asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is satisfied with the Government arrangements to deal with natural and civil emergencies.

Yes. Responsibility for responding to natural disasters and emergencies rests with local authorities in the first instance and guidance has been issued to them. Arrangements exist for co-ordinating any Government action which may be needed in emergencies of all kinds.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convicted women prisoners are at present in (a) Anscombe Grange, (b) Styal and (c) Holloway; how many women there are on remand; and in which establishments they are remanded.

The information available is given in the following table.Pucklechurch, 52 in Risley and 2 in Brixton. Of these 5, 12, 29 and 0 respectively were convicted but unsentenced.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why it is still not possible for women prisoners at Styal to have extended visits from their children.

There has been no change since I replied to my hon. Friend's question on 15 January.—[Vol. 960, c. 587.]

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison escapees were prosecuted in the ordinary courts for the offences of escape or prison breach in 1977 and 1978.

In England and Wales during 1977, 10 persons were proceeded against in the courts for offences of escaping from lawful custody and six for offences of breaking prison. Information for 1978 is not yet available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many prisoners were punished in 1977 for the offence of offending against good order and discipline under rule 47(20);(2) how many prisoners were charged in 1977 with the offence of making a false and malicious allegation under rule 47(12); and how many were punished;(3) how many prisoners were charged in 1977 with the offence of making groundless complaints under rule 47(16); and how many were punished.

The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The numbers of people dealt with for these offences and for offences against rule 47(21) are combined in the published figures for "other offences" dealt with within the prison system in tables 9.2 and 9.3 of "Prison Statistics, England and Wales 1977"—Cmnd. 7286.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many prisoners in 1976 and 1977 received consecutive awards of cellular confinement at adjudications which in aggregate exceeded 56 days; and what were those aggregates;

The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times has forfeited remission been restored to prisoners by governors and boards of visitors under rule 56(2) in each of the years since 1974 when such a power was introduced; and what periods were so restored.

This information is not available, but inquiries in relation to sample periods show that forfeited remission was restored to over 160 prisoners in the period 1 June to 30 November 1974 and to over 200 prisoners in the period 1 September 1976 to 28 February 1977. The amounts restored ranged from two days to 170 days.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the Vietnamese boat people have been given refuge in the United Kingdom.

A total of 1,122 refugees from Vietnam have been given permission to enter or remain in the United Kingdom since the fall of Saigon in May 1975. Of these, 761 were "boat people".As I stated in reply to a question by my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Test (Mr. Gould) on 17 January, arrangements are in hand to admit 1,500 Vietnamese former "boat people" over the next 12 months to 15 months in addition to any who may be admitted under existing policy.—[Vol. 960, c.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there is a continuing advertising campaign for the recruitment of black police officers; and if he will list for the longest convenient period for the Metropolitan Police, Merseyside police, West Midlands police, Thames Valley police and Avon and Somerset authorities, the number of black police officers, their rank and, wherever possible, their ethnic classification.

National police recruitment advertising aims to appeal to all

asked the Minister for the Civil Service if he will list by Department the number of civil servants employed in systems, programming and computer operating together with a note of the major applications processed in each case.

The main administrative computer using departments together with the number of civil servants employed in systems, programming and computer operating, as at 31 March 1978, and the major applications processed in each case are are follows:

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has for allowing householders greater freedom to alter their property before having to seek planning consent.

I am considering amendments to the provisions of the Town and Country Planning General Development Order 1977.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects the community land scheme to make a profit.

We shall probably get an overall surplus when local authorities are disposing of nearly as much land as they are acquiring. The total net profit on community land disposed of up to 31 March 1978 was just over £1 million.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects the community land scheme to make a profit.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave earlier today to the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Mr. Budgen).

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authorities are taking action to implement the Inner Urban Areas Act.

The seven partnerships and the 15 programme authorities in England have prepared their inner area programmes for the coming three financial years. These cover the use they propose to make of the powers under the Act. Of the 43 designated districts in England, nine have so far notified me that they have declared improvement areas under the Act. A further 13 have consulted informally with my officials about possible future declarations.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is satisfied with the present local government machinery for dealing with inner urban area problems.

Yes, but I shall keep it under review.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to amend section 30 of the Water Act 1973.

No. I am still considering the various representations put to me, and shall be discussing the matter further with the National Water Council.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will now make a supplementary grant to local authorities to enable them to cover the cost of wage settlements.

No. The rate support grant settlement will be updated next November in the usual way to take account of pay and price increases in the previous 12 months. This will, of course, be subject to cash limits but they will be increased to take account of the Government's recently announced initiative on the low paid.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will agree to the inner city partnership committee meeting being open to the public where the committee agrees on such a procedure.

I am still considering this and other proposals for improving public involvement in the light of the representations that I have received.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he last met the Building Societies Association.

I met the chairman of the Building Societies Association and several of his colleagues on 22 November 1978.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what guidance he intends to give to local authorities as to the level of council house rents that they may wish to fix for the year 1979–80; and if he will make a statement.

The rate support grant settlement for 1979–80 assumed an average rent increase of 42p per week. Local authorities have already been informed of this.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what allocations have been made for 1979 to Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester, respectively, for the purpose of insulation of council dwellings.

The allocations for 1979–80 were as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is satisfied with current council housing building programmes in stress housing areas.

The housing expenditure allocations made by the Department, which pay special regard to the requirements of authorities with concentrations of housing need, allow for a substantial council house building programme. But the level of new building is currently well below the plans put forward last year by housing authorities in their housing investment programme submissions and the level which the allocations could fund.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he remains satisfied with the operation of the partnership schemes.

Yes. As I told the hon. Member last November, the programmes agreed are a good beginning.—[Vol. 957, c. 223.] Partnerships are now rolling these forward, against the background of the increased resources recently announced in the Government's White Paper on public expenditure (Cmnd. 7439).

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total amount of grant allocated for urban renewal in the inner urban areas since April 1977.

The expenditure approved for new projects in England under the urban programme was £4·25 million in 1977–78; and £27 million in 1978–79. During this period there will also have been expenditure of about £40 million on projects continuing from earlier years; an allocation of £83 million for an inner city construction package; and of course continuing expenditure on main programmes.Urban programme grant is paid on 75 per cent. of the expenditure incurred by local authorities.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will encourage the relaxation of planning controls in inner urban areas to encourage industrial development.

In the Department's circular 71/77 about local government and the industrial strategy, we have encouraged local authorities to be sensitive to the needs of industrial development, drawing particular attention to the needs of inner urban areas.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received concerning the proposed inner ring road in Liverpool, in the context of the Liverpool inner area partnership.

I have had representations from five individuals or organisations on this matter in recent months.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about progress on discussions on the review of footpaths.

We expect shortly to send to interested bodies a consultation document dealing in some detail with the problems to which the present procedures for reviewing and updating definitive maps of public rights of way are giving rise, and setting out the Department's proposals for overcoming them.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether retired council employees whose pensions are index-linked now in some cases receive more in pension than their successors in the same post receive in salary; if this system remains appropriate; and if he will make a statement.

This could happen only where highly exceptional circumstances coincided, and such coincidences would be very rare. It might happen, for instance, if the pensioner had retired during the 1972–73 pay restraint, his pension had been increased under the Pensions (Increase) Act 1974, his salary during his last few months had been supplemented because of special duties, he had 45 years pensionable service and he was one of the few persons with pre-1953 superannuation rights whose whole benefit was in the form of a pension. On average the present pension of a person who retired five years ago would be about 60 per cent. of his successor's current salary. I would think it wholly inappropriate to revise the system of pension protection because such very rare anomalies may occur.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is satisfied with current insulation standards in buildings.

New standards for non-domestic buildings are coming into effect on 1 July this year. Standards for domestic buildings are now under review.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from the Association of County Councils and others regarding disparities in the distribution of the rate support grant for 1978–79.

Despite the fact that some two-thirds of non-metropolitan countries will enjoy real increases in their needs element entitlements in 1979–80, the association has produced memoranda arguing that the settlement has discriminated against its members. We have told the association that we do not accept this. In addition, a few individual authorities have complained that they are not getting enough needs element.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the cost to employers of introducing a national minimum wage at £45 a week or £1·13 an hour, applicable to all workers aged 21 years and over.

Bringing gross weekly earnings, excluding overtime pay, of full-time workers aged 21 and over up to £45 at April 1978 would have increased that component of the total wage and salary bill by around 1 per cent. The additional cost in cash terms would be approximately £10 million per week. This rough estimate is based on the new earnings survey results for those whose pay was not affected by absence. It takes no account of repercussions on those with higher earnings, or on overtime payments nor of part-time employment.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest convenient figures for comparisons of average wages in the Greater London area and the Greater Manchester area.

The following new earnings survey estimates of average gross weekly earnings in April 1978 relate to full-time men aged 21 and over and women aged 18 and over employed within the specified areas whose pay for the survey reference pay period was not affected by absence. They are rounded to the nearest 10p and are subject to sampling errors. Inter-area differences in occupational and industrial structures and of special London allowances. They do not indicate differences in pay for comparable work.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the recent unemployment figures on Merseyside.

At 11 January, 87,344 people were registered as unemployed in the Merseyside special development area. This represents an unemployment percentage rate of 11·6 per cent. The Government recognise that the level of unemployment on Merseyside remains far too high but we are determined to do all we can to reduce it substantially. In addition to the various forms of financial assistance, which as a special development area it receives under the Government's regional policy, Merseyside has benefited from the wide range of special employment and training measures which have so far helped over 55,000 people there. The success of many of these measures, particularly those directed towards young people, depends to a large extent upon the co-operation of employers, trade unions, local authorities and voluntary organisations and I would appeal to them to do all they can to help. Merseyside will also benefit from the assistance granted under the Government's inner city policy to the Liverpool partnership.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report the number of unemployed under 18 years, between 18 years and 30 years, 30 and 50 years, and 50 and 65 years, respectively, on Merseyside at the latest available date.

Following is the information for the Merseyside special development area at 12 October 1978, the latest date for which the quarterly age analysis is available.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many construction

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to reduce unemployment in the construction industry on Merseyside, in the light of the recent unemployment figures; and if he will make a statement.

I shall reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether the funding of training workshops and projects under the youth opportunities programme and the special temporary employment programme could be improved.

The arrangements are currently under review.

Following is the information at 9 November 1978:

asked the Secretary of State for Trade when he expects to give a decision in respect of the American organisation Sears Roebuck's application for a licence to operate in the United Kingdom within the framework of Lloyd's.

My right hon. Friend has not received an application in these terms but on December 1 1978 he authorised Allstate Reinsurance Co. (UK) Limited, a subsidiary of Sears Roebuck, to carry on insurance business in Great Britain.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade whether he is satisfied that the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organisation rules of stability are satisfactorily obeyed in the construction of fishing boats; and whether he has any information to suggest that boat builders are too often sticking to the minimum stability figure instead of making an allowance in excess of the minimum.

The stability criteria for fishing vessels recommended by IMCO are reflected in the Fishing Vessel (Safety Provisions) Rules 1975, which apply to fishing vessels 12 metres in length and over. All newly constructed fishing vessels to which the rules apply must demonstrate full compliance with the stability criteria in all operating conditions in order to obtain a fishing vessel certificate.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade if he is satisfied that the United Kingdom has sufficient salvage tugs for the protection of the United Kingdom coastline in the event of further damage from major oil pollution.

The availability of salvage tugs has been considered by an expert group, and I would ask the hon. Member to await the publication of its findings in February. I am in touch with the United Towing Company with regard to its report on this question.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade whether, in view of the fact that 33 per cent. of all the inquiries being handled by the Department of Industry's small firms advisory centres from established businesses relate to help needed on Government regulations and similar matters, he will take steps to introduce legislation to introduce a simplified form of company structure with appropriately reduced requirements.

The Government are very conscious of complaints from smaller firms that they find some regulations and procedures time-consuming and difficult to deal with. But I am not aware that problems of this sort arise in relation to company law generally. The main concerns expressed by small companies relate to the disclosure provisions of the Companies Acts, on which my Department will shortly publish a consultative document.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what action she intends to take in the light of the recent National Economic Developmet Council report which stressed the inadequacy of design teaching in engineering courses.

My officials are at present considering the report which only recently became available.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much of the increased expenditure alowance in the current year is being spent on the arts; and in what specific areas this money will be spent.

The public expenditure White Paper, Cmnd. 7439, shows that expenditure on the arts in the current year is planned to increase by 13 per cent. in real terms over 1977–78. The benefits from this increase are widely distributed throughout the institutions and services covered by this expenditure.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) if she will list the members who represented her Department on the working party which produced circular 16/78 "The Development of Sporting Talent in Children of School Age";(2) what consultations took place between her Department and teachers of physical education through their professional body the Physical Education Association before circular 16/78 "The Development of Sporting Talent in Children of School Age" was produced.

Circular 16/78 was issued jointly by my Department, Department of the Environment and the Welsh Office to convey the findings of a specialist working party established by the Minister responsible for sport and recreation. Its members were:

• Miss E. G. Pollard, HMI (Staff inspector for physical education)
• Mr. P. MacGregor (Director of Recreation, City of Coventry)
• Mr. C. Sayer (Co-ordinator of Technical Services, Sports Council)
• Mr. W. Slater (Director of Physical Education, University of Birmingham)
• Dr. V. Thomas (Director of Physical Education, Liverpool Polytechnic).

asked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection whether he has any plans for reviewing the Sale of Goods Act 1893.

The Government recognise the need, highlighted by the Bill put forward recently by the hon. Member, for a thorough-going examination of the rights of buyers where the goods are defective. Accordingly, the Lord Chancellor has asked the Law Commission:

"To consider—

(a) whether the undertakings as to the quality and fitness of goods implied under the law relating to sale of goods, hire-purchase and other contracts for the supply of goods require amendment;

(b) the circumstances in which a person, to whom goods are supplied under a contract of sale, hire-purchase or other contract for the supply of goods, is entitled, where there has been a breach by the supplier of a term implied by statute, to

(i) reject the goods and treat the contract as repudiated;

(ii) claim against the supplier a diminution in or extinction of the price;

asked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection, in respect of each commodity, what is the amount spent on food subsidies in each of the years from February 1974 to date; and what effect these subventions have had in total on the retail prices index, the food prices index and the pensioners index, respectively.

, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 24 January 1979; Vol. 961, c. 146], gave the following answer:The information requested is given in the tables below.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he intends to publish the names of the British companies operating in South Africa which have not complied with his code of conduct on employment practices for blacks in that country; and what action he intends to take to encourage them into doing so.

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Dr. McDonald) on 25 January.—[Vol. 961, c. 351.]

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he is taking through international or Commonwealth organisations to provide help for Vietnamese refugees.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave in the debate on this subject on 15 December and to the reply my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Test (Mr. Gould) on 17 January.—[Vol. 960, col. 1227; Vol. 960, col. 761.]

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what agreements with the USSR or other countries have been signed by representatives of the United Kingdom that have not yet been reported to Parliament.

No recent agreements have been signed with the USSR.The following agreements concluded by the United Kingdom with other countries have not yet been laid before Parliament as Command Papers. They will be laid and published in the next few weeks.BOTSWANA

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will make a staetment about the future of the residential quarters at RAF Lindholme, in the light of his announcement of a new operational role for the station.

There are at present 170 vacant married quarters at RAF Lindholme and this will not be affected by the decision announced on 26 January to use the station as a relief landing ground for aircraft from RAF Finningley. We are, therefore, currently considering whether a future defence requirement for the quarters exists. If it does not, they will be disposed of in the normal way. I will keep my hon. Friend informed.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he is satisfied that the present strength of Transport Command, RAF, is adequate for the work load it has to carry.

The RAF's present air transport capability allows it to satisfy the majority of peacetime demands upon it and to meet the emergency reinforcement requirements laid down for NATO forces by SACEUR. Where necessary, additional capacity is obtained by chartering civil aircraft.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether, in the light of the rent arrears of £61·9 million by council house tenants in 1977–78, he will now issue instructions to officials of his Department that social security benefits made in respect of rent and rates should be paid direct to the local authorities.

No. The rent element of supplementary benefit is already paid direct to the local authority where the tenant is in persistent default with his rent. To do this for all tenants on supplementary benefit, the vast majority of whom are not in arrears, would be not only an unwarranted interference in the individual's right to look after his affairs himself but also a misuse of scarce staff resources in my Department.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will state (a) the total amount of grants in England and Wales under schedule 5 to the Supplementary Benefits Act 1976 for each of the last two years, (b) the total amount of grants in Scotland under schedule 5 to the Supplementary Benefits Act 1976 for each of the last two years, (c) the portion of total costs of reception and re-establishment centres met by such grants, and (d) annual cost of the reception centre at Bishopbriggs.

The information is as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, following the decision of Rear-Admiral Nixon at the M25 inquiry at Leatherhead to refuse to hear evidence from Dr. D. Barltrop, director of the department of child health, Westminster Children's hospital, on the grounds that he is not independent, he will remove Dr. Barltrop from his working party to review the overall effect on health of environmental lead which he announced on 29 November.—[Vol. 959, c. 273–4.]

The considerations underlying the choice of membership of the working party and the arrangements for declaring pecuniary interests were explained in my reply of 29 November 1978.—[Vol. 959, c. 272–4.] I am looking into the particular report to which my hon. Friend refers and will write to him.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the current length of waiting lists in each specialty at each hospital in the Cheshire health area; and what were the comparable figures in each of the past three years.

I shall write to the hon. Member.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many strike centres operated in 1978; what was the cost of their operation; and where they were located.

I regret that accurate information is not available and approximate information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what leaflets are currently available giving details of the entitlements of strikers to claim supplementary benefit on their own behalf and on behalf of their dependents; how many have been distributed since 1 January 1977; and where they are available.

There is a special leaflet, SB2, giving this information. Copies are available from my Department's local offices and the leaflets unit at Stanmore, and also from any special centre set up to deal with claims during a particular dispute. The number of copies released from central stocks since 1 January 1977 is 850,000.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many foils in claimants' order books were marked cancelled in 1978.

Cancelled foils are extracted and destroyed before order books are issued to beneficiaries. No record is kept of how many are cancelled.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many claimants' order books were printed in 1978; how many were distributed; and what was the average level of stocks held at all social security offices.

More than 50 million order books were printed in 1978 and about the same number were distributed. There are no stocks where books are

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps are taken to recover stolen claimants' order books; how many such order books were reclaimed in each of the past five years; and what was their potential value in each year.

It would not be in the public interest to disclose full details of the steps taken to recover order books stolen from claimants. However, there are long-standing arrangements between my Department and the Post Office, designed to indentify and recover stolen order books and thus prevent fraudulent misuse. The Department's prime objective is to prevent fraud and therefore these arrangements and, indeed, the general procedures for order book issues and payments are continuously under review. In particular, as mentioned in the second report of the Co-ordinating Committee on Abuse, published on 11 January this year, improved procedures have been introduced for dealing with the loss and replacement of locally issued order books and the circumstances in which the Post

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many bulk thefts of claimants' order books from social security offices there have been in each of the past five years; how many books thereby have been stolen; and that was their potential value.

The last figures available for thefts of order books from social security offices are as follows:Office of payment specified on an issued book can be changed.Thefts from and losses by individual claimants arise in a wide variety of circumstances, and the work involved in keeping a central record of the books recovered and their potential value, would not be justified.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many claimants' order books were either lost or stolen in each of the past five years; and what was their potential value in each year.

The Department records all losses of order books either on the way to, or after receipt by, the payee. The figures, excluding bulk thefts of order books which are recorded separately, are as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether any additional training is required before a general practitioner is allowed to practise obstetrics.

No. A general practitioner who has had the training in obstetrics provided in the undergraduate curriculum can practise obstetrics in the NHS but only for patients for whom he provides general medical services. A practitioner must be on the obstetric list, and therefore must have had additional training, to give maternity medical services to any other patients. Eighty per cent. of practitioners in England are on the obstetric list but only 3 per cent. of claims for fees for maternity medical services of all kinds, with a lower percentage for deliveries, are from practitioners not on the list.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what additional training is required before a general practitioner is placed on the obstetric register.

The main criterion which a general practitioner has to satisfy for admission to the obstetric list is to have held a six months' resident appointment in a hospital obstetric unit within the previous 10 years. There are, however, other criteria which he can satisfy if he has not held a six months' resident appointment. I shall send my hon. Friend a full list of the criteria governing entry to the obstetric list.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many babies were delivered by general practitioners in the last year for which figures are available; and how many of these were delivered by general practitioners not on the obstetric register.

The available information is of the number of NHS maternity medical services fees paid in respect of responsibility for confinement to practitioners in England in 1977. 105,000 such fees were paid: 104,200 to doctors on the obstetric list and 800—less than 1 per cent.—to doctors not on the list. These figures are derived from a 10 per cent. sample of claims.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many nursing staff vacancies remain unfilled in the Burton-on-Trent hospitals.

Recruitment is up to the funded establishment. Vacancies occur from time to time in the psychiatric and midwifery divisions where recruitment is more difficult.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the present rate of retirement pension for a single person and a married couple if the November 1978 increase had been in line with the 13·2 per cent. increase in earnings rather than his forecast of 11·4 per cent.; and what would be the total cost of making good the shortfall.

If retirement pensions and other long-term benefits had been increased by 13·2 per cent. in November 1978, the standard rates would have been £19·80 for a single person and £31·70 for a married couple. To increase the present rates to these levels would cost about £165 million a year in Great Britain. However, as I made clear to my hon. Friend in my reply to him on 17 January, there is no statutory obligation to make good the shortfall in last November's uprating, but the Government will nevertheless take this shortfall into account together with the general fiscal and monetary prospects when the time comes to decide the new rates of benefit that will take effect next November.—[Vol. 960, c. 771–3.]

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services why there are long delays in the issue and reissue of child benefit books; and what action he is taking to alleviate the hardship that these delays are causing.

I will let the hon. Member have a reply as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people were taken to hospital by the police or volunteers on 22 January; and whether he is aware of any instances in which the absence of emergency cover by the normal ambulance service aggravated the condition of the patient.

, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 30 January 1979; Vol. 961, c. 385], gave the following information:One hundred and thirty-nine patients in the Greater London area were conveyed to hospital by members of the police force and 165 by members of the Red Cross, St. John's Ambulance Brigade and the Armed Forces between 7 a.m. on Monday 22 January and 7 a.m. on Tuesday 23 January.I am not aware of any instances in which the absence of emergency services normally provided in London aggravated the condition of these patients.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what provision

HC(76) 40 recommended a two-tier system of provision of special and intensive care for newborn babies:

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many newborn babies have died in each of the past three years after being turned away from fully committed regional intensive child care units.

This information is not routinely collected. A recent study undertaken in the North-East Thames region showed that, of 51 infants refused admission to the unit of first choice over a 3-month period, 12 were admitted to a second intensive care unit in the region; 26 were admitted to intensive care units outside the region; 11 remained in ordinary special care baby units; 2 were not traced.Survival of babies weighing more than 1,500 gms was as good in the special care baby units (SCBUs) as in the intensive care units (ICUs); survival of those weighing 1,001–1,500 gms was 60 per cent. in the ICUs, whereas the two in this group who remained in SCBUs died; survival of those weighing 1,000 gms or less was 20 per cent. in the ICUs whereas the five in this group who remained in SCBUs died.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy whether he took counsel's opinion on British National Oil Corporation's forward sale of oil as shown in its 1976 accounts; what, if so, was counsel's opinion; and what was the legal fee involved.

When BNOC's forward sale of oil—as shown in its 1977 accounts—was under negotiation in 1977, the Department of Energy sought advice on legal aspects of the proposed transaction from the Department's legal advisers. It did not seek legal opinions outside the Government service and no legal fee was involved.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what action he is taking to deal with the threat to oil supplies world wide and to the United Kingdom caused by the cessation of Iranian oil exports.

The fall in Iranian oil production in November and December and the complete cessation of oil exports since Christmas are undoubtedly placing strain on world oil markets. The loss of Iranian crude is only in part being made up from additional production elsewhere and some rundown in stock levels worldwide is inevitable. The Government will watch the situation carefully and will keep in close touch with the International Energy Agency and with other Governments. I am also continuing to keep in close touch with the oil companies about the maintenance of supplies to the United Kingdom and the steps they are taking to secure additional supplies from other sources.In the meantime, it is important that consumers should exercise restraint in the use of oil products wherever possible and avoid waste. The Government will expect oil companies exporting North Sea crude to do so in the markets of our partners in the International Energy Agency and in the European Community. This expectation in no way cuts across the maintenance, to the extent possible, of any existing patterns of trade outside those regions.

asked the Minister of Overseas Development how much aid was designated for India in each of the past five years; and what was the amount actually taken up in each of these years.