asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any plans to meet the Irish Minister for Finance.

I expect to meet Mr. Colley at the next meeting of the EEC Finance Ministers in Luxembourg on 19th June. I have no immediate plans for a bilateral meeting.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will seek to provide relief from income tax in respect of gratuities given to lifeboatmen.

No. I could not justify a special relief of this kind.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what studies the Government are undertaking of long-term trends in unemployment to the end of the century.

None. The Government are very concerned about the level of unemployment and are taking action to reduce it.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total cost to date of changes in taxation over and above those in his Budget Statement.

If the amendments passed in Committee on 8th and 10th May were enacted the cost would be about £445 million in 1978–79 and £520 million in a full year.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the Inland Revenue has yet completed its examination of the Equal Opportunities Commission report on the treatment of women under the income tax system.

The Inland Revenue has recently submitted comments on the Equal Opportunities Commission's consultative document "Income Tax and Sex Discrimination" to my right hon. Friend.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will seek to introduce a zero rate of value added tax on sanitary towels and tampons.

No.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total number of staff currently employed in the administration and collection of value added tax.

I refer to my right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary's reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnor (Mr. Roderick) on 16th May 1978.—[Vol. 950, c. 137.]

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the disincentive to married professional women working part-time of the present level of the married women's earned income allowance.

I am not aware of such a disincentive. The wife's earned income allowance is designed both to be an incentive for married women to work and to recognise the extra expenses that may arise at home when they do. It is open to a married couple, if it is to their financial benefit, to elect for separate taxation of wife's earnings which ensures that an earning wife is taxed, so far as her earnings are concerned, exactly as if she were a single woman.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his most recent calculation of the total underspending by Government Departments in the financial year 1977–78.

I have nothing to add at present to the estimate given in the Financial Statement and Budget Report.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he next expects to meet other EEC Finance Ministers; and if he will make a statement.

I hope to meet them at the next meeting of the Finance Council scheduled for 19th June.I last met my Community colleagues at the meeting of the Finance Council under Danish Presidency on 22nd May. We had an exchange of views on the establishment of a common economic policy strategy for the Community in the context of the European Council meeting in Copenhagen in April and the forthcoming meeting in Bremen in July. There was agreement that a common strategy would enable member States to alleviate the constraints now restricting the scope of economic policy measures and that concerted action would strengthen considerably the cumulative effect of individual steps taken by member States. The Council instructed its specialist bodies to continue their work so that at the June meeting Finance Ministers may be in a position to put forward policy recommendations for discussion at the European Council meeting in July.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the average daily rate of taxpayers' money being given to private industry; and what it was in 1974–75.

Public expenditure on capital grants and subsidies to private industry—including agriculture—is estimated to have been about £1,236 million in 1977–78, the last complete financial year, or about £3,385,000 a day; the corresponding figure for 1974–75 is about £1,835 million, or £5,026,000 a day—both years at 1977 public expenditure survey prices.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the latest annual rate of inflation.

In the year up to April 1978 the retail prices index rose by 7·9 per cent.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he intends to take steps to end tax avoidance schemes of the kind revealed in the case of the Inland Revenue Commissioners v. Plummer; and if he will make a statement on the estimated loss to the Revenue during a complete financial year if the law relating to tax schemes of this kind remains unaltered.

Section 48 of the Finance Act 1977 put an end to this kind of tax avoidance scheme by disallowing tax relief for any payments made under such a scheme after 29th March 1977.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the latest estimate of the North Sea oil yield; and how this compares with estimates given in 1977.

The latest estimates of Government revenue from North Sea oil and gas in 1978–79 were given on 14th April 1978, by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary, in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, South (Mr. Shaw). The yearly yield during the mid-1980s is now expected to be about £4 billion at 1977 prices. This compares with the estimate of £3½ billion at 1976 prices given during 1977.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the growth in the money supply over the next six months.

It is not the practice to publish such forecasts for short periods ahead. Since some month-to-month fluctuations in monetary growth are to be expected. I see no advantage in setting targets for periods shorter than a year.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what arrangements are being made to reimburse local education authorities for their expenditure on providing free milk for junior pupils.

Local education authorities will be empowered from the beginning of this autumn term to provide one-third of a pint of milk free to all pupils in maintained primary schools and middle (deemed primary) schools and all junior pupils in middle (deemed secondary) schools who do not already receive free milk under the existing statutory provision.Details of the arrangements for reimbursing authorities are contained in a letter which my Department has sent today to chief education officers. The letter, a copy of which I am sending to my hon. Friend, explains that expenditure on free milk for junior pupils during the autumn term 1978 and the spring term 1979 will be fully reimbursed by means of direct grants from my Department to cover the cost of the milk itself and an element for overheads; provision of this milk in the financial year 1978–79 will therefore cost authorities nothing. For 1979–80 onwards, authorities' expenditure—not of the EEC subsidy on school milk which can be claimed separately from my Department—will form part of relevant expenditure for rate support grant in the normal way.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she is satisfied with the collection and publication of accidents to children on school premises.

My Department does not collect information about accidents to children on school premises, but advice is included in its Safety Booklet No. 6 "Safety at School: Genreal Advice" that accidents should be reported in accordance with procedures laid down by schools and local education authorities. Additionally, in the course of their work Her Majesty's inspectors give specific attention to the need to ensure safe working in schools. These arrangements seem to work satisfactorily.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps she has taken to make the present Arts Council more democratic and more accountable for its decisions.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply that my right hon. Friend gave to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Mr. Jenkins) on 18th April.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what steps she has taken to encourage the new local authorities to become the chief art patrons of the future;(2) what proposals she intends to introduce as legislation to seek to give local authorities a statutory obligation to initiate, develop and support arts and entertainment facilities.

The local authorities set up under the Local Government Act 1972 have full powers to support the arts inside and outside their areas. My right hon. Friend has at present no proposal to impose an obligation on them in this respect.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many pupils were expelled from secondary schools in the Greater Manchester county districts in each of the last five years.

The exclusion of individual pupils from secondary schools is a matter for the governing bodies of schools and for local education authorities. Statistics on the number of pupils excluded in this way are not collected by my Department. Such information as is available, however, indicates that over the country as a whole the number of pupils excluded from schools is small. In most cases exclusions are of short duration, following particularly serious incidents, and allow consideration to be given, usually in consultation with parents, to the best means of providing for the pupils' continued education.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how she intends to consult the local authority associations or individual local authorities about an educational maintenance grant for 16-to-18 year olds; and what procedures she intends to adopt to do so.

I met the Council of Local Education Authorities at my invitation yesterday when it gave a general welcome to my initiative in this area. We agreed to set up a joint working party to consider with all possible speed detailed proposals and to meet again for further discussions on 27th June.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will publish a table which breaks down the figures published in table 2.10 of the Government's Expenditure Plans 1978–79

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what she estimates will be the maximum cost to public funds of the statutory system of awards for 16-to-19 year olds which she announced on Friday 12th May.

I have only just begun the consultations with the local authorities which I announced on 12th May. My discussions with them will include consideration of matters such as eligibility and rates of award, and I cannot give any estimates yet of either probable or maximum costs.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what is the average cost per secondary school per "day of school attendance" in England and Wales in 1976–77 and 1977–78;(2) what is the average cost per primary school per "day of school attendance" in England and Wales in 1976–77 and 1977–78.

The forecasts of public expenditure on maintained primary and secondary schools in England and Wales which underlie the expenditure forecasts published in Cmnd. 7049 are broken down as follows:

Schools are required to meet on at least 400 sessions in each year. Taking this as the equivalent of 200 days, the net average recurrent cost per day was about £350 for each primary school and £2,120 for each secondary school in the financial year 1976–77 at outturn prices. The corresponding figures for 1977–78 are estimated to have been £390 and £2,420. As these are average figures, irrespective of school size, they are of limited practical value.

asked the Sectary of State for Education and Science if she will list in the Official Report the total amount of financial assistance offered or given to those direct grant schools which have opted for comprehensive reorganisation, to help with the costs of reorganisation.

Grants totalling about £1·7 million have been made so far to former direct grant schools to assist their entry to the maintained sector as voluntary aided comprehensive schools.

asked the Sectary or State for Education and Science if she will list in the Official Report the total amount of outstanding debt incurred by those direct grant schools which have opted for comprehensive reorganisation, which was taken over or paid off by the Government or local authorities when these schools entered the maintained sector.

Under the Direct Grant Grammar Schools (Cessation of Grant) Regulations 1975, the Government are prepared to meet certain of the debts of direct grant grammar schools entering the maintained system. So far, claims totalling some £390,000 have been settled. Other claims are being considered as the schools become maintained, and the total outlay is expected to be about £2 million.

asked the Sectary of State for Education and Science if she will list in the Official Report the non-maintained schools in individual local authorities which provide places paid for by local authorities; and what is the total cost in each authority of day and boarding places in non-maintained schools.

Local education authorities have not had to report to my right hon. Friend details of places they are currently paying for in non-maintained schools. Information on the planned expenditure of local education authorities on education in non-maintained schools is published annually by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. Its education estimates statistics for 1978–79 are not yet available, but those for 1977–78 and earlier years are in the Library. The CIPFA statistics show that the total estimates for expenditure by local education authorities in England and Wales on agency services in respect of direct grant and independent schools and assistance to pupils at such schools were £38·3 million in 1976–77 and £39·4 million in 1977–78, excluding expenditure on special education.

asked the Sectary of State for Education and Science (1) if she will list in the Official Report those local authorities for which new arrangements have been approved and rejected, respectively, for places at non-maintained schools, the schools in respect of which such arrangements have been approved, and the numbers of day and boarding places, respectively, approved in accordance with circular 12/76;(2) if she will list in the

The criteria under which my right hon. Friend has generally been prepared to approve proposals by local education authorities to support pupils at non-maintained schools were set out in my Department's circular 6/77, and I am sending my hon. Friend a copy.The following categories of proposals are generally acceptable: