asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to ensure the greater co-ordination of national censuses within the member states of the Council of Europe.

Britain is a member of the Council of Europe's Working Group concerned with censuses. We also participate in the Conference of European Statisticians convened under United Nations auspices, which has a special working group on national cen- suses. As such we are playing our part in co-ordination between European States and will continue to work for greater cooperation in this field.