador
Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last met the ambassador of El Salvador.
Mr. Eggar: My right hon. and learned Friend last met the ambassador of El Salvador informally on 15 June. I last met him on 21 June.
Hong Kong (Camps)
Dr. Marek: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy not to keep any person for more than five years in a closed camp in Hong Kong.
Mr. Eggar: As part of their new policy towards Vietnamese boat people arriving in the territory, the Hong Kong Government intend over the next six to 12 months
RFIJS
Written Answers
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to liberalise the regime in the centres which will house all those accorded refugee status. Those arriving after 16 June who are not accorded refugee status will be detailed in closed centres without access to resettlement, pending their return to Vietnam as soon as internationally acceptable conditions for this are established.
Immigration Fees
Mr. Madden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy, in the light of entry clearance fees being non-refundable, that where an applicant successfully appeals against refusal to grant a visa, the applicant will not be required to pay any additional fee.
Mr. Eggar: This is already current practice.
WALES
Homelessness
89. Mr. Geraint Howells: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give figures for the number of households accepted as homeless in Wales in (a) 1979 and (b) 1987; and when he expects the number of households accepted as homeless in Wales to fall below the level recorded for 1979.
Mr. Grist: The number of cases accepted as homeless in Wales in 1979 and 1987 was 4,676 and 5,294 respectively. The 1987 figure represents an 11 per cent. decrease over 1986. It is impossible to predict when the number of cases accepted as homeless will reach the 1979 level. This will depend on social behaviour as well as availability of housing. I welcome the decrease in 1987 and hope that it will continue and I note that the 1987 figure was lower than the one for 1980.
Cancer Treatment Services
Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish and give details of the proposals concerning the comprehensive study of all cancer treatment services, including the possibility of establishing a satellite radiotherapy centre in north Wales, by management consultants; when the health authorities will discuss and decide upon their proposals; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Grist: We propose to initiate a review of cancer treatment services provided for north Wales patients by north Wales health authorities and neighbouring English regional health authorities. When the review report is available we will consider it and take appropriate action.
Corporation Management Programme (Health Service)
Mr. Gwilym Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement about the draft corporate management programme for the Health Service in Wales following the consultation exercise in 1987.
Mr. Ian Grist: As a result of the consultation exercise which my hon. Friend has mentioned, the corporate management programme for the Health Service in Wales is to be issued today. It details the work which must be undertaken by a whole range of interests to enable the health care services in Wales to adapt constructively to
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