asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, when authorising the interception of communications of any person resident in the United Kingdom, he has ever allowed such interception to be carried out by United States agencies.

No. No facilities in the United Kingdom are made available to foreign Governments or their agencies to intercept United Kingdom telephone, postal or telex services.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many authorisations of interception of communications related to Wales in each year since 1979.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many warrants were issued for the interception of communications in the Houghton and Washington constituency and in the north-east between 1979 and 1984; what is the number of warrants still in operation; and if he will make a statement.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests for warrants for interception of communications he rejected during each of the years 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984.

I do not intend to add to the statistics on interception given in annex 2 of the White Paper "The Interception of Communications in the United Kingdom" published on 7 February 1985 (Cmnd. 9438).