asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will receive a deputation from the Hampshire Police Authority concerning the Police Bill.

No. As my noble Friend, the Minister of State, has explained to two other hon. Members who have approached him on this matter, I do not think it would be appropriate for me to receive a deputation from an individual police authority on a matter on which we have been in regular consultation with the local authority associations.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is satisfied that there is adequate television reception in Holystone and nearby areas of Upper Coquetdale, Northumberland.

I understand that the broadcasting authorities appreciate that television reception in Holystone and Upper Coquetdale may be indifferent because of screening by the local terrain. The BBC tells me that, whilst there are no plans to serve the Upper Coquetdale Valley, Holystone may benefit from the proposed Rothbury relay station which it is hoped will be commissioned during the current UHF station building programme expected to be completed by 1979.

Board	Chairman	Members
	Full-time	Full-time
Equal Opportunities Commission	Miss Betty Lockwood	Lady Howe (Deputy Chairman)
		Part-time
		Miss Margaret Allen
		Lord Allen of Fallowfield
		Mr. John Beale
		Professor Gordon Borrie
		Miss Ethel Chipchase
		Mrs. Sylvia Denman
		Miss Annie Mackie
		Mr. Alexander Nicol
		Miss Agnes Patrick
		Mrs. Marie Patterson
		Mr. Eric Robinson
		Mrs. Caroline Woodruffe
		Mr. Philip Jones
	Part-time	Part-time
Gaming Board Great Britain…	Sir Stanley Raymond	Mr. R. McPhail
		Capt. the Hon. Richard Stanley
		Sir James Starritt
		Sir Philip Allen

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will invite senior coloured police officers from the new Commonwealth to come to the United Kingdom on secondment so as to provide an encouragement for recruits from the United Kingdom.

Arrangements already exist for police officers to visit this country from the Commonwealth, and we shall continue to encourage them. Secondment would not be possible unless the officers were given police powers in this country. This has been carefully studied but found to be impracticable.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list in the Official Report each of the public bodies for which he is responsible the names of the chairmen of each of these bodies appointed by him, the names of the members of these bodies appointed by him, and the salaries the chairmen and members these bodies receive, stating whether these salaries are for full or part-time service.

The information in respect of the bodies to which I make paid appointments is set out in the table.Current remuneration ranges from £16 a day for certain part-time appointments to £10,600 a year for certain full-time appointments.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what authority the National Television Licence Records Office directs letters regarding television licences to households where there is no television set; and what obligation exists for the householders to respond to any such inquiry.

The National Television Licence Records Office collects television licence fees and carries out licence record and enquiry work on our behalf. It maintains a list of households showing whether or not there is a television licence in force and inquiry letters are sent from time to time to apparently unlicensed addresses to help combat licence fee evasion. Whilst recipients of these inquiry letters are not obliged to respond, their doing so is helpful to the National Television Licence Records Office and makes further inquiries unnecessary. This routine check helps to keep the cost of the licensing system and licence fees down, and maintains the fairness of the system for the great majority who pay their licence fees, by identifying unlicensed users.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce legislation to make the British Board of Film Censors certificate immune to arbitrary action by local authorities; and if he will make a statement.

The legal powers to control the exhibition of particular films rest solely with local cinema licensing authorities. The certificates issued by the British Board of Film Censors, which is an unofficial body with no legal powers in censorship matters, are widely accepted as offering a general standard. Individual authorities may in their discretion decide to modify that standard in either direction in the light of their knowledge of local opinions and feelings. We have no plans for seeking changes in these arrangements.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is: (a) the sentence, days served and date of release on parole of Mr. George Pottinger and (b) the sentence and days served of Mr. Denis Warren.

Mr. Pottinger was released on parole on 18th March, 1976 after serving 772 days of a sentence of 1,461 days. Mr. Warren has served 736 days of a sentence of 1,096 days.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedure exists to inform him whether foreign students complete a course of education.

Conditions are placed on the stay of a person who qualifies under the immigration rules for leave to enter or to remain in the United Kingdom as a student. These conditions include a limit on the period for which he may remain. The period, which is normally 12 months or less, will not be extended without evidence of continuing studies. When these cease a student is required to leave the United Kingdom, unless he qualifies to remain under some other part of the immigration rules.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department in each of the last five years, how many foreign students completing their courses of education are known to have remained resident in the United Kingdom.

Although each individual case is checked, the total numbers of those given leave to enter or remain as students and who are subsequently given leave under the immigration rules to remain for other purposes are not recorded separately.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received about the import and sale of transceivers operating in the 26/27/28 MHZ radio bands; and if he proposes to stop any such trade under the Wireless Telegraphy Acts.

Protests about the illegal use of such equipment have been received from some licensed users of the 26–28 MHz band.The import and manufacture of this equipment is already prohibited under the Radiotelephonic Transmitters (Control of Manufacture and Importation) Order 1968, and I see no need for further legislation at present.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what training and retraining facilities are provided in the Gwynedd area; and if he will authorise the establishment of a skill centre there, appropriate to the size of the population and the current level of unemployment.

I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that 178 training places are currently available in Gwynedd for persons sponsored by the Training Services Agency under the Training Opportunities Scheme. The agency has no plans at present for a skill-centre to be established in Gwynedd, but negotiations are continuing with local organisations to determine how best additional facilities can be provided.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many redundancies in Ayrshire have been notified to his Department in each of the past four months; and how many of these affected men.

I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that, until the redundancy provisions of the Employment Protection Act came into force on 8th March 1976, employers were under no obligation to notify redundancies.Redundancies in Ayrshire notified to the Employment Service Agency prior to 8th March 1976, are as follows:

	Total redundancies notified	Males affected
January	343	287
February	180	149
1st March to 6th March	40	40
Redundancies notified to the Secretary of State in accordance with the provisions of the Employment Protection Act are:

8th March–31st March	229*
April	1,081
* Including 24 redundancies notified under the transitional provisions.
It is not possible to give separate figures for males, as this is not a requirement of redundancy notifications.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he is aware of the high rate of unemployment in the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area of Fife; and what positive steps are being taken to eliminate the problem.

The Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area forms part of the Dunfermline travel-to-work area where the unemployment rate in April was 6·3 per cent. I am aware and regret that within this larger area Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly has a high number of unemployed.The area stands to benefit from the Government's manpower measures and young people in particular have been helped considerably by the success of the recruitment subsidy for school leavers and the Manpower Services Commission's job creation programme. The prospects of those currently unemployed however depend in very large measure on an upturn in the economy generally.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what financial arrangements exist to encourage employers to recruit young people, particularly to undertake and complete apprenticeships.

Industrial training boards have standing arrangements to encourage employers through provision of grants or exemption from levy to undertake training of apprentices. In view of current economic conditions, the Government have made some £86 million available to the Manpower Services Commission over the period 1975–1977, mainly for the payment, through industrial training boards, of grants to encourage employers to recruit and retain additional trainees, and for the provision of first year training, by the boards themselves, for young people unable to find an employer. This extra help has resulted in some 21,000 additional training places being made available during 1975–76 and the number in 1976–77 should be still higher.In addition, about 25,000 young people under 20 have benefited from the recruitment subsidy for school leavers scheme at a cost of £2·5 million. This scheme provides the employers, who take on young people, with a subsidy of £5 per week for 26 weeks.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will ask the Manpower Services Commission to find out what employment was obtained by the 100 ex-trainees who completed courses in engineering skills at skillcentres in Cleveland county in 1974, 1975 and the first three months of 1976, but who were not known subsequently to have found employment in their training trade.

We have consulted the MSC which cannot undertake to obtain the information requested. It informs us that unless ex-trainees are placed by the Employment Service or offer the information themselves, it is costly and unacceptably time-consuming to attempt to ascertain for every individual what employment is obtained after training.The Training Services Agency makes every reasonable effort to obtain information about the post-training careers of skillcentre trainees and, from time to time, conducts surveys to enable a check to be kept on the subsequent employment of trainees.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total number of people unemployed in the Thanet area on 29th April 1976; what percentage this figure represented of the total work force; and what are the comparable figures for the same period last year.

VACANCIES NOTIFIED AND REMAINING UNFILLED
	April 1976		March 1976
	At Employment Offices	At Careers Offices	At Employment Offices	At Careers Offices
North West Region	10,240	2,063	9,753	1,957
Merseyside	2,442	229	2,273	242
Ormskirk Employment Office Area	68	17	47	13
Kirkby Employment Office Area	46	2	38	1
The figures relate only to vacancies notified to employment offices or careers offices and are not a measure of total vacancies. Because of possible duplication, the separate series for the two kinds of office should not be added together.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the latest figure available for unemployment amongst registered disabled workers in the Coventry and district employment area; what percentage of registered disabled people this represents; and how this compares with the position 12 months ago.

On 8th April 1976 of the registered disabled people in the area, 775 or 12 per cent. were unemployed; compared with 682 or 9·6 per cent. 12 months previously.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many unemployed construction workers there are in the Merseyside travel-to-work area.

On 8th April 1976 the number of unemployed people in the area covered by the Margate, Ramsgate and Sandwich employment offices was 3,201 and the rate of unemployment was 7·2 per cent. The corresponding figures for 14th April 1975 were 2,212 and 4·9 per cent.Rates of unemployment are calculated by expressing the numbers unemployed as a percentage of the estimated total number of employees, including the unemployed.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is currently the number of notified vacancies (a) in the North-West, (b) on Merseyside, (c) in Ormskirk and (d) in Kirkby; and how these compare with the previous month.

Following is the information.

At 8th April 1976, 13,961 people, who last worked in the construction industry, were registered as unemployed in the Merseyside Special Development Area.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the latest estimate of the number of unemployed in the construction and allied industries.

At 8th April, 213,480 people who last worked in the construction industry were registered as unemployed in Great Britain.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the latest percentage figure for unemployment on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent.

At 8th April 1976 the rate of unemployment for the area covered by Sheerness Employment Office was 9–8 per cent.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment which divisions of his Department it is now proposed to disperse to Merseyside under the Hardman proposals, giving details of the numbers involved and the time phasing of such transfers; and, in cases where a decision to disperse a particular section or sections to the Merseyside area has been agreed in principle but no decision taken on the recipient town or district, if he will seriously consider the claim of Skelmersdale New Town.

There are no current plans to disperse staff for which my Department is responsible to Merseyside.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment on what basis the European Commission collects data and work on the analysis of industrial problems related to the current economic situation.

The Commission receives all published statistics on employment aspects of the current economic situation. The Commission's understanding of these and of the analyses of current problems in member countries is further developed at periodical meetings of officials. Collection and documentation of analytic work is the subject of a study referred to in reply to a later Question today from my hon. Friend.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will state the programme of labour market studies by the European Commission.

Eight studies have so far been agreed for 1975–76 covering job loss and creation in local labour markets, the characteristics of the unemployed, use of data from Community Labour Force Surveys, trends in job qualifications, retraining in the car industry, two aspects of employment forecasting, and documentation of existing research. Further studies are under consideration for 1976–77.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what support the European Commission is giving to national employment services, and the main problems in the employment field over the next few years; and if he will make a statement.

I am advised by the Manpower Services Commission that the Commission of European Communities has allocated financial assistance for 1975, under the provisions of the Social Fund, in the following schemes managed by the Employment Service Agency:

(1) transference of individuals from development areas under the Employment Transfer Scheme;

(2) transference of individuals leaving agriculture;

(3) rehabilitation of disabled persons at Employment Rehabilitation Centres;

(4) staff training for Employment Rehabilitation Centres, Disablement Resettlement Services and various experiments within the field of resettlement of disabled persons.

Applications for assistance towards these items, as well as for other special facilities for disabled persons, have been presented for 1976. It is expected that similar applications will be submitted in 1977, but this is, to some extent, dependent upon a review of the Fund now in progress in the Commission.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total sum received by the United Kingdom in 1975 from the EEC Social Fund; and what proportion this represented of schemes to train workers and increase mobility of labour, unemployment and under-employment in developing regions.

A total of £45·9 million was allocated to the United Kingdom for 1975, of which £31·8 million was in respect of schemes to train workers and increase mobility of labour in developing regions. The United Kingdom applied in respect of all operations believed to be eligible under this heading, on which total expenditure in 1975 was £71·9 million. Thus the allocations represented 44 per cent. of relevant United Kingdom expenditure.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what amount of financial assistance was received from the EEC Social Fund in 1975 for workers affected by difficulties experienced by certain groups of undertakings, workers needing to adapt to technical progress, and unemployed under 25 years of age.

Allocations to the United Kingdom from the European Social Fund for 1975 include £4,448,300 for assistance to young people under 25 years of age who are unemployed or seeking employment and £144,140 for retraining of workers needing to adapt to technical progress.The United Kingdom made no applications to the Fund in 1975 in respect of groups of undertakings.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what surveys the EEC has asked his Department to carry out into the possibility of requiring all multinational companies to keep workers' representatives informed of the company's business position, and its implication for employment.

No such requests have been made.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what approach the European Commission has made to his Department to develop active participation by both sides of industry in the formulation of Community policies.

The European Commission has made no special approach to my Department in this connection. But it is established Community policy that both sides of industry should be involved in the economic and social decision making of the Community.Employers and trades union organisations are represented on the Economic and Social Committee, and a number of committees set up to advise the Commission. They meet with Ministers and the Commission at the Standing Committee on Employment and at confereences held for the purpose. The last such conference attended by Employment and Finance Ministers as well as representatives of the Commission and of European level employer and trade union organisations, was held on 18th November 1975. The next, with similar representation, is expected to be held in June and will concentrate on unemployment.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the estimated number of men over the age of 50 years in Ceridigion who are currently unemployed.

At January 1976, the latest date for which information is available, 407 men aged 50 years and over were registered as unemployed in the area covered by the Aberystwyth, Cardigan, Lampeter and Llandyssul employment offices.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what is the estimated number of men over the age of 55 years in Wales who are currently unemployed;(2) what is the estimated number of men under the age of 25 years in Wales who are currently unemployed.

At January 1976, the latest date for which information is available, 10,952 men aged 55 years and over and 18,823 men aged under 25 years were registered as unemployed in Wales.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the meeting held by EEC Social Affairs Ministers on 30th April 1976 at which Her Majesty's Government was represented.

At the Council of Social Affairs Ministers held in Luxemburg on 30th April the United Kingdom was represented by the Under-Secretary of State for Employment.The Council reached agreement on a proposal for a second European Social Budget, on a regulation to amend the Community's Social Security Regulations and on the rules of procedure of the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work.At the request of the United Kingdom, the Council discussed the unemployment situation in the Community taking account of the opinion on this subject from the Economic and Social Committee and views expressed of the European Trades Union Confederation, and in preparation for the tripartite economic and social conference to be held this summer.There was also an exchange of views in preparation for the ILO's world employment conference to be held in Geneva in June.Meeting informally, Ministers also had a preliminary exchange of views on the European Social Fund, which is due for review in 1977.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what is the per capita yearly water consumption in Great Britain, the United States of America and each of the Common Market countries;(2) what is the estimated

Consumption of water in England and Wales in 1974 averaged 304 litres per person per day. A projection of past trends points to a figure of some 350 litres per person per day for 1981. The Central Water Planning Unit is currently examining the possibility of changes in these trends. Directly comparable figures for the USA and the Common Market countries are not readily available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the estimated capital investment programmes in the United Kingdom for each of the next 10 years to ensure adequate water supplies.

Water authorities submit forecasts of capital expenditure up to five years ahead in accordance with the annual public expenditure survey. The estimated capital expenditure on water supplies in the United Kingdom as a whole—excluding the water companies—over the next few years is expected to be about £220 million per annum at 1975 survey prices.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the estimated cost of establishing the regional councils of sport and recreation (a) to his Department and (b) to the local authority.

The incidental expenses of representatives of local authorities and other public bodies will be borne by those bodies. The expenses of representatives of voluntary bodies and the costs of secretarial support for the new councils—as for the existing regional sports councils—will be borne, directly or indirectly, by my Department.The combined membership of the new councils is unlikely to be greater—and may be somewhat smaller—than that of the regional sports councils. No significant increase in costs is therefore to be expected.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment under what powers or authority his Department is able to disband the existing regional sports councils and replace them with new regional sport and recreation councils; and whether, in view of the concern being expressed by local authorities and others about the details of the proposed new scheme, he will delay implementation of such a scheme until there has been an opportunity for a debate.

I would refer the hon. Member to the statement I made on 14th April. My role has been to promote the establishment of new regional councils with broader functions than the existing regional sports councils, in order to improve co-ordination of sport and recreation policies at regional level. Most—if not all—of the bodies involved in the existing councils will be represented directly or indirectly on the new councils: consequently, when the latter come into being the former will lapse. The local authority associations have assured me of their full support for the new arrangements.—[Vol. 909, c. 565–6]

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether his Department keeps a list of those Football League clubs which have been designated as appropriate for a general safety certificate by the Home Office.

No Football League or other stadia have yet been designated under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act. I am in very close touch with my right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Home Affairs and the Secretary of State for Scotland on matters of mutual concern.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has yet received expert medical advice on the possibility of a reaction between carbon monoxide and chlorine producing phosgene gas; and, if so, what was that advice.

I have not yet received the advice to which my hon. Friend refers.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list in the Official Report all the housing associations in the area of the old boroughs of Manchester and Stockport which received financial support from police funds during the period 1968 to 1976, stating the amounts of grant and the proportion this grant was of the associations' total assets; and if he will further list each site these housing associations have purchased, together with the price the association paid for each site.

The information is not readily available. I will write to my hon. Friend.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether any dangerous waste materials, including nuclear substances, are being transported by road to and from the power stations at Bradwell and Sizewell; and, if so, whether they travel on the Al2, London to Southend, arterial road, or any other route traversing Redbridge.

Irradiated nuclear fuel is transported in steel flasks from Brad-well and Sizewell Power Stations to the nearest rail head before being transported by rail to Windscale, Cumbria where the fuel is reprocessed. The transport flasks are specially designed to withstand very severe accident conditions including a high temperature fire.Occasional loads of slightly irradiated specimens and oil slightly contaminated with radioactivity are transported via the A12. Some of these may pass through Redbridge. The loads comply fully with transport regulations.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the local authorities in England stating their expenditure on: (a) new housing and (b) on modernisation schemes for the latest year for which figures are available.

Local authorities report spending the following amounts on the construction of new housing revenue account dwellings, and related works in 1974–75. Those authorities not included in the list either have not yet made returns or did not separate housebuilding expenditure from other housing expenditure.Similar figures are not available for schemes of modernisation.

NORTHERN REGION
	£'000
Tyne and wear
Gateshead	3,230
Newcastle-upon-Tyne	8,549
South Tyneside	1,528
Sunderland	3,066
Cleveland
Langbaurgh	3,441
Stockton-on-Tees	3,267
Cumbria
Barrow-in-Furness	230
Carlisle	794
Copeland	284
Eden	221
South Lakeland	633
Durham
Chester-le-Street	1,685
Darlington	797
Derwentside	1,569
Sedgefield	2,310
Northmberland
Alnwick	490
Blyth Valley	257
Castle Morpeth	707