asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why the full figures of casualties presumed from a nuclear attack on the United Kingdom and the assumptions made to calculate them have not been released following his undertaking to do so in the House on 7 August 1980.

My right hon. Friend's statement on 7 August 1980 included no undertaking on particular information, but a general commitment to greater openness in civil defence matters. The official booklet "Nuclear Weapons"—[HMSO £3·50 net]—contains general information about the likely effects of a nuclear attack, and much other relevant information has since been provided.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why Home Office scientists do not allow for the effects of blast damage when calculating protection given by housing against radiation following a nuclear attack on the United Kingdom; and why they assume all walls, doors, windows and roofs remain intact.

Severe blast damage to buildings would cause very heavy casualties. Light blast damage—for example, dislodged slates, broken windows—would not markedly affect radiation protection factors.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why his Department's figures for the extent of and the casualties caused by blast likely to follow a nuclear attack on the United Kingdom differ from the other independent studies such as those of the United States Department of Defence, Office of Technology Assessment.

Home Office estimates, at present in course of revalidation, are based on different assumptions about buildings and the position of people within them.