asked Her Majesty's Government:How Independent Television News on 14th March, 1988 obtained film of an illegal firing salute by uniformed members of the Provisional IRA over the photographs of the three Provisional IRA terrorists killed in Gilbraltar; and whether they will instigate an inquiry to discover whether ITN informed the security forces and make a statement on the result.

I understand from the Independent Broadcasting Authority that Independent Television News had been informed that there was to be a demonstration that day and a film crew went to the location given in order to cover it. They were flagged down by men in civilian clothes who directed them to another location. Masked men then drew up, fired the volley and drove off. The crew returned immediately to their base in Belfast and reported the incident to the police in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1987.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What criteria are used when the decision is taken whether or not to prosecute for evasion of television licence duty.

Such decisions are matters within the discretion of the Post Office, having regard to all the relevant circumstances of the case, save that proceedings may not be instituted without the prior approval of the Secretary of State for the Home Department where the alleged offender:

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why, and under what statutory authority, sixth form colleges operate under schools regulations when further education is defined as full-time or part-time education and training for persons over compulsory school leaving age, which is what sixth form colleges provide.

The 1944 Act defines further education to include full-time and part-time education for persons over compulsory school age. But it states that further education may be provided only in accordance with an approved scheme of further education. At present sixth-form colleges count as schools because they are provided in pursuance of the LEA's duty under the 1944 Act to secure the provision of secondary education, and not in accordance with FE schemes.Because the provisions of the 1944 Act on FE schemes are obsolete, Clause 99 of the Education Reform Bill proposes to repeal them and amend the definitions of secondary and further education. As drafted, Clause 99 defined further education to include all full-time and part-time education and training for persons over compulsory school age, other than higher education. This would cover provision in sixth-form colleges.In order to maintain the present differentiation, the Government amended Clause 99 specifically to exclude sixth-form colleges from the definition of further education by stating that full-time provision for 16–18 year-olds made in institutions which do not cater for part-time students, or students aged 19 or over, counts as secondary education and not further education.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will refer Consortium Developments plc to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission on the grounds that it exists to allocate building land in the South East among all the major housebuilders in the country, and to co-ordinate their flow of work, and if not, why not.

No, my Lords. Under the United Kingdom competition legislation it is the Director General of Fair Trading who is responsible for keeping competition in industry and commerce under review. He has discretionary powers to refer monopolies and anti-competitive practices to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission for investigation. I understand that as yet Consortium Developments have not been successful in acquiring land for development and that there is therefore no course of conduct or situations for investigation under the competition legislation. If the noble Lord has any information to the contrary, he should bring it to the attention of the director general.

asked Her Majesty's Government:The total quantities of heroin and cocaine seized by Customs and Excise in 1985, 1986 and 1987 respectively, and its street value.

The information is as follows:

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the rate of open-land take (as defined in Professor Coleman's studies) in Berkshire and Cleveland respectively.

There are no recent figures for rate of open-land take by county. However, a new source of land use change statistics for England is being developed by the Department of the Environment in association with the Ordnance Survey. Results recorded by Ordnance Survey for 1985 and 1986 of the net transfer of land from rural uses which are broadly comparable with Professor Coleman's "farmland, vegetation and other cover" use categories are available at regional level only. The annual transfers recorded for the South East region, outside Greater London, averaged 1,660 hectares, or 0.06 per cent. of the total land area, over the two-year period. The corresponding average for the Northern region is: 370 hectares (or 0.02 per cent. of the total area) for each of the two years recorded.

asked her Majesty's Government:What criteria are used by the London enforcement office when deciding whether or not to prosecute of evasion of vehicle excise duty.

The decision to begin a prosecution depends upon whether or not the London enforcement office has sufficient evidence to convince a court that a person has been guilty of evading vehicle excise duty. Following the sighting of an apparently unlicensed vehicle on a public road, the department must establish that the vehicle was in fact unlicensed at the time and identify the person responsible.First-time offenders are normally given the opportunity to settle out of court by payment of a penalty. Offences involving large amounts of revenue of frequent offenders, or arising from local campaigns, are always dealt with by prosecution.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What information they have obtained from the Government of the USSR about Vasili Shipilov, aged 65, a Russian Orthodox Priest, who has been imprisoned in the USSR for 47 out of the last 48 years, and how they assess his prospects of release.

Vasili Shipilov was included on a list of human rights cases which my right honourable and learned friend handed to Mr. Shevardnadze during his recent visit to the Soviet Union. We await the Soviet response to this list. A number of well-known Soviet prisoners of conscience have been released in the past year. We hope that Mr. Shipilov may be added to their number.