asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the provisions of legislation, sponsored by his Department, and now under consideration by Parliament, that will require some kind of amendment if the European Communities Bill is enacted.

There is none in respect of known or presently foreseeable Community obligations. The European Communities Bill proposes such changes to existing Statutes as will be required on accession.

asked the Minister of State for Defence (1) whether he will give consideration to environmental factors and the need to improve amenities in parts of Lancashire before extending the use of the Holcombe Moor Firing Range;(2) what action he took to publicise his intention to extend the use of the Holcombe Moor Firing Range; what were the media used for this purpose and the respective dates of insertion of such notices; and what is the date by which objections shall be lodged and the statutory period normally allowed for this purpose.

I will write to my hon. Friend.

asked the Minister of State for Defence whether he will now consider removing the cut-off date of 1st September, 1950, from the Forces Family Pensions Scheme to entitle those elderly Service widows who still survive to a Service widow's pension.

No, for the reasons which I fully explained to the House on 23rd July, 1970.—[Vol. 804, c. 1016–21.]

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what is the average number of pupils per class in primary, junior and secondary schools in the Northumberland education area;(2) what is the average number of pupils per class in the Northumberland education area;

The information for the Northumberland education authority's area is as follows: in January, 1971, per registered class, 31·2 pupils in all primary schools and 33·2 pupils in junior schools; and, per teaching group, 24·3 pupils in secondary schools. Because methods of measurement differ, no figure of overall average is available. In the primary schools there were 1,037 registered classes with more than 30 pupils and 34 with more than 40 pupils, representing 63·9 per cent. and 2·1 per cent. respectively of all primary classes.For classes as taught in secondary schools the figures were 388 and 27 representing 26·2 per cent. and 1·8 per cent. of all secondary classes.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the provisions of legislation, sponsored by his Department and now under consideration by Parliament, that will require some kind of amendment if the European Communities Bill is enacted.

There is none in respect of known or foreseeable Community obligations. The European Communities Bill proposes such changes to existing Statutes as will be required on accession to the Communities.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he is aware that on the 4th March, 1972, at the British Oak opencast coal dispersal unit, at Blacker Lane, Durkar, near Wakefield, three constituents of the hon. Member for Dearne Valley lost their lives due to a crane jib coming into contact with an overhead power cable; and, in view of the increase in this kind of fatality, if he will institute an inquiry into this particular kind of accident.

Yes. This accident, resulting in three deaths, was reported, and I learned of it with regret. There has been a decrease in fatal accidents on overhead electric lines since 1968, the figures being:

1968	10
1969	9
1970	7
1971 (provisionally)	7

I do not think that any purpose would be served by instituting an inquiry. The risk is well known to the construction industry, and my Department has been active both in publicising it, and in enforcing the relevant legal requirements.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many young people who left school in Staffordshire in summer 1971 are now unemployed;(2) how many 16 and 17-year-old registrants for employment are unemployed in Staffordshire.

At 14th February, 1,555 young people under 18 years of age were registered as unemployed in Staffordshire. Of these, 148 were school-leavers registering for their first job since terminating full-time education and 1,407 had already entered employment. The statistics do not separately distinguish those who were 16 and 17 years old, neither do they indicate how many of the unemployed schoolleavers left school in the summer of 1971.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many boys and girls in Staffordshire were registered as wholly unemployed on 24th January, 1971, and 24th January, 1972, respectively.

At 11th January, 1971, there were 426 boys and 251 girls registered as wholly unemployed in Staffordshire. The corresponding figures for 10th January, 1972, were 892 and 526. Information for the precise dates specified is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what undertaking is given by citizens of the Republic of Eire, normally resident in the United Kingdom, when they are accepted for training under the Government training scheme, that they will work at their training trade in Great Britain on completion of their courses; how many have honoured this undertaking; what arrangements exist for his Department to be informed of the return to Eire of a person who has completed the training course; and what action is taken to recover the cost of training in such a case.

All applicants for training, including citizens of the Republic of Eire, are required to sign a declaration that it is their intention to remain in Great Britain and to seek employment in the work for which they have been trained. Information is not available concerning trainees who do not subsequently conform with the declaration. No action is taken in these cases.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will give guidance to local authorities in connection with the supervision of tips for toxic waste materials.

Advice has ben given on the basis of Chapter XII of the Report of the Technical Committee on the Disposal of Solid Toxic Wastes.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will list the penalties under various statutes which affect those convicted of dumping toxic waste materials.

The Statute under which a person can be convicted for dumping toxic wastes depends on the circumstances of the offence. The main provisions under which such dumping likely to constitute an offence are:1.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what consideration he has given to dumping old cars at sea in fish breeding grounds with a view both to disposing of the cars and protecting young fish from trawling.

I understand from my right hon. Friend, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, that since there is already adequate shelter existing naturally for the conservation of fish stocks, he is not in favour of this practice.As to the dumping of old vehicles in general, local authorities have powers under the Civic Amenities Act, 1967 to secure their disposal if such vehicles are handed over to them. I very much hope that the public will follow this practice instead of abandoning old vehicles at large.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he next expects to make a statement about the introduction of anti-pollution safeguards for motor-vehicle exhausts.

As soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now introduce legislation, to make it illegal for local authorities and developers to make promises at local inquiries which are not subsequently legally enforceable; if he will make arrangements for local protesters to receive help in presenting their case; if he will make rules for technical jargon to be reduced to a minimum at such inquiries; and if he will make a statement.

Local planning authorities have power, within limits, to create legal obligations by specifying conditions under which development can take place. On the first part of the Question, I am therefore no aware of any difficulty; but if the hon. Member has a particular case in mind, I shall be glad to look into it. Inspectors are advised to help parties to inquiries who are not professionally represented to present their case effectively and to ask for technical terms to be explained whenever necessary.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will complete his current review of the trunk road system.

My right hon. Friend's review is making good progress and he will be making an announcement as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the formula arrived at for his Department by Cooper Brothers for the calculation of grants for unremunerative railway lines.

The costs calculated for each grant-aided passenger service consist of its specific operating costs, provision for the long-term replacement and renewal of assets, interest on capital, an allocation according to usage of the costs of facilities and overheads used jointly with other services, and an appropriate share of administration cost. The revenue is that directly attributable to travel on the service itself. The balance is the deficit which is met by grant.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement about the official discussions with representatives of the State of Israel on the enlargement of the European Economic Community.

Talks were held in London on 1st March between officials of the Israel Government and officials of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. They were concerned with the future of Anglo-Israeli trade in the context of Israel's forthcoming negotiations with the Community about the adaptation of her trading agreement with the Community.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will now publish the report of the inquiry into allegations of brutality at Ashford Remand Centre.

No. It has not been the normal practice to publish such reports and I do not think it would be appropriate to publish this one.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will ascertain from the Government of Northern Ireland and state the number of persons arrested and charged with murder, various degrees of assault and criminal damage to property arising from Republican terrorist activity in Northern Ireland since 1st August, 1969; and in how many cases convictions have been obtained, to the latest convenient date.

I understand from the Northern Ireland Government that it is not possible to give reliable figures classified in this way.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will now publish the study on cannabis which has reported to his Department.

If the hon. Member has in mind the study of public attitudes to drug taking carried out by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, I would refer him to the replies which I gave to Questions by the hon. Member for Cornwall, North (Mr. Pardoe) on 27th January and 7th February.—[Vol. 829, c. 1587–9; Vol. 830, c. 264.]

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will now introduce legislation prohibiting the manufacture and sale of mini fire extinguishers and aerosol type extinguishers.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the minimum gas, liquid or foam content required by regulations governing fire extinguishers.

There are no Home Office regulations of this nature.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the estimated cost, for the year 1970–71, of the printed papers and publications of all kinds made available by the Stationery Office for both Houses of Parliament.

Because records of the costs of H.M.S.O. publications relate in general to the Departments on whose behalf such publications are commissioned and not to the Departments and other Government establishments to which they are supplied, it is not possible to give the information for which my hon. Friend is asking at short notice. I am arranging for an estimate to be made and I will write to my hon. Friend as soon as this is available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware of the problems caused by the aggregation of wives' post-war credits with their husbands; and if he will take steps to prevent in cases of divorce where the husband marries again, on his death his second wife claiming the post-war credits of his first wife; and if he will make a statement.

The general rule is that a husband is responsible for tax on his wife's income, and accordingly post-war credits issued to a husband normally took account of his wife's income. Where there has been a divorce, or the parties are permanently separated, the wife should apply immediately for a division of the post-war credits. Application should be made before the credits become payable to the district which holds her husband's post-war credit records, or if this is not known, to the district to which she is currently making tax returns, giving as much information as possible about her husband's and her own wartime employments.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the provisions of legislation sponsored by his Department and now under consideration by Parliament that will require some kind of amendment if the European Communities Bill is enacted.

None, in respect of known or presently foreseeable Community obligations. The European Communities Bill proposes such changes to existing Statutes as will be required on accession to the European Communities.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will consider removing all tax on educational items purchased exclusively for school use.

Articles specialised for use in schools are not chargeable with purchase tax: but it is not possible to relieve from tax chargeable articles used in schools.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what advice he has so far received from his Advisory Committee on Nutrition concerning the nutritional effects of the cuts and higher social service charges as first announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 30th October, 1970.

A sub-committee of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy has, in advance of any formal report, advised three monitoring studies of those affected by the changes in the arrangements for the provision of welfare milk, school milk and school meals announced in October, 1970, that is, pre-schoolchildren, schoolchildren, and pregnant women and their infants. The advice has been accepted and the studies initiated.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he has studied the documents from the local branch of the National Federation of Far Eastern Prisoners of War sent to him by the hon. Member for Tynemouth which ask for certain clarifications and adjustments of the present arrangements; and whether he will make a statement.

As I explained to my hon. Friend in my letter of 3rd March, after carefully studying the documents in question which had also been sent to me by a number of other Members I have decided that the best way forward would be for me to meet officers of the federation for a discussion of the matters which are troubling them. I have therefore invited Mr. Harold Payne, the Executive President, to bring a deputation of his colleagues to see me as soon as it is convenient for him to do so.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will set out in the OFFICIAL REPORT the figures for those admitted to hospitals since 1970 by reason of cancer of the lung, bronchitis, alcoholism and the effects of canabis, respectively.

The latest available figures are as follows:

Condition	Spells of treatment in hospital England and Wales 1969 (estimated)
Cancer of trachea, bronchus and lung	41,400
Chronic bronchitis and emphysema	67,800
Acute bronchitis	17,900
Alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver	800

	Admissions to mental illness hospitals and units in England and Wales 1970
Including alcoholism or alcoholic psychosis	8,708
Drug addiction with use of cannabis alone or with other drugs	233

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services why the Under-Secretary for Social Services has not replied to a letter dated 21st January from the hon. Member for Islington, South-West, about grants to adopting parents; and what steps he is taking to improve the efficient conduct of the correspondence of his Department.

My Department is conscious of the need to deal with correspondence as quickly as possible. I regret the delay in replying to the hon. Member's letter, but I have written to him today.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list local authorities in rank order according the most recent figures of the amount they spent per 1,000 population on services for the handicapped under Section 29 of the National Assistance Act.

I would refer the hon. Member to the Welfare Services Statistics for 1970–71 published by the Institute of Municipal Treasurers and Accountants and the Society of County Treasurers, which include these particulars for each responsible local authority by type and in order of population size. But it would be misleading to list authorities in order of the amount per thousand population spent under Section 29 of the National Assistance Act, not only because that amount covers services for the blind and deaf as well as the handicapped as normally interpreted, but also because that amount constitutes only part of any authority's expenditure on services for the handicapped, and because the incidence of disablement varies substantially from one authority's area to another and cannot therefore be measured by the population of the area.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will make a statement on the result of his discussions with the London Borough of Hammersmith on the problems caused by the proposed closure of Butterwick House.

I am informed that the council set up a working party some months ago to consider how to meet these problems, and after surveying the needs of the residents is making arrangements directly or through voluntary organisations to provide alternative accommodation for those who are in need of care and attention. It is also taking steps to assist other residents to find lodgings and is keeping the position under continuous review. I am satisfied that the council appreciates to the full its social services responsibilities in this matter.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he proposes to take to reduce the average daily number of hospital beds which are empty from the present figure of 72,370, which represents 17·08 per cent. of the hospital beds in the National Health Service.

Hospital authorities continued to seek to increase the number of patients treatesd per bed and in the 10 years to 1970, 25 per cent. more patients were treated in a reduced number of beds. As intensity in the use of resources increases, the total unoccupied-bed time between patients also tends to increase and this is reflected in the average bed occupancy figures. There are practical limits to the average occupancy rates achievable in particular specialties.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made by the committee appointed to investigate and report on the whole question of retrofit; and if he will make a statement.

The I.C.A.O. Committee on Aircraft Noise has established a working group, of which the United Kingdom is a member, to examine retrofit problems. This working group will meet throughout 1972 and expects to report to the parent committee early in 1973.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures he contemplates promoting internationally to ensure that everything within the bounds of what is technically possible is being done to encourage the investigation and development of quieter aero engines and aircraft.

The Government are very actively involved both internationally through membership of the I.C.A.O. Committee on Aircraft Noise and domestically, in efforts to ensure that aircraft engines will become progressively less noisy.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the provisions of legislation, sponsored by his Department, and now under consideration by Parliament, that will require some kind of amendment if the European Communities Bill is enacted.

None, in respect of known or presently foreseeable Community obligations. The European Communities Bill proposes such changes to existing Statutes as will be required on accession to the European Communities.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assurances he has received from the shipbuilding unions that they will co-operate in the reconstructed yards on the Clyde; and what reserve powers he retains in the public interest should the unions fail to so.

It is for Govan Shipbuilders to secure assurances of co-operation from the shipbuilding unions. As I told the House on 28th February, I am prepared to propose legislation to carry through the project once I have confirmation that satisfactory agreements with the unions have been reached.—[Vol. 832, c. 51.]

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he expects to be able to announce the next list of North Sea concessions.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many blocks and how many companies are likely to be involved in North Sea licences in the fourth round of offshore oil prospecting; and what are the areas nearest the mainland of Scotland and England.

I hope to be able to make an announcement about the further awards of licences next week.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service whether, in view of recent security cases, he will consider a second edition of the official publication "Their Trade is Treachery"; and whether, in view of the need to keep the public forewarned, he will remove its present restrictions on sale.

This is a training document prepared for official use only and it is unsuitable for publication. An updated version for official use will be available in due course.