asked Her Majesty's Government:How many remand prisoners have been held overnight in police cells since 1st January 1984; how many of these were detained in accommodation outside the Metropolitan Police district; and which police forces were involved.

The number of prisoners held overnight in police cells since 1st January is as follows:

January	Total	Outside MPD	February	Total	Outside MPD
1/2	Nil	Nil	1/2	128	11
2/3	Nil	Nil	2/3	106	11
3/4	3	Nil	3/6	139	23
4/5	1	Nil	6/7	152	32
5/6	20	9	7/8	132	12
6/9	11	Nil	8/9	140	25
9/10	29	4	9/10	116	21
10/11	21	1	10/13	122	22
11/12	16	2	13/14	120	16
12/13	11	Nil	14/15	107	18
13/16	13	1
16/17	38	1
17/18	51	1
18/19	25	Nil
19/20	39	16
20/23	43	3
23/24	70	9
24/25	57	6
25/26	56	8
26/27	71	11
27/30	95	1
30/31	145	14
31/1	121	14

Prisoners were held outside the Metropolitan Police district by the Surrey, Sussex, Essex, Hertfordshire, Thames Valley, Kent, Hampshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Dorset and City of London forces. All these prisoners were

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many red breasted mergansers have been killed under licence in England and Wales since the passing of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; how many licences have been issued; and what localities do these licences cover.

None.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many goosanders have been killed under licence in England and Wales since the passing of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; in what localities; and how many individuals currently hold licences to kill this species.

None.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the approximate total annual cost to public funds of financial support to agriculture.

Details of the financial support given to agriculture over the period 1979–80 to 1983–84 are set out in Table 28 of the Annual Review of Agriculture 1984 (Cmnd. 9137) published on 3rd February. Forecast expenditure for 1983–84 is about £1.7 billion.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What conditions and regulations apply to the setting up and conduct of "farms" for the keeping, breeding and slaughter of mink, foxes and other animals in captivity for commercial purposes.

The welfare provisions of the Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1968 and its subordinate legislation relate to all farm animals and thus also to those farmed for fur. It is an offence under the Act to cause them unnecessary pain or unnecessary distress. The State Veterinary Service conduct regular welfare inspections at fur farms just as they do on other livestock holdings. They are under instruction to follow up any complaint or allegation (elating to welfare. In addition, the Protection of Animals Acts 1911 and 1912 make it an offence to cause any domestic or captive animals unnecessary suffering. For pest control purposes, it is illegal to keep mink in Great Britain except under licence from the appropriate agriculture Minister, Further, the Mink (Keeping) Regulations 1975, as amended, prescribe secure keeping arrangements to prevent their escape into the wild.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they decided that membership of a trade union was incompatible with work at GCHQ and what incident or incidents convinced them that this was so.

:Since the disruption of work at the Government Communications Headquarters caused by industrial action between 1979 and 1981 we have been considering what steps were required to prevent any recurrence. We reached the conclusion that measures should be introduced which would have the effect of prohibiting the staff of Government Communications Headquarters from belonging to a trade union other than a departmental staff association approved by the director. This decision was announced on 25th January 1984.