asked the Secretary of State for Trade (1) if he will list in the Official Report the total value of United Kingdom exports of educational equipment in 1979;(2) if he will list in the

This information is not available. The statistics of overseas trade are compiled only for the United Kingdom as a whole, and do not identify educational equipment as such.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will make a statement about the Price Marking (Bargain Offers) Order 1979 further to the reply he gave to the hon. Member for Woking (Mr. Onslow) on 29 February 1980, Official Report, c. 795.

I told my hon. Friend the Member for Woking (Mr. Onslow) on 29 February 1980 that I had received a number of complaints about the complexity of the order and recognised the problems which might be encountered. I told him that I would consider whether in the light of experience the objectives of the order could be achieved in a simpler manner. I have subsequently discussed the problem with a number of interested parties. As a result I have asked the Director General of Fair Trading to review the order and advise me within six months whether changes should be made in the law. I understand that the Director General will be seeking evidence from organisations representing traders, consumers and those concerned with enforcement shortly. I have asked him to pay particular attention to the increasing use of meaningless price comparisons which technically comply with the order on the one hand and to the possibility that advertising slogans making general claims about value may be interpreted as contrary to the order on the other hand. I am anxious to prohibit misleading price comparisons without preventing honest traders from drawing attention to the fact that they quote competitive prices.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish for each university in receipt of grant from the University Grants Committee the number of full-time undergraduate and post-graduate home and overseas students in each university during the current academic year.

Reliable information in respect of individual universities for the current academic year is not yet available. For provisional estimates of total full-time student numbers in October 1980 in United Kingdom universities I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mr. Lyell) on 2 December.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether, in view of recent research, his Department intends to establish a scheme to assist in the diagnosis of dyslectic children.

The assessment and diagnosis of the educational needs of children are the responsibility of individual local education authorities, and it is part of the purpose of the Education Bill now before Parliament to promote the early identification of, and provision of suitable education for, children with special educational needs.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the total spending by his Department incurred in ensuring that dyslectic children are properly educated in the maintained sector.

The primary responsibility to secure the provision of suitable education for children with learning difficulties of any kind rests with the local education authorities. Financial support from central Government for their functions is provided through the rate support grant. This grant is not specific to individual services, and it is for the local authorities to decide on the allocation of their resources.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what facilities exist within his Department for the evaluation of potential overseas educational projects; and whether any individual has specific responsibility for such evaluation.

Such projects are not principally the concern of my Department, though technical and professional advice on aspects of them may be provided from time to time by the appropriate members of the Department's staff.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list in the Official Report the total amount of money spent by United Kingdom educational establishments on overseas educational projects in 1979 and 1980.

This information is not available within my Department.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many overseas students are studying at Welsh universities in the current academic year; what are the corresponding figures for the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

reliable information in respect of individual universities for the current academic year is not yet available. The figures for the last 10 years are as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science on how many occasions in recent years the parents of handicapped children have appealed to him under section 68 of the Education Act 1944; and in how many of those appeals he has found in favour of the parents and against the local education authority.

Parents who write to my right hon. and learned Friend or to the Department about problems relating to the education of individual handicapped children do not always specify that they are appealing under section 68 of the Education Act 1944. My Department's records are not kept in a way which enables such appeals to be readily identified and I regret that the information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many overseas students are now studying at the Sunderland polytechnic; and what are the corresponding figures for the last three years.

I understand from Sunderland polytechnic that there were 443 overseas students enrolled in that establishment as at November 1980. The corresponding figures for 1977, 1978 and 1979 were 704, 525 and 465 respectively.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether, in view of the fact that law graduates wishing to become solicitors are now required to take a postgraduate one-year course for the Law Society Final Examination, he will give urgent consideration to the inclusion of this new course in the list of courses eligible for mandatory grants under the national grant regulations.

My right hon. and learned Friend has no intention in present economic circumstances of introducing legislation to extend mandatory awards to the one-year vocational course for the Law Society final examination. Local education authorities may make awards at their discretion in respect of this course.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what were the financial allocations for nursery education building to each local authority for 1980–81; and what are the figures for each of the previous five years and 1981–82 at constant prices.

Prior to 1981–82, capital allocations to local education authorities for education building defined the value of building work which authorities were permitted to start during the financial year. The allocations for nursery building on this basis, expressed at constant 1980–81 outturn prices, for each local authority in England for each of the six years up to 1980–81 are set out in the table below.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many children of school age he estimates to be suspended from school at the most recent convenient date.

My Department does not collect information on the numbers of children suspended from school.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service why Government Statistical Service publications issued by Her Majesty's Stationery Office are available to the press before they are available to hon. Members through the Library.

Government Statistical Service publications are not parliamentary papers. Like other such Government publications they are normally supplied to the House of Commons Library by Her Majesty's Stationery Office on the day of publication. In accordance with long-established practice, Departments may for publicity purposes and at their own discretion make limited numbers available to journalists before publication under strict embargo.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service if, further to the reply of the right hon. Member for Southend, West (Mr. Channon) of 5 November 1980, Official Report, c. 1286, he will now publish the quarterly return of the figures in so far as they relate to the comparative cost and numbers of publicly employed and contracted cleaning staff.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton, North (Mr. Marlow) on 28 January.—[Vol.997, c. 921.] Reductions in Civil Service numbers arising as a result of transfers of work to the private sector since May 1979 have been small. Accordingly, no return has yet been made to the Select Committee.

asked the Lord Privy Seal, what plans he has for a meeting with the newly appointed United States Secretary of State to discuss joint political co-operation.

My right hon. and noble Friend will be accompanying the Prime Minister to Washington at the end of this month. Their discussions will cover a wide range of topics including co-operation between the Allies and can be seen as part of the continuing consultations we and our European allies have with the United States.

asked the Lord Privy Seal whether the current European initiative on the Middle East will be discussed at the forthcoming meeting between the Foreign Secretary and the President of the United States of America.

I have no doubt that this will be one of the many subjects discussed during my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's visit to Washington.

asked the Lord Privy Seal what is the current size of the British High Commission in Vanuatu.

There are four United Kingdom-based Diplomatic Service personnel in Vila, plus three locally engaged support staff.

asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will take initiatives within the European Economic Community to secure the implementation by the Community of the United Nations resolution calling for an oil embargo on South Africa.

No. There is no mandatory United Nations resolution calling for an oil embargo against South Africa.

asked the Lord Privy Seal what new initiative is now contemplated by Her Majesty's Government to achieve the full independence of Namibia and its admission as a sovereign State to the United Nations.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave earlier today to my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton. South (Mr. Morris).

asked the Lord Privy Seal what representations have been made to South Africa regarding the continued illegal occupation of Namibia and its military operations in neighbouring territories.

On Namibia I have nothing to add to what I said in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton, South (Mr. Morris) earlier. As to the activities of the South African forces, the Government have made it clear on numerous occasions that we deplore all resort to violence in the search for solutions to the problems of Southern Africa.

asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will seek to have an arms limitation clause written into the European Economic Community initiative on the Middle East.

Arms limitation measures may help to reinforce a comprehensive peace settlement and could form part of the guarantees in which the members of the Community are ready to participate. To be effective they would need to be agreed between all the parties concerned and by the international Community as a whole.

asked the Lord Privy Seal when Her Majesty's Government intends to publish the various options proposed in the Luxembourg paper as a possible solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

We have no plans to publish the Luxembourg paper, which is confidential.

asked the Lord Privy Seal what progress is being made with regard to giving Belize independence; and if he will make a statement.

Our objective is to secure a negotiated settlement of the dispute with Guatemala and negotiations are proceeding to that end. The United Nations resolution calls for Belize to be fully independent before the end of the thirty-sixth General Assembly.

asked the Lord Privy Seal what he intends to discuss with the President of the United States of America at his forthcoming meeting.

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and my right hon. and noble Friend will be discussing a wide range of questions when they visit the United States at the end of this month.

asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will make a statement on the current progress of the Helsinki review conference in Madrid.

asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will make a statement on the latest progress of the Madrid review conference.

I refer my hon. Friends to the reply I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Mr. Chapman) earlier today.

asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will place on the agenda of forthcoming meetings of the Council of Ministers the question of greater co-operation between the Community member States on matters of mutual interest.

We are constantly seeking ways to improve co-operation between the Community member States on matters of mutual interest as are the Commission and other member States. We take all suitable opportunities to discuss these ideas.

asked the Lord Privy Seal if he has had any recent discussions with his counterparts in the European Economic Community concerning future changes in the powers of Community institutions.

No.

asked the Lord Privy Seal, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Southend, East (Mr. Taylor) on 26 January, Official Report, c. 300, if he will make a statement on how he proposes that the commitments to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries for the import of cane sugar will now be honoured, in the light of the closure of Tate and Lyle's factory in Liverpool, and on his consultations with other members of the European Economic Community.

The European Community's commitment to the ACP sugar producers is set out in the sugar protocol to the Lomé convention. This commitment, undertaken by the Community as a whole, is to purchase and import specific quantities of sugar at guaranteed prices. The commitment is not linked to cane refining capacity in the Community. It is therefore not affected by closure of the Tate and Lyle Liverpool refinery.

asked the Prime Minister what was the total cost of redundancy payments to (a) civil servants, (b) local government personnel, (c) people in nationalised industries and (d) people in private industries in 1978, 1979 and 1980; and what were the numbers of persons in each case.

It is impossible to distinguish payments made under the statutory redundancy scheme in the public and private sectors. The only information available, therefore, is for civil servants and for the years 1978 and 1979. The estimated total cost of redundancy compensation payments to 1,196 redundant civil servants in 1978 was £6·5 million. In 1979 the cost for 954 redundancies is estimated at £3·1 million.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give at the latest and most convenient stated date the number of prisoners held in custody at Pentonville Prison on remand awaiting trial; what charges have been made against them; how many have been so imprisoned for three months, six months, nine months, 12 months, and more than 12 months, respectively, and in the last category the total amount of time in each instance.

On 31 December 1980 about 110 persons were in Pentonville Prison on remand awaiting trial. The only estimates of the lengths of time these prisoners had been in custody which can be made available without disproportionate cost are given in the following table. Information on the offence with which remand prisoners are charged is not collected centrally.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department which prison department establishments do not allow domestic visits to inmates on Saturdays and Sundays.

Only Ashford remand centre allows visits on neither Saturdays nor Sundays. Saturday visits are permitted by every other establishment, although at Canterbury not to unconvicted prisoners. No Sunday visits are permitted in 18 of these establishments—Aldington, Bedford, Birmingham, Brixton, Brockhill, Campsfield House, Dorchester, Eastwood Park, Exeter, Foston Hall, Latchmere House, Lincoln, Pucklechurch, Shrewsbury, Styal, Swansea, Thorp Arch and Usk; some others limit Sunday visits to certain classes of inmate.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which prison department establishments allow inmates the supervised use of a telephone in circumstances other than emergencies.

Arrangements exist in all establishments where unconvicted prisoners are held for them to make telephone calls under supervision in connection with their court appearance and to deal with any urgent domestic or business problems. For convicted prisoners telephone calls are made exceptionally by staff to deal with urgent domestic matters.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Rugby of 20 January, Official Report, column 98, he will list the occasions in each year since 1974 on which his Department has consulted local authority associations on their civil defence responsibilities.

The compilation of such a list would involve disproportionate cost. We have consulted local authority associations in the course of preparing circulars, and they have been represented at seminars and on working parties.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether in view of the practice of some large stores of arranging sales where crowds are organised for publicity purposes, he is satisfied that sufficient powers are available to the police to prevent disturbance and obstruction.

Yes.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners convicted of offences in England and Wales connected with the IRA are eligible to apply for parole.

Thirty-seven prisoners convicted of offences believed to have been connected with Irish Republican organisations are eligible to be considered for parole.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will list the 1980 electorates for the 22 proposed constituencies provisionally recommended by the Boundary Commission for England for the counties of Hampshire and Dorset in its notices dated 24 July 1980 and 5 February, respectively.

The information available is as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the prisons, borstals and detention centres, indicating which of them provide facilities for (a) Hindu and Muslim worship and (b) diets in accordance with Hindu and Muslim practice.

All prison department establishments are able to provide the necessary facilities when required.

asked the Secretary' of State for the Home Department if he will list the prisons and borstals in England and Wales, indicating the number of cells in each that (a) have flush toilets and (b) require slopping out.

Prisons and borstals in England and Wales, with details of accommodation, are listed in appendix 3 to the prison department annual report for 1979 (Cmnd. 7965). Slopping out is a feature in most closed prisons and borstals and over 20,000 cells do not contain sanitary facilities although new cellular prisons have flush toilets in cells. More precise details are not available centrally.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department in which prisons and borstals prisoners may receive newspapers brought in for them by visitors.

Visitors are not allowed to take in newspapers for prisoners. A prisoner may, however, receive newspapers sent direct from publishers or newsagents either at the order of a relative or friend or at his own expense.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what forms of financial assistance are available to people who are deported following a period in custody.

Financial assistance is given to people who are deported only in so far as it is necessary to augment their own funds to provide the following minimum amounts for subsistence on the journey:

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received opposing the announcement of his major amendments to the British Nationality Bill.

As at 13 February, 14 such representations had been received in the Home Office.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ensure either that police officers are covered by personal accident insurance in line with other public sector workers or that the provisions under the police pensions regulations are improved.

In my view it would not be appropriate to replace or supplement the provisions of the police pensions scheme by taking out insurance policies. Any proposals for improving the provisions of the police pensions regulations would be a matter initially for the Police Negotiating Board.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to change the policy whereby a prisoner is not able to donate a kidney except where the recipient is a blood relation.

I understand that it is not general practice to remove kidneys from living donors unless the recipient is a close relative. It is open to any prisoner to make provision in his will for the disposal of his kidneys after his death, but if he were to die in prison it would be for the coroner to decide if his wishes should be complied with before the inquest.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his estimate of the total number of persons outside the United Kingdom who are entitled under the Immigration Act 1971 to the right of abode in the United Kingdom, specifying approximate numbers for each of the countries in which they are now resident.

No reliable estimate can be made.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he now expects to complete his examination of the restraints caused by the Shops Act 1950 upon trading on Sundays and shopping hours.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Woolwich, East (Mr. Cartwright) on 30 January.—[Vol. 997, c. 538.]

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will now make a further statement about the impending change in the arrangements for local government elections in the city of Manchester.

I hope to make an order shortly giving effect at the elections to be held in May 1982 to the new electoral arrangements proposed for the city of Manchester by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England in its report No. 393.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy (1) whether he proposed to the Norwegians that the United Kingdom would build a natural gas pipeline from the United Kingdom sector to the Continent to enable Norway to participate in the British gas-gathering system;(2) if he will make a statement on his recent visit to Norway.

During my visit to Norway on 6 February I had a wide-ranging discussion with Mr. Johanson, the Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy.In particular, I gave a detailed account of progress with the United Kingdom gas-gathering pipeline, and stressed that the gas-gathering organising group is continuing to work to a schedule with a completion target of 1984–85. On the purchase of Norwegian gas, I made clear that the United Kingdom is flexible in its approach: for example we would consider the possibility of taking Norwegian Statfjord gas into the United Kingdom line for the early years only. I mentioned that plans for the onshore facilities could cater for repatriation of Norwegian NGLs for industrial use in Norway, and that Norwegian concerns would be welcome to participate in the pipeline company if Norwegian gas is dedicated to the United Kingdom line. As regards the possibility of transmitting to the Continent new supplies of Norwegian gas landed in the United Kingdom, I repeated our willingness to examine any proposal put forward by the Norwegians.I understand that the Norwegian Government have not yet reached a decision on disposal of Norwegian Statfjord gas. I expect the United Kingdom share of Statfjord gas to come to Britain anyway, and in my view sale to the United Kingdom would be the most economic route for Norwegian Statfjord gas also. However, the United Kingdom gas-gathering line is economic on the basis of United Kingdom gas alone, and will go ahead whether or not Norwegian Statfjord gas comes to the United Kingdom.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will indicate the volume of gas likely to be flared prior to the completion and commissioning of the gas-gathering pipeline in 1984–85.

I regret that it would involve a disproportionate use of resources to provide the information requested due to the many uncertainties involved.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will give his assessment of the price of ethane which would allow a viable United Kingdom petrochemical industry assuming adjustment of existing naphtha facilities.

No. It is for each customer, negotiating for supplies of ethane, to assess the price he can afford to pay.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy which is the comparable oil product to which ethane is related for price assessment.

The pricing terms for ethane are a matter for commercial negotiation.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy whether the price of ethane will be published ex-St. Fergus or ex-Nigg.

Whether the prices for ethane will be published and, if so, where, are matters for the sellers or purchasers of the ethane.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will give the tonnage, price and origin of coal imported into the United Kingdom which could not have been mined in the United Kingdom.

Coal imports in 1980 comprised 0·3 million tonnes of anthracite, 2·4 million tonnes of coking coal and 4·6 million tonnes of steam coal. The National Coal Board was unable to meet United Kingdom demand for anthracite in that year and also could not match some coking coal imports on quality requirements, although price was also an important factor here. Imports of steam coal, which were mainly delivered direct to Thames-side powers stations by sea, could have been replaced entirely by Coal Board supplies but only if prices had been cut substantially.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what contingency planning has been done to deal with the social and economic costs of pit closures.

Decisions on pit closures are a matter for the National Coal Board's management to take in consultation with the unions involved. It would be wrong for me to comment in advance on the possible implications of such decisions.I am meeting the board and the mining unions today to discuss the present position of the coal industry.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will list in the Official Report the gross national product per capita of each of the following countries at the latest available date, together with their energy consumption per capita: Austria, Belgium, Albania, Denmark, Finland, France, West Germany, Greece, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland and Iceland.

The latest available figures are for 1978 and are tabulated below:

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he has any plans to build the Severn Barrage during the next 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

I understand that the Severn barrage committee will soon be submitting to me its report on the feasibility of a tidal barrage across the Severn estuary, and the next step must be to consider carefully what it says.

asked the hon. Member for Carlton, as Chairman of the Committee of Selection, on how many occasions during the present Parliament an hon. Member has been appointed to serve on a Standing Committee on a Bill while also a member of another Standing Committee.

Of a total number of 1,108 appointments made to Standing Committees on Bills in the present Parliament, there were 25 cases of a Member being appointed to serve on a Standing Committee on a Bill meeting on the same days as a Standing Committee on a Bill of which he was already a member. In 10 of these cases the overlap between the two Standing Committees was one week or less.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether, in view of the continuing need for craftsmen in the engineering industry, he will make additional finance available to the Manpower Services Commission, to take over from the Engineering Industry Training Board the provision of 12-month full-time off-the-job training courses for school leavers, together with other help with apprentice training, from 1982 onwards.

It is the Government's view that it is for industry to take the primary responsibility for training for its future needs. The Government, through the Manpower Services Commission, provide additional funds only where this is necessary to supplement industry's own resources.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing what percentage of the total number of unemployed people were aged (a) under 18 years, (b) 18 to 19 years, (c) 20 to 24 years, (d) 25 to 34 years, (e) 35 to 44 years, (f) 45 to 54 years, (g) 55 to 59 years and (h) 60 years and over during January 1981.

The information for the United Kingdom at 15 January is as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will take steps to ensure that the health and safety at work legislation is implemented at places of work with the minimum of cost and inconvenience to employers.

I am assured by the chairman of the Health and Safety Commission that it is the policy of the commission to implement health and safety at work legislation with the minimum cost and inconvenience compatible with ensuring that employers perform their statutory duties to workers and the general public under that legislation.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will list the total aid given to industry out of public funds by his Department or by organisations reporting to him for each of the last 10 years and for that part of the present year available, in actual money terms and expressed in financial terms of the value of money in the first year of the series; and how many companies or organisations received this aid.

I shall reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number employed by order of the standard industrial classification in each of the regions of the United Kingdom in November 1980.

The latest comprehensive employment estimates are for September 1980 and are provisional. Regional estimates for orders, or groups of orders, of the standard industrial classification are given in the table below.