asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has issued any guidance to the Countryside Commission based on proposals for a cut-back in staff in the order of 5, 10 or 20 per cent.

No guidance has been issued recently. We are, however, reviewing the full range of the Department's work with a view to making further savings wherever possible. The staff complement of the Countryside Commission, as elsewhere in the Civil Service, has been reduced to take account of the 3 per cent. reduction in the cash limits on administrative expenditure announced on 23 May 1979.