asked the Secretary of State for Trade what recent discussions he has had with interested parties on the question of enfranchising non-voting shares.

None.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade how many copies of each of the following newspapers are purchased by his department in order to keep himself and senior civil servants informed: The Times, Financial Times, Yorkshire Post, and Birmingham Post, respectively.

The following newspapers are purchased each day for Ministers and senior civil servants in the Department:

The Times	…	…	…	22
Financial Times	…	…	…	23
Yorkshire Post	…	…	…	1
Birmingham Post	…	…	…	0

asked the Secretary of State for Trade what is his policy towards EEC proposals that Customs duties should be suspended on certain fish species used for processing.

In view of the continuing discussions between the Community and third countries about access to their fishing grounds, any general agreement on suspensions of Customs duties would seem premature, particularly in the case of the main white fish species. The consideration in the Community of two member States' requests for certain tariff suspensions is being approached with this very much in mind.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will extend the area of partially smooth water limits applicable to the Thames Estuary to the line from Orford Ness to the North Foreland.

Smooth and partially smooth waters are designated in order to ensure the safety of small craft, and those on board, which normally ply within the defined limits. A recent study of the Thames Estuary, which included the analysis of both meteorological and oceanographic data, concluded that no extension could be made to the present area of partially smooth water limits consistent with the safety considerations.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade (1) what steps he proposes taking in view of the tertiary Arab boycott against British companies such as that threatened against the Metal Box Company;(2) whether he will seek powers to protect companies such as the Metal Box Company against the Arab boycott.

I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 14th February to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon (Mr. Moonman).

asked the Secretary of State for Trade how many private firms in Yorkshire and Humberside employ more than 2,000 people.

This information is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will make a statement on the response by British firms with affiliated companies in South Africa to the Government's request in Command Paper No. 5845 to publish information on the wages and conditions of African employees.

Yes. The firms concerned have now had a year in which to reflect and act upon the modified request for disclosure of information on their practice in this field set out in my predecessor's Written Reply on 12th December 1975. A progress report to the House is therefore timely.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade how many staff in his Department are engaged in the surveillance of UN sanctions against Rhodesia, so far as they apply to the United Kingdom.

, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 14th February 1977; Vol. 926, c. 9], gave the following information:

asked the Lord President of the Council if he will make available to hon. Members working documents of the Commission of the European Economic Communities made available by them to persons or groups in the United Kingdom.

The Commission is responsible for its own working documents.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the date when pensions were first introduced for members of local government services, police and fire services; and what provision was made for those who had served 10 years in each of these services before the introduction of the pension schemes.

The pension schemes for local government, police and fire service employees have evolved from legislation enacted at various times since the last century. I have no information about how the relevant authorities exercised powers before the turn of the century when they were generally discretionary and non-contributory. Benefits under the contributory schemes introduced from the beginning of this century have depended on employees becoming contributors and in no case has service rendered before the introduction of the scheme been pensionable unless this condition was met.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is yet in a position to make a statement on the recommendation of the Borner Committee Report on Valuers in Local Government in respect of the setting up of a small claims court.

The Borner Committee's recommendation for simplified machinery to settle small claims was pursued in the Community Land Act 1975, which includes a provision—paragraph 3 of Schedule 10—enabling the Lands Tribunal, with the consent of the claimant, to determine disputes without an oral hearing. Rules to implement this provision will shortly be laid before Parliament.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his latest estimate of the number of empty dwellings in (a) London and (b) the rest of England and Wales.

The most recent comprehensive estimate of the number of empty dwellings is provided by the 1971 census, which recorded 99,730 dwellings in Greater London, and 576,150 dwellings in the rest of England and Wales, as vacant on census night.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total number of compulsory purchase orders effected by local authorities during 1976; and what is the estimated total capital value of the property so acquired.

I regret that information is not collected by our Department about the number or value of purchases by local authorities effected through compulsory purchase orders.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what were the needs, resources and domestic elements of the main rate support grant to Tameside Metropolitan Borough for 1974–75, 1975–76 and 1976–77; and what is the estimate for 1977–78.

Details of resources element entitlements for 1977–78 are not yet available. In the table below, which compares the amounts payable to Tameside under the main RSG orders for each of the four years, the figures marked with an asterisk are still provisional:

		Needs Element	Resources Element	Domestic Element
		£m.	£m.	£m.
1974–75	…	7·9	8·8	1·5
1975–76	…	12·4	12·2	2·1
1976–77	…	16·3	14·4*	2·1*
1977–78	…	17·9*	Not Known	2·2*

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many copies of each of the following newspapers are purchased by his Department in order to keep himself and senior civil servants informed: The Times, Financial Times, Yorkshire Post, and Birmingham Post, respectively.

Copies of these newspapers are purchased as follows: The Times, 111 copies; Financial Times, 113 copies; Yorkshire Post, seven copies; Birmingham Post, eight copies.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many copies of each of the following newspapers are puchased every day by his Department in order to keep himself and senior civil servants informed on Scottish affairs: the Scotsman, the Glasgow Herald, the Press and Journal, the Daily Record, the Scottish Daily Express and the Dundee Courier and Advertiser.

Copies are purchased as follows: the Scotsman, nine; the Glasgow Herald, seven; the Press and Journal, two; the Daily Record, one; the Scottish Daily Express, one; the Dundee Courier and Advertiser, one.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many copies of each of the following newspapers are purchased every week by his Department in order to keep him and his senior civil servants informed on Scottish affairs: the Sunday Post, the Sunday Mailand the Scottish Sunday Express.

None is purchased.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement setting out his policy on further building and development of the new city of Milton Keynes.

As indicated in my reply to the hon. Member for Bromsgrove and Redditch (Mr. Miller) on Monday 14th February, I expect to make a statement on my reappraisal of new town programmes, including Milton Keynes, within two months.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment by what means he proposes to ensure, pursuant to paragraph 12(a) of GNLA/12, that local authorities will not seek to purchase housing land under the Community Land Act which cannot be resold at at least break-even price within two years; what specific evidence he will require in such cases; and what sanctions are open to him if the two-year provisions are not in fact implemented.

The probabilities involved will be examined on specific cases. The last part of the Question is hypothetical.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he intends to compensate local authorities for their abortive staffing and administrative expenditure in substituting rolling programmes to him for land acquisition under the Community Land Act 1975, following the issue of his departmental guidance note GNLA/12, which states that aprovals will not now be issued; and whether he will outline the reasons for his decision on this matetr.

No. Proposals underlying such programmes will now be considered singly for the reasons given in the guidance note.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what specific level of resources will be available to local authorities in 1977–78 for acquisition of a planning or social nature, as outlined in paragraph 14 of GNLA/12.

No specific figure will be laid down.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will give an assurance that the information regarding the disposal of land bought under the Community Land Act which he requires local authorities to provide in paragraph 16 of GNLA/12 will be made available to hon. Members in such a way as enables them to have information about specific sites and the price paid for them.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment by what date in 1977–78, pursuant to paragraph 5 of his guidance note GNLA/12, he will require local authorities to reduce their staffing and administrative costs in respect of the Community Land Act to 1976–77 levels; and what monitoring procedures he has established to ensure that this is done.

Authorities have been asked in the following two Para- graphs of the guidance note to estimate their staff an dadminisrtation costs by 1st March, and my Department will be looking at them then.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what precise for mof evidence he will require to satisfy the provisions of paragraph 12(c) of GNLA/12 regarding the acquisition by local authorities of commercial land.

The criteria involved are indicated in the paragraph referred to.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment why, in view of the need to curtail public expenditure, paragraph 8 of GNLA/12 encourages local authorities to implement existing loan sanctions for community land acquisition in the current financial year, failing which they will lapse; and why he did not urge local authorities to reconsider whether it is necessary to implement existing sanctions at all.

With regard to the first part of the Question, it does not do so. The second part does not, therefore, arise.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide in the Official Report a breakdown of the £30,000 annual cost under Class XIV Vote 1 expected to be incurred by the new Government Press Centre.

, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 14th February 1977], circulated the following information:The breakdown is as follows:

	£ per annum
General building maintenance	8,000
Maintenance of mechanical and electrical plant	4,000
Window cleaning and clearance of rubbish	1,000
Operation and maintenance of multilingual translation booths and closed circuit television	8,000
Electricity charges	4,000
Gas charges	5,000
	£30,000

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment further to his reply Official Report, 8th February, column 601, whether his Department took the decision in August 1975 to develop the new Government Press Centre; what were the then anticipated annual running costs of the centre expected to be when completed; and what was the anticipated capital cost of developing the centre.

, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 14th February 1977], circulated the following information:The decision to develop the Government Press Centre resulted from the work of an inter-departmental Committee set up to establish the requirements for conference facilities in 1977. Detailed estimates for running costs were not available at that time because precise requirements had not been established.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment under what parliamentary Vote the £830,000 spent on developing the new Government Press Centre was authorised; what was the amount originally estimated; and if he will give a further breakdown of the £348,000 spent on engineering services.

, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 14th February 1977], circulated the following information:The expenditure was authorised under Class XIV, Vote 1. The original estimate, prepared in October 1975, was £725,000. The breakdown of the engineering service costs is as follows:

Heating, hot water and ventilation	£240,000
Electrical power and lighting	£108,000
Total	£348,000

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment at the expiry of the seven year lease of the Government Press Centre, whether he anticipates any recouping of the £830,000 spent on capital and equipment costs.

, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 14th February 1977], circulated the following information:Some of the furniture and furnishings installed will have a residual value. The capital expenditure represents works in- corporated in the premises and will not be recoverable.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will relax the licensing regulations for bus services so that independent bus operators can fill the gap resulting from axed services on London Transport routes.

No relaxation is needed. It is already open to anyone who wants to operate a bus service to apply to the Traffic Commissioners for a road service licence, and for a public service vehicle licence if the vehicle he wishes to use does not already have one. The Commissioners consider each application on its merits, in the light of the general criteria laid down in the Road Traffic Act 1960. If an applicant is aggrieved by their decision he has a right of appeal to the Secretary of State.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give an indication of the anticipated toll to cross the Humber Bridge by (a) foot, (b) private motor car and (c) commercial vehicle.

Tolls are a matter for the Humber Bridge Board, subject to my confirmation. I await the Board's proposals.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport how many international road haulage permits were issued for France in 1976, and how many in 1977.

The figures are as follows:

		1976	1977
General quota	…	35,000	37,000
Co-operation quota	…	6,000	8,500

Both the general and co-operation quotas were fully used in 1976. The entire general quota for 1977 has been allocated and issues from both quotas continue throughout the year.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what criteria are used in deciding how international road haulage permits for France are allocated.

When additional permits become available priority is given to operators who have used self help by participating in the co-operation quota or road-rail systems. Such an allocation normally serves as the base for future years' allocations.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport how many international road haulage permits were issued for France to companies in Wales in 1976, and how many in 1977.

Permit allocations are made on a company basis, and operators may use them from their bases anywhere in the United Kingdom. The information requested is, therefore, not available.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what additional appointments he intends to make to the board of the National Freight Corporation.

After consulting the Chairman, Sir Daniel Pettit, I have today appointed as full-time members of the board Mr. Victor Paige, formerly Executive Vice-Chairman (Administration) of the Corporation and Mr. Peter Thompson formerly Executive Vice-Chairman (Operations). I have also appointed to the board, on a part-time

Reason	1972	1973	1974	1975†	1976‡
Premature retirement:
On grounds of ill health	1,039	1,340	1,327	1,672	1,651
On structural grounds	617	406	123	134	94
On grounds of inefficiency	827*	364*	290*	88	67
On grounds of limited efficiency	16	17	15	17	51
On grounds of redundancy	37	71	153	184	273
Discharge during probationary or trial period	5	37	128*	583*	573
End of period of provisional appointment	481	570	234	288	345
Dismissal on disciplinary grounds	131	126	95	196	149
TOTAL	3,153	2,931	2,365	3,162	3,203
* Changes of coding during the establishment of PRISM computer records probably account for the related trends appearing in the figures for wastage arising from inefficiency and termination of probation.
† 1975 excludes Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
‡ Figures for 1976 are only available up to October.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service whether, in view of the fact that there has been no reduction made in the grant in aid for the Government Hospitality Fund and in the light of the Government's policy of expenditure cuts, he will now make a 2 per cent. cut in the expenditure of this fund.

No. The anticipated demands on the fund in the coming year for overseas visitors and their entertainment make it impracticable to propose any reduction.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service how many established members of the non-industrial Civil Service have been dismissed or required to resign in each of the past five years; and for what reasons.

The information requested by the hon. Member is not immediately available separately in respect of established non-industrial civil servants. The following table covers all terminations of employment of established and unestablished non-industrial civil servants excluding age retirements, resignations, transfers of function and transfers to industrial status.

asked the Minister for Overseas Development how many copies of each of the following newspapers are purchased every day by his Department in order to keep himself and senior civil servants informed on Scottish affairs: The Scotsman, the Glasgow Herald, the Press and Journal, the Daily Record, the Scottish Daily Express and the Dundee Courier and Advertiser.

Two copies of the Scotsman and three of the Glasgow Herald are purchased. The other newspapers are not taken.

asked the Minister for Overseas Development how many copies of each of the following newspapers are purchased every week by his Department in order to keep him and his senior civil servants informed on Scottish affairs: the Sunday Post, the Sunday Mail and the Scottish Sunday Express.

Of the newspapers mentioned, two copies of the Glasgow Sunday Post are purchased: and so is one copy of the weekly East Kilbride News.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if, in pursuance of the undertakings given by Ministers during the Second Reading and Committee stage proceedings of the Police Act 1976, he will bring forward a regulation, to coincide with its coming into effect, entitling any police officer who is the object of an unfounded complaint and against whom no disciplinary proceedings are taken to receive a full copy of any letter of accusation against him.(2) if he will ensure that regulations made under the Police Act 1976 to enable a police officer against whom unfounded accusations are made, to appeal to the Secretary of State against any unreasonable refusal on the part of a chief officer to disclose to him in full the text of letters of complaint against him.

I am considering, in consultation with the police and local authority representative bodies, how best to give effect in the regulaions to be made under the Police Act 1976 to my predecessor's undertaking of 15th July 1975—[Vol. 895, c. 427–8]—that a copy of the complaint would be made available to the officer concerned at his request and after the case is closed, if it would not, in the particular circumstances of the case, be contrary to public interest to do so.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many girls under the age of 15 years were accommodated in prison establishments following the issue of a certificate of unruliness in each of the years 1971 to 1976 inclusive.

A girl aged 14–16 who is awaiting trial may be remanded in custody to a prison or remand centre in England and Wales only if a court certifies that she is so unruly that she cannot safely be committed to the care of a local authority. The following table shows the number of 14 year old girls who, in the years 1972–76, were initially remanded to a prison or remand centre to await trial:

Year			Number of receptions	Number of individuals
1971	…	…	16	Not known
1972	…	…	9	8
1973	…	…	16	15
1974	…	…	30	27
1975	…	…	14	13
1976	…	…	28*	28*
* Provisional.

In addition, girls aged 14–16 who have been convicted and are awaiting sentence may be received into custody in a prison or remand centre if they have been committed to the Crown Court with a view to a sentence of borstal training or if they are made the subject of an unruly certificate. I regret that the available information does not distinguish between the numbers in these two groups of persons awaiting sentence.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the size of the prison population on 1st July 1970 and 1st March 1974; and what is the present number of people in prison and borstal institutions in England and Wales.

Information is not readily available for the precise dates requested. The following table gives details available for adjacent days:

	30th June 1970	28th February 1974	31st December 1976
Prisons (males and females)	31,388	29,730	32,653
Borstals (males and females)	6,663	5,244	6,077
Detention centres (for males only)	1,836	1,731	1,661
	39,887	36,705	40,391

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new places it is proposed to provide in prisons, borstals and detention centres before the end of the year 1979, naming the individual institutions concerned.

Building schemes now in hand in England and Wales are expected to produce the following new places before the end of 1979 in the establishments listed below:

Prisons and Remand Centres
Birmingham	…	13
Castington	…	180
Channings Wood	…	224
Glen Parva	…	360
High point	…	361*
Northeye	…	105
Norwich	…	153
Ranby	…	41
Rochester	…	120
Styal	…	42
Thorp Arch	…	72
Wymott	…	816
		2,487

Borstals
Deerbolt	…	…	240
Hollesley Bay	…	…	90
			330
*Including 60 places at Northridge which will eventually serve as a detention centre.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new places have been provided in prisons, borstals and detention centres since the beginning of 1970, naming the individual institutions concerned.

In England and Wales since the beginning of 1970 a total of 5,037 new places have been provided by new construction or conversion of existed buildings in the establishments listed below.

Prisons and Remand Centres
Acklington	…	…	303*
Askwell	…	…	100
Askham Grange	…	…	13
Blundeston	…	…	120
Bristol	…	…	192
Camp Hill	…	…	160
Channings Wood	…	…	216
Featherstone	…	…	484
Gloucester	…	…	80
Haverigg	…	…	130
Holloway	…	…	338**
Long Lartin	…	…	492
Low Newton	…	…	80
Maidstone	…	…	60
Northeye	…	…	90
Norwich (Prison)	…	…	100
Norwich (Remand Centre)	…	…	60
Onley	…	…	120
Pucklechurch	…	…	80
Ranby	…	…	456
Verne	…	…	160
			3,834

Borstals
Deerbolt	…	…	…	165
Dover	…	…	…	58
Glen Parva	…	…	…	300
Portland	…	…	…	72
Rochester	…	…	…	58
Stoke Heath	…	…	…	120
Wellingborough	…	…	…	120
				893

Detention Centres
Eastwood Park	…	…	…	52
Erlestoke	…	…	…	98
Hollesley Bay	…	…	…	120
Kirklevington	…	…	…	40
				310
* Including 90 temporary places kept in use.
** Replacement of existing places.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons to date have been removed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and to the Republic of Ireland, respectively.

57 and 23.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his estimate of the size of the prison and borstal population by the end of the year 1979.

The current estimate of the size of the total prison population—including the borstal and detention centre populations—by the end of 1979 is 41,500. This figure takes account of seasonal variation: the prison population is normally lower at the end of a calendar year.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners serving sentences of (a) 20 years and over, (b) 10 to 20 years, (c) five to 10 years, (d) two to five years, and (e) less than two years have dependent wives with children.

I regret that this information is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department in which prison were (a) the 24 14-to-16-year-old boys located on 31st December, and (b) the nine 14-to-16-year-old girls.

Of the 24 boys age 14 to 16 years who were in prison on 31st December 1976, 11 were in Leeds, five in Birmingham, three in Liverpool, two in Oxford and one each in Canterbury, Gloucester and Lincoln. All the nine girls aged 14 to 16 years were in Holloway Prison.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many volunteer bureaux are currently in action; what is the usual manpower requirement and annual average cost of them; and how many new volunteers they have activated in the last six months' period for which figures are available.

I understand from information given to the Volunteer Centre that there are at least 64 full-time and 98 part-time volunteer bureaux and that the number is growing rapidly. The bureaux are local organisations which vary greatly in size and expenditure according to the amount of local funding available. The majority are run by part-time helpers supported by volunteers. Although the Volunteer Centre provides some central services for volunteer bureaux, they are not funded by central Government and no central record is kept of the numbers of volunteers placed. Statistics of this kind would be of doubtful value without detailed information about what prompted people to approach the bureaux and how long they continued their voluntary activities after placement.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will explain the difference between remaining permanently in the United Kingdom and remaining indefinitely in the United Kingdom as used in different versions of form IMM 72;(2) what are the reasons for deleting "the time limit and conditions attached to your leave to enter the United Kingdom has been removed" and substituting "you have been given leave to remain in the United Kingdom for an indefinite period" in form IMM 72;(3) how many man-hours would have been saved by leaving form IMM 72 in its original form rather than changing the opening paragraph for no purpose.

Form IMM 72 as originally drafted is used by the Immigration and Nationality Department to inform people who have a limited leave under the Immigration Act 1971 to enter or remain, and who are eligible for settlement, that the time limit and conditions attached to their stay have been removed.A second version of the form, for use where the period for which a person was given limited leave to remain has expired before he makes his application, was made necessary by the recent judgment of the House of Lords in Suthendran v. Immigration Appeal Tribunal.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the present strength of the Greater Manchester police force; and whether he is satisfied with the level of its establishment.

On 31st January 1977 the strength was 6,237. The establishment of 6,600, fixed when the force was created on 1st April 1974, was increased to 6,735 in September 1976 to allow for the additional responsibility of policing Manchester Airport. Other adjustments are likely to be needed in the light of three years' experience in policing Greater Manchester, and the ority may make as a result of this review, Chief Constable is reviewing the whole establishment with this in mind. I will consider any proposals the police authbut, subject to this, I am satisfied with the present establishment.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has received to date on the plans of police authorities for reducing the numbers of cadets to be recruited over the next three financial years in the light of recent circulars from his Department on economies; and if he will list in the Official Report the police forces that have given him notice of their intention to make such reductions together with the number of cadets now in post and the number expected to be in post on 1st September 1978 in each respective force area.

Police authorities are not required to notify me of their intentions about future recruitment of cadets. The information I have indicates that most, if not all, police authorities will reduce their intakes of cadets, or will not recruit any, during the financial year 1977–78. No decisions have yet been taken about recruitment of cadets during 1978–79 and subsequent years, and I cannot, therefore, estimate what the strength will be on 1st September 1978. Numbers in post on 31st December 1976 were as follows:

CADET STRENGTHS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER 1976
Force		Total Strength
Avon and Somerset	…	64
Bedfordshire	…	7
Cambridgeshire	…	32
Cheshire	…	36
Cleveland	…	30
Cumbria	…	25
Derbyshire	…	96
Devon and Cornwall	…	32
Dorset	…	17
Durham	…	69
Essex	…	53
Gloucestershire	…	36
Greater Manchester	…	289
Hampshire	…	154
Hertfordshire	…	106
Humberside	…	81
Kent	…	84
Lancashire	…	165
Leicestershire	…	70
Lincolnshire	…	41
Merseyside	…	61
Norfolk	…	39
Northamptonshire	…	36
Northumbria	…	49
North Yorkshire	…	37
Nottinghamshire	…	114
South Yorkshire	…	121
Staffordshire	…	50
Suffolk	…	57
Surrey	…	29
Sussex	…	55
Thames Valley	…	102
Warwickshire	…	43
West Mercia	…	84
West Midlands	…	204
West Yorkshire	…	196
Wiltshire	…	48
Dyfed Powys	…	20
Gwent	…	15
North Wales	…	24
South Wales	…	65
City of London	…	28
Metropolitan	…	741

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement about the progress being made in the revision of the Annual Return of Experiments on Living Animals.

A pilot study was launched at the end of last year and I hope at the end of this year to be in a position to require from holders of licences under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 a report containing considerably more detailed information about the types and purposes of experiments performed during 1977. If all goes well we should be in a position to publish a greatly improved annual return in the summer of next year.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will seek the guidance of the Advisory Committee on the Administration of the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 about the LD50 test to determine what dose would result in the death of half the animals to which it was administered.

My hon. Friend the Minister of State announced in the Adjournment debate on 13th January that I had decided to seek such guidance. As my hon. Friend the Member for Dearne Valley (Mr. Wainwright) will probably appreciate, the Advisory Committee is likely to take some time before arriving at a recommendation, but I am sure it will try to reach a conclusion as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons have been proceeded against for procuring abortions under Section 58 or 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act, as amended by the Abortion Act 1967, in each of the years 1968 to 1976.

The information is as follows:

PERSONS PROCEEDED AGAINST IN MAGISTRATES COURTS IN ENGLAND AND WALES FOR OFFENCES UNDER SECTION 58 OR 59 OF THE OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON ACT 1861, AS AMENDED BY THE ABORTION ACT 1967.
Year				Number of persons
1968	…	…	…	75
1969	…	…	…	57
1970	…	…	…	52
1971	…	…	…	34
1972	…	…	…	26
1973	…	…	…	11
1974	…	…	…	8
1975	…	…	…	1

The figure for 1976 is not yet avail-able.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he intends to amend the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme in Great Britain.

The Secretary of State for Scotland and I have decided that compensation should be payable under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme only if the injury was one for which compensation of not less than £150 would be awarded. The present limit of £50, which was intended to exclude trivial cases, was set as long ago as 1964, and the increase is intended to restore its original value without changing the scope or purpose of the scheme. The new limit will apply where the injuries are sustained on or after 1st March 1977, and in respect of injuries sustained before that date if the application is received after 1st June 1977.My right hon. Friend and I will consider whether any further change is necessary when we have the report of the Working Party which is at present conducting a review of the operation of the Great Britain scheme.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps she intends to take to give parents more freedom of choice and more direct say on the managing and governing bodies of schools.

My right hon. Friend is examining what steps might be taken to improve the arrangements whereby school places are allocated and to ensure that parents' views can be properly considered; she will be consulting all the interests concerned in due course. As regards the management and government of schools, my right hon. Friend is looking forward to the recommendations of the Taylor Committee.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will report on the progress of the consultations as part of the debate on education policy.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will make a statement concerning recent consultations she has had on educational priorities.