asked the Prime Minister when he next intends to meet the President of the Commission of the European Communities.

I expect to see Mr. Roy Jenkins in London on 25th November.

asked the Prime Minister if he has any plans to visit the Central Lancashire New Town.

I have at present no plans to do so.

asked the Prime Minister when he next intends to meet the heads of the nationalised industries.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Mr. Ward) on 17th November.

asked the Prime Minister if he will list his engagements for 22nd November.

asked the Prime Minister if he will list his engagements for Tuesday 22nd November.

asked the Prime Minister if he will list his engagements for 22nd November.

asked the Prime Minister whether he will list his official engagements for 22nd November 1977.

asked the Prime Minister if he will list his engagements for Tuesday 22nd November.

asked the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for 22nd November.

asked the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 22nd November.

asked the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for 22nd November.

asked the Prime Minister if he will list his engagements for 22nd November.

In addition to my duties in this House, I shall be holding meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. This evening I hope to have an Audience of Her Majesty the Queen.

asked the Prime Minister if he will now answer Questions about past public engagements.

I have no plans to change the general practice of not doing so.

asked the Prime Minister if he will list the responsibilities which he has allocated to the Secretary of State for Industry.

The Secretary of State for Industry is responsible for general industrial policy, including the Government's industrial strategy, policy towards planning agreements, and financial assistance to industry, though some of his responsibilities in the latter field relate only to England. He sponsors the National Enterprise Board, the British Steel Corporation, the Post Office, Cable and Wireless Limited, British Aerospace and British Shipbuilders, as well as the general manufacturing industries. The Secretary of State is also responsible for industrial research and the operation of the Government's industrial research establishments, and for the Business Statistics Office.

asked the Prime Minister when he last met the CBI.

asked the Prime Minister when he next plans to meet the CBI.

asked the Prime Minister when he will next meet the TUC and the CBI.

I refer my hon. Friends and the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South (Mr. Ashley) on 10th November.

asked the Prime Minister if he will pay an official visit to Welwyn Garden City.

I have at present no plans to do so.

asked the Prime Minister when he intends to pay an official visit to the Shetland Islands.

I have at present no plans to do so.

asked the Prime Minister when he next intends to visit Stechford.

I have at present no plans to do so.

asked the Prime Minister when he next proposes to meet Heads of Government of NATO countries.

The next ministerial meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of Heads of Government is likely to be that held in Washington in the Spring of 1978. I expect to see many of the NATO Heads of Government on other occasions before then.

asked the Prime Minister what plans he has to visit Pretoria.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Bexleyheath (Mr. Townsend) on 10th November.

asked the Prime Minister when he next intends to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury.

I am glad to say that we often meet each other without undue formality.

asked the Prime Minister if he will pay an official visit to Newcastle upon Tyne.

I have at present no plans to do so.

asked the Prime Minister what are his duties as First Lord of the Treasury.

asked the Prime Minister whether he will list his responsibilities as First Lord of the Treasury.

I refer the hon. Members to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Christchurch and Lymington (Mr. Adley) on 14th November.

asked the Prime Minister if he will now make a further statement on which category of parliamentary Question he is prepared to answer rather than transfer to other Ministers.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to the right hon. Lady the Leader of the Opposition on 8th November.

asked the Prime Minister when he next plans to make a Prime Ministerial broadcast.

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Conway (Mr. Roberts) on 10th November.

asked the Prime Minister when he last appointed trustees to the Tate Gallery; and for how long were they appointed.

In February and May 1977, when I appointed Miss Rita Donagh and Mr. Jeremy Hutchinson, QC, for terms of seven years.

asked the Prime Minister if he will make an official visit to Merseyside.

I have at present no plans to do so.

asked the Prime Minister if he will receive the Minister of Foreign Trade, Mr. Li Chiang, when he pays an official visit to London in the coming month on behalf of the People's Republic of China.

Yes. I look forward to doing so.

asked the Prime Minister if, for the convenience of hon. Members, he will direct Ministers to set out in full, in reply to Written Questions, previous answers to which they wish to refer.

I am asking all Ministers, when replying to Written Questions, to send with their answer a copy of any previous answer to which they refer.

asked the Prime Minister how many times he has met the TUC in the current Session of Parliament.

None.

asked the Lord President of the Council if he will publish the document on the difficulties of devolving taxation powers to the Scottish and Welsh Assemblies referred to by the Minister of State on 22nd February 1977.

This material was published in July 1977 in the White Paper, Devolution: Financing the Devolved Services (Cmnd. 6890).

asked the Lord President of the Council if he will publish the research studies into taxation powers for the Scottish and Welsh Assemblies referred to in Command Paper No. 6348, paragraph 108, and in Command Paper No. 6890, paragraphs 30–45.

The taxation problem has been in the forefront of the Government's consideration of devolution since the preparation of the 1974 White Paper, Democracy and Devolution: Proposals for Scotland and Wales (Cmnd. 5732).The Government's conclusions and the information on which they were based were set out in the White Paper of July this year, Cmnd. 6890, to which my hon. Friend refers.

asked the Lord President of the Council if he will move to set up a Select Committee on local government and the rate support grant.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the total numbers of listed buildings in Scotland, and the numbers in each grade.

There are 23,373 Statutorily listed buildings in Scotland. These are divided according to their merit as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the areas of outstanding natural beauty and the areas of great, or high, landscape value.

Ninety-six areas of great landscape value have been defined in approved development plans for the purpose of development control, but without the statutory status of areas of outstanding natural beauty in England and Wales. They are not described by name and cannot conveniently be listed.A new framework for landscape designation in Scotland is now being developed in consultation with the Countryside Commission for Scotland.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the total amount of the grants allocated for listed buildings and the repairs of other buildings, other than improvement grants for housing, in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

For the financial year 1977–78 the amount allocated for building repair grants on the recommendation of the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland is £583,335. In addition, £165,000 is allocated for grants to enhance or preserve outstanding conservation areas which can include external repairs to buildings within the conservation area.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many inspectors have been appointed to conduct planning appeals and other inquiries on his behalf; and how this figure compares with each of the last 10 years.

Since 1973 inquiries have been taken either by full-time Scottish Office inquiry reporters or, as in all cases before then, by persons appointed to handle individual cases. Details are given below:

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many planning applications he called in under Section 35 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 during the last 12 months for which figures are available.

During the 12 months up to 16th November 1977 my right hon. Friend called in 24 applications under Section 32 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972, the equivalent power to Section 35 of the 1971 Act.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the total number of staff employed by local planning authorities on development planning and control work; what is the total number of staff employed by his Department on planning work, including appeals; and how many in each case are qualified chartered town and country planners.

On 18th June 1977, local authorities in Scotland employed 1,521 staff—including 25 part-time—on development planning and control. The number of these who are chartered town planners is not available. On 16th November 1977, the Scottish Development Department employed 116 administrative and professional staff on planning work. Forty-three of these were chartered planners.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what additional financial assistance can be given to local authorities to enable them to step up their home modernisation programmes for pre-war houses; and what proportion of resources for additional construction work in inner city areas can be made available for this purpose.

Resources available for capital expenditure on local authorities' housing revenue accounts have been increased following the Chancellor's statement of 26th October. Authorities will shortly be given provisional allocations for such expenditure in 1978–79. These will cover both new building and modernisation, among other things, and it will be for authorities themselves to decide in the context of their housing plans, how to apportion their resources between these activities. Normal arrangements for Government subsidy will apply. Full weight will be given to inner city needs when the resources are allocated.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what research is being sponsored by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland to develop new strains of barley capable of growing in areas of the west coast of Scotland at present rendered barren by salt spray.

None. I am, however, aware of recent advances in research in the United States of America into the salt tolerance in barley and this will be taken into account in deciding the work commissioned in Scotland by my right hon. Friend's Department for the provision of new barley varieties well adapted to Scottish conditions.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to deal with current redundancies in the fish processing industry in Scotland, in particular in relation to small firms that cannot qualify for temporary employment subsidy.

The Government are considering the scheme submitted by the Herring Buyers' Association under which herring processors would be compensated for under-utilisation of equipment. Any employees in the industry who are made redundant will be eligible to benefit from the wide range of measures introduced by the Government to alleviate the effects of unemployment.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proceedings have been taken in the Decolonisation Committee of the United Nations in connection with representations for the independence of Western Sahara; what is the attitude of Her Majesty's Government in that committee; and if he will make a statement.

The Committee of Twenty-four has not recently considered the issue but the Fourth Committee, of the General Assembly adopted a resolution on the Western Sahara by consensus on 9th November. Her Majesty's Government welcomed the resolution. I have arranged for a copy to be placed in the Library of the House.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects to ratify the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or any other hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (Command Paper No. 6985); and what advantages for world disarmament and to the United Kingdom the Convention provides.

The Government hope to ratify the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or any other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques early next year, after consultation with the Dependent Territories. This convention is a limited but useful arms control measure designed to prevent the development of new methods of warfare which might emerge in the future as man's control of his environment increases.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish a list of the abbreviations commonly used by his Department in parliamentary speeches, statements and answers to Questions with their respective meanings.

The most commonly and recently used abbreviations, with their meanings, are:

• EEC—European Economic Community.
• HK$—Hong Kong Dollars.
• CSCE—Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe.
• NATO—North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
• CAP—Common Agricultural Policy.
• JET—Joint European Torus.
• USSR—Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
• MCA—Monetary Compensatory Amount.
• CIEC—Conference on International Economic Co-operation.
• UN—United Nations.
• CPRS—Central Policy Review Staff.
• BBC—British Broadcasting Corporation.
• CFP—Common Fisheries Policy.
• ECSC—European Coal and Steel Community.
• GATT—General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will review his decision to supply arms to Morocco, in the light of that country's involvement in hostilities in the Western Sahara against the Polisario Front.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the terms of the amnesty given to ex-Superintendent Ernest Hunt debar proceedings against him in the current trials of Superintendent Humphreys, Pelly and Edwards and 31 others on corruption charges, in which Hunt is named as a co-conspirator.

Yes.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why Mr. Peter Fitzroy Godber was not proceeded against under the Supreme Court Rules ordinance to recover sums which he was convicted of corruptly receiving during his service in the Hong Kong Police; and why VIP privileges were accorded him as he left Kai Tak Airport.

Mr. Godber is being proceeded against. The Attorney-General of Hong Kong has obtained a Civil Judgment for the payment of some HK$4m. Mr. Godber's assets being outside Hong Kong, steps will be taken to enforce this judgment wherever possible.The special arrangements for Mr. Godber's departure, which did not constitute VIP privileges, were made to lessen public inconvenience at the airport.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what further approaches he intends to make to the Vietnamese authorities about the release of Mr. Richard White from their custody.

Following repeated representations on his behalf to the Vietnamese authorities, both in London and Hanoi, Mr. White was allowed to leave Vietnam on 19th November and arrived safely in Hong Kong the same day.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what arrangements he is making for informing the House on progress at the Belgrade Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe; and if lie will make a statement about progress to date.

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply on this subject that I gave to the hon. Member for Haltemprice (Mr. Wall) on 26th October. I can assure him that the House will be kept informed of developments at the Belgrade meeting. The subsidiary working bodies are currently engaged in exchanging views on the various proposals for improving implementation that have been put forward. They are due to complete their work by 16th December.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what aid has been given by the United Kingdom and the EEC to the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus in the last year.

I have been asked to reply.Her Majesty's Government do not recognise the "Turkish Federated State of Cyprus" but believe that aid for Cyprus should benefit both communities. Within our aid programme to Cyprus, during the last year we have funded one lecturer in teacher training in the Turkish sector and awards have been provided to enable 13 Turkish Cypriots to study in the United Kingdom.The financial protocol between the EEC and Cyprus will not enter into force until ratification procedures have been completed. However, the EEC has provided in the last year, through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 10,000 tons of cereals and 1,300 tons of butter oil for the needy in Cyprus. Separate figures are not available for the two sectors.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade what consideration has been given to further dispersal of aircraft routes to and from Heathrow.

I am currently considering whether the experimental dispersal of the Mole Valley route should be continued. Since I agree with the advice of the Noise Advisory Council that the balance of advantage lies in maintaining a stabilised route structure based on minimum noise routes, no other consideration is being given to route dispersal.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade whether he will review his decision to approve the Companies Registration Office's ceasing to operate a postal inquiry service, in view of the statutory requirements on companies to register information fully and promptly.

The postal inquiry services formerly operated on a non-statutory basis by the Company Registration Offices in London and Edinburgh had to be withdrawn because of the need to concentrate staff resources on statutory functions.In view of the continuing need for economies in civil service manpower I regret that I see no prospect of their reintroduction.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade, if he will now confirm the rates of levy to aviation security during 1978–79.

It is intended that the arrangements that I announced on 27th May 1977—[Vol. 932, c.658–9]—should apply. The levy on 28 airport authorities that are licensed for public use by or are owned by the Civil Aviation Authority and that had more than 50,000 passengers in 1976, will be at the rate of 80p per arriving passenger. Regulations to confirm these arrangements will be laid before Parliament when the legislation mentioned in Her Majesty's Gracious Speech has been enacted.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade what is his estimate of the net effect on public funds of the decision to reduce the initial survey fee for fishing vessels to the lower level applicable to renewal surveys; how much in total will now be refunded to fishermen; to what extent there has been a reduction in departmental costs relating to the surveys compared with original estimates; and whether the survey scheme will now be self-financing.

In the three financial years 1977–78 to 1979–80 it is estimated that the total income from fishing vessels survey fees will be reduced by about £300,000 in all. About £34,000 will be refunded to fishermen, mostly in respect of fees paid in earlier years. There is no evidence of a reduction in departmental costs at a time when the cost effectiveness of survey work has suffered from reluctance of owners to offer their vessels for survey. However, it is intended that, in future the fees for surveys other than initial surveys of existing vessels should cover the costs involved.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the educational and employment experience, and the districts in which they live, of the visiting panels for Her Majesty's Prisons, at Styal and Strange-ways.

The present occupations of the members of the board of visitors—to which the Question, presumably, refers—at Her Majesty's Prison Manchester are: accountant; psychiatric social worker; technical assistant; headmistress; solicitors (two); director of insurance brokers; research chemist; medical secretary; planning engineer; consultant engineer; retired schoolmaster, and three housewives. Five of the members live in Manchester, three in or near Bury, two in or near Stockport and one each in Bolton, Cheadle, Failsworth, Bramhill, Rochdale and Salford.The occupations of the members of the board of visitors at Her Majesty's Prison Styal include barrister; insurance broker; technical officer (British Rail); retired banker; university lecturer; head teacher, and four housewives. Four members live in Alderley Edge, three in Wilmslow, two in Manchester, and one each in Cheadle, Hulme, Crewe and Stockport.Details of their education, and of their previous employment are not available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria, such as educational qualifications, employment and residence, are taken into account when appointing people to visiting panels for Her Majesty's Prisons.

The principal criterion is that boards of visitors should be reasonably representative of the community and be able from experience and interest to discharge the supervisory and the disciplinary duties placed upon them. Most of those appointed live within 20 miles of the establishment and persons with all types of educational background and em

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many houses remain unoccupied at Her Majesty's Prison, Acklington; and by what date he expects those remaining unoccupied to be occupied.

One hundred and thirty-five. These houses will be progressively occupied by prison staff as the prison develops up to 1983, but consultation is in progress with the local housing author-ties about the possible short-term use of some of them.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he proposes to introduce legislation to seek to repeal the Incitement to Disaffection Act.

We have this matter under consideration, but have no immediate proposal for legislation.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in the light of the fact that on Monday 7th November, a week before the firemen's strike began, 1 million leaflets had been printed and other action had been taken, whether he will give full details of what action was taken, on what dates and at

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish in theOfficial Report a table showing the cost of a television licence in each year since 1945.

The following table sets out the cost of a television licence since it was introduced on 1st June 1946:what cost in preparation for the firemen's strike.

As to the contingency plans which were made by the Government and local authorities in preparation for the firemen's strike, I refer the hon. Member to the statements which I made to the House on 9th and 15th November.—[Vol. 938, c. 671–4; Vol. 939, c. 301–10.] Details of the Government's plans were made known to local authorities in order that they could, in the event of a strike, take necessary action. Some local authorities distributed leaflets. Information about the cost of all the contigency plans which have been made is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps have been taken, are being taken, or are proposed to be taken, to provide productive employment for prisoners whilst serving their sentences.

I refer the hon. Member to table 10.5 in the report on the work of the Prison Department 1976 (Statistical Tables) (Cmnd. 6884). The value of goods and services produced by prison workshops and farms and gardens in the last financial year was about £23·5 million. If there is any particular point on which the hon. Member requires further information I shall be happy to make this available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the current review of the command structure in the Metropolitan Police to be completed; and whether the findings will be made public.

The review is an internal study being carried out under the direction of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. It is expected to be completely fairly shortly. The report of the review will not be published but the Commissioner has given an assurance that before any action is taken the views of interested parties will be considered.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will be able to reply to the Merseyside Police Committee's request to extend the undermanning allowance to all members of the Merseyside Police Force.

I will write to the hon. Member shortly.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those trade unions which have informed him that any settlement of the firemen's dispute will be used by them as a precedent; and whether the communications came from general secretaries, national officials, branch officials or rank and file members, in each case.

No. Disclosure of these details would not assist the resolution of the fire service dispute.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the sale of Common Market butter to the USSR at a giveaway price, and the subsequent resale of the product in the EEC via Italy, thus creating considerable profits.

I am aware of newspaper reports on this matter and I welcome the inquiry which the European Commissioner is now making. We have made it clear that our basic aim is to avoid the creation of surpluses which have given rise to such sales; but where surpluses do occur, we have stressed that Community consumers should have priority in their disposal.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he next expects to meet EEC Agriculture Ministers.

My right hon. Friend the Minister will meet his colleagues at the next meeting of the Agricultural Council which will be held on 12th–13th December.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what results have been achieved by the Energy Conservation Committee.

There are three major committees established by the Government considering energy conservation: the Advisory Council on Energy Conservation, the Committee of Ministers on Energy Conservation, and an inter-departmental group of officials. I am satisfied with the progress these committees are making. The Secretary of State for Energy hopes to announce further measures before the end of the year.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on his recent visit to Merseyside.

On 11th November I visited Parkside Colliery, where I went underground and also met members of the Colliery Consultative Committee, together with area NCB and area union officials. It was one of a number of further visits to pits which I plan to make.

asked the Minister of Overseas Development for what purpose her Department is making a grant of £3,000 to the Council for Education in World Citizenship in the current year; what sum was made available in 1976–77; and what steps are taken to monitor its expenditure.

In the current year the grant is in two parts: (a) up to £2,500 towards costs of administering, for the United Kingdom National Commission, UNESCO's Co-operative Action Programme; and (b) up to £500 towards costs of a conference under the UNESCO Associated Schools Project.In 1976–77, the total of four small grants was £950.Grant applications are considered by the Advisory Committee on Development Education. Approved grants are fully accountable, and performance is reviewed against stated objectives.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence which naval establishments have a courier service; and what is the estimated saving against postage for each year since it has been established.

The Forces Courier Communications Service operates a tri-Service network for the movement of classified mail between Ministry of Defence and Services establishments, including all naval establishments. The Royal Navy does not operate its own courier service, although all large naval establishments operate local messenger services for the regular delivery of post within and between neighbouring establishments.There is no information about savings against public postage of courier or messenger services.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish a list of all bodies to which he appoints members other than civil servants, distinguishing between full-time and part-time, salaried, fee paid and unpaid appointments, indicating for each category of appointment the number of such appointees.

I would refer the hon. Member to the list of public bodies and standing committees to which the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces appoint non-public servants, which I sent to him on 27th July. A copy of the list is being placed in the Library.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what are the present criteria for judging the accuracy of weather forecasts.

There is no simple answer, as a variety of both objective (statistical) and subjective tests are employed to monitor the accuracy of the many types of weather forecasts issued by the Meteorological Office. The methods were described in some detail in the Annual Report of the Meteorological Office for 1973, a copy of which is in the Library and my hon. Friend was provided in March 1977 with additional information as follow-up action to an earlier related Question on 28th January.—[Vol. 924, c.800.]

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the improvement to the accuracy of weather forecasts in the last five years.

For the period 1972 to 1976 I would refer my hon. Friend to the very detailed information provided to him in March 1972. For the latest available figures for BBC Regional Forecasts I would refer him to the answer given to the hon. Member for Hastings (Mr. Warren) on 8th November 1977.—[Vol. 938, c. 64.]

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the annual expenditure on the Meteorological Office for the last five years.

The estimated net expenditure attributed to the Meteorological Office from Defence Votes for the financial years 1972–73 to 1976–77 was:

asked the Secretary of State for Defence further to his reply to the hon. Member for Tynemouth of 15th November, whether the evidence he is at present giving to the Armed Forces Pay Review Body includes information as to (a) the shortfall of the levels of Service pay compared with other occupations and (b) the resulting hardship suffered of those serving in the forces; and if he will publish his evidence to the Review Body.

The Armed Forces Pay Review Body is supported by the independent Office of Manpower Economics, which has the prime responsibility for providing the relevant statistical pay data. My Department is in the course of preparing the evidence required on Service conditions, and will give the Review Body every possible assistance in its work. The Review Body receives evidence from a variety of sources on a confidential basis, and it decides what it is appropriate to make public in its reports. It would, therefore, be inappropriate for me to publish the evidence submitted to it by my Department.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what steps Her Majesty's Government are taking to ensure that the British microwave landing system receives a fair trial in the USA; and if he will make a statement.

pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 17th November 1977; Vol. 939, c. 368],gave the following information:The United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority has agreed with the United States Federal Aviation Administration a programme of comparative trials, to be attended by neutral observers, of both the United Kingdom doppler microwave landing system and the United States time reference scanning beam at a number of airports including J. F. Kennedy in New York.

asked the Secretary of State for Industry what plans he has to restructure the shipbuilding industry; and if he will make a statement.

It is the duty of British Shipbuilders to prepare a corporate plan for the industry, which will be considered by my Department.

asked the Secretary of State for Industry what is the annual wastage in employment over the past four years in the Post Office; and what this represents as a percentage of the total number of employees.

This is a matter for the Post Office, and the hon. Member should write to it.

asked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will make a statement on the progress made by the National Enterprise Board in encouraging participation by all employees in its subsidiary and associated companies.

The NEB's statutory functions include the promotion of industrial democracy in undertakings which the Board control, and the NEB is required to make arrangements with its subsidiaries to ensure that they play their part in furthering Government policies in this field.

asked the Secretary of State for Industry when he will determine the financial duties of the National Enterprise Board, especially those laid down under Section 6(3) of the Industry Act 1975.

My right hon. Friend hopes to be able to make an announcement within the next month.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment why the Gracious Speech contained no proposals for rent de-restriction of furnished houses.

This does not represent the policy of Her Majesty's Government.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in theOfficial Report a table showing for each year since 1945 the proportion of the gross domestic product devoted to housing.

The following table sets out the available information. The answer is in terms of the gross domestic fixed capital formation in dwellings as a percentage of the gross domestic product for the United Kingdom at market prices.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total number of designated conservation areas in England.

On 4th November 1977 the designation of 4,237 conservation areas had been notified to my right hon. Friend.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether any record is kept of the number of planning applications made each year in conservation areas; and what is the latest figure available and what percentage of the total number of applications made this represents.

I regret the information is not available since the statistical return of planning applications does not show whether the site lies within a conservation area.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total number of listed buildings in England, and the numbers in each grade.

The total of buildings included in the statutory lists in England up to 30th September 1977 was 250,073, of which 5,100 were in Grade I, the remainder in Grade II.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total amount of the grants allocated for listed buildings and the repairs of other buildings, other than improvement grants for housing, in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

The total amount of grants allocated on the recommendation of the Historic Buildings Council for England in the 12 months ended 31st October 1977 was £5,663,758.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total number of staff employed by local planning authorities on development planning and control work; what is the total number of staff employed by his Department on planning work, including appeals; and how many in each case are qualified chartered town and country planners.

The equivalent of about 17,000 staff are employed by local planning authorities in England and Wales in planning and development control. Figures for qualified staff are not available.In my Department about 650 staff are employed predominantly on planning work. Of these, 177 are members of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment for what reason the Union Flag was not flying on the Norman Shaw North Building on Monday 14th November to celebrate the birthday of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

The only authorised parliamentary flag, for all parliamentary buildings, is on the Victoria Tower. It was flown on Monday 14th November. Whether additional flags should be flown is a matter for the House authorities.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment in view of the fact that under present legislation local authorities have no power to recover from site operators or users any costs of supervising the operation of waste disposal sites, if he intends to bring forward amending legislation.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will introduce legislation to seek to ensure that local authorities have the power to receive from site operators or users the cost o, supervising the operation of sites for the disposal of toxic waste.