asked the Attorney-General (1) why the Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to institute criminal proceedings arising out of the allegations made by a Cumbrian county councillor of attempted bribery and corruption in connection with land for private housing development contained in the Cartmel and Furness local plan prepared by the planning department of the South Lakeland district council;(2) if he will place in the Library a transcript of the tape recording arranged by the Barrow-in-Furness division of the Cumbria county constabulary and submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions relating to a meeting and conversation with a Cumbrian county councillor during which there was an alleged attempt at bribery and corruption in connection with land for private housing development contained in the Cartmel and Furness local plan;(3) if he will place in the Library copies of the statements taken by the Cumbrian county constabulary from the chief planning officer and a member of staff on the South Lakeland district council relating to allegations of bribery and corruption concerning the Cartmel and Furness local plan and submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The Director of Public Prosecutions did not institute criminal proceedings arising out of these allegations because he considered that the evidence did not justify a prosecution. When the Director of Public Prosecutions has reached a decision not to institute criminal proceedings in a particular case it is not his policy to give his reasons or to make the evidence available upon which he reached that decision.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to impose a 50 per cent, levy on soccer transfers; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has no plans to impose such a levy.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the number of staff-in-post in central Government Departments at 1 April.

At 1 April 1985 there were 599,026 staff-in-post — 497,967 non-industrials and 101,059 industrials the number of civil servants has fallen by 133,249, or 18·2 per cent., since the beginning of the last Parliament.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about the Inland Revenue’s plans for reorganisation of tax offices in the charge of principal inspectors of taxes.

An Inland Revenue committee completed last year a review of these offices, which handle much specialised work and deal with the tax liabilities of the largest financial, commercial and industrial concerns. The Board of Inland Revenue has approved the committee’s recommendations, the main feature of which is the centralisation of the files for companies in those large groups in a tax district headed by a principal inspector of taxes. In all, around 12,000 files will be centralised, mostly within the central London area. The movement, of files will begin shortly and should be substantially completed by March 1986.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the study of the business expansion scheme, commissioned by the Treasury and undertaken by Peat, Marwick and Mitchell.

[pursuant to his reply, 3 June 1985]: I intend to publish results from this study in due course. Messrs. Peat, Marwick and Mitchell is due to submit its final report by end October of this year.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the categories of companies benefiting from the business expansion scheme in 1983–84 and 1984–85; and if he will give the number of companies in each category.

[pursuant to his reply, 3 June 1985]: It is estimated that at least £100 million was invested under the business expansion scheme in 1983–84 in more than 500 companies. Detailed information is currently available about 397 of these companies. The table analyses them into broad trade group. It is too early to provide similar information about 1984–85 investments.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish an analysis in the Official Report of the average rate of tax relieved by the deductions under the business expansion scheme.

[pursuant to his reply, 3 June 1985]: The average rate of tax relief for investments under the business expansion scheme in 1983–84 was about 50 per cent. Figures are not yet available for 1984–85. An analysis of marginal tax rates of BES investors in 1983–84 is as follows:

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in theOfficial Report annexes (1), (2), (3), (5), (6) and (7) to the letter sent by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise to the European Commission on 28 December 1977 concerning derogations under article 27(5) of the sixth Council directive on the harmonisation of turnover taxes.

[pursuant to his reply, 3 June 1985]: In view of their length, I have placed them in the Library and am sending copies to the hon. Member.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing for each principal careers office the number of job vacancies at the latest available date.

The following table shows the number of unfilled vacancies at careers offices in Great Britain as at 3 May 1985.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the percentage increase in unemployment over the past 10 years in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) the European Economic Community countries as a whole and (c) the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries as a whole.

The following information is available in the Library.

asked the Secretary of State for employment if he will list each of the Government-aided schemes aimed at reducing unemployment and the estimated cost of each for the financial year 1984–85; how much will be spent by way of the Manpower Services Commission for job creation, training schemes, the young worker schemes and other special measures designed to help young people; and what is the total amount of public money to be made available to reduce unemployment and create training opportunities.

The table shows expected expenditure (excluding administration costs) on each of the schemes funded by my Department or the Manpower Services Commission designed to promote and preserve employment opportunities or encourage training, including schemes for young people.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment, whether any changes will be made to the cash limits for his Department's Votes.

Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the cash limit for Class IV, Vote 12 will be increased by £140,000,000 from £725,950,000 to £865,950,000. This is to provide for the expansion of the community programme from 130,000 to 230,000places by June 1986, as announced in the Chancellor's Budget statement on 19 March. The increase will be an addition to the public expenditure planning total.A supplementary Estimate will also be presented for approval to increase the cash limit for Class Iv, Vote 14 by £573,000 from £13,741,000 to £14,314,000. This is to cover the costs of the work research unit, which was transferred to ACAS on 1 May 1985. Subject to parliamentary approval of a revised Estimate there will be a corresponding reduction of £573,000 from£249,260,000 to £248,687,000 in the cash limit for Class IV, Vote 16.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether local results are available from the Manpower Services Commission's survey of leavers from the youth training scheme.

The Manpower Services Commission conducts a regular survey of young people who have left the youth training scheme. Questionnaires are sent to a 15 per cent, sample of leavers in each month some three months after they leave the scheme.The survey provides national results each month and regional results each quarter. Local results relate to the areas covered by each of the commission's training division's 55 area offices. This is the smallest geographical area for which the survey can provide results.The first area results cover leavers between July-September 1984. I have arranged for them to be placed in the library. The next set of area results will cover the period October 1984 to March 1985. This is because a 15 per cent, sample of leavers for the next three-month period (October — December 1984) is not large enough to provide reliable area results.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether decisions have been reached on the skillcentre closures proposed in the Skillcentre Training Agency's business plan set out in MSC 84/66; and if he will make a statement.

On 21 February I informed the House in an oral statement that I had asked the Manpower Services Commission to implement the agency's proposals as set out in its business plan. I asked the chairman to make quite sure in doing so that when any closures were involved they should not take place until satisfactory alternative provisions had been identified. I also asked for the fullest consultation to take place with the staff and trade unions, with particular regard to negotiating new working practices designed to help the overall efficiency of the network and avoiding compulsory redundancies wherever possible.