asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking on Command Paper No. 6353 and Command Paper No. 6354, "Computers and Privacy" and "Computers: Safeguards for Privacy", and if he will make a statement.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to announce the names of the Data Protection Committee.

Sir Kenneth Younger has accepted my right hon. Friend's invitation to preside over the Data Protection Committee; we will announce the names of the other members as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what success the Government had in countering illegal immigration in 1975; and what further plans he has in this direction in 1976.

Provisional figures for 1975 show that 188 Commonwealth citizens and foreign nationals were detained as illegal entrants. The Immigration Service and the police will continue to take all reasonable and practicable measures to prevent illegal entry. These measures are kept under reveiw and may be adjusted in the light of experience.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has now received the report on the number of immigrants illegally working in the United Kingdom.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has now received the report on the number of illegal immigrants working in the United Kingdom.

I have just received from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment a copy of the report, which was sent to him on 10th February. I will consider it in consultation with him.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to increase prisoners' rights.

We shall consider any realistic proposals that are put forward.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners in British prisons are currently on hunger strike; and how many are demanding political status.

The answer is based on yesterday's figures. Seven prisoners in England and Wales were persistently refusing all food except water. Of these three had indicated that their refusal to eat was in support of demands commonly associated with the notion of political status. As the House knows, one of these, Frank Stagg, has since died.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the principal criteria followed in the allocation of prisoners, especially those serving long sentence, to various prisons.

The principal criteria are the nature of the offence and the prisoner's past record and hence his security classification; his work and educational experience; his domestic and personal circumstances; his medical and training needs; and the availability of appropriate accommodation.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out in the Official Report the arrangements made in his Department for the categorisation of prisoners and the various categories in which prisoners may be graded.

Prisoners sentenced to five years or more and all first offenders sentenced to more than four years are assessed by four regional long-term allocation centres. The final decision on a prisoner's security classification, other than Category A, rests with the Regional Director, except for prisoners serving 10 years or more, where the decision has to be confirmed by Prison Department Headquarters.All other prisoners are assessed by observation and classification units in local prisons and the decision on security classification is taken by the Governor.The decision to place a prisoner in Category A, or to remove him from it, is always taken by Prison Department Headquarters.A prisoner's security classification is regularly reviewed.The four security categories are:

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek to ascertain how many (a) men and (b) women were awarded loss of remission by a board of visitors in the last year for which figures are available.

I regret that the information is not available in the form requested. In the nine months ended 30th September 1975 boards of visitors imposed 347 awards of forfeiture of remission at men's prisons and 28 at women's prisons.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many men and women, respectively, are currently in solitary confinement for disciplinary reasons; and what is the longest length of such confinement.

I regret that this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why it is not his practice to keep a central record of awards of punishment to prisoners.

Certain central records of the awards of punishment of prisoners are kept and are used annually to provide the statistics given to Parliament in the report of the work of the Prison Department—for 1974, Appendix 6 of Cmnd. 6148 is relevant. We are reviewing the scope of our statistical information in this area. The nature and timing of any changes or extension will be dictated by the needs of management and the availability of resources.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if any distinction is made in practice between convicted men and women prisoners in the number of visits they are allowed.

No. More frequent visits than the statutory entitlement are permitted in some men's and in some women's prisons, the determining factor being the facilities and staff available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will order an independent audit into the estimated annual operational expenses and staff costs of the proposed Police Complaints Board.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his estimate of the time it will take the Boundary Commission to prepare the constituency boundaries for direct elections to a European Parliament.

The part that might be played by the Parliamentary Boundary Commissions in determining constituency boundaries for elections to the European Assembly has yet to be considered.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, in the formation of his policy for fair electoral arrangements for the European Parliament he will take into account the alignment of constituency boundaries in elections to the United Kingdom Parliament.

This will certainly be a matter to be taken into account.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he remains satisfied with the operation of the parole system.

In general, yes

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is satisfied with the powers available to the police in dealing with the problems of litter.

Yes.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he has taken as a result of the signing by the Government of the Helsinki Final Act.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to his Question by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 28th January.—[Vol. 904, c. 405–8.]

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many letters his Department has received concerning the Police Bill.

I have had continuing correspondence with the police and local authority representative bodies about the proposals now incorporated in the Police Bill. Since July of last year I have had 37 other letters about them, including 20 enquiries about appointment to the proposed Police Complaints Board.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is satisfied that the judges' rules are clear as to the rights of an individual detained by the police; and, if not, how he intends to clarify those rights.

The Rules, which in their present form date from 1964, were drawn up by a committee of judges, and although I accept that occasional difficulties have arisen in their interpretation I believe that in general the Rules strike an acceptable balance between the rights of the individual and the interests of the community in bringing offenders to justice. I am, however, willing to consider specific representations in conjunction with anything which the Devlin and Fisher inquiries may have to say on these matters.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many wives and dependent children of new Commonwealth citizens already settled in Great Britain when the Immigration Act 1971 came into force remain eligible to join the family head in Great Britain under that Act.

It has never been the practice to publish estimates of this kind; and any forecast of future immigration would necessarily be speculative since numbers arriving may be affected by a wide variety of factors.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the addition to permanent male immigration from the Commonwealth to the United Kingdom in 1975 resulting from his 1974 decision giving fiancés and husbands parallel rights to fiancées and wives.

Provisional figures show that, during 1975, 1,673 males from the Commonwealth were admitted for settlement in the United Kingdom as husbands of wives already settled here. During the same period 3,685 males from the Commonwealth were accepted for settlement by reason of marriage after initial temporary admission as fiancés or for some other purpose. A small number from both groups might have been eligible for settlement had no change in the rules occurred.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total of Commonwealth citizens granted permanent settlement in the United Kingdom in 1973, 1974 and estimated in 1975, respectively, including those initially admitted temporarily as well as those whose initial admission was for permanent settlement.

The aggregate number of Commonwealth citizens in both the categories, (i) of those admitted for settlement on arrival and (ii) of those accepted for settlement on removal of the time limit on their stay, was 34,044 in 1973 and 42,078 in 1974. The estimated number for 1975 is 51,500.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is satisfied with the work so far undertaken by the Equal Opportunities Commission.

Yes.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the cost of the current series of advertisements put out by the Equal Opportunities Commission.

The total cost of the series of advertisements which will run from January to March is £95,400.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much the Equal Opportunities Commission expects to spend on publicity in the year 1977–78.

It is not possible at this stage to estimate the likely cost of publicity by the Equal Opportunities Commission in 1977–78; this will have to be determined in the light of experience and of other competing claims when the Estimates for that year are prepared.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, in view of the fact that the proposed budget of the Equal Opportunities Commission has been doubled in its first five weeks, he will now take steps to disband this body.

No. The estimated overall costs of the Equal Opportunities Commission have not increased since the Commission came into existence in November 1975.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is now able to state when he expects to receive the Report of the Working Party on Water Safety.

Towards the middle of the year.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many letters he has received in the last 12 months about the voting rights of citizens of the Republic of Ireland resident in Great Britain.

Twenty-one.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any plans to alter the present right of Irish citizens to enter Great Britain under the special arrangements.

I have no plans to alter the arrangements under which the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom together form a common travel area.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress he has made in improving the clarity and reliability of the immigration statistics.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave earlier today to Questions by the hon. Member for Blaby (Mr. Lawson) and the hon. and learned Member for Royal Tunbridge Wells (Mr. Mayhew).

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give a list of those bodies, other than committees, to which he appoints members other than civil servants; and if he will state the number of members serving on each body.

The names of the bodies and the number of members on each—excluding civil servants—are set out below. In addition, I appoint the Chairman of the WRVS.

Name of Body	Number of Members (excluding civil servants)
Community Relations Commission	11
Race Relations Board	10
Gaming Board for Great Britain	5
Horserace Betting Levy Board	8
Horserace Betting Levy Appeal Tribunal for England and Wales	3
Horserace Totalisator Board	8
Equal Opportunities Commission	15
Parole Board	38
Local Review Committees appointed for the purpose of the Parole System	1,065
Advisory Council for Probation and After-Care	4
Young Volunteer Force Foundation	12
Criminal Injuries Compensation Board	12
Advisory Board on Restricted Patients	6
Police Training Council for England and Wales	21
Police College Board of Governors	15
Police Promotions Examinations Board for England and Wales	11
Appeals Tribunal under Schedule 5 of Police Act 1964	1
Boards of Visitors (Prisons)	1,351
British Broadcasting Corporation	12*
Independent Broadcasting Authority	11
Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council for England and Wales	34
Fire Services Central Examinations Board	19
Fire Service College Board	13
Fire Service Research and Training Trust	6
Parliamentary Boundary Commission for England	4
Parliamentary Boundary Commission for Wales	4
* Appointments to Governorships of the BBC are made by The Queen in Council on the advice of the Home Secretary.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he proposes to take in the light of the Seventh Report of the Parliamentary Commission for Administration, printed on 10th November 1975.

I made a statement following the publication of that report in reply to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Gateshead, West (Mr. Horam) on 11th November. Since then we have had the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Congreve v. Home Office on 4th December. I announced the decisions I had taken following that judgment in my statement in the House on 9th December and in a reply to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Edmonton (Mr. Graham) on 13th January. No doubt the Select Committee will in due course consider the Parliamentary Commissioner's Report. I am of course considering the implications of the whole affair for the procedure for increasing television licence fees in future.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether all payments of £6 refunds, regarding the fees paid by members of the public for television licences which came into force from 1st April 1975, have now been made.

Refunds of £6 have been sent to all those who took out overlapping colour television licences for £12 before 1st April 1975 and subsequently responded to my request for an additional payment of £6.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is satisfied that there is adequate monitoring of the purposes to which Exchequer funds, disbursed through the urban aid programme, are put.

Yes.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why he has decided to withdraw grant support from the Community Development Project Information and Intelligence Unit.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to Questions by my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, South-West (Mrs. Wise) and others on 9th February.—[Vol. 905, c. 17–19.]

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement about the community development projects and the intention of his Department about their future support and extension.

Home Office grants towards the cost of local community development projects will continue to be available to the local authorities willing and able to meet their share of the cost for the remainder of the period originally envisaged as the life of each project. There are no plans to extend projects beyond that period.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will now bring forward proposals to reform police interrogation procedures.

I keep police interrogation procedures under continuing review, but I have no proposals at present for general reform. I am, however, consulting the Lord Chief Justice and the Association of Chief Officers of Police about the issue of guidance on the questioning of mentally handicapped persons.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what date he hopes to receive the report from the committee looking into the feasibility of an experiment in the tape recording of police interrogations.

I hope that I shall receive the report in the summer.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will amend the rules made under the Representation of the People Act 1949 so as to delete the requirement that the voter's electoral number be marked on the ballot paper counterfoil.

We think that this is a matter that could be appropriately considered by a new Speaker's Conference.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is satisfied with the arrangements by which retired people, living in certain types of accommodation, are eligible for concessionary television licences.

There are some anomalies in the present arrangements; but there are bound to be anomalies around the borders of any concessionary arrangement of this kind, and we believe we should create as many anomalies as we removed if we were to change the criteria in the existing regulations for qualifying for the concession. The matter has, however, been drawn to the attention of the Committee on the Future of Broadcasting.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will investigate reports of cock fighting, details of which have been submitted to him by the hon. Member for Plymouth, Drake, in order to see whether the law against cock fighting requires strengthening.

Yes. I will write to the hon. Member when our inquiries are complete.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement upon the progress made by local authorities in carrying out their responsibilities for coping with emergencies in peace and war.

Most local authorities have made good progress, since reorganisation in 1974, particularly on improving their preparedness to cope with peace-time emergencies.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will invite chief officers of police to report to him their general practice with regard to adhering to the provisions of Administration Directions 7(a) (second paragraph) of the Judges Rules with regard to the sending of telegrams by persons in custody.

No. We consider that the sending of letters and telegrams by persons in police custody should be subject to the same conditions as other means of communication with solicitors and friends. We are considering whether there is a case for issuing further guidance to the police to clarify the administrative directions on this particular point.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers are on duty each Saturday at football grounds; and at what cost to the public.

This information is not held centrally and could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is satisfied that no members of the South African Bureau of State Security are conducting operations within the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.

The police are alert to this possibility, but tell me that there is no firm evidence of illegal activity in this country by South African officials or agents.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in view of Mr. Raymond Blackburn's failure in court to compel the Greater London Council to use the appropriate test of decency, as recommended by his Department in its film licensing conditions, what steps he proposes to take to ensure that films exhibited to the public in the Greater London area do not infringe the common law.

Local cinema licensing authorities are not subject to the control of the Home Office in exercising their film censorship functions; nor has the Department any responsibility for the enforcement of the criminal law relating to indecency.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek to ascertain the number of mentally-handicapped persons in prison; and, if not, why not.

If my hon. Friend is seeking information additional to that provided in the Annual Report on the work of the Prison Department and will let me have details, I will be glad to look into the matter further.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consulations took place prior to appointments to the Parliamentary Boundary Commission.

It is customary for ministerial appointments to the Parliamentary Boundary Commissions to be made in agreement with the other political parties. I understand that this practice was followed in 1973.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the EEC Commission has yet completed its examination of the United Kingdom rules applicable to the entry of non-nationals into the United Kingdom and of the administrative practices attaching thereto; and if he will make a statement.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce legislation to establish sex equality in relation to the procedure for succession to the Throne in the United Kingdom.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the cost of administration for the referendum on 5th June 1975; and what was the cost of counting the votes.

I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Question from the hon. Member for Cornwall North (Mr. Pardoe) on 14th January.—[Vol. 903, c. 168–169.]

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, having regard to the effect on the Obscene Publications Act of the recent decision in R. v. Hanau, if Her Majesty's Government will take steps to fulfil the United Kingdom's obligations under Article 1 of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Circulation of and Traffic in Obscene Publications, signed by the United Kingdom in 1947 and to which some 50 States adhere.

I have no reason to believe that the United Kingdom is not fulfilling its obligations under the International Convention.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he proposes to implement the recommendations of the Finer Report on one-parent families that imprisonment of mainteance defaulters should be ended.

We have this matter under consideration.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what decline has taken place in the past year in the ordering of conifer seed for the forestry private sector.

Most of the conifer tree seed used by the private sector is supplied by the Forestry Commission. In the year ended 31st March 1974 the Commission supplied 1,730 kgs, in 1974–75 881 kgs and in the first 10 months of 1975–76 approximately 930 kgs. No estimate can be made of conifer seed obtained by the private sector from other sources.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what alterations have taken place in the structure of his Department since the report to the Select Committee on 20th February 1967.

The major change in structure has been the unification in 1971 of certain professional, scientific and technical services to form a single Agricultural Development and Advisory Service. Summary entries in the Civil Service Year Book show the organisation of the Department, but if the hon. Member desires information on any particular aspects of the Department's structure or organisation, and lets me know, I shall be pleased to supply it.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proposals he has received from the European Commission about the common fisheries policy; and whether he will make them public so as to enable representative organisations of the fishing industry to comment on them.

The Commission is expected to make proposals about the common fisheries policy very shortly. In the meantime, it has prepared a working document giving the background to the Community's fishery problems, which is being passed to Parliament by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. My right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland and I will be making arrangements to ensure that the fishing industry is fully consulted.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what special assistance he will give poultry breeders to enable them to comply with EEC Directives 71/118 and 75/431.

EEC Directives 71/118 and 75/431 deal with the public health aspects of trade in fresh poultrymeat and will, therefore, affect poultry breeders only indirectly. The provision of assistance towards the capital investment and structural requirements of the poultry-meat processing industry is under consideration.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he will take following the smuggling of butter and cheese into the Channel Islands; and if he will make a statement.

When foods which have benefited from United Kingdom consumer subsidies are exported to any destination, including the Channel Islands, the subsidy is repayable. Action is taken to secure recovery of subsidy in any case where it appears repayment did not take place at the time of export.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) to what extent the fish catch in the area of the Irish Sea in the vicinity of the discharge of radioactive waste from the Windscale nuclear plant is sold for public consumption; and what means are available to the consumer to identify fish with a high radioactive content;(2) to what extent the level of radiation in fish caught in the Irish Sea has increased since the establishment of the Windscale nuclear plant at Cumbria; and if he will make a statement.

Fish in the Irish Sea have always contained some natural radioactivity. Since the establishment of Windscale they have also shown traces of artificial radioactivity. Fishing near Windscale is on a very small scale. The Ministry monitors the radioactive content of the fish taken, and the published reports show that concentrations are only a small fraction of the internationally approved levels for acceptable exposure of the public. None of the fish taken has a high radioactive content.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether United Kingdom membership of the European Economic Community is likely to affect the operations of agricultural marketing boards either now or in the future; if so, to what extent it will be possible to create alternative forms of organisation to replace their functions; and if he will make a statement.

Membership of the Community involves changes in our arrangements for individual commodities as a consequence of adopting the Community system. The effect on the functions and operation of the agricultural marketing boards has to be considered in relation to the circumstances of the individual commodities concerned. Until this issue has been further considered in the light of discussions within the Community it is premature to consider what detailed changes may be required.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the total sum of money paid out from Government funds for each of the past five years for which figures are available for the purpose of removng hedges on farms.

Grant paid on the removal of hedges on farms in the last five financial years was as follows:

	£'000
1970–71	95
1971–72	132
1972–73	237
1973–74	288
1974–75	144
Total	896

These figures include the grant paid on the removal of hedges where this operation formed an essential part of a field drainage scheme.In addition grants were payable under the Hortculture Improvement Scheme for which details in the form requested are not avalable. On the basis of the value of approved proposals, it is estimated that about £11,000 was paid over the period 1970–71 to 1974–75.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what funds are avalable through grants and other forms of Government assistance to farmers for the purpose of encouraging the planting of trees; and how much has been paid out in the last five years.

Grants for providing, replacing or improving shelter belts or shelter hedges have been available to farmers from my Department under the Farm and Horticulture Development Scheme since 1st January 1974; the Farm Capital Grant Scheme between 1st January 1971 and 31st March 1972; the Farm Capital Grant Scheme, but in hill areas only since 1st April 1972; the Horticulture Capital Grant Scheme since 1st January 1974.The total amount of grant paid in England and Wales under all these schemes for shelter belts for the last five financial years was approximately £260,000.Grants for forestry planting are available to woodland owners, who may also be farmers, from the Forestry Commission under its current Dedication Basis III Scheme and there are continuing grant commitments under its earlier schemes. The total amount of grant paid in Great Britain under these schemes for the same period was approximately £10 million. Grants are also available to farmers and others from the Countryside Commission for amenity tree planting in the countryside. Figures for payments in the last five years are not readily available.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made to date towards achieving fair competition, particularly with regard to the cost of fuel to glasshouse growers throughout the EEC, including the United Kingdom.

The need to avoid measures which distort or threaten to distort competition is a basic principle within the EEC. In regard to aid towards growers' fuel oil costs, the Commission has set guidelines which member States are required to observe. These include a requirement that if a fuel oil subsidy is paid, the price of natural gas must be brought up to the price of fuel oil. The cost of fuel is only one of a number of factors affecting competition between glasshouse growers and there are others in which United Kingdom growers have an advantage.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made to date towards reaching a decision on EEC proposals to pay grants to glasshouse growers to reduce their acreages; and if he will make a statement.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given on 31st July 1975 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, South (Mr. Blaker) and to my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, North (Mrs. Miller). The EEC Commission has made no further proposal on this subject.

UNITED KINGDOM ESTIMATED CROPPED AREA OF ORCHARD FRUIT GROWN COMMERCIALLY
('000 acres)
		1955–56	1965–66	1971–72	1972–73	1973–74	1974–75	1975–76
Total apples (including cider)	…	175·0	129·0	117·0	116·0	115·0	114·0	110·0
Total pears (including perry)	…	20·5	18·4	15·8	15·5	15·3	15·1	14·9
Plums*	…	36·8	21·0	16·0	15·9	15·7	15·5	15·0
Cherries	…	18·0	10·5	7·2	6·9	6·7	6·5	6·1
Other and mixed orchards	…	2·6	3·2	2·8	2·8	2·7	2·7	2·7
* Includes damsons and gages.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the damage done by Sharka disease to plum orchards in Great Britain; and if he will put a ban on the importation of all plum stocks not certified as free from the disease.

I have nothing to add to the reply given on 18th December to my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull, West (Mr. Johnson) except that we are continuing to keep in close touch with the National Farmer's Union.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the fishing conservation areas known to the Government around Iceland; and if he will list them.

In the Interim Agreement of November 1973 between the United Kingdom and Iceland certain areas were designated conservation areas from which our trawlers were excluded for all or part of the year. These are listed in Cmnd. 5484. Our trawlers have continued to respect these areas voluntarily during the current dispute. The Iceland Government have recently unilaterally promul-

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the present acreage devoted, respectively, to the production of apples, pears, plums, cherries and all other fruit trees cultivated for commercial purposes and provide comparative figures in each case to show the acreage 20 years ago, 10 years ago and for each of the last five years.

The information is as follows:gated new conservation areas on the high seas, but have not so far consulted, or officially informed, the United Kingdom.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why he has agreed to allow decisions about the Commission's price proposals for 1976–77 which have to come into effect on 1st March to be delayed until the Council meeting on 23rd–24th February 1976.

Important issues are involved in the negotiations on the Commission's price proposals. It is right that the Council should allow adequate time for these issues to be properly considered.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food who will represent the United Kingdom at the forthcoming New York conference regarding the world food programme.

I have been asked to reply.I assume that the hon. Lady is referring to the World Food Programme Pledging Conference which was held in New York on 4th February. The purpose of this conference was to enable donor countries to announce their pledges to the programme for the calendar biennium 1977–78. The United Kingdom was represented by an official from the United Kingdom Mission in New York who announced that, subject to parliamentary approval, our contribution for the biennium would be £4·325 million.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will announce further measures to generate job opportunities and protect existing employment in the North West Region in view of the current figures for unemployment in the region.

NATIONALISED INDUSTRIES
TABLE 1
Surplus (Deficit)*
£ million
Industry			1972–73	1973–74	1974–75
National Coal Board	…	…	(83·7)†	(130·7)†	—†
Electricity (England and Wales)	…	…	2·0	(176·3)	(257·6)
North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board		…	(2·5)	(2·7)	(2·3)
South of Scotland Electricity Board	…	…	(0·6)	(10·1)	(20·4)
British Gas Corporation	…	…	5·7	(41·3)	(44·2)
British Steel Corporation	…	…	2·8	34·3	65·5
Post Office	…	…	(64·1)	(128·1)	(306·7)
British Airways Board	…	…	0·8	10·5	(9·4)
British Airports Authority	…	…	6·8	3·8	3·8
			1972	1973	1974
British Railways Board	…	…	(26·2)‡	(51·6)‡	(157·8)‡
British Transport Docks Board	…	…	(1·4)	1·7	0·7
British Waterways Board	…	…	(3·1)	(3·8)	(5·3)
National Freight Corporation	…	…	1·2	0·1	(12·3)
National Bus Company	…	…	5·5§	2·1§	(12·3)§
Scottish Transport Group	…	…	0·9§	1·0§	(7·4)§
* After depreciation and interest charges and, where applicable, extraordinary items, minority interests, taxation and dividend on public dividend capital. Before, where applicable, grants to meet deficits on revenue account, as well as compensation for price restraint.
† After taking account of social and operating grants totalling £15·4 million in 1972–73, £130·1 million in 1973–74 and £68·2 million in 1974–75.
‡ The British Railways Board received specified grants totalling £115·4 million in 1972, £138·4 million in 1973 and £231·2 million in 1974.
§ The National Bus Company and Scottish Transport Group receive bus fuel tax grants and local authority revenue subsidies, both of which are substantial.

TABLE 2
Compensation for Price Restraint*
Industry			1972–73	1973–74	1974–75
Electricity (England and Wales)	…	…	—	268·6	257·6
North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board		…	—	8·4	2·3
South of Scotland Electricity Board	…	…	—	14·8	20·4
British Gas Corporation	…	…	—	74·9	42·3
Post Office	…	…	—	133·3	307·0
* Payable under the Statutory Corporations (Financial Provisions) Acts 1974 and 1975. Amounts are shown under the years in which compensation has been credited in the industries' accounts. The compensation is actually paid to the industries in arrears and has now all been paid, except that no order has yet been made for compensation to the British Gas Corporation for 1974–75. The Government are liable in respect of compensation to the British Gas Corporation for price restraint in 1974–75 up to the limit set by the deficit in that year shown in the Corporation's Annual Report and Accounts.

I refer my hon. Friend to the statement which the Chancellor of the Exchequer made earlier today.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table for each of the nationalised industries showing (a) their annual surpluses or deficits, before compensation for price restraint, in each of the years 1972–73, 1973–74 and 1974–75 and (b) the amount of compensation for price restraint paid to each of these industries in each of these years.

Following is the information taken from the published reports and accounts of the industries:

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the Official Report a table giving in both current and constant prices the increases in public expenditure between 1973–74 and 1974–75, broken down into the following categories: central Government, local government and the rest of the public sector, current and capital expenditure and expenditure on

PUBLIC EXPENDITURE INCREASES 1973–74 TO 1974–75
(1975 Survey prices)
		Current prices		Constant prices
		£m.	Per cent.	£m.	Per cent.
Central Government*	…	+5,786	+30·8	+2,058	+8·0
of which:
(a) current expenditure:
(i) goods and services	…	+2,309	+28·3	+240	+2·2
(ii) transfers	…	+2,838	+33·8	+1,634	+13·9
(b) capital expenditure:
(i) goods and services	…	+89	+9·9	-122	-9·6
(ii) transfers	…	+550	+41·7	+306	+17·4
Local authorities*	…	+3,210	+36·2	+798	+6·6
of which:
(a) current expenditure:
(i) goods and services	…	+1,992	+39·2	+494	+7·0
(ii) transfers	…	+264	+47·1	+184	+24·5
(b) capital expenditure:
(i) goods and services	…	+771	+28·3	+11	+0·3
(ii) transfers	…	+183	+36·0	+109	+19·5
Public corporations* (capital expenditure only)		+1,061	+42·9	+572	+17·3
of which:
(i) goods and services	…	+985	+41·8	+518	+16·4
(ii) transfers	…	+76	+66·6	+54	+37·5
Debt Interest	…	+604	+18·6	-7	-0·1
Total public expenditure	…	+10,661	+31·9	+3,421	+7·5
of which:
Current expenditure	…	+8,007	+31·4	+2,545	+7·2
Capital expenditure	…	+2,654	+33·5	+876	+8·2
Goods and services	…	+6,146	+31·9	+1,141	+4·4
Transfers including debt Interest		+4,515	+31·9	+2,280	+11·6
* Excluding debt interest.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Written Answer given to the hon. Member for Blaby on 5th February, in what way the 65 per cent. figure disclosed in that answer was affected (a) by the rate of inflation and (b) by shifts in relative prices.