asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list for each travel-to-work area the percentage of unemployment in May 1979 and October 1982, respectively.

The following table gives the percentage rates for registered unemployed—old basis—at May 1979 and October 1982 in the areas specified. It also gives the rates for unemployed claimants—new basis—at October 1982, but the difference between the two methods would not be of the same proportions in other months.

	May 1979	October 1982*	October 1982†
South East
Alton	2·5	7·4	5·2
Andover	2·6	8·9	7·6
Ashford (Kent)	3·9	13·0	11·5
Aylesbury	2·2	7·6	7·5
Banbury	4·5	12·2	11·2
Basingstoke	2·9	7·8	7·3
Buckingham	2·2	8·2	7·6
Clacton-on-Sea	8·4	20·0	19·5
Colchester	4·4	11·6	11·5
Cranbrook	4·5	9·4	8·2
Dover	4·2	9·3	8·2
Harwich	3·5	10·8	10·3
Lymington	4·9	11·7	8·9
Margate	91	20·5	18·6
Milton Keynes	5·9	16·5	15·2
Newbury	3·6	9·2	7·7
Sheerness	8·1	19·2	17·4
Stevenage	3·4	12·4	11·5
‡Aldershot	2·4	9·0	8·3
‡Bedford	3·1	9·7	9·1
‡Braintree	3·4	10·9	9·3
‡Brighton	5·7	12·6	11·7
‡Canterbury	4·8	12·4	11·8
‡Chatham	5·6	16·7	15·7
‡Chelmsford	2·9	9·0	6·6
‡Chichester	3·8	9·6	9·3
‡Crawley	2·0	6·8	5·9
‡Eastbourne	3·7	9·8	9·1
‡Greater London	3·5	10·3	9·2
‡Guildford	2·1	7·0	5·8
‡Harlow	30	10·6	9·6
‡Hastings	5·8	14·5	13·3
‡Hertford	1·8	6·4	5·3
‡High Wycombe	1·9	7·3	6·4
‡Hitchin	2·6	9·9	8·6
‡Luton	4·0	13·6	12·1
‡Maidstone	2·9	8·6	7·1
‡Newport (IOW)	5·2	14·6	14·0
‡Oxford	3·8	8·5	7·7
‡Portsmouth	4·9	12·7	12·2
‡Ramsgate	7·1	15·1	14·4
‡Reading	2·5	8·6	7·3
‡Slough	1·9	7·5	7·0
‡Southampton	3·6	9·8	8·7
‡Southend-on-Sea	5·6	15·9	15·2
‡St. Albans	1·8	6·4	6·0
‡Tunbridge Wells	2·6	7·8	7·6

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will ensure that no changes to the grant support payments made to the plant breeding station at Aberystwyth which could jeopardise its future.

The Welsh plant breeding station is funded by the Agricultural Research Council and the level of support to all its establishments is entirely the ARC's responsibility.The ARC must be allowed to determine its own priorities within its own financial limits, and we would not seek to influence its decisions. I understand in fact that the WPBS provisional grant for 1983–84 shows a small increase on that for the current year.

asked the Secretary of State for Wales what audit work is undertaken by his Department to check the authenticity of declarations made by consultants in Wales that they do not receive more than 10 per cent. of their full salary from private work.

At the end of each financial year whole-time consultants are required to submit a return to their employing authorities indicating that their gross annual income from private practice has not exceeded the 10 per cent. limit in that year. Exceptionally, an employing authority may call for and expect to receive fully audited accounts if they consider that they have grounds for seeking fuller information. The 10 per cent. limit does not apply to part-time consultants.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the tax expenditure savings, and by how much tax thresholds could be raised if (a) the allowances could be set against standard rate tax only, (b) all the other exemptions and allowances detailed at table 5.13 of Cmnd. 7841 were abolished and (c) child benefit were made reckonable for tax.

With respect to (b), I regret that an estimate of the combined yield from abolition of all reliefs and allowances is not available. The information in respect of the other items is as follows:

	Full year saving at 1982–83	Cost equivalent increase in tax thresholds:
	income levels	Single allowance	Married man's allowance
	£ million	£	£
(a) Set main personal allowances against basic rate only	325	30	50
(c) Tax child benefit	1,000	90	150

The threshold increases corresponding to a given yield have been calculated on the assumption that all the main personal allowances—including the aged income limit—would be raised by the same percentage, whilst the higher rate thresholds remained the same.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the loss of tax revenue caused by illegal betting; and whether this practice is increasing.

I shall let the hon. Member have a reply as soon as possible.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to publish the new draft clauses on the capital gains and corporation tax treatment of foreign-based subsidiary companies of British-based parent companies; and if he will list the organisations he has consulted on this subject.

I shall let my hon. Friend have a reply as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he now expects the Royal Opera Company to perform at the Palace theatre, Manchester, in 1983; and if he will make a statement.

I understand that discussions on ways of meeting the estimated deficit on this tour are continuing between representatives of the Arts Council, the Royal Opera House, Greater Manchester council and the Palace theatre, Manchester.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many local education authorities have kept a selective system for secondary education.

In January 1982, the latest date for which information is available, there were 36 local education authorities in England which had maintained secondary modern or secondary grammar schools.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, pursuant to his reply of 11 November, Official Report, c. 231, when he intends to announce decisions on the recommendations of the review group on the youth service; and if he will make a statement.

As my right hon. Friend indicated, he believes that it would be premature to reach conclusions on many recommendations in the review group's report before the public has had time to react to them. However, he has decided that it would be of benefit to the youth service to proceed now with two recommendations.First, as recommended in chapter 8 of the report, he is establishing a review of the national youth bureau, and has invited Mr. G. F. Cockerill CB to conduct it. Mr. Cockerill has accepted this invitation, and is now discussing his detailed terms of reference with the Department. It is intended that they should be drawn sufficiently widely to enable him to make recommendations concerning not only the remit and management of the bureau, but also the need to avoid unnecessary duplication of activities carried out by the bureau and other agencies which attract Government funding. Furthermore, my right hon. Friend is concerned that the review should be able to take into account the wider institutional arrangements at a national level recommended by the review group elsewhere in chapter 8 of its report, in order that the functions and organisation of the bureau can be effectively integrated into whatever wider national institutional arrangements my right hon. Friend may in due course determine. Mr. Cockerill has been invited to submit his recommendations next summer, and my right hon. Friend would expect to implement his decisions on them before the end of next year. He is therefore glad to take this opportunity to announce that his hon. Friend the Member of Nelson and Colne (Mr. Lee) has agreed to continue as chairman of the council of the national youth bureau at least until then.My right hon. Friend also welcomes the support which the review group gives in chapter 9 of its report to the initiative by the Department and others concerned to secure better arrangements for the professional endorsement of initial training courses for youth workers. The Department is therefore writing today to the in-service training and education panel asking it to take on responsibility also for the professional endorsement of initial training courses, in line with the memorandum of understanding agreed between the Department and the joint negotiating committee for youth workers and community centre wardens. The panel will be reconstituted as the council for education and training in youth and community work, and my right hon. Friend welcomes the agreement of Professor Walter James CBE to continue as chairman of the reconstituted body. Funds amounting to some £120,000 a year will be allocated by the Department and Welsh Office for the work of the council. For administrative purposes, it will continue to operate for the time being under the auspices of the national youth bureau, but its relationship with the bureau and with any new wider institutional arrangements on which my right hon. Friend may decide in due course will form part of Mr. Cockerill's review.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement about future arrangements for the operation of the further education curriculum review and development unit.

As from 1 January 1983 the further education curriculum review and development unit will be a company limited by guarantee, and will change its name to the further education unit—FEU. It will soon thereafter be granted charitable status. This change, together with an increase in funding, is in recognition of the increasingly important role of the unit as a focal point in the process of further education curriculum development, particularly in the area of provision for the 16 to 19 age group.Although the terms of reference and method of working will remain essentially the same, the change in legal status will mean that the FEU company will become the employer of its staff and will also assume responsibility for accommodation and other services. My right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Education and Science and for Wales will continue to fund the unit's operations, and my right hon. Friend, after consultation with his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales, will appoint the chairman and members of the board of management and will have the right to advise on work priorities. The FEU has decided for the immediate future to continue to reside in DES premises at Elizabeth House and will pay for accommodation and services on a full-cost basis.

asked the Lord President of the Council when he expects the new institution created by the amalgamation of the New University of Ulster and the Ulster Polytechnic to receive a Royal charter; and to what extent the charter will guarantee the continuation of the existing work of the polytechnic.

I cannot yet say when a Royal charter for the new institution will be proposed, and its detailed content cannot be anticipated, but there is no reason in principle why such a charter should not make provision for as wide a range of work as is currently undertaken by the Ulster Polytechnic.

asked the Lord President of the Council what progress the Privy Council has made towards granting a Royal charter to the University of Buckingham; and what organisations he has consulted in this matter.

The terms of the draft Royal charter for the proposed University of Buckingham are still being considered by the Privy Council and a decision is expected soon. The organisations consulted by my Department were the Association of University Teachers, the trade union side of the Central Council for Non-Teaching Staffs in Universities and the National Union of Students. Representations have also been received from the Council for National Academic Awards and the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom.

asked the Lord President of the Council if he will publish in the Official Report the criteria adopted by the Privy Council when considering the granting of a Royal charter to a new university institution.

The Privy Council relies principally on the advice of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science, who will be particularly concerned with academic excellence, the safeguarding of standards and the role of the institution in relation to the total provision for university education.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the main components of the European Economic Community budget expenditure on the common agricultural policy; how much in £ sterling was spent under each heading in the latest year for which figures are available; and what is the budgeted expenditure for the current year.

The following table analyses expenditure on the common agricultural policy in 1981 and sets out the comparable budget appropriations for 1982:

£ million*
	1981 expenditure	1982 budget appropiations
Export refunds	2,750	2,657
Internal disposal subsidies	1,387	1,546
Public intervention buying	708	624
Private storage aids	308	417
Other guarantee section (including production subsidies and co-responsibilities levies)	918	1,325
Monetary compensatory amounts	133	216
Clearance of accounts	-90	—
Guarantee section total	6,114	6,785
Guidance section (policy on agricultural structures)	321	408
Grand total	6,435	7,193
Sources:
1981 outturn figures derived from EC Commission financial reports.
1982 budget figures derived from the draft EC supplementary and amending budget No. 1 but excluding appropriations carried over from 1981.
* Conversion rates for £/ecu as follows:
1981 Guarantee: £1=1·80 (FEOGA report).
1982 Guidance: £1=1·81 (Eurostat).
1982 Guarantee: £1=1·82 (Commission budget rates).
1982 Guidance: £1=1·91 (Commission budget rates).

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he Will make a statement on the lactalbumin levy.

This matter remains under consideration by the European Commission which has not as yet made any firm proposals to amend the present system of basing the lactalbumin import levy on the levy applied to eggs in shell.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what subsidies are paid to those engaged in agriculture in other EEC countries by their own Governments.

The Commission is responsible for compiling data on such aids and for monitoring them

	Percentage by which European Community entry pricess exceeds minimum offer price*as at 1 December
	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982
Common wheat	106	91	61	35	49	68
Barley	97	139	56	21	54	83
Maize	88	109	86	49	88	83
White sugar	164	217	75	†—	87	149
Beef and veal	103	112	89	96	99	116
Pigmeat	55	57	37	36	25	40
Butter	269	308	341	156	65	64
Skimmed milk powder	378	370	212	80	70	80
Notes:
* European Community entry prices as at 1 December for each year are defined as follows: Common wheat, barley; maize, butter, skimmed milk

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will take steps to provide, notwithstanding any European Economic Community regulations, the right for wine and spirits produced in Scotland to be sold with labelling in the Gaelic language only.