asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether any public money is being spent on any event or in connection with marking the William and Mary Tercentenary this year and if so how much and for what purposes.

Final figures for actual and proposed expenditure are not available. Planned support includes:

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, in the light of recent events in the Black Sea, they will ensure that the question of that breadth of territorial sea for NATO member states navies to recognise when operating within the NATO area is discussed, and whether they will seek agreement that the internationally agreed figure of 12 nautical miles is recognised and observed.

It is for individual NATO member states to decide on the limit of territorial sea they recognise. There is in fact no internationally agreed figure, only a maximum of 12 miles.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which Ministers have responsibility for appeals against the determination of planting grant applications in England, Scotland and Wales.

Where there is a sustained objection to a planting application and the Forestry Commissioners agree that the application should be refused, they may give a decision without reference to Ministers. In all other cases where an objection has been sustained the commissioners are required before giving a decision to seek the views of the appropriate Forestry Minister—the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in England and the Secretaries of State in Wales and Scotland. In England, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food may, where appropriate, consult the Secretary of State for the Environment before formulating his views.There is no statutory right of appeal against decisions of the Forestry Commissioners on grant aid. This does not, however, remove the opportunity open to any aggrieved applicant to make representations to the Forestry Minister concerned.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many teachers are employed in hospital schools in ILEA, what is the cost and by whom it is borne; and what proposals they have in mind for the teaching of children in hospitals if ILEA is disbanded.

The ILEA bears the cost of six hospital schools, catering for some 400 children. The total cost is £1·3 million of which over £1·1 million is the cost of teaching staff. Data on the precise number of teachers employed in hospital schools are not available to the department.The Government envisage that teachers at hospital schools, as with ILEA staff employed to work at schools and colleges generally, will transfer to the employment of the appropriate inner London council when the ILEA ceases to exist. This will ensure that there is no disruption to the education of the children.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What their plans are for the completion of the National Library at Euston; and what money will be lost or saved by postponement of work on this site.

Work is currently in progress on the construction of Stage 1 A of the new British Library, and this is expected to be completed by 1993. A feasibility study is currently being carried out by the Property Services Agency to draw up a plan for completing the project which will meet the key requirements of the library at the minimum additional cost. When the study is complete, and this is expected to be in mid-1988, the options will be examined and a decision will be made.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What parts of the United Kingdom, apart from Northern Ireland, have been designated by the European Communities for special assistance from the social and regional funds or by other means including the common agricultural policy; and whether they can specify those areas by reference to administrative units of local government.

Priority status under the European Social Fund is directed principally at areas of industrial and sectoral restructuring and those with high levels of unemployment. With regard to the European Regional Development Fund, grants are available throughout the assisted areas and in some other parts of Great Britain. None of these has a special designation comparable with Northern Ireland. Agricultural support is available throughout the less favoured areas, which now made up more than 50 per cent. of the utilisable agricultural land in the United Kingdom. An agricultural development programme for the Scottish Islands has recently been agreed.It is not possible to define the areas covered by the funds in terms of administrative units of local government, since they are in general based on other geographical units, that is, travel-to-work areas.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What projections they have of the contribution which company tax is likely to make to the Exchequer in the coming year, and how this compares with the contribution made by companies in the financial year just ending.

Receipts of corporation tax are forecast to be £,19·8 billion in 1988–89 compared with the estimated outturn for 1987–88 of £15·6 billion.