asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of animal experiments is used for medical and veterinary research and what percentage for cosmetics; and what percentage of animal experiments involves the use, respectively, of rats, mice, cats and dogs.

Of the experiments on living animals commenced in Great Britain during 1977 under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876, 53·3 per cent. were performed to select, develop or study the use, hazards or safety of medical, dental and veterinary products and appliances and 0·5 per cent. to select, develop or study the use, hazards or safety of cosmetics and toiletries. The breakdown by species of animal involved was as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Home Department by how many the police forces in England and Wales are short of the authorised establishment at the most recent date.

9,030–7·6 per cent.—at 31 January 1979.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have been instituted in England and Wales of persons accused of being fraudulent spiritualist mediums; and if he is satisfied with the present state of the law on this matter.

Over the years 1971–74 and 1976–77—information is not available for 1975—five persons were proceeded against for offences against section 1 of the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951. The need for such an offence falls within the Law Commission's work on the law of conspiracy to defraud.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have occurred in England and Wales during the past 10 years, to the last available date, for the offence of criminal libel: how many such prosecutions were successful and how many prosecutions ended in acquittal; and if he is satisfied with the present state of the law on this matter.

The information is published annually in"Criminal Statistics, England and Wales "—table 1(a), page 154 and table 5(a), page 278 of the volume for 1977, Cmnd. 7289.The whole of the law of libel, of which criminal libel is a small part, was reviewed by the Faulks committee on defamation which reported, making certain recommendations, in 1975. The law of criminal libel is currently under review by the Law Commission which will be issuing a consultative document in due course. It will be open to the Commission to make recommendations for changes in this aspect of the law.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish estimates for the year 1970, 1974, and the latest year for which figures are available, of (a) the cost of enforcing court orders for maintenance payments in divorce cases, and the number of cases involved, (b) the number of defaulters on maintenance in prison and the approximate costs of their imprisonment, (c) the number of defaulters on maintenance tried in court, and the cost of their trials in approximate terms, and (d) the number of divorce cases in which the courts were responsible for the collection of maintenance payments and the costs of administration involved.

The only information available centrally relates to part (b) of the question. On 30 June 1978 220 people were in prison in England and Wales for non-payment of maintenance for a wife or child. The corresponding figure for 1974 was 214; that for 1970 is not available. During the current financial year the weekly cost of keeping a person in custody has been about £112.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action is being taken to prevent the possible damage to persons and property in the United Kingdom arising from the break-up of the United States Sky Lab orbiting space station.

It is not possible to say where debris from a falling satellite might land until very shortly before the end of its flight. Special advance measures are therefore not practicable. The likelihood of damage or injury being caused by the fall of debris in this country is extremely remote, and the emergency services would be able to deal effectively with the consequences.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is satisfied with the law of peerage succession whereby succession is confined to male persons, except in rare cases where the letters patent governing the existence of a peerage provide otherwise, in the light of the recent legislation in favour of sexual equality and of the Government's declared policy in this regard.

As my hon. Friend knows, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 does not affect the succession to hereditary peerages, but I see no grounds for further action on my part.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) on how many occasions in each of the last three years magistrates have awarded compensation against parents in respect of the damage caused by their children of (a) £100 in the case of children under the age of 14 years and (b) £400 in respect of children over the age of 14 years;(2) on how many occasions in each of the last three years magistrates' courts have awarded compensation against parents for damage caused by their children;(3) what was the average level of compensation awarded by magistrates in each of the last three years when they exercised their powers of awarding compensation against parents in respect of the damage caused by their children.

The information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he proposes to introduce legislation to increase the maximum amount of compensation that can be awarded against parents in respect of damage caused by their children.

Section 60 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 increased the maximum amount of compensation which may be ordered by a magistrates' court to be paid by either an adult or a juvenile in respect of a single conviction from £400 to £1,000. We see no need to further increase this maximum.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in the light of his reply of 5 March to the hon. Member for Lewes (Mr. Rathbone), he will now announce that, when 1979 district elections take place on existing warding arrangements, no further elections shall take place until 1983 when the new warding arrangements will be in effect.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department which of the Bennett committee recommendations for the interrogation of suspects in Northern Ireland detained under the Emergency Provisions Act he intends to adopt for similar prisoners in the United Kingdom detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

The Bennett committee was set up following allegations made by Amnesty International about interrogations in Northern Ireland of terrorist suspects. No such allegations have been made about the questioning of suspects in Great Britain, and I have at present no plans for adopting any of the Bennett committee's recommendations for persons detained under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1976 in Great Britain.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the estimate of legal expenses incurred by local authorities in respect of proceedings for the prosecution of alleged offences under the Obscene Publications Act for the years 1976, 1977, and 1978; how much of the expenditure so incurred related to proceedings taken by one local authority in respect of publications that had already been the subject of similar proceedings elsewhere ending in the acquittal; and how much of the total unrecovered costs was borne out of the rate support grant.

I have been asked to reply.This information cannot be identified from existing returns by local authorities, including police authorities, made to central Government.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service whether he will safeguard the job comparability studies already carried out in dealing with the pay of civil servants; and if he will ensure that negotiations can proceed on the basis of the evidence produced by the Pay Research Unit.

The Civil Service unions have been assured that the Government will implement the pay research settlements negotiated with them and that the settlements will be staged, with the details of the staging a subject for negotiation. The joint processing of the pay research data is continuing with all possible speed and substantive negotiations based on this data cannot begin until this stage has been completed.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service if he will circulate a wide range of professional and voluntary organisations asking them to submit the names of suitable women for appointment to public bodies; if he will ensure the names of suitable women on the list prepared by the public appointments unit are considered before appointments are made of any new member to public bodies in the future; if he will publicise widely the need for suitably qualified women for consideration when public appointments are made in the future; and if he will seek to achieve a set percentage target for the number of women appointed to public positions over the next five years.

It is clearly desirable to increase the number of women on public boards and committees. With this in mind, the public appointments unit has been making strenuous efforts to improve the quantity and quality of women on the list of those who are able and willing to take on public work, as a result of which it now has a much improved selection of women's names to put forward. Consideration is being given to ways of improving still further the range of names of suitable people—both men and women. I would not consider it helpful to establish set percentage targets for any category of appointee lest such targets stood in the way of Ministers appointing the people best fitted for the work to be done.As my hon. Friend will be aware, Ministers are responsible to Parliament for the appointments they make and they are free to consult whom they choose, subject to the constraints of any statutory requirement. Although the public appointments unit loses no opportunity to submit the names of suitable women, it would not be right or, indeed, constitutional to make prior consultation with the unit mandatory.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service if he will make a statement on the retirement of the former head of the Central Office of Information and his appointment in private industry.

The former Director-General of the Central Office of Information resigned from the Service. As required by the rules governing civil servants' acceptance of outside business appointments after resignation or retirement, he obtained the Government's assent before accepting an offer of appointment in private industry.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service how many days per week are being spent by the committee of inquiry into comparability of non-Home Office police forces in its investigations; if he is satisfied that this is sufficient in view of the urgency of the task; and if he will now estimate when the committee is likely to report.

I am satisfied that the committee is carrying out its task with all possible speed. The committee is studying the large amount of written evidence submitted on behalf of most of the 12 forces concerned and is carrying out a series of visits to them. It would be misleading to give the number of days per week as an indication of the work being done and until the visits have been completed and all the evidence requested has been studied it will not be possible to estimate when the committee is likely to report.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will publish figures showing the incidence of dyslexia amongst the children of professional anaesthetists as compared to that amongst the general population.

My Department does not collect information of this kind.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she has yet received from the Avon education authority the proposals for reorganisation of secondary education in the Kingswood constituency.

My right hon. Friend has not received proposals for reorganising secondary education in the Kingswood area. I understand that a second round of local consultations was completed earlier this month and that the report on these consultations will be put to the education committee at its meeting either on 27 March or 22 May.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will publish a list of local authorities in England and Wales which have mobile nursery classroom units, indicating how many such units each has and the expenditure involved.

This information is not available in the Department and could be obtained only at disproportionate expense.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she is satisfied that the proposals of the Essex county council for the future of the Royal grammar school at Colchester and the Davenant foundation are compatible with her criteria for a satisfactory scheme of comprehensive education in Essex; and if she will make a statement on provisions for comprehensive education in the United Kingdom.

The Government remain committed to the achievement of a truly comprehensive system of secondary education at the earliest practicable opportunity.It is for local education authorities and in the case of voluntary schools, the governors to submit proposals for this purpose and every scheme is considered on its merits.My right hon. Friend aproved on 2 February 1977 under section 13(4) of the Education Act 1944, as amended, proposals made by the governors of the Davenant Foundation (voluntary aided) grammar school for the school to admit an all-ability mixed intake as soon as possible after September 1979. The governors intend to implement this proposal in September 1980. She has received under section 2(4) of the Education Act 1976 separate sets of proposals from the Essex education authority and from the school's governors for comprehensive reorganisation of the voluntary controlled Colchester Royal grammar school. These proposals will be considered further when she has received the county council's formal response to her request that it reconsiders the establishment of a sixth form college scheme for the area.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what action she is taking to remedy the acute shortage of books being experienced by many schools both in the secondary and primary sectors.

I am most concerned at the effect of recent local authority economy measures on the provision of books and other teaching materials in some schools. Partly for that reason, the rate support grant settlements for 1978–79 and 1979–80 each made allowance for a 2 per cent. growth in non-teaching costs per pupil in primary and secondary schools beyond what would in any case be necessary to maintain existing standards as school rolls fall. The Government made it clear in the circulars on those settlements that they recognised the need for local authorities to restore deferred expenditure on books.

asked the Lord President of the Council if he will set out in the Official Report the facilities available to hon. Members within the House including the Library, refreshment rooms, terrace, car-parking, accommodation, as at 1 March 1950, 1960, 1965, 1970, and 1979; and if he will list those categories of non-Members who are allowed to use the above facilities, the dates when such permission was granted and the number of persons so entitled.

To provide a detailed reply would require a disproportionate amount of time and cost. Improvements in services available to Members of Parliament are made on the recommendation of the Select Committee on House of Commons (Services), whose Ninth Report of last Session describes many of the improvements made in the lifetime of the present Parliament. If the hon. Member has any particular points to raise, perhaps he will write to me.

asked the Minister of Overseas Development if she will make a statement about the provision of the drug Depo Provera to Third world countries, as part of the population programme, or in any other capacity affecting her Department; and, in view of the doubts expressed on the safety of the drug by the United States Food and Drugs Administration, what safeguards she is taking to ensure that the recipients of this drug are informed of possible risks.

Depo Provera has been approved for use as a general contraceptive by a number of countries. The United Kingdom licensing authorities, on the advice of the Committee on Safety of Medicines, have approved its use only on a doctor's prescription for short-term contraception in certain limited circumstances. They consider its long-term use to be inadvisable.I personally considered its provision under the aid programme two years ago, and took account of the views of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. I would be prepared to provide it to a developing country on request in the context of a population project, but would take positive steps to ensure that the Government concerned were aware of the status of the drug in the United Kingdom.

asked the Minister of Overseas Development what further plans Her Majesty's Government have to support the aim of International Anti-apartheid Year.

I have decided to make a contribution of £50,000 to the United Nations Trust Fund for South Africa, which provides legal and humanitarian assistance to the opponents of apartheid in Southern Africa and their families. Provision will be sought in the 1979–80 summer Supplementary Estimates. This is in addition to the £11,400 which the Government have given to the work of the United Kingdom Co-ordinating Committee for International Anti-apartheid Year and to the £100,000 which is the United Kingdom contribution to the United Nations education and training programme for Southern Africa in 1979.

asked the Minister of Overseas Development if, in view of the widespread disregard for human rights in Indonesia, she will review the amount of aid granted to that country.

I shall continue to take into account the human rights situation in Indonesia in determining the size of our aid programme there. I believe that the fact that the situation has recently been improving is due at least partly to our frequent representations and those of others; and we shall exert all possible influence in securing further improvements. Indonesia remains one of the poorest and most populous developing countries; and the chief aim of our programme there is to help raise the living standards of the poorest sections of the community, particularly in rural areas.

asked the Minister of Overseas Development how much aid Indonesia received in 1978; and in what form.

In 1978 Indonesia received the following British aid:

asked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection if he will refer the increase in rentals for new telephone hand-sets to the Price Commission.

Responsibility for deciding whether to investigate particular prices or increases in them lies with the Price Commission. In making its decision, the Commission takes careful account of complaints by consumers.

asked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection if he will take steps to abolish the Price Commission.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will introduce legislation to extend to the widows of ex-Service men who retired before 1950 below the rank of warrant officer, class I, or equivalent, the entitlement to Service widows' pensions already engaged by the widows of former officers.

I sympathise with the situation of the widows concerned but, as I have explained on many occasions, I cannot retrospectively extend widows' pensions to them.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if, in the light of paragraphs 430 and 431 of the defence Estimates, he will make a further statement on the Anglo-German weapons convention unit to be established at Royal Air Force Honington in Suffolk, giving such estimates as are available to him on the types and numbers of aircraft and weapons and the numbers of Royal Air Force, German Air Force and German Navy personnel he expects from time to time to be stationed there.

The establishment of an Anglo-German weapons conversion unit at RAF Honington for the Tornado is dependent on the successful conclusion of negotiations with the German Air Force and German Navy on financial arrangements. Many details are still to be settled, but at present we envisage that the unit will consist of some 30 Tornado GR1, split about 50: 50 between the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany, and about 500 personnel, the great majority of whom would be British. Final decisions have yet to be taken on the types of practice weapons to be used. It is not expected that the establishment of this unit will lead to any significant increase either in low flying or in range use.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the 1,200 Chieftain tanks origin ally ordered by the ex-Shah of Iran.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if the new Iranian Government have cancelled the order for 1,200 Chieftain tanks fitted with special armour, placed while the ex-Shah was in power.

As a result of action by the previous Iranian Government, the project to build tanks for Iran is being wound up. This leaves us with a number of partly completed tanks, and material for more, to be disposed of, but nothing like the full order, which would have taken several years to complete. I am considering how best to sort out the consequences of the Iranian action.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the current activities of the Defence Sales Organisation.

I have nothing to add to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Keighley (Mr. Cryer) earlier today.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he is satisfied with the percentage of members of the Armed Forces who are renewing their engagements.

The numbers of officers and men who extend their commissions or engagements have generally remained fairly static, although there are problems in some areas.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has had any discussions with the United States Defence Secretary on the Central Treaty Organisation and the security of the Persian Gulf; and if he will make a statement.

I have had no recent discussions on CENTO with the United States Defence Secretary. In the light of the decision by Turkey, Iran and Pakistan to withdraw from the Alliance we shall need to consider with our Allies how we might continue to contribute to the stability of the region.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is his latest estimate of the total outturn of expenditure on defence in the current financial year; and how this compares with the expenditure on defence in the financial year 1973–74.

The latest forecast of outturn is that defence expenditure in 1978–79 will be £6,760 million at 1978 survey prices. On the same price base, the outturn in 1973–74 was £7,039 million.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to produce the Shir tanks, originally ordered by the Iranian Army, for the use of the Army.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave earlier today to my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Mr. Jenkins).

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what agreement he has reached with China to supply the necessary weapon systems and tracking equipment suitable for use with the Harrier aircraft.

As I said in the House on 13 February, negotiations between British Aerospace and the Chinese authorities on the possible sale of Harrier aircraft have already begun. These negotiations will embrace all aspects of a possible contract, including the supply of equipment necessary for use with the aircraft. Whether or not the sale, including both aircraft and associated equipment, goes ahead will be decided subsequent to these negotiations.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many Service men have been employed on civilian ambulance duties in 1979.

About 1,200.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what consultations he has had with his European colleagues concerning the position of Turkey within the North Atlantic Alliance and the strength of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's southern flank.

Turkey's position in the North Atlantic Alliance is clear and does not require any consultation: she is a loyal and valued member of NATO. My NATO colleagues and I hold regular meetings to discuss matters concerning the Alliance. The strength of the Alliance, including its southern flank, of course, is one such matter which is kept under review at these meetings.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what was the purpose of the missile test firing from a United Kingdom Polaris submarine on 10 February at Cape Canaveral.

No firing from a Royal Navy Polaris submarine took place on 10 February. HMS"Repulse"completed a test firing on 20 February, and I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier today on this to my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, Central (Mr. Cook).

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give the numbers of Service men and women pre maturely retiring from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, respectively, for the last year for which figures are available.

The numbers of Service men and women who left the Services prematurely and at their own request during 1977–78 are as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on United Kingdom defence arrangements with South Africa.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave him on 9 March.—[Vol. 963, c. 868.]

asked the Secretary of State for Defence by how much he calculates the pay of naval ratings at present has fallen behind the level of comparability.

The Armed Forces Pay Review Body is currently considering the pay award due to the three Services from April, 1979, and I cannot anticipate its findings: these will be published in its report. But I can repeat what was said last May: the Forces will have a pay increase in April 1979 which will consist broadly of half the amount required to bring them up to the full military salary for April 1978 together with whatever amount is required to update the award to April 1979.—[Vol. 950, c. 1148.]

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will obtain a return from commanding officers at Bovington, Lulworth, Wyke Regis and Portland, giving the number of persons serving who are on the register of electors, and the percentage of the total number of personnel who were there on the qualifying date.

This information is not held by commanding officers of Service establishments since, apart from distributing and publicising the registration forms, they are not directly involved in the electoral registration of Service personnel. Electoral registration is a private matter for the individual and it would, therefore, be inappropriate for commanding officers to institute unit surveys to obtain this information.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if, in view of the loss to the Central Treaty Organisation of Iran and the continuing political and economic problems of Turkey, he intends to strengthen British air and naval forces in the Eastern Mediterranean.

I have no such plans at present. We do, however, retain the capability to deploy specialist reinforcement forces as necessary and Royal Navy vessels participate in the naval on-call force Mediterranean.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will discuss with his North Atlantic Treaty Organisation colleagues the need to strengthen Western defences in the Eastern Mediterranean; and what proposals he has made to them about joint allied actions to increase the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation air forces in that area and in particular about the use by other allied forces of the Royal Air Force facilities at Akrotiri.

The strength of the Alliance, including the air forces of its southern region, is a matter which my NATO colleagues and I keep under review in our regular meetings. I have not made any specific proposals about facilities at Akrotiri.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to co-ordinate British defence support to Kenya with that being provided by the United States of America.

We keep in close touch with the Governments of both the United States of America and Kenya on matters of mutual defence interest.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the latest estimated cost of replacing the Polaris fleet.

As there are no plans for replacing the Polaris fleet, details of costs cannot be provided.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence, further to his answer to the hon. Member for Aberdeen, South on 9 March regarding United Kingdom oil installations for naval use on a contingency basis in South Africa, if he will confirm his intention to maintain these British installations; and if he will make a statement.

The requirement for contingency stocks is kept under review in the light of the afloat support capacity provided by Royal Navy auxiliaries.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence, further to his answer to the hon. Member for Aberdeen, South on 9 March regarding United Kingdom oil installations in South Africa, where these oil stocks are held; how much there is; what is the annual cost of maintaining these installations; and if he will make a statement.

It is not the practice to give details of stocks which are held in various locations for use by Her Majesty's forces as part of contingency planning.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he is yet in a position to announce the publication of the Property Services Agency investigation into noise and vibration levels at Inchterf P and E establishment.

I have, as previously promised, now sent the hon. Member an abstract of the findings and conclusions of the study conducted by the National Engineering Laboratory. I am also sending copies to other interested hon. Members and to the district council and the regional council concerned.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether the chairman and members of the Standing Commission on pay comparability will receive their payments inclusive of or exclusive of other moneys they may receive from public funds; and whether the time spent on the Commission's work will be reduced for payment purposes from other public funds.

The sums paid to the chairman and members of the Standing Commission on pay comparability for their part-time appointments will be related to the time spent on Commission work. Such sums as they receive from their other employments, whether publicly funded or otherwise, are a matter for determination between them and the employers concerned.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing the annual increase in average earnings over the past 40 years.

As in the reply to the hon. Member's question on 22 January 1979—[Vol. 961, c. 38–39.]—the following estimates relate to the average gross weekly earnings of full-time manual men—aged 21 and over—in my Department's regular (October) inquiry into the earnings and hours of manual workers in the United Kingdom. The inquiry covers manufacturing industries, mining and quarrying—except coal—construction, gas, electricity and water, transport and communication—except railways and sea transport—public administration and certain miscellaneous services.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment to what extent pay rises agreed since the end of Government black listing and other sanctions have affected the current annual level of inflation.

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

asked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will list the number of apprentices per thousand employees in Cornwall, England and Wales, respectively;(2) if he will list the number of apprentices per thousand employers in Cornwall, England and Wales, respectively.

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

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his assessment of the extent to which the housing cost yardstick discourages local authorities from providing tenants with a choice of fuel by ensuring that all new houses have a chimney.

The composition of the housing cost yardstick neither encourages nor discourages the provision of particular features in new public sector dwellings. The choice of heating system is a matter for the individual housing authority to decide, and the Department has no evidence to suggest that the yardstick is preventing local authorities from providing chimneys where they feel it is desirable.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is now able to make a statement on his recent meeting with the Liverpool inner area partnership committee.

I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to him on 5 March, and to my reply to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Mr. Steen), on 13 March.—[Vol. 963, c. 445; Vol. 964, c. 134–5].

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will bring forward for earlier publication the report which he has promised for the autumn on the prevention of damp in houses and flats, in order to prevent more homes being built with this defect and to help to eradicate it in existing homes.

The Building Research Establishment survey on the extent and nature of damp in public sector housing has been planned on a very tight schedule and it would be unrealistic to attempt to compress this further.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the percentage of spending in the partnership programmes on sport and recreation.

The partnerships have allocated on average about 9 per cent. of their urban programme funds for 1979–80 to recreation and sport.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the cost of the floor coverings for each Civil Service grade given in his previous answer on furniture costs.

The information is as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will authorise the London borough of Ealing to proceed with those sales of council houses where terms had been agreed with prospective purchasers, but where contracts had not been exchanged.

The recent amendments to the ministerial consents affecting the sale of council houses provide that sales which would otherwise be prevented by those amendments may proceed if a written price offer by an authority had been accepted in writing by the purchaser before 17 March 1979.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made in dealing with the problem of damage by visitors to the cup and ring marks at Roughtinglinn, Northumberland, about which the Under-Secretary of State wrote to the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed on 17 January 1977.

The Department has agreed to fence the site and to put up a notice warning visitors that it is an offence to injure or deface the monument. The work will be done as soon as consultations with the owners about future maintenance of the fence are satisfactorily completed.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, pursuant to the reply by the right hon. Member for Deptford (Mr. Silkin) to the hon. Member for Melton on 11 June 1975 regarding land release, he will now state (a) how many of the 950 acres of metropolitan green belt identified as suitable for housing have since received planning permission for that purpose, (b) how many of those acres have since been developed, (c) how many of the additional 750 acres granted permission on appeal have since been developed, and (d) how many of the 310 additional acres in the previous Government's target of 2,000 acres have since been granted planning permission.

Since the completion in 1975 of the exercise to identfy some 2,000 acres of land in the metropolitan green belt suitable for housing, the responsibility for bringing the sites forward for development has lain with the local planning authorities. My Department has no central record of planning permissions or developments from which to answer the hon. Member's questions.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the estimated number of business premises which will have to close in the Liverpool inner city area if the proposed inner ring road is built.

The inner ring road is the responsibility of Merseyside county council, as the highway authority. My understanding is that the precise line of the road is not yet settled and the number of business premises affected cannot be assessed.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in the Official Report the names of individuals and organisations which have written to him protesting against the proposed construction of the Liverpool inner ring road.

I have received representations from the hon. Member himself, from three other private individuals, Mr. J. P. Hearty, Mr. A. Kennedy and Sister Maura O'Carroll; and from six organisations: the Vauxhall Neighbourhood Council, the Toxteth Community Council, the West Everton Community Council, the Northcote Road Action Group, the Anti-Ring Road Committee and the Labour Party in the Scotland Exchange Division. I understand that the Mersey-side group of Labour Members of Parliament has also resolved to oppose the construction of the road.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if the proposed Liverpool inner ring road has been discussed by the Liverpool inner area partnership committee; and if any recommendations have been made.

The proposals have been touched upon at meetings of the partnership committee. County council representatives have emphasised the importance of preserving its statutory powers to build the road and the partnership committee has acknowledged the importance of the issue to the partnership area. The Liverpool inner city programme, approved by the partnership committee in September of last year, supports the need for an inner ring road as improving the strategic highway network of the area in the interests of its regeneration.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to announce the decision of the planning inquiry into a fourth terminal at Heathrow airport.

The inquiry, which opened on 31 May, closed on 15 December 1978 and the report of the independent inspector is awaited. At this stage it is not possible to say when there will be a decision.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement as to what was the number of vacant dwellings in England and Wales on 8 January or the latest convenient date.

The national dwelling and housing surveys indicate that there were about ¾ million vacant dwellings in England and Wales at the end of 1977. This estimate excludes second homes.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will set out the rise in domestic building costs on an annual rate for each month during the previous year.

Increases in the main costs of house building for the latest 12 months follow:

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what account he has taken of the proposals by the Leeds city council and other local authorities concerning the control of stray dogs in urban environments and their proposition to transfer the control and licensing of dogs to each district council, to discharge their functions and create a dog warden service; and if he will make a statement.

I am aware that Leeds city council is in favour of implementation of the recommendations of the inter-departmental working party on dogs and of powers for local authorities to determine locally the level of dog licence fees.My right hon. Friend has already announced in his answer on 3 August 1978 to my hon. Friend the Member for Middleton and Prestwich (Mr. Callaghan), that the Government accept the main finding of the working party, concerning the transfer of responsibility for control of stray dogs from the police to local authorities, and the provision of specific powers for local authorities to operate dog warden services.—[Vol. 955, c. 750–1.] The Government are in the course of consulting the local authority associations, on the question of powers to determine locally the level of dog licence fees.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what is the estimated cost of surfacing repair work to be carried out on the Ml in Hertfordshire between junctions five and seven; and when this stretch of motorway was last subject to major repair work.