asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many proposals for sixth form and tertiary colleges he has approved; and how many he has turned down since May 1979.

Up until the end of September, 39 proposals involving the establishment of sixth form or tertiary colleges have been decided by my right hon. Friend. Of these, 26 proposals, involving the establishment of 21 sixth form and 15 tertiary colleges, were approved, and 13 proposals, involving the establishment of eight sixth form and seven tertiary colleges, were rejected.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will give help to local education authorities in whose schools rolls are rising.

The Government take into account changes in pupil numbers in making their plans for education expenditure, but it is for local education authorities to decide on the resources to be made available to individual schools.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will reintroduce the system of specific grants from central Government to allow proportionately greater help to be given to local education authorities in deprived areas.

Local authorities in many deprived areas already receive special assistance through grants under the urban programme and section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he is satisfied with the standards of education in Liverpool schools.

There is considerable scope for improving standards.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many specialist careers teachers are employed in England and Wales in 1983–84; and what were the comparable figures for 1979–80.

The Department does not collect information about careers teaching in schools on a regular basis. The latest information is from a survey of secondary school staffing in 1977 when it is estimated that some 7,700 teachers were taking careers lessons in maintained secondary schools. Another survey is planned for early next year.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what further steps he will take to raise the standards in schools which have been criticised by Her Majesty's inspectors.

Action following a report on a maintained school by Her Majesty's inspectors is, in the first instance, a matter for the local education authority and governing body concerned. The procedures I have introduced for the publication of such reports include arrangements for systematic follow-up by the Department of each report so that I am informed of actions taken and proposed.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has as to the effects of expenditure policies on music provision in English schools.

LEAs must reach their own decisions on the detailed distribution of their expenditure. The Government considers, however, that music should have a secure place among the arts in the school curriculum, and the information available to my right hon. Friend suggests that this position is being sustained in the great majority of schools.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on current facilities provided at the Liverpool institute high school for boys.

Liverpool institute high school for boys is a county school maintained by Liverpool education authority which is responsible for its resourcing. The school's facilities are considered in Her Majesty's Inspectorate's report of 19 July. I am awaiting the authority's response to that report.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he is satisfied with the level of nursery provision in England.

Progress is being made to the extent the country can afford. Provisional statistics for January 1983 indicate that there has again been an increase—by some 12,000 — in the numbers of children in nursery education.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, for the latest available year, what is the breakdown of net education expenditure between (a) nursery and primary, (b) secondary, (c) university and (d) other further continuing and adult education.

For the financial year 1981–82, the latest year for which outturn figures are available, the breakdown of current and capital expenditure on education — excluding school transport, school meals and milk and student mandatory awards—was as follows:

	Current expenditure £ million	Capital expenditure £ million
(a) nursery and primary schools	2,499	300
(b) Secondary Schools	3,306
(c) universities	1,036	119
(d) other further education, adult education and the youth service	1,548	95

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he next expects to meet representatives of the Manpower Services Commission to discuss the educational aspects of its programme.

I have frequent informal meetings with the chairman of the commission, and officials of the Department are in regular contact with the officials of the commission about the educational aspects of all its programmes.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will take steps to provide appropriate education for the long-term unemployed.

Responsibility for making provision to meet the educational needs of the long-term unemployed rests largely with the local education authorities and much useful work is already being undertaken in this field. The Department is actively considering how the further development of such provision may best be encouraged.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he is satisfied that adequate arrangements are being made by his Department to enable unemployed people to take advantage of the concession which permits them to study for up to 21 hours whilst drawing benefit; and if he will make a statement.

I agree that those unemployed who wish to study while seeking work should be able to take advantage of available opportunities. As the hon. Lady is aware, the Department last year invited all local education authorities to consider their further education provision for unemployed people under the 21 hours concession, and commissioned Youthaid to examine the use made of the concession. I am considering with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services whether any further action is needed in the light of Youthaid's interim findings.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the proposals for sixth-form reorganisation in Blackburn from the Lancashire county council.

My right hon. Friend will announce his decision at the earliest practicable date.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the change in the total number of overseas students enrolled in further and higher education between 1978–79 and the latest available figures.

It is estimated that between 1978–79 and 1982–83 the number of overseas students in further and higher education in Great Britain fell by 30,000, a change of 35 per cent.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will seek to amend the Education Act 1944 so that local education authorities are no longer obliged to charge for voluntary music tuition.

As I said in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Woking (Mr. Onslow) on 22 July—[Vol. 46, c. 246] — we have made it clear that the Government have no plans to amend the relevant provisions of the Education Act 1944, and that we hope that local education authorities and schools will make use of the ways open to them within the law of sustaining instrumental music tuition in our schools.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will now give consideration to ending the compulsory funding of student unions and their sabbatical officers from local authority funds.

A student union exists by virtue of a provision in the constitution of the institution itself, primarily to represent and foster the interests of the student body so as to further the educational purposes of the institution. The institution decides what funds it will allocate from its total resources to the union, taking such account of the union's own administrative structure as it thinks fit.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many teachers, who successfully qualified in summer 1983 from colleges, have found permanent employment with a local education authority.

The information is not yet available.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what has been the level of United Kingdom Government support for European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) particle physics projects in each of the past three years.

Publicly funded support for research in particle physics is provided by the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) from its grant-in-aid from the science budget and by universities from their grants for teaching and research. The amount of the latter cannot be identified in isolation, but is relatively small.The support provided by the SERC in each of the past three years is shown in the table at current prices. Line 1 comprises the council's expenditure on research grants direct to universities and on supporting their experimental programmes through the council's Rutherford Appleton laboratory. These figures are estimates derived from slightly larger figures for SERC's whole domestic particle physics programme, about 90 per cent. of which relates to research work on the CERN facilities. Line 2 shows the United Kingdom contribution to the CERN budget in sterling. This contribution is paid by SERC. The sterling cost is dependent on the exchange rates as the level of contribution is fixed in Swiss francs, hence line 3 shows the same figures expressed in Swiss francs.

	1980–81	1981–82	1982–83
1. Domestic CERN-related programme £million	11·53	12·51	13·56
2. CERN contribution £million	22·38	22·47	26·56
3. CERN contribution millions of Swiss francs	89·97	86·17	90·43
4. Total £million	33·91	34·98	40·12

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will take steps to pay students who choose to stay at school after the official leaving age the same salary as those on youth training schemes.

I have no such plans.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he proposes to amend the terms of reference of the University Grants Committee to reflect the changes in the arrangements under which the committee advises the Department of Education, Northern Ireland, on the funding and development of the Northern Ireland universities, which were announced by the hon. Member for Chelsea (Mr. Scott) on 25 March 1983, Official Report, c. 499–500.

My right hon. Friend has amended the terms of reference of the University Grants Committee.They are now as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will set out in the Official Report the responsibilities of the Ministers in his Department.

I have overall responsibility for all matters relevant to my Department. The division of responsibilities among my departmental Ministers is as follows:

• Minister of State (Mr. Morrison)
• Strategic employment issues
• Manpower Services Commission
• Training (YTS, ITBs, TOPS)
• Community programme
• Careers service
• Employment services; employment agencies
• Labour market research
• Minister of State (Mr. Gummer)
• Industrial relations: Trade Union Bill; employee rights; employee participation
• International matters
• Financial and staff management in the Department
• Dock labour
• Redundancy payments
• Job satisfaction
• Health and Safety Commission
• Pay; wages councils; holidays
• Under-Secretary of State (Mr. Clark)
• Unemployment benefit; social security issues affecting employment
• Political activities of trade unions; Trade Union Bill(with Mr.Gummer)
• DE special measures
• New firms; enterprise allowance
• Disabled people
• Race relations in employment
• Women's employment issues
• Work permits
• Statistics
• Local and regional employment issues

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many juveniles are currently held in Her Majesty's prisons; and if he will give a breakdown of their ages and the locations of the prisons involved.

The latest information readily available is given in the following table:

Population* aged under 17 of prisons and remand centres in England and Wales on 31 August 1983: by establishment and age of prisoner
Establishment	Age of prisoner
	14	15	16
Bedford	—	—	1
Birmingham	—	1	10
Bristol	—	—	1
Brixton	—	—	2
Brockhill remand centre	—	4	12
Canterbury	—	—	1
Chelmsford remand centre	—	—	1
Durham	—	—	1
Exeter remand centre	—	—	2
Glen Parva remand centre	—	2	4
Holloway	—	—	1
Latchmere House remand centre	—	6	38
Leeds	—	1	—
Leicester	—	—	1
Liverpool	—	1	17
Low Newton remand centre	—	10	11
Manchester	—	7	26
Manchester remand centre	—	1	3
Norwich remand centre	—	1	3
Pucklechurch remand centre	—	—	3
Reading	—	—	1
Risley remand centre	—	2	9
Shrewsbury	—	—	2
Swansea remand centre	—	—	2
Thorpe Arch	—	11	21
Total	—	47	173
*The figures are those recorded centrally and are approximate; detailed checking of individual cases would involve disproportionate cost.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what was the total number of discretionary special grants completed by local authorities to owners of houses in multiple occupation in the financial years 1979–80 to 1980–81 for each region of his Department in England; and what was the total cost of discretionary special grants completed in each region for those years;

Special Grants*: England
	1979–80		1980–81		1981–82			1982–83 (Provisional)
	All grants		All Grants†		All grants		Mandatory grants†	All grants		Mandatory grants
Region	£000	Number	£000	Number	£000	Number	Number	£000	Number	Number
North	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	100	30	25
Yorkshire and Humberside	2	5	7	5	127	55	50	138	70	30
East Midlands	5	15	19	15	32	20	10	164	60	40
East Anglia	2	5	—	—	8	5	5	27	15	10
South East London	21	70	32	55	549	325	240	1,832	715	560
Rest of South East	20	25	34	35	256	180	120	745	320	230
South West	2	5	2	5	50	30	20	279	125	105
West Midlands	—	—	—	—	107	40	20	185	100	75
North West	3	5	3	5	31	5	—	368	100	55
England	55	125	99	120	1,167	660	470	3,837	1,525	1,130

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the recent official visit of the Minister for Housing and Construction to Liverpool.

I last visited Merseyside on 23 and 24 August. In Liverpool I visited the Canning street conservation area, and Princes boulevard, the Anglican cathedral precinct site, and the refurbished Minster court.In Sefton I visited a new inner city housing scheme, at Cherrymead, and the community refurbishment scheme at Marsh lane. I also visited Stockbridge village estate in Knowsley, and met the chairman of the trust. During part of the visit I was accompanied by the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mr. Parry).

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what further progress there has been in the development of his proposal to give secure tenants a right to repair.

On 7 October, my Department issued a consultation paper inviting views on the possible content of regulations to give effect to the right to repair for secure tenants as proposed under clause 23 of the Housing and Building Control Bill, which is now before a Committee of the House. Copies of the consultation paper, which are in the Library of the House, were sent to representatives

The available information is as follows:of the public sector landlords, including the local authority associations, as well as to organisations representing other housing interests.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people are estimated to live in dwellings lacking basic sanitary amenities.

The 1981 census showed that 1·1 million people of the 45·1 million enumerated residents of private households in England lived in dwellings lacking a bath or an inside WC.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many households are estimated to be living in overcrowded conditions at the most recent date for which figures are available; and how this compares with May 1979.

In England the 1981 census showed 557,000 households living in permanent buildings at densities of more than 1 person per room compared with 930,000 in 1971. No information is available for 1979.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many households are on council house waiting lists.

The Department does not collect statistics of households on council house waiting lists.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many households are officially recognised as being homeless.

There are no figures for the number of households who are homeless at any time. The available figures are for households who become homeless or who are threatened with homelessness in a particular period, for whom local authorities have accepted responsibility for securing accommodation. These figures for England are published half yearly. Copies are in the House of Commons Library.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many housing starts there were in the public sector in each month of 1982 and up to September in 1983.

Figures for April to August 1983 appear in table 2 of my Department's housebuilding press notice—No. 413—released on 4 October, and those for January 1982 to March 1983 in "Housing and Construction Statistics", part 1, issues 10 to 14. Copies are available in the Library.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many households are living in shared accommodation.

The 1981 census showed 227,000 households in England living in non-self-contained accommodation.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many construction workers from the United Kingdom at the latest available date have been recruited for the £215 million Falklands airport contract; how many more workers are likely to be recruited; what are their terms and conditions of employment; and if he will make a statement.

The Laing-Mowlem-Amey Roadstone Construction joint venture had recruited 166 workers as at 20 October; some 1,200 more workers are likely to be recruited during the course of the project; although the precise terms and conditions of employment are a commercial matter for the joint venture, I am satisfied that they are generally fair and reasonable.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he plans to publish a report on the British aid programme; and if he will make a statement.

Following recommendations by the Foreign Affairs Committee (Second Report, Session 1981–82, HC-330), and annual review of the British aid programme, covering calendar year 1982, will be published tomorrow. ^* Copies are being placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many sequestrations there have been in Dundee in each year since 1976.

The figures are as follows:

Number of sequestrations in Dundee
	Number
1976	2
1977	5
1978	1
1979	1
1980	5
1981	2
1982	12

Included are cases relating to persons with businesses in Dundee but living outside.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he has reviewed the proposals to increase the monetary limits in the Consumer Credit Act 1974; and if he will make a statement.

I have reviewed the proposals which were announced on 20 July 1982 and 15 April 1983. I now propose to increase from £30 to £100 the lower limit under section 75 of the Act, which provides that joint and several liability of supplier and creditor does not attach to items unless their cash price is above that limit. This will reflect more closely the movement in money values since the £30 limit was set. It will also go some way towards removing from the ambit of section 75 those transactions where the credit card is a convenient substitute for cash and which the provision was not intended to cover.I propose also that this new limit, along with the previously announced increases in the limits for "small agreements" under section 17(1) and fees chargeable under sections 155(1) and 158(1) of the Act, will come into operation on 1 January 1984. The other changes in monetary limits and their operative date remain as previously announced.I have made an order to bring into operation those limits which do not require affirmative resolution. I shall lay before Parliament very shortly a draft order to implement those increases which require an affirmative resolution of each House of Parliament.I shall take an early opportunity to lay regulations amending from £30 to £50 the limits in the Advertisements and Quotations Regulations. These changes will also take effect on 1 January 1984.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he will publish a draft of the licence to be granted to British Telecommunications.

I have today made available in the Vote Office copies of the draft licence that I will issue to British Telecommunications when the Telecommunications Bill comes into force. Copies have also been given today to Standing Committee A which is considering the Telecommunications Bill.

asked the Prime Minister is she will list her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will state her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister what are her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 25 October.

asked the Prime Minister whether she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 25 October.

This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House I shall be having further meetings later today.

asked the Prime Minister if she will pay an official visit to Bootle.

I have at present no plans to do SO.

asked the Prime Minister what is Her Majesty's Government's policy on the family.

asked the Prime Minister what is Her Majesty's Government's policy on the family.

Our objectives are to give individuals and their families more choice and more freedom to exercise responsibility, to raise their standard of living and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the welfare services.

asked the Prime Minister which Ministers accompanied her on her recent official visit to the Netherlands and West Germany.

I was not accompanied by any Minister during my visits to the Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany.

asked the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on the recent meeting with members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.

As part of the continuing process of consultation on the question of Hong Kong's future, I met the governor of Hong Kong and the unofficial members of Hong Kong's Executive Council in London on 7 October. We had a valuable exchange of views and there was complete understanding on the issues involved.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate for the latest available year (a) the proceeds of taxes administered by the commissioners of Customs and Excise attributed to Northern Ireland in absolute terms and expressed as a percentage, of total United Kingdom figures and (b) proceeds of taxes administered by the commissioners of Inland Revenue attributed to Northern Ireland in absolute terms and as a percentage of the total United Kingdom figure.

(a) About £700 million in 1982–83, representing some 2½ per cent. of all Customs and Excise revenue.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will break down the taxes administered by the commissioners of Inland Revenue by category such as income tax and value added tax for (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the United Kingdom.

Net receipts for 1982–83 with a provisional estimate of the attribution to Northern Ireland are as follows:

£ million
	(a) Northern Ireland	(b) United Kingdom
Income Tax	610	30,474
Surtax	—	2
Corporation Tax	100	5,564
Capital Gains Tax	6	632
Development Land Tax	—	65
Estate Duty	—	12
Capital Transfer Tax	9	499
Stamp Duties	5	873

Gross Running Costs—1981–82
Outturn
	Wages and Salaries		Personnel Overheads		Accommodation Costs		Office Services		Other Services		Total Running Costs
Department
	£ million	Percentage of total running costs	£ million	Percentage of total running costs	£ million	Percentage of total running costs	£ million	Percentage of total running costs	£ million	Percentage of total running costs	£ million
Ministry of Defence (including Armed Forces)	5,444·4	73·5	430·8	5·8	1,245·8	16·8	154·6	2·1	131·0	1·8	7,406·6
Foreign and Commonwealth Office	167·9	57·6	23·6	8·1	58·3	20·0	21·4	7·3	20·5	7·0	291·6

	(a) Northern Ireland	(b) United Kingdom
Petroleum Revenue Tax	59	3,274
Supplementary Petroleum Duty	43	2,395
- Less than £1 million.

Net receipts of value added tax, which is collected by the commissioners of Customs and Excise, in 1982–83 were £13,815·5 million, of which approximately £340 million was borne by residents of Northern Ireland.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures are being taken to improve control of the running costs of Government Departments; and what are the latest figures available broken clown by Department, wages and salaries, personnel overheads, accommodation costs, office services and other services.

The following table shows that, if allowance is made for additional expenditure caused by the Falklands conflict, the trend is towards a lower rate of increase in the running costs of Government Departments.

	Percentage increase
	1979–8O to 1980–81	1980–81 to 1981–82	1981–82 to 1982–83
Running costs	19·2	11·5	9·4
			(7·6 excluding MOD)
Inflation (GDP deflator)	17·7	10·3	7·1

Comparison between 1981–82 and 1982–83 is complicated by factors outside Departments' control: the decrease in the national insurance surcharge, an increased notional allowance for pensions, and changes in the basis of accommodation costs. Correcting for these factors reduces the figure of 7·6 per cent. to about 7·3 per cent.Running costs tend to increase steadily unless a determined effort is made to check them. Ministers are therefore taking a personal interest in the costs of their Departments and this is supplemented by an annual service-wide scrutiny carried out by the Treasury. This scrutiny has revealed a wide range of many individually small but useful improvements which have helped to contain the growth of expenditure.The following tables show outturn for 1981–82 and forecast outturn for 1982–83 for each Department. The figures for the Ministry of Defence cover military and civilian running costs which cannot be separated with precision and for 1982–83 include additional expenditure due to the Falklands conflict.