Merge pull request #147 from wtsi-npg/master

Pull request from wtsi-npg master to devel (release 76.3)
some unused code removed; some small test scripts merged into related larger test scripts; VERSION variable and headers with SVN properties removed from test files; all test scripts are given .t extension; unnecessary "use" statements removed from tests
backported changes from wtsi/devel; resolved conflict in Changes
Merge pull request #148 from mgcam/devel

tests clean-up; unused code removed
provide consitent perl environment at server start-up time
Merge pull request #149 from mgcam/devel

provide consitent perl environment at server start-up time
Merge pull request #1 from wtsi-npg/devel

merge changes from wtsi-npg
replace uri_escape() by uri_escape_utf8() to handle quotes etc.
Changes
Merge pull request #151 from srl147/devel

replace uri_escape() by uri_escape_utf8()
Merge pull request #152 from wtsi-npg/devel

pull request from wtsi devel to master to create release 76.4