asked Her Majesty's Government:With reference to their Answer to Lord Grimond's question on 19th February—(

I regret that my answer to Lord Grimond's oral supplementary question on 19th February—(Official Report, col. 857) provided incomplete information. There are two independent oil companies in which a golden share is held: Britoil and Enterprise Oil.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the nature of British participation in the Agreement on the Resolution of Practical Problems with respect to Deep Seabed Mining Areas of 14th August 1987.

The United Kingdom participated fully in the negotiations which led to the Agreement on the Resolution of Practical Problems with respect to Deep Seabed Mining Areas. The agreement was signed on 14th August 1987. The United Kingdom is associated with it by an Exchange of Notes with the Soviet Union, and as a consequence, is subject to, and has the benefit of, its provisions. The texts will be published in due course.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many Administrative Assistants, Administrative Officers, Executive Officers and Higher Executive Officers resigned from the Ministry of Defence in the London area during 1987, what proportion of each grade this represented and what were the comparable figures for the remainder of the United Kingdom.

The number of staff in the grades mentioned who have resigned from the Ministry of Defence in the London area during 1987 are as follows:

	Number of resignations	Proportion of each grade
AAs	282	18.4%
AOs	295	9.8%
EOs	63	4.1%
HEOs	19	2.0%

The resignation statistics for these grades for the remainder of the United Kingdom during the same period are:

	Number of resignations	Proportion of each grade
AAs	1,036	13.2%
AOs	860	6.8%
EOs	145	3.8%
HEOs	28	1.6%

The proportions shown are in respect of the total number of staff in each grade employed in the geographical area concerned.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they intend to set up jointly with the Soviet Union a system of Nuclear Risk Reduction Centres like that in operation between the Soviet Union and the United States, and whether they will consider the desirability of a multilateral network of such centres linking all the nuclear weapons powers.

We have no plans to set up joint Nuclear Risk Reduction Centres with the Soviet Union, nor do we believe that a multi-lateral network of such centres is either necessary or desirable. We shall, however, keep in touch with the progress of the United States and Soviet Nuclear Risk Reduction Centres once they become operational. We welcome the part they will play in further lessening the chances of conflict through the exchange of information and notifications as required under certain existing and possible future arms control and confidence-building agreements to which the United States and Soviet Union are party.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What, in detail, are the provisions for forfeiture which are available (under various enactments) to courts in Scotland for offences under the Deer Acts.

Where a court in Scotland has convicted a person of an offence under the Deer (Scotland) Act 1959, as amended by the Deer (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 1982, the court is empowered to order forfeiture of deer illegally taken, or killed, or in possession at the time of the offence under the following provisions of the 1959 Act:—

Provision	Offence
Section 21(5)	Taking or wilfully killing or injuring red deer in close seasons;
Section 22	Poaching;
Section 23	Taking, killing or injuring of deer in unlawful manner;
Section 24	Unlawful taking killing or injuring of deer, or breach of firearms order, by two or more persons acting together.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When the report of HM Chief Inspector of Prison's review of prisoners' grievance procedures will be published.

The report of a thematic review of prisoners' grievance procedures, conducted by Sir James Hennessy before the expiry of his term as HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, is published today. We are grateful to Sir James Hennessy and to the inspectorate for the work which went into this review and for a report which we hope will stimulate discussion of this important subject.Sir James Hennessey's principal conclusion is that prisoners' grievance procedures need to be fair, efficient and effective and to inspire confidence among prisoners, staff and the wider community; that the existing procedures do not in all respects satisfy those requirements; and that they need to be overhauled.Among the specific recommendations in the report are proposals for simplifying the procedures so that, so far as possible, each stage for examining a request or greivance should be exhausted before the next is embarked upon. The report envisages that governors, boards of visitors and the Prison Department would continue to pay a part in the resolution of prisoners' grievances, which however should be distinguished according to whether they are complaints or requests; but it also proposes the establishment of a new Prison Ombudsman and the discontinuation of prisoners' access to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration.Other recommendations include a statutory code of prisoners' rights and duties as a long-term aim; the removal of the restrictions on the ventilation of prisoners' complaints; the withdrawal of the disciplinary offences of making a false and malicious allegation and of repeatedly making groundless complaints; improved information for prisoners about the procedures for making a complaint; and the introduction of time limits for replying to complaints and of a requirement for reasons to be given when complaints are rejected.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is being done to increase the involvement of the public in crime prevention and to provide information on the steps that can be taken to reduce crime.

Following my right honourable friend's recent announcement of the safer cities programme, we today launched a major publicity campaign aimed at encouraging the public to work with the police to reduce crime. The campaign will cost about £3 million in its first phase, and is designed to run for three years. A free handbook which will give practical advice on a wide range of preventive measures is being made available on request. A copy of the handbook has been placed in the Library.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether any limit is placed on the numbers of registered firearms dealers in any of the police areas.

No, but a chief officer of police may refuse to register an applicant as a firearms dealer if he is satisfied that the applicant cannot be permitted to carry on business without danger to the public safety or to the peace.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What professional qualifications applicants are required to hold before being registered as firearms dealers.

None.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the statutory £5 registration fee and £1 re-registration fee for firearms dealers are still charged, and whether any plans exist for raising them.

The level of fees introduced in the Firearms Act for the registration of firearms dealers has increased since 1968. The current fee for the registration of a firearms dealer is £68. This came into force on 1st October 1986.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many of the currently registered firearms dealerships are known to be foreign owned or controlled.

The information requested is not recorded centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many firearms dealers were registered under the Firearms Act 1968 on 1st June 1986 and 1987 in each police area of the United Kingdom and how many are currently registered.

The available information for Great Britain relates to the end of 1986. That for England and Wales is published in Table 6 of Home Office statistical bulletin, issue 2/88, Statistics on the Operation of the Firearms Act 1968, a copy of which is in the Library. Figures for 1987 will be published in a similar bulletin later this year. I understand that the figures for Scotland are as follows:

Firearms dealers in Scotland registered at 31st December 1986, by police force area
Police force area	Number of dealers registered
Central Scotland	14
Dumfries & Galloway	34
Fife	8
Grampian	43
Lothian & Borders	32
Northern	54
Strathclyde	74
Tayside	36
Total	295

The 1968 Act does not extend to Northern Ireland, but I understand that on 31st December 1986 151 firearms dealers were registered with the Royal Ulster Constabulary under the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1981.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Who is responsible for planning, the application for funds, and the allocation of those funds, where a hospital, or a department of a hospital is designated a "centre of excellence" and is entitled to supra-regional funding.

Supra-regional services are the small number of specialised health services which, in order to be economically viable or clinically effective, need to be provided for a population substantially larger than that of any one health region.Applications for supra-regional services designation and funding are made by regional and special health authorities to the Secretary of State for Social Services. These are considered by the supra regional services advisory group, which consists of representatives of the medical profession and National Health Service management and is chaired by a regional health authority chairman. The group is charged with advising the Secretary of State on the identification of services to be funded supra-regionally and on the appropriate level of provision. Final decisions rest with the Secretary of State. The announcement of supra-regional designation and funding for 1988–89 was made on 16th December 1987, and I am arranging for the full text to be sent to the noble Countess.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the transfer of some family planning services from district health authority budgets to family practitioner committee budgets is economic.

Figures are not available to allow the two services to be costed on a comparable basis. Government policy remains that those who require family planning services should be free to choose their source of advice.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many beds and operating theatres have been closed in National Health Service hospitals in the 12 months preceding the last convenient date.

Information on the number of operating theatres closed is not available centrally. The number of available beds in the United Kingdom fell by some 11,600 in the year to December 1986. However, some 200,000 more in-patient and day-patient cases were treated in the same period.

asked Her Majesty's Government:If they have received the report by Sir Roy Griffiths on care in the community.

My right honourable friend has received Sir Roy Griffiths' Report and is arranging for publication on 16th March. Copies will then be placed in the Library.The report makes wide-ranging proposals affecting the responsibilities of local government; individuals' social security entitlements; central funding and control of community care services; and aspects of the social fund.The Government will be considering the proposals, taking account of the report of the committee chaired by Lady Wagner on residential care which the National Institute for Social Work is to publish tomorrow, and of reactions to both reports; and will bring forward its own proposals in due course.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many portable prescriptions for spectacles have been processed by unregistered opticians' dispensaries since the relevant provisions of the Health and Social Security Act 1984 came into force; and how many unregistered dispensaries are currently operating?

I regret that this information is not available. However, nearly 21,000 National Health Service vouchers were used to obtain spectacles from unregistered suppliers during the 12-month period to 30th June 1987.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, given the geographical position of the Shetland Islands, they consider the United Kingdom to be among those countries which have a direct interest in Arctic affairs, and if so whether they are taking part in the various discussions currently being carried on, some as a result of, and some concerning, the various proposals for international co-operation put forward by Mr. Gorbachev in October 1987.

The United Kingdom has an interest in the Arctic and will participate in any discussions concerning the area.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are discussing with their interested partners in NATO, the EC and the Commonwealth, proposals put forward by the Soviet Union for a meeting of "representatives of the parliaments of all interested nations ….. to discuss measures essential to the ecological protection of the region" (viz. the Arctic).

Yes, and with the Soviet Union also.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether it is the case that there are land-based weapon systems deployed in Europe which are capable of firing either nuclear or non-nuclear warheads, and if so whether these count as nuclear weapons, which the Government do not wish to see further reduced, or as conventional weapons, which will be on the table at the conventional stability talks.

Some land-based weapon systems in Europe have both a conventional as well as a nuclear capability. In the Government's view, nuclear weapons should be specifically excluded from the forthcoming conventional stability negotiations which should be concerned only with conventional forces and conventional equipment relevant to surprise attack and offensive action. The question of what specific systems should be subject to limitation is a matter to be addressed at the negotiations themselves.