asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the Official Report for each year since 1979–80, with estimates for 1982–83, the level of spending for (a) trunk road construction, (b) trunk road maintenance, (c) local road construction and (d) local road maintenance (i) as budgeted in the relevant expenditure White Paper and (ii) acutal outturn, giving for each year the percentage under or overspend.

As the public expenditure White Papers for the years 1979–80 to 1981–82 show the planned expenditure at prices relating to the November prior to the Estimate year, the cash budgets given in the table below relate in the case of motorways and trunk roads to the sums voted each year by Parliament, and in the case of local authority roads and transport to the amounts that local authorities may spend, with my consent, on capital projects in each year; all expenditure figures are therefore on a comparable cash basis.

		1979–80	1980–81	1981–82	1982–83
Motorways and trunk roads
New construction and improvements:
Cash budget	£ million	64·0	75·9	92·7	90·4
Actual expenditure	£ million	68·0	72·2	72·3	n/a
Under/Overspend	Percentage	+6·2	-4·9	-22·0	—
Maintenance:
Cash buget	£ million	15·4	14·5	24·5	24·7
Actual expenditure	£ million	15·1	17·7	29·8	n/a
Under/Overspend	Percentage	-1·9	+22·1	+21·6	—
Local authority roads and transport
Capital Expenditure:
Cash budget*†	£ million	102·6	112·2	140·6	131·3
Actual expenditure †	£ million	‡102·0	‡96·2	≑l22·9	n/a
Under/Overspend	Percentage	-0·6	-14·3	-12·6	—
Actual expenditure ¶	£ million	62·8	61·3	≑84·1	n/a
Maintenance:
Actual expenditure ● ▀	£ million	63·3	80·1	≑100·0	n/a
* Total consents available (to incur capital expenditure) for allocation to local authorities under Section 94 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
† Includes public transport—not split between roads and transport.
‡ Audited full year figures.
≑ Provisional.
¶ New construction and improvement of roads.
● Maintenance of roads.
▀ Cash budget figures are not available on the same basis.
n/a Not yet available.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he proposes, in view of the unemployment situation in the Aberdeenshire, East constituency, to alleviate the critical position in the indigenous industries in particular.

We propose to continue with our efforts to reduce inflation, which helps all sectors, and with our extensive range of incentives that are available in areas such as East Aberdeenshire, and include tax incentives and schemes to back innovation in product development. In addition, the SDA provides support to small firms with a range of financial, technical and marketing services. Assistance is also available under section 8 of the Industry Act 1972 for major investment projects.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he has any plans to extend the employment transfer scheme to cover those who terminate a fixed term contract.

A person who completes or voluntarily terminates a fixed term contract of employment is not eligible for assistance under the Manpower Services Commission transfer schemes for any interview or job offered during the first six months after completion or termination of the contract. There are no plans to change this rule. If my hon. Friend has any specific case in mind, I would be glad to look into the details if he would care to write to me about it.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether the youth training schemes' one-year guarantee applies to all statutory school leavers and those of 17 years who have left school but have no job; or whether a system of preference is to operate in areas where place shortages occur; and if he will make a statement.

All minimum age school leavers who are unemployed will be guaranteed an early offer of a place on the youth training scheme. Seventeen-year-olds who become unemployed in their first year after leaving school will be able to participate, but the offer of a place cannot be guaranteed at this stage in their case. The Manpower Services Commission will be issuing guidance shortly on priorities for filling places among different groups of young people eligible to join the scheme.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will arrange for an exhibition relating to low pay to be displayed in the Upper Waiting Hall.

I understand that the low pay unit's exhibition on low pay was commissioned by the Greater London council as part of its campaign on low pay in London. I do not regard expenditure on such campaigns as an appropriate use of public money and am not prepared to sponsor it.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the average cost to public funds of the creation of a new industrial job.

It is not possible to make any sensible estimate of the average cost to public funds of the creation of a new industrial job. Many new industrial jobs come into being independently of public expenditure. Others come into being as the direct or indirect consequence of public expenditure, which, however, may have other indirect effects upon competitiveness, and hence upon jobs; and yet others are the indirect consequence of reductions in public expenditure. Estimation for any of these cases would require so many uncertain assumptions that the result would have no meaning.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he is proposing to carry out a review of the hotel and catering industry training board as he indicated in his statement to the House of 16 November 1981.

Following discussions with the main employer organisations concerned, I have asked the Manpower Services Commission to undertake a formal review of future arrangements in sectors currently in scope to the hotel and catering industry training board.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions civilians have been wounded by (a) the police and (b) the armed services, respectively, in Great Britain in each of the past 20 years; and on how many occasions such civilians died.

I am arranging for the relevant information to be collated, and I shall write to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has received any requests to increase the level of police establishment in Bedfordshire.

My right hon. Friend has not received any request for a further increase in the authorised establishment of Bedfordshire constabulary since he approved an increase of five posts in August 1982.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any special arrangements have been made to deal with radioactive materials landing in the United Kingdom from outer space.

Contingency plans for dealing with the consequences of any radioactive debris are set out in Home Office circular No. ES 5/1979. A copy is in the Library.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is satisfied with the control of illegal importation of narcotics into the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.

No one can be satisfied as long as this pernicious trade exists. However, a total defence against importations of narcotics is unachievable; and the maximum possible degree of defence could only be achieved by way of a massive increase in the level of control. This would be unacceptable not only in terms of cost but also because of the impact on the freedom of movement of passengers and the flow of trade. Bearing in mind these constraints, I am satisfied that Her Majesty Customs and Excise are taking effective measures to counter this trade; and this is supported by their continuing success in detecting offences. The Government will keep the position under review and will take whatever further measures are necessary.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the additional income from income tax for 1982–83 including investment income surcharge if income above £25,000 were charged to tax at 85 per cent. in addition to investment income surcharge.

Assuming the increased rates produced no behavioural changes, the additional revenue due in a full year at 1982–83 income levels would be £530 million.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the sum by which revenue from income tax, including investment income surcharge, would have been reduced for 1982–83 if income above £25,300 per year were taxed at 50 per cent.

The fall in revenue due in a full year at 1982–83 income levels would be £170 million. This is on the assumption that the rate of tax on taxable income above £25,300 would be 50 per cent., exclusive of the investment income surcharge, which would continue to be charged at 15 per cent. on investment income above the exemption limit.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will resist any move to allow the European Assembly to supervise expenditure in the United Kingdom incurred as part of the European Community budget refund.

I do not foresee that such a move is likely to be made. Responsibility for verifying that the provisions of the relevant Community regulation have been met lies with the Commission and the Court of Auditors.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the economic forecasts have been revised to take account of the 10 per cent. fall in the exchange rate and the two percentage points change in interest rates; and if he will publish in the Official Report tables revising the figures in the last Red Book to take account only of these changes.

A new forecast will be published with my right hon. and learned Friend's Budget proposals on 15 March.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table indicating the estimated proportional relationship in percentage terms between the single man's personal tax allowance and his average industrial wage for the current tax year; and how this compares with the same relationship for each year since 1945.

The following table shows the income tax threshold for a single man expressed as a percentage of average manual earnings for 1945–46 to 1948–49 and for 1981–82 and 1982–83. Figures for intervening years are given in appendix C on page 104 of "Inland Revenue Statistics 1982", a copy of which is available in the Library.

	Single persons
Tax year	Threshold at current prices	Threshold as percentage of average manual earnings
	£	per cent.
1945–46	90	28·6
1946–47	129	41·1
1947–48	137	41·2
1948–49	144	40·1
1981–82	1,375	20·6
1982–83	1,565	21·5*
* Provisional.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Hazel Grove on 24 January, Official Report, c. 285, what will be the share of the general arrangement to borrow of each of the other participants.

The information is as follows:

Shares in GAB Commitments for G-10 Countries and Switzerland
	per cent.
United States	25·00
Germany	14·00
Japan	12·50
France	10·00
United Kingdom	10·00
Italy	6·50
Canada	5·25
Netherlands	5·00
Belgium	3·50
Sweden	2·25
Switzerland	6·00
Total	100·00

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement on the outcome of the Budget Council held on 26 January.

The Budget Council met on 26 January in Brussels to continue the discussion of the Commission's proposals for a 1983 supplementary and amending budget, started in the Foreign Affairs Council on 24–25 January and reported to the House on 26 January—[c. 470.] I represented the United Kingdom.The Council met a delegation from the European Parliament led by Mr. Dankert. The preliminary draft was then examined in detail. The Council asked the President of the Council to clarify certain points with the European Parliament's budgets committee, which met yesterday. A further Budget Council may be held next week to establish a draft budget.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of schedule D tax collectable in the year then current had actually been received on 14 January in each of the four years 1980 to 1983 inclusive for each of the 15 management regions of the Inland Revenue in the United Kingdom.

[pursuant to his reply, 20 January, c. 181.]: The percentages of schedule D, etc, tax collectible by local collection offices in the accounting year now current which had actually been paid by 14 January 1983 are shown in the table below, together with equivalent information at the corresponding dates in 1980 to 1982.These percentages do not take account of tax collectible from taxpayers in the regions, which was due to be paid to the two accounts offices at Cumbernauld and Shipley. The regional breakdown of this tax is not available.In considering the relevance of these statistics it should be borne in mind that they show only the initial response to the demand for payment of the tax.

Regional Area	Accounting year to
	October 1983	October 1982	October 1981	October 1980
	per cent.	per cent.	per cent.	per cent.
North London	46	50	55	45
East London	42	44	41	35
South London	47	42	79	76
West London	39	39	50	51
North	51	52	53	35
South Yorkshire	70	60	68	34
Eastern Counties	46	50	47	42
South East	41	45	52	32
South West	None due	44	57	57
West Midlands	45	47	56	59
Greater Manchester	43	37	38	37
North West	43	37	46	47
Wales	49	49	57	50
Scotland	25	44	57	35
Northern Ireland	33	34	35	51

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether steps have been taken by Her Majesty's Government, in allowing the sale of arms to Indonesia, to ensure that such arms would he used in self-defence by the regime of that country as required by article 51 of the United Nations charter.

When permitting the sale of arms to Indonesia, as to other countries, we pay close attention to the likelihood that they will be used in accordance with article 51 of the United Nations charter.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 19 January,Official Report, c. 148, whether any of the leaflets entitled "The Nuclear Debate" published by his Department have been supplied to Conservative central office or to branches of the Conservative party.

Samples of the leaflet were sent to four political parties in September 1982. Conservative Central Office later requested a bulk order and smaller quantities were ordered by Conservative constituency associations. These copies represent a small proportion of the total distribution.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what is the average length of time it takes to issue a British passport to an Egyptian-born husband of a British national resident in the United Kingdom.

The average time now being taken to process passport applications which are in order is about a week. An Egyptian-born husband of a British national resident in the United Kingdom would not have acquired British nationality automatically through marriage and would thus not be eligible to have a British passport unless and until he had become naturalised.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish in the Official Report the details of the restricted diplomatic immunities enjoyed by Warrant Officer Klue, formerly staff member of the South African embassy; and if he will list the names of all administrative and technical staff in the embassy covered by similar restricted immunity.

Under the provisions of articles 31 and 37 of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, which are scheduled to the Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964, members of the administrative and technical staff of diplomatic missions enjoy immunity from criminal jurisdiction. They also enjoy immunity from civil and administrative jurisdiction for acts performed in the course of their duties.The names of the administrative and technical staffs of diplomatic missions are provided on the understanding that they are not for publication. I regret therefore that I cannot provide the further information sought.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will publish in the Official Report details of the diplomatic status of Members of the European Assembly when in the United Kingdom; and whether any representations have been made to him or proceedings are outstanding on this matter.

This matter is governed by article 10 of the protocol on the privileges and immunities of the European Communities. This provides that during sessions of the European Parliament, the members shall enjoy:

(a) in the territory of their own member state, the immunities accorded to members of their own Parliament; and

(b) in the territory of any other member state, the immunity from any measure of detention and from legal proceedings.

asked the Prime Minister, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Hazel Grove on 20 January, Official Report, c. 175–76, what were the principal duties within the diplomatic service to which the 44 civil servants from the Home Office and the seven civil servants from the Department of Employment have been loaned since May 1979.

The 44 civil servants from the Home Office have all been employed in immigration and visa work in diplomatic service posts overseas, 39 of them dealing with entry clearance work in the Indian Subcontinent. Of the seven civil servants from the Department of Employment, five have worked as labour attaches in posts overseas and two have been employed in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office—one as overseas labour adviser and one in news department.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of those children under five years of age who are cared for by registered child minders in Northern Ireland are receiving free milk; and how many child minders this involves.

On 25 January 1983, 303 such children were registered for the supply of free milk. One hundered an fifty-five child minders were involved.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on how many occasions civilians have been wounded by (a) the Royal Ulster Constabulary and (b) the armed forces, respectively, in Northern Ireland in each of the last 20 years; and on how many occasions such civilians died.

This information is not readily available in the form requested. However, the following table shows the number of deaths arising from action by the security forces during incidents connected with the security situation in Northern Ireland since August 1969.

Year	Security forces involved
	Army	UDR	RUC
*1969	2	—	5
1970	5	—	—
1971	42	—	1
1972	62	1	3
1973	26	2	3
1974	13	—	—

asked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what estimates he obtained in advance of their appointment from R. Travers Morgan and Partners and Peat Marwick Mitchell for their consultancy services to the Serpell committee;(2) which consultant firms were asked to tender for work in connection with the Serpell committee.

I shall answer these questions shortly.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport which trunk road schemes have been advanced in 1982–83 as a result of the favourable weather and rapid progress of work by contractors.

The following schemes have been completed earlier than expected.

Early completions 1982–83
		Mileage	Completion: months ahead of schedule
A339	Kingsclere BP	1·2	4
A47	Uppingham BP	1·5	9
A66	Troutbeck Div.	1·7	10
A6	Elstow BP	1·2	4
A17	Heckington BP	2·8	7
A428	Dorchester BP	2·2	2
A47	Blofield BP	1·0	4
A17	W. of Kings Lynn—CC	6·8	5
M54	Donnington Sec.	4·3	7
M25	Yeoveney-Airport Spur	2·0	5
A66	Bowes Bypass	4·0	4
		28·7

These schemes enable through traffic to bypass 11 more communities earlier than anticipated.A further 10 schemes due for completion in 1983–84, totalling over 25 miles, are also running ahead of schedule.This additional output on the trunk road programme will not increase total public expenditure. As I announced in answer to a question from the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North, (Mr. Forrester) on 27 January—[Vol. 35, c. 496.]—the Supplementary Estimate I am seeking to cover this and increased output elsewhere in the programme, will be charged to the Contingency Reserve.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether Mr. Ed Berman will continue to be his special adviser on encouraging voluntary activities in inner city areas; what progress Mr. Berman has made so far; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Berman has agreed to continue as my special adviser on inner city matters with special, though not exclusive, reference to the voluntary sector. He has made good progress in setting up a number of projects and has met and held discussions with a large number of groups and individuals.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is satisfied with the operation of enterprise zones; and if he will make a statement.

We are satisfied with the operation of the zones to date but are continuing to keep a close eye on their progress. I see no need to make a statement at this time.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for each of the past three years the number of meetings (a) of each English water authority and (b) of committees and sub-committees of each such authority to which the public has had a statutory right of access in whole or in part under the provisions of the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960.

The figures are as follows.

(a) meetings of water authorities
	1980	1981	1982
Anglian	4	5	6
Northumbrian	8	8	9
North-West	5	6	6
Severn-Trent	4	5	5
South West	7	6	7
Southern	8	8	4
Thames	6	7	5
Wessex	6	7	7
Yorkshire	6	6	6

(b) meetings of committees*
	1980	1981	1982
Anglian	62	61	60
Northumbrian	17	17	13
North West	57	51	42
Severn-Trent	28	27	28
South West	40	37	28
Southern	48	54	43
Thames	48	46	46
Wessex	56	60	64
Yorkshire	29	28	27
* The provisions of the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960 apply to all meetings of water authorities and their committees but not to sub-committees.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Newham, North-West on 17 January, Official Report, c. 79, if he will give the reasons why he will not advise the National Water Council to recommence negotiations or consider offering to those workers the same terms of settlement as they made to the chairman and top paid executives of the nationalised industries.

No.

asked the Minister for Trade if he will introduce further measures to protect the video tape distribution industry from copyright abuse.

As my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State said during last Friday's Second Reading of the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, introduced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, West (Sir John Eden), the Government support the Bill's increase of penalties against video and record piracy, and accept the need for police powers of search and seizure in relation to such piracy. These measures will provide significantly greater protection to all sectors of the legitimate video industry, including the distributors.

asked the Minister for Trade what progress has been made towards revision of the Consumer Safety Act 1978 with regard to the inspection and testing of imported consumer goods.

I hope before long to give the House my proposals for improving the effectiveness of the consumer safety legislation, including its application to imported goods.

asked the Minister for Trade if he will introduce measures to ensure that holding companies should be responsible for the debts of their subsidiaries.

I am examining the case for measures of this kind as part of my study of the report of the Insolvency Law Review committee.

asked the Minister for Trade whether he will make available to hon. Members in a convenient form the recommendations of the Cork committee.

I have placed a digest of the recommendations of the report in the Library.

asked the Minister for Trade if he will make a statement following his meeting about the needs of the shipping industry with the Radio and Electronic Officers Union on 26 January.

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

asked the Minister for Trade if he will seek to require the minimum percentage content of British manufacture to be prominently displayed on all manufactured goods offered for sale in the United Kingdom.

That would present considerable practical difficulties. But the origin marking order has substantially extended the range of origin information available to consumers, and I am keeping its operation under careful review.

asked the Minister for Trade how many companies went into liquidation during 1982; and what were the comparable figures for 1979, 1980 and 1981.

The figures are as follows:

Company liquidations* in England and Wales
Year	Number
1979	4,537
1980	6,890
1981	8,596
1982	12,039
* Compulsory plus creditors' voluntary—the two types which arise from insolvency.

asked the Minister for Trade in respect of which countries licences for the export of electric shock equipment have been refused during the last two years.

[pursuant to his reply, 24 January 1983, c. 266]: It has been the practice of successive Governments not to disclose details of export licences. I can, however, assure the hon. Member that the Government would not grant a licence for such equipment where, in their judgment, the items concerned were likely to be used for internal repression.

asked the Minister for Trade if the figures for cotton and allied textile imports, broken down by country of origin, are yet available for 1982.

[pursuant to his reply, 27 January 1983, c. 486]: No: the statistics of overseas trade are at present available only up to November 1982. Full information for 1982 is not expected before the middle of February.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what recent representations he has received regarding drug abuse in Hertfordshire; and if he will make a statement.

I have recently received a letter from the chairman of the Hertfordshire standing conference on drugs misuse, about the urgency and scale of the drug misuse problem. In my reply, today, I referred to my recent announcement that, as an initial response to the report^* from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs I am making £2 million available in 1983–84. This will enable projects for the treatment and rehabilitation of drug misuse, which have the support of local and health authorities, to be brought forward. The guidelines and application forms for this grants scheme are expected to be issued to health and local authorities and voluntary organisations next month.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to improve the co-ordination of the medical diagnostic services available to neonates to improve the present low figures in some areas of the United Kingdom with regard to the early diagnosis of congenital hip disease.

Advice given by the Standing Medical Advisory Committee in 1969, which has been widely circulated, emphasises the importance of screening in the early neonatal period for congenital dislocation of the hip, and of treatment before the age of three months. Early diagnosis is crucial if handicapping conditions are to be avoided, and continued vigilance by health professionals is plainly required. I am not, however, aware of evidence that there are problems in the co-ordination of medical diagnostic services for the early detection of this disorder.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, in view of the potential reduction in the incidence of neural tube defects in babies which could be achieved, he will estimate the cost of prescribing 5 mg of folic acid daily to all women throughout pregnancy and to women contemplating becoming pregnant.

As it has not been established that folic acid taken daily in the quantity suggested would be beneficial, there would be no point in estimating the cost.

Registrar General's population estimates for England and Wales
	Males		Females
	Number (000)	As percentage of population	Number (000)	As percentage of population
mid-1945
Retired*	1,851	4·34	3,682	8·64
Aged 80 and over	198	0·46	361	0·85
mid-1962
Retired*	2,125	4·56	4,828	10·35
Aged 80 and over	298	0·64	631	1·35
mid-1981
Retired*	2,978	6·00	6,001	12·10
Aged 80 and over	387	0·78	1,015	2·05
* Males aged 65 and over; females aged 60 and over.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the distribution of (a) consultant rheumatologists and (b) senior registrars in rheumatology throughout England; if he will express the numbers in

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what plans he has to abolish the household duties test.

There are no such plans at present.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many doctors are employed by the National Health Service; and how many vacancies exist for doctors.

At 30 September 1982, excluding locum appointments, there were 36,633^* doctors in permanent post in the hospital service and 6,516^* in the community services in England and Wales. Figures of vacancies for doctors are not generally available, but at 30 September 1982 there were 1,227^* consultant and senior registrar posts without a permanent holder, of which 370^* were fully or partly filled by locums.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the number of pensioners in the London borough of Islington entitled to supplementary benefit who do not draw it.

It is not possible to make estimates of the rate of take-up of supplementary benefit for individual constituencies.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he can give the total figures and the proportions of the population they represent for the number of males and females (a) of retiring age and over and (b) of 80 years of age and over in the latest year for which figures are available, for 1962 and 1945.

The information requested is as follows:terms of whole time equivalents per 1,000 population in each of the health regions; what are the reasons for the differences; and what action is being taken to reduce disparities.

Figures covering rheumatology and rehabilitation are set out as follows.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the savings to the National Health Service if generic drugs were prescribed whenever a suitable generic drug could replace a particular branded drug.

If all prescriptions in England in 1981 had been written and dispensed using generic names whenever possible, the saving to the NHS would have been £23 million. Prices for generic drugs fell during 1982 and although figures are not yet available, the potential saving would now be higher.This figure of £23 million does not represent the actual saving that would be achieved, because manufacturers do not set the prices of individual drugs in isolation. They adopt a pricing policy for their entire range and if sales of a particular branded product declined, there could well be an increase in the price of some other drug for which there was no generic equivalent.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Berwick and East Lothian dated 21 October 1982 about the consequences of the reduced caller office services of his Department in East Lothian.

I am writing to the hon. Member.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, pursuant to his reply of 24 January, Official Report, c. 298, he will set out the 1981 bed occupancy

The average daily number of beds occupied expressed as a percentage of the average daily number of beds available in the medical and surgical specialties for each hospital in Greenwich health district was as follows in 1981:

Hospital	Medical Per cent.	Surgical Per cent.
Greenwich District	80	71
Brook General	83	82
Memorial	—	—
St. Nicholas'	—	60
Goldie Leigh	—	—
British Hospital for Mothers and Babies	—	—
Dreadnought Seamen's	71	71

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to his reply on 24 January, Official Report, c. 291 how the information derived from the medical fields of recruitment work is being replaced; and what methods will be used to assess the pressure on medical posts in National Health Service hospitals that are being advertised.

Much of the information previously derived from the medical fields of recruitment exercise can be estimated from data available from the annual hospital census. We shall also continue to monitor the number of consultant advertisements and to collect information on the previous employment of those appointed as senior registrars and consultants. This should enable us to continue to assess the balance of supply and demand for trained doctors in individual specialties.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will announce the charge which will be payable for a prescription from 1 April.

The prescription charge will be increased from £1·30 to £1·40 from 1 April 1983. The new charge is the minimum needed to take account of the increase in the cost of the pharmaceutical services. The annual and four-monthly rates for pre-payment certificates will raise proportionately from £20 and £7 to £21·50 and £7·50 respectively at the same time.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence, since the Nugent committee report in 1971–1973, what further discussions have taken place about Gruinard Island, NG ref. 9494, with a view to ascertaining how far it is still contaminated with anthrax; and if he will estimate the cost and effectiveness of de-contamination.

As I told the House on 26 July 1982—[Vol. 28, c. 390]—the likely duration of contamination, methods of decontamination, their potential effectiveness and their cost remain under careful review. Field trials of a number of potential decontaminants took place on Gruinard Island last July and August. Preliminary results and laboratory tests have shown that decontamination should be possible, but further study, including the techniques to be used and of any possible ecological effects, is needed. Further field trials will be undertaken this year.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many serving officers there are at present of two-star rank and above in the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force, respectively; how many civil servants of equivalent rank are attached to each service; and what were the comparable figures in 1973.

The information is as follows:

	1973	1983
Service officers*
Royal Navy	67	61
Royal Marines	5	5
Army	103	91
Royal Air Force	80	60
Civilian officers
MOD (except Royal ordnance factories)	123	94

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give the defence budget figures at 1982–83 constant costing prices for the volume of the outturn in terms of underspend or overspend as compared with the original estimates.

The following table gives the difference, in forecast average 1982–83 prices, between the "volume" of the original Estimates provision and the "volume" of final outturn of the defence budget each year since 1964–65:

Year	£m 1982–83 Prices
1964–65	-1003
1965–66	-1154
1966–67	-516
1967–68	-242
1968–69	-670
1969–70	-762
1970–71	+39
1971–72	+457
1972–73	-17
1973–74	-949
1974–75	-408
1975–76	-144
1976–77	-440
1977–78	-301
1978–79	-301
1979–80	-316
1980–81	-89
1981–82	-84

Note: Before the change to public expenditure planning in cash, volume was the term conventionally used to describe inputs to expenditure programmes expressed on the price basis of the relevant public expenditure survey.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many home improvement grants have been approved by each local authority so far in 1982–83.

The figures from the returns from local authorities showing the number of improvement, repairs and intermediate grants approved in the first half of 1982–83 are set out in the following table. Where no figures are shown, a return has still to be received.