asked the Prime Minister if she will dismiss the Attorney-General.

No.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total estimated catch of bass for the years 1975 and 1980.

Thousands
	1975–76	1976–77	1977–78	1978–79	1979–80	1980–81*
Total full-time and sandwich students at universities in Great Britain†	261·3	271·8	280·5	288·4	292·7	297·1
Total full-time and sandwich students at maintained, assisted and grant-aided establishments of further education in England and Wales†	486·2	501·2	496·6	498·7	496·0	not available
University students in receipt of mandatory awards from local authorities in England and Wales	159·2	166·4	176·5	183·3	189·4	not available
Students in further education establishments in receipt of discretionary awards from local authorities in England and Wales‡	90·6	97·7	94·9	109·4	113·3	not available
* Provisional.
† Including overseas students.
‡ Including lesser value awards.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish a table showing total expenditure at constant and at current prices on (a) mandatory and (b) discretionary grants, in each year since 1975.

	Mandatory Awards		Discretionary Awards*
Academic year	At 1975–76 constant prices	At current prices	At 1975–76 constant prices	At current prices
	£ million	£ million	£ million	£ million
1975–76	212	212	41	41
1976–77	218	258	43	51
1977–78	302	415	47	64
1978–79	314	469	50	74
1979–80	322	550	49	84
* Including Lesser Value awards.

The total landings of bass in England and Wales, as recorded through the collection of statistics at selected ports, amounted to 79 tonnes in 1975. The equivalent figure is not yet available for 1980, but in 1979 it was 104 tonnes.It is impracticable to assess unrecorded landings. at smaller ports and by sea anglers without a disproportionate use of manpower.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will show for each year since 1975 (a) the number of students attending university, (b) the number of students attending local colleges of further education, (c) the number of university students in receipt of mandatory grants and (d) the number of other students in receipt of discretionary grants.

The information requested is as follows:

Figures of expenditure by local education authorities in England and Wales are as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what provision exists for education of children aged 16 to 19 years who remain in long-stay mental subnormality hospitals; and to what extent their education needs are fulfilled.

Statistics collected by the Department of Health and Social Security show that in England in November 1979, 1,620 young people aged 16 to 19 who were patients in mental hospitals and units were receiving education of some kind, either in a hospital school or elsewhere. 427 were not; but in only 97 instances was the reason given as lack of facilities. There is a growing awareness of the need to provide for this age group in these circumstances.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many children under 16 years living in mental subnormality hospital are receiving full-time education; for how many hours per day; and what is the teacher to pupil ratio in such classes.

Local education authorities may provide for such children in special schools serving the community

	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981
School Teachers	9·6	6·6	137·2	22·3	8·3	3·8	9·9	9·3	235·0	7·5
Teachers in Colleges of Further Education and Polytechnics	7·7	6·0	336·l	19·9	7·3	3·2	9·8	9·3	435·9	7·5
University Teachers	58·5	66·0	78·0	33·0	3·5	9·8	815·6	916·3	1025·2	113·2
1 8 per cent. from 1 April 1974 and 27 per cent. on those salaries from 24 May 1974. (Restructuring recommended costing about a further 2 per cent. in the long term.)
2 8·9 per cent. as first stage of "comparability award" from 1 January 1980, 12 per cent. on full "comparability" salaries as first stage of arbitration award from 1 April 1980, and second stage of "comparability award" together with remainder of arbitration award 1 September 1980.
3 8 per cent. from 1 April 1974 and 26 per cent. on those salaries from 24 May 1974. (Restructuring recommended costing about a further 3 per cent. in the long term).
4 9·1 per cent. as first stage of "comparability award" from 1 January 1980, 12 per cent. on full "comparability" salaries as first stage of arbitration award from 1 April 1980, and second stage of "comparability award" together with remainder of arbitration award from 1 September 1980.
5 7½ per cent. for restructuring agreed in 1971 and a further ½ per cent. for restructuring agreed in 1972.
6 5½ per cent.plus per cent. for restructuring agreed in 1971.
7 In addition there were "threshold payments" which were consolidated into scales in 1975.
8 6·1 per cent. first stage of rectification of pay anomaly agreed in 1977 with 9 per cent. on those salaries as 1978 increase.
9 5·7 per cent. second stage of rectification of pay anomaly agreed in 1977 (6 per cent. on 1977 ratio) with 10 per cent. on those salaries as 1979 increase.
10 17 per cent. catching-up increase payable in two stages (9 per cent. on 1 April and remainder on 1 October) and a further 7 per cent. 1 October 1980 increase 9 per cent. on 1 April and (the first part of an 18 month increase).
11 Increase payable 1 March 1981 (second part of 18 month increase to 31 March 1982).

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what were the percentage salary awards made to (a) school teachers, (b) teachers in colleges of further education, (c) teachers in polytechnics and (d) university teachers in each of the last 10 years.

The percentage increases were as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the cost per student graduating from universities in (a) Great Britain and (b) each of the countries of the European Economic Community.

The estimated average net institutional recurrent cost per student on a three-year degree course at a university in Great Britain, in terms of the costs prevailing in the financial year 1979–80, was £12,500 at November 1980 prices. Comparable data are not available for other European Community countries.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the ratio of staff to students in (a) British universities and (b) British sixth form colleges.

The following information is in respect of universities in Great Britain and sixth form colleges in England. Information for sixth form colleges in Wales and Scotland is the responsibility of my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Wales and Scotland.

	Academic year 1979–80
Universities, ratio of staff to students	*1:9·3
Sixth form colleges, ratio of teachers to pupils	1:11·3
*provisional.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether parental income for the purposes of student grants in 1981–82 as described in the Department's recent press release will be subject to a deduction for all life insurance premiums which were deductible from income for tax purposes in tax year 1980–81.

Subject to negative resolution of the House later this year, it is at present intended that the Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations 1981 will provide for the aggregate gross amount of any premiums eligible for income tax relief on a policy of life assurance to be disregarded from parental gross income for contribution purposes, up to 15 per cent. of the parent's gross income. For the 1981–82 academic year, the gross income of most parents will be deemed to be that received in the 1980–81 financial year.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the basis for the estimate of 50,000 agency workers, including 30,000 one-man companies who are stated in the public expenditure White Paper to be escaping the provision of section 38 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 1975; and if he will make a statement.

The estimate to which my hon. Friend refers, which was quoted in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the—Appropriation Accounts 1979–80—Volume 3, paragraph 159—was derived from information supplied to the Inland Revenue from within the employment agency field.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the purpose of the married man's allowance; and if he will make a statement.

The married man's allowance was introduced in recognition of the special legal and moral obligation on a married man to support his wife. The justification for the allowance and possible alterations to it are amongst the matters discussed in the Green Paper "The Taxation of Husband and Wife", which my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer published last December.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what is the amount of tax revenue derived from sports councils, sports clubs and sports trusts during the financial year 1980–81; and if he will give a separate sum for Scotland.

I regret that the information is not available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what is the estimated revenue from (a) value added tax and (b) excise duty on motor spirit and derv, respectively, in 1980–81 and 1981–82;(2) what is the estimated revenue from value added tax on motor vehicles in 1980–81 and 1981–82.

I shall let my hon. Friend have replies as soon as possible.

asked the Lord Privy Seal whether he will take steps to reduce expenditure by the Commonwealth Development Corporation on the printing and publication of its annual reports; what is the total annual cost of these publications; and why, at an additional cost of 87p postage, two copies are sent to hon. Members whether or not they have requested them.

These are matters for the corporation to determine. I will ask it to reply direct to the hon. Member.

asked the Lord Privy Seal what plans the Crown Agents have to develop the ports of Assab and Massawa in Eritrea; by whom the plans are commissioned; what is the estimated cost of these plans; and by whom the work will be carried out.

This is a matter for the Crown Agents themselves but I understand from them that they are not involved in any such plans.

asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will make a statement on the United Kingdom's participation in the bridging arrangements for the sixth replenishment of the International Development Association.

On 4 March the House approved an order enabling the Government to advance the first annual instalment of the United Kingdom contribution as part of a collective "bridging" arrangement by contributors other than the United States, to enable the association's operation to continue. Fifty per cent. of that amount was thereupon made available to the association, as foreshadowed by my Hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Oxon (Mr. Hurd) in his statement to the House on 4 March.—[Vol. 1000, c. 374–375.]As further advance contributions totalling over $250 million have subsequently been made or promised by other contributing governments, whose total contributions to the replenishment will exceed $1 billion, the remaining 50 per cent. of our first annual instalment will now be made available to the association.All the major contributors apart from the United States have now agreed to advance all or part of their first instalments under the bridging arrangement.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service how many civil servants, and of what grades, have been made compulsorily redundant since May 1979 as a result of the policy of reducing the size of the Civil Service.

The numbers of non-industrial home civil servants by grade level who were prematurely retired

	1979 (Unless otherwise stated) Thousands						1980 (P) Thousands
Countries	Total Population		Civilian Working Population		Registered Unemployed		Registered Unemployed
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Belgium(1)	4816	5025	2517	1472	132	201	144	238
Denmark	2527	2590	1449	1150	70	68	88	74
France	26201	27277	13650	8811	632	717	658	792
Germany	29252	32107	15910	9983	417	459	426	462
Greeced(1)	4586	4774	3250	1000	19	12	22	15
Ireland	1693	1675	(e)841	(c)300	69	20	77	24
Italy	27518	29091	14605	7380	927	727	958	818
Luxembourg	178	185	(e)110	(e)47	0·5	0·5	0·5	0·6
Netherlands	6970	7068	3556	1550	132	78	160	88
United Kingdom	27265	28681	15774	10267	964	427	1234	561
USA	107006	13093	59517	43391	(2)3018	(2)2945	(2)4157	(2)3291
Japan	57180	58950	(3)34370	(3)21600	(2)740	(2)430	(2)710	(2)430

Main Sources:

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he proposes any steps to ameliorate on grounds of redundancy between 1 May 1979 and 31 March 1981—the latest date for which figures are available—are as follows:

Grade Level	Redundancy
Open Structure and Executive Directing Lower Band	14
Assistant Secretary	31
Senior Principal	3
Principal	43
Senior Executive Officer	94
Higher Executive Officer	73
Executive Officer	122
Clerical Officer	67
Clerical Assistant	286
	733

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give figures for each member State of the European Economic Community and for the United State of America and Japan, showing (a) the number of people registered unemployed, (b) the total population, and (c) the total working population; and if he will distinguish between numbers of men and women in each case.

Following is the available information:any detrimental effects in the application of the Redundancy Payments Act in regard to short-time working compensation schemes

I refer to the hon. Member to my reply to the Member for Hemsworth (Mr. Woodall).—[23 February 1981, c.283].

asked the Secretary of State for Employment by what percentage unemployment increased during the first quarter of the current year compared with the same period in 1980.

Between December 1980 and March 1981, unemployment in the United Kingdom, seasonally adjusted and excluding school leavers, rose by 11·4 per cent. compared with 8·5 per cent. over the same period last year.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many women have been registered as unemployed in April each year since 1970; and what percentage change this represents in each case.

The following table gives the numbers of females registered as unemployed in the United Kingdom at the dates specified and the percentage changes between years.

April each year	Number of females unemployed	Percentage change over previous April
1970	93,095	+5·3
1971	116,702	+25·4
1972	156,402	+34·0
1973	116,623	-25·4
1974	97,265	-16·6
1975	154,873	+59·2
1976	286,959	+85·3
1977	359,889	+25·4
1978	406,354	+12·9
1979	381,365	-6·1
1980	464,875	+21·9
1981	705,457	+51·8

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many 1980 school leavers, within the Manpower Services Commission Coventry area board's region, have still to receive a suitable offer of a place on the youth opportunities programme under the terms of the undertaking given at Easter; and how many of these are within each individual local authority.

I will reply to the hon. and learned Member as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the latest available statistics on the percentage of youth opportunities programme graduates getting jobs (a) immediately and (b) within six months after course completion in the United Kingdom as a whole in each region and in each of the special programme board areas.

[pursuant to his reply, 3 June 1981, c. 327.]: The information is not available in the detail requested.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what increases in numbers and percentages of unemployed (a) men, (b) women and (c) young people have taken place in (i) Wolverhampton and (ii) the West Midlands since the Government took office.

[pursuant to his reply, 4 June 1981, c. 355–6.]: Age analyses of the numbers registered as unemployed, distinguishing young people, are made in January, April, July and October.The following table gives increases in actual and percentage terms between April 1979 and April 1981 for the categories and area specified.

	Male	Female	Young people under 20 years of age (included in previous columns)
Wolverhampton employment office area Actual increase	6,481	2,228	1,504
Percentage increase	146·8	110·8	119·5
West Midlands Region Actual increase	122,960	45,009	26,859
Percentage increase	145·3	129·8	146·7

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will give the figures for (a) the area of window glazed, (b) the heated temperature of the living room, and (c) the hours during which the living room was heated, used in the calculations on energy conservation given in the answer to the hon. Member for Thurrock on 25 March, Official Report, c. 347–8.

I am urgently obtaining the information requested and will answer the hon. Member as soon as it is available.

asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will arrange now to update the information available to him on the pay and allowances of parliamentarians in the European Economic Community, North America and the Commonwealth and publish the result in the Official Report.

[pursuant to his reply, 14 April 1981; c. 85]: The following table gives the information requested.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make available to hon. Members a copy of the proposed charter of the Queen's University of Belfast.

Except in the case of charters founding new universites or colleges which have to be laid before Parliament under the College Charter Act 1871, it is not the practice to lay drafts of charters before the House. However, in view of the interest expressed in the proposed new charter of the Queen's University of Belfast by hon. Members, I have, after consultation with my noble friend the Lord President of the Council, arranged to deposit the draft charter in the Library.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much, in the most recent convenient year, was expended by his Department in commissioning studies and reports by outside organisations or individuals.

Information in the form requested is not readily available, but it is estimated that in 1980–81 about £11 million was expended centrally from my Department's Administration Vote and from within the research and development subheads of the Health and Personal Social Services Vote on studies and reports commissioned from outside organisations or individuals. Apart from small sums expended from other subheads some health authorities and other bodies funded by my Department will also have commissioned such studies but details of this expenditure cannot be obtained without disproportionate cost.

"SEASONAL WORKER" DISALLOWANCES
	South-West Region		Great Britain
	Number	as percentage of all claims	Number	as percentage of all claims
1971	800	0·4	3300	0·1
1972	700	0·3	3200	0·1
1973	500	0·3	2900	0·1
1974	500	0·2	2500	0·1
1975	350	0·1	2000	*
1976	400	0·1	2100	*
1977	550	0·2	2100	*
1978	600	0·2	2600	0·1
1979	700	0·2	2900	0·1
1980	950	0·3	3400	0·1
* Less than 0·05 per cent.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will institute an inquiry into the increased incidence of congenital cardiovascular malformations.

No. Although the rate of cardiovascular system malformations notified to health authorities has increased in recent years, it does not necessarily follow

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether, in future, overseas students studying medicine in British teaching hospitals will be subject to charges should they require medical treatment in any form;(2) whether, in future, overseas student studying dentistry in British teaching hospitals will be subject to charges should they require medical treatment in any form.

Under new proposals, students would be charged during their first three years here unless they were in paid employment.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is his estimate of the number of unemployed workers in Cornwall in the past 10 years who have been ineligible to claim unemployment benefit through being classified as seasonal workers; and what proportion of all unemployed workers they represent;(2) what is his estimate of the number of unemployed workers in Great Britain in the past 10 years who have been ineligible to claim unemployment benefit, through being classified as seasonal workers; and what proportion of all unemployed workers they represented.

I regret that information is not available in the form requested. Information is, however available about the number of unemployment benefit claims which were disallowed because the claimant failed to satisfy the additional conditions which apply to seasonal workers.The following gives the figures for the South-West region and for Great Britain, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of all claims for unemployment benefit, for the past 10 years. Comparable information is not available for Cornwall for the 10-year period, but in 1980 over 40 per cent. of the disallowances shown for the South-West region related to claimants in Cornwall.that their incidence has increased. The defects notified are those recognised within seven days of birth; evidence from studies suggests that only a minority of cardiovascular system malformations are recognised at this stage and an increase in the numbers notified could reflect factors such as improved detection and reporting. I am making inquiries to see whether there is any evidence that incidence as such has increased, and will write to the hon. Member.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether there is any relationship between the pertussis content of multiple vaccine and the incidence of adverse reaction to such vaccine; and, if so, whether he will expand the advice in his Department's circular CMO (77)7 to the effect that whooping cough vaccine is contraindicated by any severe local or general reaction to a preceding dose.

The reports on whooping cough published last month suggest that pertussis vaccine can lead to neurological damage in only a small number of cases. The contra-indications to the vaccine are at present under review by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what effect the 6 per cent. pay award to junior hospital doctors and the rejection by the Review Body on Doctors and Dentists Pay of their claim for improved overtime payments are likely to have on the number of hours worked each week by those doctors.

The hours of duty of junior hospital doctors are determined at the time of their appointment, in discussion with the consultant concerned. I do not, therefore, expect any effect.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will initiate further surveys of the extent and cost-effectiveness of expensive chemopathological investigations, with a view to providing firmer guidelines for their use.

A number of studies of the cost of pathology investigations, including chemical pathology, have been funded by the Department. Several of these studies have been completed and, although no new studies are contemplated at the present time, others are continuing.While I do not consider it appropriate to issue guidelines for the use of pathological investigations, the results of these studies are being published as an aid to doctors in exercising their professional judgment.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what percentage of the gross national product has been spent on health care in each of the last two years since May 1979; and what information he has about equivalent figures for western industrialised countries for the same period.

I regret that the information requested is not yet available for the United Kingdom for 1980. It is difficult to make reliable international comparisons of the share of gross national product spent on health care because of substantial differences between health care systems and the treatment of health spending in national accounts. Nor do such comparisons take account of differences in value for money. With these provisos, we estimate that the proportion of GNP spent on health care in a range of western industrialised countries in recent years is broadly as follows:

Country	Total health expenditure as percentage of GNP
West Germany	9·7
Sweden	8·7
Netherlands	8·6
Belgium	8·5
Austria	8·5
United States of America	8·4
France	8·1
Norway	8·1
Switzerland	8·0
Canada	7·1
Finland	6·8
Denmark	6·6
United Kingdom	*5·6
Greece	5·5
* 1979.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to ensure that private benefaction to the National Health Service is used and distributed fairly throughout the whole of the United Kingdom for essential advancement.

No. It would be totally wrong for the Government to frustrate the intentions of private benefactors by taking powers to redistribute their gifts.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he intends to negotiate the sale of St. Columba's hospital to the Hospital Corporation International Ltd., an American private health company.

The disposal of surplus NHS property has been delegated to regional health authorities. The North-West Thames regional health authority has responsibility for this sale, for which agents have been appointed. Details of the property are being sent to all interested parties.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will list those existing National Health Service properties which are for sale to the private medical sector.

I refer the hon. Member to my hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member for Brent, South (Mr. Pavitt) on 16 April.—[Vol. 3, c. 246].

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many additions have been paid under schedule 3, paragraph 5 of the Supplementary Benefit (Requirements) Regulations (S.I., 1980, No. 1299) since the regulation came into force.

I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Woolwich, East (Mr. Cartwright) on 30 March.—[Vol. 2, c. 30].

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement following the visit of the Minister of State to Rondar Boats Limited, New Milton, to inspect their newly designed fibreglass bath for arthritics.

It is most encouraging to see enterprise and skill transform a bright idea into a viable product. This is particularly so when the product offers the prospect of an improved quality of life and enhanced dignity for handicapped people. I wish Rondar Boats and the Parker Baths a successful future.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the actual or best estimated figures for the numbers of children and young people in the age ranges (a) 0 to 5 years, (b) 5 to 11 years, (c) 11 to 16 years, (d) 16 to 20 years, and (e) 20 to 25 years living in long-stay mental subnormality hospitals in the years (i) 1975, (ii) 1977, (iii) 1978, (iv) 1979 and (v) 1980; and if he will make a statement.

Information is not collected centrally for these precise age bands. However, the table below shows the numbers in mental handicap hospitals on 31 December each year for similar age groups. Statistics for 1980 are not yet available.

Age	1975	1977	1978	1979
0– 4	213	148	101	68
5– 9	1,225	916	746	627
10–14	2,788	2,380	2,094	1,797
15–19	4,119	3,919	3,829	3,625
20–24	4,300	4,130	4,108	4,214
Totals	12,645	11,484	10,878	10,330

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will define the special facilities mentioned in his Department's booklet "Better Sevices for the Mentally Handicapped" that are available to children in long-stay mental subnormality hospitals; and if he will make a statement.

I assume that the hon. Member is referring to paragraph 158 of the 1971 White Paper. This concerns mentally handicapped children or adults who need to go to hospital because of physical handicaps or behaviour problems. It is for the health authorities and the professional staff concerned to decide on the special facilities and medical, nursing and other skills that are needed to meet these varying and often severe problems; but they are able in this, to use the publications of the National Development Group for the Mentally Handicapped and the services of the development team which is sponsored by the Department. In addition, following the review of mental handicap services, "Progress, Problems and Priorities", published last year, the Department is undertaking further studies into the needs of mentally handicapped people with additional special needs and hopes to make guidance available to authorities.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, in respect of how many children living in long-stay mental subnormality hospitals the local authority from whose area they came recognises a continuing responsibility by allocating social workers to attend to their long-term interests.

I regret that this information is not collected centrally. Normally, social work services are provided to children in mental handicap hospitals from either the hospital's own social works service department or from the social services department of the area from which the child originates. I would hope that hospital workers would contact the child's own social services department whenever their involvement is needed.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish the national development team's reports on its visits to long-stay mental subnormality hospitals; and if he will make a statement.

We do not propose to alter the present arrangement whereby the team's reports become the property of the field authorities concerned, who are free to publish all or part of the reports themselves. Health and local authorities invite the team to visit and report on their mental handicap services, and I do not consider that routine publication of the team's reports would be a helpful way of responding to these local initiatives. The development team has published two reports describing its work and its views on how services for the mentally handicapped could be improved. A third report will be published later this year.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what complaints machinery exists for those working in long-stay mental subnormality hospitals; and whether he is satisfied that adequate means exist to safeguard the confidentiality of such complaints.

The primary responsibility for investigating complaints is that of the health authority concerned and its management staff. I regard it as of the greatest importance that staff who are concerned about aspects of patient care should have open to them known avenues for complaints and be assured of appropriate management support and an adequate investigation. Wherever possible confidentiality will be preserved.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services in how many long-stay mental subnormality hospitals there are individual treatment and rehabilitation programmes for every child and adult; and if he will name the hospitals.

I regret that this information is not collected centrally. However, a systematic assessment of the individual needs of each mentally handicapped patient leading to a programme of action designed to help him to make progress was recommended by the national development group for the mentally handicapped in its report "Helping Mentally Handicapped People in Hospital", and this recommendation was endorsed by the Department.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what have been the ratios of psychologists, speech therapists and physiotherapists to the number of under 16-year-olds living in long-stay mental subnormality hospitals during the last three years for which figures are available.

Information about the proportion of their time which staff in these disciplines devote to children under 16 is not collected centrally. The ratios of such staff in mental handicap hospitals to resident patients of all ages for the years 1977–1979 were as follows:

Number of staff employed (whole-time equivalents) per 100 resident patients
	1977	1978	1979
Psychologists	0.29	0.34	0.37
Speech Therapists	0.07	0.08	0.10
Physiotherapists (qualified staff	0.21	0.23	0.27
(helpers, etc)	0.13	0.14	0.17

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many children under 16 years of age living in long-stay mental subnormality hospitals receive six monthly dental check-ups; who gives this treatment; whether it is carried out within or outside the hospital; and if he is satisfied that a sufficient dental services is available.

Information on the frequency of dental check-ups for children living in long-stay mental handicap hospitals is not collected centrally. Health authorities are responsible for providing appropriate dental care for these patients. Treatment is usually given in the hospital by hospital dentists, although where necessary treatment may be arranged elsewhere. I am aware that the report of the Royal Commission on the National Health Service was critical of the level of dental services provided for the mentally handicapped in hospitals; on the other hand, in its second report, covering the period 1978–1979, the development team for the mentally handicapped noted that in all the hospitals it had visited regular dental examination and conservative treatment were available. Arrangements for the provision of dental services for this group of patients falls within the remit of the dental strategy review group, whose report is expected later this summer.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to facilitate the provision of advocacy help to patients in long-stay mental subnormality hospitals in the way already arranged between the Advocacy Alliance and three such hospitals.

I shall follow this development with interest but my present view is that it is for the hospitals and health authorities concerned to decide whether and, if so, on what basis such help should be provided.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the proportion of parental and lay membership to the total membership of the national development team; and whether he is satisfied that the proportion is sufficient.

The panel of members of the development team for the mentally handicapped consists of 82 people and is made up as follows:

Consultant psychiatrists	11
Consultant paediatricians	2
Nurses	20
Psychologists	12
Social workers	16
Speech Therapists	1

Physiotherapists	1
NHS administrators	8
Parents	7

In addition the team has four special advisers who each have a particular area of expertise.Membership is reviewed periodically and I am satisfied with the overall balance and composition of the team.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the progress in negotiations on nurses' pay.

I understand that the Whitley Council is due to meet on Tuesday 9 June. Otherwise, I have nothing to add to my right hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member for Fife, Central (Mr. Hamilton) on 5 May.—[Vol. 4, c. 8–10].

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services which part of his Department is responsible for the design of appliances for the disabled, including surgical boots; and how often these designs are up-dated.

The responsibility for the design of traditional surgical appliances and surgical footwear, in terms of appearance and function, is shared between the prescriber and the contractor supplying the device. This flows from the need for many appliances to be tailored to fit the individual patient and to meet his specific orthopaedic needs. However, compliance with specified British Standards specifications and other specifications prepared by the Department's scientific and technical branch is a requirement of the contracts between the Department and its surgical appliance contractors. Both types of specification mainly relate to features like the use of nominated materials whether metal, leather, fabric or plastics; and, particularly in footwear, certain methods of construction. A few design features are specified because of safety requirements.Where newly developed appliances can be closely specified, the responsibility for design is shared between the developer and the Department's scientific and technical branch.There is no recognised interval for updating designs, and changes are triggered by various events such as changes in methods of treatment and introduction of new materials or methods of manufacture.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make arrangements to liaise closely with the potential importers and domestic manufacturers on the distribution of Home Office approved citizens band radio equipment for the United Kingdom market.

We are satisfied that existing arrangements for consultation with interested parties on matters relating to citizens' band radio are generally adequate; but the actual distribution of equipment which meets our specifications is not a matter for the Home Offices.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department for the last 10 years how many (a) men and (b) women have been imprisoned for default on maintenance payments; what details he has of the periods for which they have been (i) sentenced and (ii) actually in jail; what details he has of the amounts of default for which they have been jailed; and what has been the total cost of their imprisonment to public funds.

Information on the number of receptions of persons committed by magistrates' courts to prison department establishments in England and Wales for non-payment of maintenance or affiliation orders is published annually in "Prison statistics, England and Wales". Table 6.2 of the issue for 1979, Cmnd. 7978, gives the figures for the years 1969 to 1979; figures for 1980 are not yet available. Information about the periods of imprisonment imposed by magistrates' courts on those committed to prison for non-payment of wife maintenance, the arrears involved and the time spent in custody is given in tables 6(a) and 6(b) of Cmnd. 7978. Information on the average cost of maintaining an inmate in custody in the financial year 1979–80 is published in appendix 6 of the "Report on the work of Prison Department 1980"—Cmnd. 8228; average costs are not available separately for different categories of prisoner.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were admitted as immigrants to the United Kingdom on the grounds that they were a spouse or a fianceé of a person resident in the United Kingdom, for each of the last 10 years, broken down by sex and national origin.

Information on admissions for marriage and on acceptances for settlement by reason of marriage of men and women analysed by citizenship/nationality has been published annually since 1975 in the "Control of Immigration: Statistics"—tables 1(a), 1(b), 2(b), 3a) and 3(b) of the issue for 1980, Cmnd. 8199.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons were refused entry to the United Kingdom on the ground that they were going to contract or had contracted a marriage of convenience; and how many were refused permission to settle on the same ground after an initial 12 months' residence for each year since 1977, broken down by sex and national origin.

The information requested is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will publish in the Official Report a resumé of the facts, figures and details as contained in the letter sent to the hon. Member for Newham, North-West by the Minister of State, 21 May 1981 (P. 231319/3(S)) on Mr. N. Patel, particularly the details in paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of this communication.

The information is as follows.The number of staff employed in the immigration and nationality department of the Home Office, excluding staff in the immigration service, of whom there are at present some 1,670, was 1,439 on 1 January 1976; 1,433 on 1 April 1979; 1,421 on 1 April 1980; and 1,385 on 21 May 1981.In each of the last five years, the staff have dealt with over a million items of correspondence—applications, written inquiries etc.—as well as personal and telephone inquiries. All the staff are civil servants and are employed on Civil Service pay and conditions in grades ranging from under-secretary (1) to clerical assistant (386).In the current pay dispute, 248 members of the immigration and nationality department took part in the one-day strike on 9 March—this represents 18 per cent. of the work force—compared with the national figure of just over 50 per cent. of non-industrial civil servants who took industrial action on that day.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, for all the 44 counties of England apart from Greater London and Greater Manchester, he will list the 1981 electorates, wherever possible, of the proposed new constituencies recommended by the Boundary Commission for England, either provisionally or after revision, in its current general review.

I regret that the information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many indictable offences, resulting in injury, involved the use of air rifles or pistols in each year between 1975 and the most recent year for which figures are available.

The information available is published in table 3.6 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1979"—Cmnd. 8098; information is not available separately for different types of air weapon.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the prisons which have special wings or sections set aside for the segregation of prisoners for their own protection, stating in each case the number of cells, the current occupancy and the number of sexual offenders and offenders in other categories among the occupants.

For prisoners segregated under prison rule 43 at their own request, there are special units at Wakefield, Gloucester and Maidstone comprising self-contained wings with 20, 81 and 102 cells respectively. This accommodation is occupied at present as follows:

Offence	Wakefield No.	Gloucester No.	Maidstone No.
Sex related	16	74	93
Others	4	7	9
	20	81	102

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was paid by each London borough in 1980–81 for the services of traffic wardens in controlled parking zones; how much will be payable for 1981–82; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the current agreement between the Metropolitan Police and the London Boroughs Association on this subject.

The amounts paid by London boroughs in 1980–81 and the estimated expenditure for 1981–82, exclusive of VAT, for the services of traffic wardens in controlled parking zones are as follows. A copy of the current agreement has been placed in the Library.

Borough	Amounts paid 1980–81 £	Estimated Expenditure* 1981–82 £
INNER LONDON
Camden	162,050	194,810
Hackney	15,290	16,940
Hammersmith	27,027	33,880
Islington	104,802	127,050
Kensington and Chelsea	346,550	415,030
Lambeth	65,468	76,230
Southwark	38,387	50,820
Tower Hamlets	6,865	8,470
Wandsworth	23,110	25,410
Westminster	530,695	626,780
OUTER LONDON
Brent	9,457	8,470
Greenwich	6,869	8,470
Harrow	14,219	16,940
Havering	3,203	8,470
Merton	14,608	16,940

	Accepted Expenditure (at November 1979 Prices)
Settlement Year	Gwynedd £m	Clwyd £m	Dyfed£m	Powys£m	West Glam. £m	Mid Glam. £m	South Glam. £m	Gwent £m	Total £m
1975–76	8·823	12·971	12·597	7·602	13·077	13·898	12·882	15·855	97·705
1976–77	10·107	15·450	12·759	7·642	12·343	16·655	13·615	13·572	102·143
1977–78	8·373	12·794	12·689	7·373	9·948	14·226	10·706	11·215	87·324
1978–79	9·921	15·652	13·630	8·406	11·057	15·572	11·095	10·883	96·216
1979–80	9·659	13·310	13·592	7·678	9·687	15·953	12·551	13·126	95·556
1980–81	8·453	9·843	11·481	7·295	7·216	13·642	15·933	10·828	84·691
1981–82	7·970	10·150	12·440	6·780	6·940	11·570	14·000	14·650	84·500

	Transport Supplementary Grant (at November 1979 Prices)
Settlement Year	Gwynedd £m	Clwyd £m	Dyfed £m	Powys £m	West Glam. £m	Mid Glam. £m	South Glam. £m	Gwent £m	Total £m
1975–76	1·771	2·750	1·794	1·462	4·469	2·757	3·626	4·101	22·730
1976–77	4·010	5·709	4·552	3·962	3·558	4·299	4·168	3·486	33·744
1977–78	3·650	5·224	5·738	4·305	3·164	4·426	3·510	3·329	33·346
1978–79	4·525	6·925	6·089	4·744	3·818	5·205	3·638	2·999	37·943
1979–80	4·271	5·152	5·949	4·213	2·753	5·258	4·563	4·374	36·533
1980–81	3·608	3·008	4·725	4·015	1·331	4·086	7·216	3·131	31·120
1981–82	3·133	2·944	5·189	3·588	·896	2·290	5·579	5·544	29·163

Borough	Amounts paid 1980–81 £	Estimated Expenditure* 1981–82 £
Redbridge	27,103	33,880
Richmond	14,058	16,940
Sutton	5,246	8,470
Total	1,415,007	1,694,000

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether members of the public will have access to the inquiry into the West Yorkshire police force; and whether they will be able to present evidence to that inquiry.

In carrying out the review of the Yorkshire Ripper investigation, Mr. Byford and the advisory team will, in addition to making their own enquiries, be willing to take account of evidence they may receive from other interested parties.

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in the Official Report figures for each year since 1975–76 showing at November 1979 prices the level of expenditure accepted for grant and transport supplementary grant for all Welsh counties.

The information is as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many dwellings were made available in each London borough to rehouse persons under the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977 during the most recent 12-month period.

Information on the number of council dwellings let to homeless households during the financial year 1979–80 is available from local authorities" HIP submissions for 1981, copies of which are in the Library.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has received any requests for a delay in the production of the inspector's report and his subsequent determination of the West Midland county structure plan to enable further information to be supplied by the local authorities affected.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has invited contractors to submit tenders for work on the proposed test drilling programme in the Cheviot Hills for which Northumberland county council refused planning consent and which is at present the subject of an appeal; and whether he will make a statement.

No. The Department has, as part of its radioactive waste management research programme for 1982–83, invited interested bodies to submit preliminary proposals for a number of research tasks, including waste treatment and oceanographic and geological investigation. Tenders for drilling referred to would only be invited if, and when, planning permission to do so were granted.

£m November 1979 prices
	Greater London		other met counties		shirecounties		England
	accepted	grant	accepted	grant	accepted	grant	accepted	grant
1975–76	433	177	490	173	815	147	1,738	497
1976–77	344	139	456	159	768	154	1,568	452
1977–78	301	135	343	115	569	93	1,213	343
1978–79	268	113	354	126	530	84	1,152	323
1979–80	281	121	332	106	590	110	1,203	337
1980–81	272	120	296	90	557	109	1,125	319
1981–82	285	131	296	92	532	92	1,113	315

The figures for the years before 1980–81 must be treated with great reserve. It is only possible to use generalised revaluation factors, which may differ significantly from the experience of particular classes of authority or the actual pattern of spending. The figures take no account of the effect of cash limits on grant payments in some years.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will advise the adjournment for three months of the public inquiry into the Coin Street sites in view of the support for an adjournment from the elected councils at the inquiry, the Greater London Council, Lambeth and Southwark, and the Association of Waterloo Groups whose planning application he has called in.

My inspector announced on Tuesday 4 June his decision to adjourn this inquiry until Tuesday 8 September.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport how many people held (a) a full and (b) a provisional driving licence in 1980; and what proportion of (1) males and (ii) females who are eligible hold a full driving licence.

Latest figures available are for 1979, published in "Transport Statistics, Great Britain 1969–1979". It is estimated that in 1979 there were 20·5 million full licences and 3·2 million provisional licences held. It is estimated that 67 per cent. of all full licences were held by males and 33 per cent. by females.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish in the Official Report figures for each year since 1975–76 showing at November 1979 prices the levels of expenditure accepted for grant and transport supplementary grant for (a) Greater London, (b) other metropolitan counties, (c) shire counties and (d) England as a whole.

The local transport expenditure accepted for transport supplementary grant purposes and the grant paid for each year since 1975–76 are as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give an estimate of the effect of motorways and other improved roads on accident rates and casualties.

There is no doubt that road improvement and motorway building have helped reduce accident rates and casualties. Motorway accident rates are much lower than accident rates on other roads, but other road-safety measures have also had an effect and the total improvements cannot be apportioned by particular causes. The following figures illustrate improvement since development of the motorway network began:

	1960	1970	1979
Casualties ('000) built-up areas	253	263	240
non built-up areas (including motorways)	95	101	94
all areas	348	363	334
Injury accident rates (per 100 million vehicle kilometres) motorways	33	21	15
other non built-up areas	*	66	50
built-up areas	*	178	142
all areas	242	125	91
(*indicates not available.)

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what is the total taxation paid by road users in 1980–81, including net value added tax on fuel and car sales.

I will answer this question shortly.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has examined the results of the tests carried out for The Sunday Times on the implications of putting young children into adult seat belts; whether he is still satisfied that children should be allowed in the front seats of cars in such restraints; and if he will make a statement.

Yes.I am grateful to

asked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will give for the latest and most convenient stated period of time the actual or estimated amounts of fines imposed for individual Road Traffic Act offences which have not been paid; how long these fines have been outstanding for payment; and to what extent he believes that his new proposals for ticket offences will deal with the problem of offenders refusing to pay their penalties.

I have been asked to reply.The information collected centrally on unpaid fines does not distinguish the offences for which the fines were imposed. The proposals of the interdepartmental working party of road traffic law in its report published on 20 May are concerned with the scope and enforcement of the fixed penalty system, which offers the option of avoiding prosecution. In 1978 in England and Wales there were some 900,000 cases in which fixed penalties amounting to £5,400,000, were not paid. The working party's recommendations on the enforcement of fixed penalties are designed to secure payment in a substantially higher proportion of cases. The Government will decide, in the light of comments received, whether to introduce legislation giving effects to those recommendations.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if, with regard to the sale or purchase of defence equipment, he will publish in the Official Report his definition of an "offset" agreement.

Offset in respect of a defence equipment transaction can be defined as a requirement that the purchasing country should receive, from the selling country, orders for work to compensate for the value of the contract placed overseas. The offset requirement is normally expressed as a minimum proportion of the cost of the overseas contract.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the introduction of Wavell and BATES systems into the Army.

Wavell is an automated command and control system for use in BAOR. Early versions of the equipment are already in service with one division in Germany, on a trial basis. No decision has yet been taken on deployment of the main system. The battlefield artillery target engagement system, known as BATES, is still in an early stage of development. It is intended to complement the new artillery systems such as MLRS and SP70, due to enter service in the second half of the decade.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what funds have been allocated to the Territorial Army associations for the financial year 1981–82.

I am afraid it has not been possible to provide the information in the time available. I shall reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether any contracts have been given to date in respect of carrying out work on the proposed extension of the Coulport missile base for Trident; to whom they have been given; and for what work.

Survey work on the ground is now in progress but otherwise work on the missile depot for Trident has not yet started. We are at the stage of consultation with local authorities.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether development work on a new anti-armour bomb has ceased; how much money has been spent on the development to date; and if he will make a statement.

Yes. The project did not offer a worthwhile increase in effectiveness over existing weapons. Alternative solutions are now being investigated.The money spent has been comparatively small, but the experience gained will be of value in the development of future weapons of this type.