asked Her Majesty's Government:What discretion governors of prisons have in deciding whether to report serious crimes which take place within prisons in England and Wales.

When a serious criminal offence appears to have been committed by a prisoner, governors are required to consult the regional director or headquarters, but if consultation is not practicable they may immediately refer the matter to the police.

asked Her Majesty's Government:At what prisons there are woodmills or heavy machinery plants; at what intervals the noise levels are measured in each of them; on what date the noise levels were most recently measured at each, and what were the readings on those occasions.

In England and Wales there are 19 prison establishments with woodmills and 28 with other heavy or noisy machinery in use in workshops. Over the past five years noise surveys have been carried out on at least one occasion at 24 of these establishments; the others are due to be surveyed in the course of the next year. Details of readings on each occasion when noise levels have been measured are not readily available, since a substantial number of readings is required to determine the noise contours in each case. If the noble Lord will provide details of any particular case he has in mind we will make further enquiries.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What evidence they have of young people on unemployment benefit refusing jobs on the ground that the difference between benefit and wages is not worth working for.

The statistical records of refusals of jobs held by unemployment benefit offices do not distinguish reasons for refusal.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the comparative numbers of single homeless people (including residents of common lodging houses, resettlement units and hostels) who have claimed and received both interim payments and weekly payments at London's two special supplementary benefits offices (6–8 Marshalsea Road and 31 Scarborough Street) in a similar week in November or early December for each of the years from 1978 through to 1983.

Records of payments cannot be broken down by claimants' marital status. Details of payments are collected on a four-weekly basis. The total number of payments made at the two special benefit offices during December 1979—the earliest date for which figures are available—and during comparable periods to 1983 were as follows:

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the report of the Department of Health and Social Security's study of the needs of mentally handicapped people with additional handicaps or problems has yet been completed and issued.

We have recently issued the report, Helping Mentally Handicapped People with Special Problems to all health and local authorities and voluntary organisations and groups with an interest in mental handicap. This report was prepared following a study by a multi-disciplinary team of officials assisted by Professor Peter Mittler of Manchester University. The team considered the needs of mentally handicapped people with additional handicaps or problems and different ways of providing, from available resources, an effective service for them and their families. Their report discusses services for mentally handicapped people who have additional sensory handicaps, or who are elderly or behaviourally disturbed, and day services for profoundly and multiply mentally handicapped people. We hope that the report will be of practical assistance to those who are planning and providing services for people with these additional or profound handicaps. It should stimulate further discussion about the services these people need, and promote a better understanding of their needs and those of their families.Copies of the report have been placed in the Library of the House.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the estimated number of retired persons in receipt of indexed occupational pensions from Government, local government and nationalised industry employment.

It is estimated that there are some 2½ million people receiving pensions from public sector schemes. Nearly all of them would be entitled to index-linked pensions.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many (

We do not have the information requested for merchant ships or average figures for Warsaw Pact and Soviet fishing vessels in British ports and neighbouring waters. There were in 1983 over 1,200 visits by Soviet merchant ships to British ports. On 13th February 1984 (the most recent day for which information is available) 15 Warsaw Pact merchant ships were in British ports, 8 of them Soviet. The maximum number of Warsaw Pact factory fishing vessels at any one time in British Territorial Waters in 1983 was 40. of which 10 were Soviet.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When it is proposed to publish a report on progress of the Trial Areas set up under the Transport Act 1980, in light of the Written Answer by the Earl of Avon on 8th December 1982 [col. 2537] stating that, "We would hope to have an interim evaluation from the Traffic and Road Research Laboratory next year".

Publication of this report has been postponed in order to include results of the monitoring of recent changes in all three trial areas. It is hoped to publish later this year.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish the estimates they have made of the requirements of any new authorities, bodies, or district councils which they will propose should take over functions and responsibilities of the present metropolitan counties; andWhether they have carried out any research, and whether they have any evidence supporting their

statement in the White Paper

The proposals set out in our White Paper (Cmnd. 9063) will lead to the elimination of an entire tier of local government in the metropolitan areas, with the consequential savings which will flow from that. Firm estimates of savings or of the requirements of successor bodies must however depend on decisions by them on the discharge of their new responsibilities. Preliminary estimates from some districts indicate that substantial savings can be achieved in the services to be transferred to them. An example of the extent to which such savings can be realised was placed in the Library in response to a question from the noble Lord, Lord Graham of Edmonton (Official Report, 14th December 1983; col. 340).