asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they agree with the statement made on page 21 of Home Office Research Study No. 38,

The validity of the present reconviction prediction calculations has received support from other more recent work but if this ceased to be the case the procedure and its use would be re-examined.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What numbers and categories of employees of the National Coal Board are entitled to free or cheap coal, and what is the estimated value of these concessions to the various categories in terms of the current market value of coal.

The details of the concessionary coal scheme are negotiated by the National Coal Board and the trade unions in the coal industry, and I am asking the chairman to write to the noble Lord on the points raised in his Question.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the reason for the prolonged delay before they decided what the proposed merger between Grand Metropolitan Limited and the Coral Leisure Group should be referred to the Monopolies Commission; and whether they would hope to announce such decisions more expeditiously in the future.

There was no unreasonable delay. A merger reference raising important questions of public interest requires careful consideration. Where a public offer is involved the Government aim (and are usually able) to announce their decision before the first closing date of the offer, though it is generally accepted that the decision may cometimes take longer. In this case the decision to make a reference was announted at the start of business on the day following the first closing date of the offer.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps they are taking other than the Inmos scheme to train young technologists in microchip techniques for the consumer and defence industries of the United Kingdom.

There has been an increased emphasis on micro-electronics in the general educational system in the last two years. In addition, the Department of Industry under its Microprocessor Application Project provides grants for the development of short courses to train engineers from industry in micro-electronic techniques. Over 34,000 places on such courses have been added to the 2,500 estimated as annually available in 1978. The department has also sponsored a competition which will result in more than 100 micro-computers being placed in secondary schools. The Manpower Services Commission provides grants under the Training for Skills programme to assist with key skill imbalances and is giving particular priority to the new technologies.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will set out in tabular form their best estimates of the average monthly cost to the Exchequer when an adult male worker on average weekly earnings (on the basis of all industries and services covered by the New Earnings Survey, updated if appropriate by the average earnings index, and assuming pay was not affected by absence) becomes unemployed, showing separately (

The monthly financial cost to the Exchequer will vary according to how long the worker has been unemployed. The following tables, which update those given in the Manpower Services Commission's Review and Plan, 1977, therefore show the costs for the first twelve months separately, as well as the average for the first year. The example used in the answer is an adult male on average weekly earnings. This is not typical of the unemployed as a whole who tend to have lower than average male weekly earnings when in employment.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they agree with the estimate of a figure between £875 million and £3,286 million as being required for remedial work on sewers in Britain within the next two years and, if not, what is their own estimate of the requirement; what is their estimate of the sums that need spending on underground gas pipes within the next two years; what is their estimate of the sums that need spending on water mains; whether they intend that these repairs should be carried out and, if so, to what extent; whether traffic heavier than that for which the sewers and pipes were designed is reponsible for accelerating the decay of the pipes and, if so, what steps they are proposing to take to reduce the sum of public money spent on avoidable damage.

Responsibility for the assessment of the condition of underground services and the preparation of programmes of renewal lies with the water authorities in England and Wales for water mains and sewers and with British Gas Corporation for gas pipelines. The latest five-year plans of the water authorities, published earlier this year, give no indication of the need to spend sums of the order of £875 million to £3,286 million in the short term on sewer renewals. The National Water Council's appraisal of the aggregate capital programme for all water services suggests that 38 per cent, of annual expenditure—that is, about £230 million—is spent on renewal works. There is no separate breakdown of renewal expenditure on water mains and sewers within this total. The council concludes that, in many areas, current investment on renewal and renovation of sewers appears to be of the right order to maintain present levels of service and to deal with any serious cases of deterioration.However, in some areas, there may be a need to increase this type of investment, for example, substantially, in the case of the north west where the problem is most serious. The required level of renewal investment over the next few years will be reviewed and revised as the water authorities gain more information on the condition of their assets. Expenditure by the Gas Corporation on renewal of pipelines is partly from revenue and partly on capital account, and the gross annual rate of spending is considered to be adequate in relation to needs. Again, there is no apparent need for any sudden increase in the rate of renewals in the near future.Increase in traffic intensity is only one of the factors which affect the rate of decay of underground services. The responsible authorities have a substantial programme of research and survey work under way to determine the present condition and rate of deterioration of such services, but it is too early to say what the results might show will be necessary in the way of future annual maintenance and renewal costs.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether it is their policy that all new sewage disposal schemes should conform with EEC and Royal Commission standards and, if so, whether they are satisfied that the scheme now under construction at Portaferry, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, where comminuted but otherwise untreated sewage will be discharged into Strangford Lough, conforms therewith.

All new sewage disposal schemes constructed in Northern Ireland meet the standards laid down by the Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal and the Portaferry scheme conforms to these standards. There are no relevant EEC standards for such schemes.The Royal Commission's standard in relation to tidal water requires no treatment of sewage where its dilution exceeds 500:1; at Portaferry the dilution factor will be many thousands to one. An independent expert, Mr. Gameson, formerly of the Water Research Centre, has investigated the proposals and found them satisfactory. My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Mr. Goodhart) is arranging for local groups to be involved in monitoring the operation of the scheme.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish details of the waiting lists for admission to hospitals of children of school age, in each of the four administrative board areas, in Northern Ireland for each quarter since 1977.

This information is not available as children are not separately identified on waiting lists.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What proportion of the total local government electorate pay full rates, partial rates and zero rates; and what is the division of rate payments between: (

The information, as far as it is available, is set out below. It is not possible to distinguish between those on full and those on partial rate relief in A(iv) below. All figures are for England and Wales for 1979–80;

A.	(i)	(ii)	(iii)	(iv)
	Electorate at May 1979 36·7m	Households at May 1979 17·8m	Ratepayers on Full Rates 13·0m (%of(i)=35 %of(ii)=73)	Households in receipt of rate rebates or Supplementary Benefit assistance with rates 4·8m (%of(i)=13 %of(ii)=27)

B. RATE DISTRIBUTION
Domestic		Non-Domestic		Total
£	%	£	%	£
2·5bn	42	3·5bn	58	6·0bn

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their estimate of the number of houses and flats, owned by local authorities and housing associations, that are now boarded-up while awaiting demolition, improvement or major repair; and what steps they are taking to encourage the maximum amount of "short-life" use.

On the basis of the Vacant Property Survey, it is estimated that in Spring 1977 local authorities and New Town Development Corporations in England owned about 70,000 vacant properties which were awaiting either demolition or building work. It is not known how many of these properties were boarded up. Similar information is not available for housing associations.The Government are anxious to see that the best and most efficient use is made of the housing stock. Short-life schemes have a part to play. Circular 76/77

asked Her Majesty's Government:What numbers and categories of employees in central and local government and in public agencies are: (

The following table sets out the approximate numbers of (a) pensions in payment to former employees and their dependants and (b) serving members of the main public service superannuation schemes.

	CURRENTLY DRAWING PENSIONS			ENTITLED TO PENSIONS
Scheme	Retired	Dependants	Total Pensions	Serving Members
	'000	'000	'000	'000
Armed Forces	241	54	295	313
Civil and Diplomatic Services	290	95	385	700
NHS	175	30	205	728
Local Government	261	67	328	1,098
Teachers	180	7	187	662
Police and Fire	91	41	132	165
Overseas	45	15	60	—
Total	1,283	309	1,592	3,666

I regret that corresponding details for the nationalised industry pension schemes are not available centrally. In 1979, however, 5.6 million employees in all belonged to public service and public sector pension schemes together (of which the nationalised industries were a part), and 2.4 million were drawing pensions. Of the latter 1.9 million were retired employees and 0.5 million dependants. Most of these pensioners would have been receiving fully inflation-proofed pensions.House adjourned at eleven minutes before eight o'clock.