asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if, in view of the £600,000 deficit on the cost of collecting dog licences, he will either raise the cost of the licence to an economic level or abolish it altogether.

The Government are considering the future of dog licensing in Great Britain as part of our wider consideration of the conclusions and recommendations of the interdepartmental working party on dogs.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many jobs would be lost if dog licences were abolished.

No estimate is available of potential staff savings in the Post Office

Percentage change per head of population
England		1976–77 on 1975–76	1977–78 on 1976–77	1978–79 on 1977–78	1979–80 on 1978–79
South-East	…	11·5	8·4	7·4	16·7
South-West	…	11·0	13·8	11·0	26·0
East Anglia	…	11·0	20·0	15·4	17·0
West Midlands	…	10·2	13·9	9·9	17·1
East Midlands	…	19·9	14·4	11·0	18·4
North-West	…	13·4	11·3	9·9	17·0
Yorkshire and Humberside	…	9·9	12·2	12·1	21·4
Northern	…	9·5	10·3	12·1	18·5
Scotland	…	15·1	18·0	11·6	17·0
Wales	…	16·4	9·4	9·3	22·5

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland will write to the hon. Member giving the information for Northern Ireland.