asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the cost to horticultural growers, in BTUs, of heavy fuel oil in Great Britain; and what information he has about the cost of gas in Holland after allowing for the Dutch subsidy.

Prices paid by growers vary according to individual circumstances. The estimate of the general level of cost of heavy fuel oil to growers in Great Britain is 10·9p per therm. Under the standard contract between the national gas company, Gasunie, and Dutch growers using more than 170,000 cubic metres of gas, the price is equivalent to about 5·8p per therm. Growers must also pay a standing charge of FL 4,440 (£863) per annum. I understand it is the policy of the Dutch Government to bring gas and oil prices into line. As far as I am aware, there is no subsidy on the cost of gas to Dutch growers.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in the light of the Stocktaking Document on the CAP, what consideration his Department has given to Community measures to encourage private forestry on marginal land.

My Department has taken part in official discussions in Brussels on the Commission's proposals for a draft afforestation directive, and the Council considered this and a number of other proposals related to agricultural structure at its meeting on 19th–20th January. My right hon. Friend and I expect discussion in the Council on these various proposals to be resumed shortly.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish a table showing how many agricultural smallholdings are held by each county council or other body in England and Wales; and how many new tenants have been granted agreements in the last three years in each case.

I assume that the hon. Member's Question relates to all statutory smallholdings in England and Wales. The information as at 31st March 1974 is as follows:

A. STATUTORY SMALLHOLDINGS HELD BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES
	Number of holdings at 31st March 1974	New tenancies granted from 1st April 1971 to31st March 1974
ENGLAND
Bedford	289	20
Berkshire	51	2
Buckingham	110	6
Cambridge and Isle of Ely	1,239	36
Cheshire	298	19
Cornwall	212	11
Cumberland	15	2
Derby	81	6
Devon	236	21
Dorset	117	8
Durham	111	—
Essex	147	4
Gloucester	272	1
Hampshire	113	7
Hereford	94	2
Hertford	102	5
Huntingdon and Peterborough	363	9
Isle of Wight	26	1
Kent	130	12
Lancashire	256	9
Leicester	137	9
Lincoln (Holland)	740	17
Lincoln (Kesteven)	126	9
Lincoln (Lindsey)	166	3
London GLC	85	—

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what standards have been agreed by the countries of the EEC for the humane treatment of live animals in transit;

All EEC member States have national laws requiring the humane treatment of animals in transit. In addition, all these countries, with the exception of the Netherlands, have ratified the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Animals in International Transport. It is expected that the Netherlands will ratify shortly. It is Community policy that all member States should observe this Convention, and it has been agreed in principle that the Community as an entity should subscribe to the Convention, thereby giving it the force of Community law.The United Kingdom has implemented the provisions of the Convention since 1973. Additionally, the Transit of Animals (Road and Rail) Order 1975, which consolidated and improved the regulations protecting the welfare of animals in transit, has been operative since 1st August 1975. Enforcement of this Order is undertaken by local authorities. Enforcement of the national welfare laws in foreign countries is normally a matter for the Governments of the countries concerned but in appropriate cases infringements of the Council of Europe Convention can be taken up through the Council of Europe.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service what posts in the public service cannot be held by persons who are not citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies.

As my hon. Friend will appreciate, I can only answer for the Civil Service. To be eligible for any appointment in the Civil Service candidates must be British subjects—which in this context includes citizens of the Commonwealth and the Irish Republic, and in some cases British protected persons—and in addition satisfy certain other conditions. The only exceptions to this rule are those allowed by the Aliens Employment Act 1955.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service when the Government expect to receive the report of the committee of inquiry into industrial democracy in the private sector.

I have been asked to reply.The committee of inquiry has been asked to report by the end of this year.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proportion of overseas students at present studying in England and Wales come from the developing countries; and what are the actual numbers from each country.

In 1974–75, the latest year for which figures are available, 79 per cent, of overseas students in universities and further education establishments (including former colleges of education) in England and Wales were from developing countries. I will write to the hon. Member giving the actual numbers from each developing country, which totalled about 46,000 in 1974–75.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many overseas students from developing countries successfully completed a first degree course and a high degree course, respectively, in the past five years.

The provisional estimate of students from developing countries on such courses in 1974–75 is given below, but the numbers completing courses are not known.

	Universities in Great Britain	Further Education Colleges in England and Wales
Undergraduates	7,300	3,400
Postgraduates	10,500	n.a.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many students from developing countries returned home to take up posts within (a) two years and (b) five years of obtaining the qualifications for which they had been studying; and how many students from developing countries have settled in England and Wales after the completion of their course of studies.

I regret that the information is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment by whom members of industrial tribunals are appointed.

My right hon. Friend appoints members of industrial tribunals after consultations with such organisations or associations of organisations representative of employers or workers as he considers to be appropriate.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the days lost in industrial disputes in the car industry during 1976; and what action he is taking to assist in the achievement of industrial peace in this sector.

It is provisionally estimated that 63,000 working days were lost during January and February 1976 at the establishments where stoppages occurred. Later figures are not yet available.The Advisory, Conciliation and Advisory Service is available to advise on industrial relations matters and to help resolve disputes.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how much has been paid out in England and Scotland, respectively, in the last year in redundancy pay, compared with the previous year.

The following information relates to employees in respect of whom rebates to employers or direct payments were made from the Redundancy Fund by Department of Employment finance offices in England and Scotland. Payments made by the Finance Office for Wales which are known to be relevant to South West England have been included in the figures for England.

TOTALS (TO NEAREST THOUSAND) RECEIVED BY THE EMPLOYEES CONCERNED FROM THEIR EMPLOYERS OR THE FUND
Yew	England	Scotland
	£	£
1974	65,072,000	5,197,000
1975	155,099,000	12.544,000

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the increase in public sector personnel for each year since 1960 and the latest figures available for 1976.

Estimates of employment in the public sector in the United Kingdom for the years 1959 to 1974 were published in the February 1976 issue of "Economic Trends ".Increases for each year between 1960 and 1974 are set out below. The latest estimates available relate to June 1974 when the estimated number was 6,843,000.Annual changes (June to June) in employment in the public sector: United Kingdom (thousands)

1960–61	0
1961–62	+61
1962–63	+10
1963–64	+30
1964–65	+31
1965–66	+77
1966–67	+131
1967–68	+229
1968–69	+2
1969–70	+66
1970–71	+82
1971–72	+68
1972–73	+94
1973–74	+119

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will introduce legislation to give all employees a legal entitlement to holidays and holiday pay.

The Government have no plans to introduce such legislation.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will now initiate an inquiry into labour relations in the automobile industry.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many unemployed persons are currently listed in the Bournemouth area employment office as being construction workers; and how many vacancies are currently listed in respect of employment in the construction industry.

At March 1976, there were 811 unemployed people in the Bournemouth Employment Office area who last worked in construction. There were five notified vacancies for construction workers remaining unfilled at the employment office and four at the careers office. The vacancy figures relate only to vacancies notified to employment offices and careers offices and are not a measure of total vacancies; also, because of possible duplication, these should not be added together.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what is the total number of job vacancies for male and female persons in the Bournemouth, East parliamentary constituency currently notified to his Department;(2) what is the total amount of unemployed male and female persons in the Bournemouth, East parliamentary constituency currently notified to his Department.

At March 1976, 3,832 males and 1,096 females were registered as unemployed in the area covered by the Bournemouth Employment Office. There were 216 notified vacancies remaining unfilled at the employment office and 82 at the careers office. The vacancy figures relate only to vacancies notified to employment offices and careers offices and are not a measure of total vacancies; also because of possible duplication these should not be added together.Vacancies are not recorded separately for males and females.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the total number of school leavers in the Bournemouth employment office area who left school last summer and who remain registered as unemployed.

13 on 11th March.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people currently employed in the United Kingdom are members of trades unions affiliated to the TUC; how many are members of unions not affiliated and how many are not members of any trades union.

The latest available information about the total membership of trade unions was published in the November 1975 issue of the Department of Employment Gazette. It is estimated that at the end of 1974 there were 10,363,700 persons in the United Kingdom who were members of trade unions affiliated to the Trades Union Congress; 1,309,300 persons who were members of unions not affiliated to the Trades Union Congress; and 11,659,000 employees who were not members of any trade union. The statistics of union membership do not separately distinguish those members who are currently employed or unemployed.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy by what means it is proposed to mine the new Yorkshire coalfield.

The proposed method of mining was described in an appendix to the National Coal Board's planning application for Selby. Large panels of coal will be worked by mechanised retreat mining back to the main roadways. The coal will be brought to the surface by conveyor through a single drift; and access for men and materials will be by five shafts.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what is the present output per manshift in the British coal mining industry; and what are the figures for other EEC countries.

Figures of average output per manshift at NCB mines are published in "Energy Trends" copies of which are available in the Library of the House. The following are the figures for the year 1975 and the first two months of 1976.

	Average output per manshift
	Overall	At the face
	cwt.	cwt.
1975	44·9	155·8
1976 January	44·9	155·9
1976 February (a)	46·3	158·2
(a) Provisional.

Directly comparable figures for other EEC countries are not available, but the Statistical Office of the European Communities publishes figures for each country of average output per manshift underground. The following are the latest figures, expressed in hundredweight:

	Average output (cwt.) permanshift underground
	1975	1976
		January
Germany	80·0	78·5
France	54·4	56·5
Belgium	47·8	47·7
United Kingdom	68·8	68·5
EUR9	70·1	69·4

Source: Eurostat Coal Press Notice 3–1976.Coal production in other member countries is small or nil, and no output per manshift figures are issued for them.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy whether the experiment and development in connection with automation in coal mining includes investigation of remote control of mining machinery from the surface.

I understand that experiments are taking place on the remote control of some face operations from underground locations. Control from the surface is still some way off and must await the development of reliable sensors, transmission systems and suitable data processing on which work is at present concentrated. By the end of next year the NCB hopes to have 12 collieries with remote monitoring of some underground operations. At one colliery control of the conveyor system from the surface is in operation.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the terms and conditions under which people may travel abroad using a joint passport; and whether they are affected by the Sex Discrimination Act.

The hon. Member is presumably referring to the conditions of use of a family passport. Since October 1973 a family passport may be issued to either a husband or a wife to enable the family to travel together on one passport thus saving the expense of obtaining separate passports. Such a passport may be used only by the spouse in whose name it was issued for travel alone. The Sex Discrimination Act has not changed the conditions of use, since no discrimination is involved.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contact has been made by the British Ambassador in France with a United Kingdom citizen, Richard Brand, currently held in the Centre de Detention Melun.

Mr. Brand is serving a prison sentence and was recently refused conditional liberty. On 21st March he wrote to the Ambassador who replied on 30th March that the Consul General in Paris would review the position and see what could be done on Mr. Brand's behalf. The Embassy have been involved since Mr. Brand's arrest in October 1973 and he was last visited by a consular officer on 24th February.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make available to the Public Record Office, Foreign Office Document E4154/1/93, Class 371, Piece 27078, dated 1941, relating to events in Iraq and listed as being retained in his Department.

No. It would not be in the public interest to release these papers. With the approval of the Lord Chancellor, they were withheld from the Public Record Office under Section 5(1) of the Public Records Act, 1958, as amended by the Public Records Act, 1967. When the Second Reading of the 1967 Public Records Act was moved in another place, the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Gardiner, described certain categories of records which would have to remain closed for periods longer than 30 years. These papers fall within one of those categories.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made with the proposal that the International Atomic Energy Agency should prepare a system of comprehensive fuel-cycle safeguards which can be accepted by all non-nuclear weapon States, whether or not they are party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

On 25th February the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna adopted the following resolution on full fuel-cycle safeguards which was introduced by the Governor of the United Kingdom and co-sponsored by the Governors of the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada, the Soviet Union, Venezuela, the United States, Bangladesh, Poland and the German Democratic Republic.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what provision has been made within the amount allocated to community services in Command Paper No. 6393 for current and capital expenditure on self-help projects undertaken by the black community.

it is not possible to say in advance how much of the expenditure allocated to community services will be made available for such projects. Funds for that purpose are not specially earmarked, except for the provision included in projected expenditure on grant-in-aid to the Community Relations Commission or any successor body. This is as follows:

	£ million
1975–76	0·353
1976–77	0·366
1977–78	0·382
1978–79	0·401
1979–80	0·416

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the original cost to his Department of radio transmitting equipment subsequently sold or to be sold to contractors as surplus to Government requirements; how much remains to be sold; why tenders are only accepted on the condition that contractors who purchase such equipment crush it before removal; and what he estimates the value of the uncrushed equipment would have been in export markets.

Transmitting equipment which has come to the end of its useful life is crushed to remove any possibility that it might be used to interfere with police and fire service communications. Many different types of equipment are involved, and it would take a disproportionate amount of time to establish its original cost and to estimate its potential re-sale value.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of cases known to the police of criminal offences involving violence committed in schools in the Metropolitan Police area for the years 1970 to 1975, respectively.

I regret that this information is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why there was no consultation by the Equal Opportunities Commission with the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising over the interim guidelines for applying the Sex Discrimination Act to advertising.

This is entirely within the discretion of the Equal Opportunities Commission, which is an independent body.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the present recognised establishment of the Dorset Police Force; and to what extent the force is presently below its established strength.

1,108. There were 19 vacancies on 29th February.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many parking fines and excess charges incurred in Greater London by persons with diplomatic immunity went unpaid in 1975.

Metropolitan Police records show that during 1975 a total of 53,477 fixed penalty notices were cancelled on grounds of diplomatic immunity. There are no central records relating to the collection of excess charges by local authorities.

asked the Lord President of the Council what proportions of sitting hours of the House of Commons includ- ing Question Time were devoted in 1975 specifically to the affairs of Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland; and what proportions to any other specific regions, including major conurbations, of the United Kingdom.

Of a total of 1,849 hours Floor time during Session 1974–75, including Question Time, some 76 hours were spent on Scottish affairs, 20 hours on Welsh affairs and 38 hours on Northern Ireland affairs. The English regions are generally dealt with on the Floor in the context of debates on national affairs but excluding Question Time 13 hours were spent specifically on Greater London, including 12 hours on Private Bills; one hour on the North West and half an hour on the West Midlands.

asked the Lord President of the Council if he will give the reasons for his refusal to take action to enable Members of Parliament to retire on pension at 60 years of age voluntarily without loss of pension rights, on a similar basis to civil servants and former Prime Ministers.

The recommendation of the Lawrence Committee in 1964. endorsed by the Review Body on Top Salaries in 1971, was that the normal retiring age for Members of Parliament should be 65. The Government accepted this recommendation. It would not be appropriate to consider isolated aspects of the pension scheme when the Review Body on Top Salaries is currently considering Members' pension arrangements.

asked the Lord President of the Council why he has not yet discharged the undertaking given on 3rd November last (Official Report, col. 102) to lay further amendments to Standing Orders in respect of EEC documents in the near future.

The matter is still under consideration.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many forms are required by his Department, or organisations for which he is responsible to be completed by companies or firms; and if he will list such forms in the Official Report.

I would refer the hon. Member to the Answer I gave on 8th March 1976 to the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Mr. Price). If he has any particular cases in mind of duplication of forms, or apparently unnecessary requests for completion of them, I should be happy to investigate them.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many firms and other organisations failed to submit VAT returns in the last quarter for which figures are available; and how this compares with the position three months, six months, nine months, and 12 months ago.

The number of returns which were due to be submitted during the quarter September to November 1975 and which are still outstanding is 139,000. Comparable figures for three, six, nine and 12 months earlier are 164,000, 165,000, 160,000 and 163,000 respectively.Where a trader fails to make a return and is judged to have tax to pay he is normally assessed. The above figures include those cases where assessments have been paid without returns being furnished.The figures for outstanding returns in a quarter are greater than the numbers of traders involved, since some traders were due to make three returns each quarter.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table, from international sources of information available to him, showing the treatment of investment income for tax purposes, the investment income tax threshold, expressed in £ sterling, the initial rates charged and the maximum rates chargeable in each of the EEC member States, Sweden, the United States of America, Canada and Japan.

I will let the hon. Member have a reply as soon as possible.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he now expects to be able to publish the White Paper outlining the Government's proposals on banking supervision.

There has been some delay in finalising our proposals and we do not now expect to be able to publish the White Paper until after Easter.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost in 1976–77 of exempting from income tax the national insurance retirement and widow's pensions.

I will let the hon. Member have a reply as soon as possible.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what losses of revenue would result from raising all income tax child allowances by £100 each, £150 each and £200 each.

pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 5th April 1976], gave the following information:At 1975–76 income levels and tax rates about £480 million, £720 million and £960 million respectively.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what loss of revenue would result from raising the wife's earned income allowance from £675 to £775.

pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 5th April 1976], gave the following information:At 1975–76 income levels and tax rates about £130 million.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer by how much the basic rate of income tax would have to be increased in order to raise £12,000 million of additional revenue.

pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 5th April 1976], gave the following information:At 1975–76 income levels and tax allowances, about 33p.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether a prospective candidate for the next election entitled to four free copies of the 1976 Register of Electors for a particular constituency under section 8(a) of Statutory Instrument, 1969, No. 905.

Four copies of the register of electors for a particular constituency will be supplied free of charge to a person who satisfies the registration officer he requires the register for use in connection with his own or some other person's prospective candidature at a parliamentary election for that constituency. Only one such supply will be provided in respect of each prospective candidate.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) whether the £455,000 which was to be available for payments of social priority allowances for teachers in Northern Ireland is still available;(2) when he hopes to implement the scheme of social priority allowances for teachers in Northern Ireland currently enjoyed in Great Britain.

Additional allowances paid to teachers in social priority schools in Northern Ireland would have to count against the £6 per week limit on pay increases. The maximum pay award consistent with the pay policy limit has already been agreed for Northern Ireland teachers, and a sum of £455,000 cannot be made available over and above this. Discussions are proceeding with the appropriate trade unions with a view to resolving this problem. I am unable to say when a scheme for the payment of such allowances could be implemented.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if the recommendations of the Finer Report which have been implemented apply to Northern Ireland; and, if not, when he intends making them applicable.

I shall reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many one-parent families there are in Northern Ireland.

About 19,000.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what he is doing to bring the regulations with regard to cavity wall insulation in Northern Ireland into line with those in Great Britain.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to a question by the hon. Member for Belfast, South (Mr. Bradford) on 18th March—[Vol. 907, c. 584.]

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his present estimate of the losses likely to be incurred by Harland and Wolff in the current year.

pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 5th April 1976; Vol. 909, c. 29], gave the following information:It is too early in the calendar year 1976 to forcast with any precision, but at the present time I expect that Harland and Wolff's losses will be between £5 million and £10 million.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his latest information on the quantity of salmon taken by seals in the area for which the Tweed Commissioners are responsible.

I have no comprehensive quantitative information on the taking of salmon by seals in this area.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the total subsidy, in the form of improvement grants, paid to the owners of private houses in Scotland in 1975.

The value of grants for conversions and improvements paid in 1975 by Scottish local authorities to owners in the private sector was £6,628,372.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what discussions he has had with building societies about providing mortgages in rural areas in the Highlands and Islands; and if he will make a statement.

In discussions with building society representatives my officials have stressed the importance of societies playing a part in financing house purchase in rural and island areas, and I understand that societies are developing this role.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many persons are completing courses during the current year at colleges of further education as qualified primary schoolteachers; how many vacancies for teachers are anticipated for next session in primary schools; and if he will list the number of such vacancies in each education authority area.

The expected potential output of qualified primary teachers at the end of this session is about 2,400. Only education authorities are in a position to give detailed estimates about the likely number of vacancies for primary teachers next session.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland, in view of the undertaking given by his Department last November to the Scottish NFU that compensatory allowances for hill cows and upland sheep would be paid in January, how many farmers have applied for such payments; how many have been paid to date; and how many are still awaiting payment.

The closing date for applications for the 1976 payment of hill compensatory allowances was 31st January. Some 21,500 applications have been received, of which 3,500 have been paid. It is expected that the bulk of the outstanding payments will be made by the end of May. These payments do not include the increase of £4·50 per head in the rate of compensatory allowances for breeding cows announced at the 1976 Annual Review; subject to Parliamentary approval of the increase, the additional payments will be made early this summer.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the RAF to receive delivery of its Sea King helicopters, and in what rôle they will be employed.

Delivery is planned to start in the third quarter of 1977 and to continue at a rate of about one a month thereafter. They will replace part of the ageing Whirlwind search and rescue helicopter force and, with their much greater range and capacity, they will give the Royal Air Force a greatly enhanced capability in this field.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how soon he expects to complete the current review into his Department's requirements for airfields for research and development purposes.

I would expect that it would be completed during the course of next year.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many civilians are currently employed in Royal ordnance factories; and what proportion of their output is represented by sales to overseas customers.

			1st January I960		1st January 1976
			Non-Industrials	Industrials	Non-Industrials	Industrials
(i)	AEL, West Drayton	…	181	143	127	149
(ii)	AOL, Cobham	…	34†	36†	35	35½
(iii)	AML, Holton Heath	…	140	122	153	144
(iv)	Queen's Road Site, ARL, Teddington	…	Not available		174½	104
(v)	ERDE (North Site), Waltham Abbey	…	263*	260*	243	170
(vi)	Woolwich Arsenal (East Site)	…	192	317	83½	202
(vii)	Potton Island, Trials ground of RARDE	…	32	68	32	73½
* Figures at 1st January 1962—earlier figures not available
† In 1960 the Admiralty Oil Laboratory was at Brentford

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will make a statement about his meeting with trade union representatives at Bandeath on 24th March.

Some 21,800 civilians are currently employed in the Royal ordnance factories. Export sales vary significantly, but at present, approaching half of the output of the organisation is for overseas customers.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is his estimate of the labour content of all defence contracts placed within the United Kingdom; and what proportion is taken by private manufacturers.

I regret that the information needed to answer the first part of my hon. Friend's Question is not available. The proportion of defence equipment contracts placed with private manufacturers is over 90 per cent, by value.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will give the numbers employed at the following establishments on (a) 1st January 1960 and (b) 1st January 1976: (i) Admiralty Engineering Laboratory, West Drayton, (ii) Admiralty Oil Laboratory, Cobham, (iii) Admiralty Materials Laboratory, Holton Heath, (iv) Queen's Road site of Admiralty Research Laboratory, Teddington, (v) Explosives Research and Development Establishment (North Site), Waltham Abbey, (vi) Woolwich Arsenal, East Site and (vii) Potton Island trials ground of RARDE.

The numbers employed are given in the following tables; part-time staff have been counted as one half:

During my visit to the RN Armament Depot at Bandeath on 24th March I met trade union representatives and members of the work force. I explained to them that it is unfortunately impossible to achieve savings in defence expenditure without pain, and 1 discussed with them why it had been decided, as a result of the public expenditure review, to close the depot at Bandeath, and a number of other support establishments. Our policy had been to seek economies in the "tail" of the Services that would not directly affect the "teeth". I explained that the continued retention of the depot at Bandeath would have had several disadvantages, and its closure will produce considerable savings. However, we realised the potential implications of the closure, and 1 assured the work force that every effort would be made to ease the impact and offer alternative employment. For this purpose I urged industrial and non-industrial staff to make the most vigorous use possible of the established Whitley consultative machinery.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces personnel from Chile are currently being trained in the United Kingdom.

Only one naval officer of the Chilean armed forces is under training at Service establishments in the United Kingdom.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will pay an official visit to Newport, Gwent, to discuss the dispersal of Ministry of Defence personnel.

At present I see no purpose in such a visit.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the strength of British forces deployed for the protection of the Falkland Islands.

There is a detachment of Royal Marines in the Falkland Islands.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many married quarters his Department has disposed of in the past year; and what steps he is taking to dispose of any remaining surplus.

Over 1,800 married quarters including civilian houses were passed to the Property Services Agency for disposal during the 12 months ended 31st March 1976. Quarters for which there is no known future defence requirements are disposed of as rapidly as possible. Temporarily vacant quarters for which we can foresee a defence requirement arising some years ahead are considered for leasing to local authorities.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what effect the intentions contained in the Government's recent White Paper will have on the size and functions of HMS "Fisgard" and HMS "Raleigh", Torpoint; and, in particular, what changes are envisaged in the number of military personnel and civilian staff employed at these establishments, respectively.

As announced in the White Paper, HMS "Ganges" new entry ratings training task is transferring to HMS "Raleigh" in May of this year. The complement of "Raleigh" will increase by 120 Royal Navy personnel and 21 civilians. HMS "Fisgard" will continue its present task of new entry and first year training for artificer apprentices.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if, in the light of his recent White Paper, he will make a further statement on his decision to proceed with the production of 385 multi-role combat aircraft.

I have nothing further to add to the reply I gave earlier this afternoon to my hon. Friends the Members for Stockport, North (Mr. Bennett), Paddington (Mr. Latham) and Darlington (Mr. Fletcher).

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he is satisfied with the capability of the Royal Air Force to deal with a major armoured assault in Western Europe.

The Royal Air Force would not of course have to deal alone with a major armoured assault in Western Europe, but as part of the combined strength of NATO. I am satisfied that the Royal Air Force is able to play a full part in meeting such a threat, and we are constantly seeking ways of improving its capability. One significant improvement has been made in our tactical air force in Germany, where by mid-1977 we shall have introduced five Jaguar squadrons to boost the capability of our Buccaneer and Harrier squadrons.