asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the gross weekly income required on 1 November 1984 and 1 March 1985, respectively, to maintain the real disposable income of (y) a single person and (z) a married man with two children under 11 years of age, taking account of payments of tax, national insurance, and 5 per cent. of earnings as superannuation contributions, who on (i) 1 November 1979 and (ii) 1 November 1980 earned (a) £30, (b) £35, (c) £40, (d) £45, (e) £50, (f) £60, (g) £70, (h)£80, (i) £90, (j) £100, (k) £125, (l) £150, (m) £175, (n) £200, (o) £225, (p) £250, (q) £275, (r) £300, (s) £325, (t) £350, (u) £400, (v) £450 and (w) £500.

Information is given in the following tables:

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer by what percentage (a) the retail price index and (b) the tax and prices index rose in the 12-month periods to the beginning of each month since May 1979.

The information requested is given in the following tables:

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the total yield of income tax and of value added tax in the current financial year and in 1979–80.

The following is the information requested:

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the current level of inflation.

Over the 12 months to June 1985, the retail prices index increased by 7 per cent.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the total value added tax revenue raised from sales of the Band Aid record, "Do They Know It's Christmas," in the financial year 1984–85.

It is estimated that the total VAT revenue raised from sales of the record was of the order of three quarters of a million pounds.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the number of customs officers who have been on duty at seaports and airports in each year since 1979 and the number of people who have been caught attempting to smuggle drugs into the United Kingdom at such ports in each single year during the same period.

The number of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise staff deployed on customs work at seaports, airports and inland premises throughout the United Kingdom for each year since 1979 are

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total number of persons who paid income tax in the latest available year in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Great Britain as a whole; and how many were aged 16 or 17 years at the time.

Provisional estimates of the numbers of income tax payers in 1985–86 by country are as follows:

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the number of posts for customs officers which are presently unoccupied; and at which ports these vacancies have yet to be filled.

It is not possible without disproportionate cost to identify the number of individual posts for Customs Officer that have yet to be filled. At 1 July the total number of staff in the Customs and Excise Department was about 200 below the staff in post ceiling of 25,595.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is now able to make a statement about the revision of criteria for the granting of duty-free facilities at airports.

Yes. Following a review by Customs and Excise, I have decided that the following criteria will apply. In order to qualify for a duty-free shop airports must:

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about value added tax treatment of the Live Aid concert at Wembley on 13 July.

While the Government has not been able to accept suggestions that VAT collected on the ticket sales for charitable fund-raising events of this kind should be refunded, I can confirm that it has been possible to allow an exceptional waiver of VAT on four-fifths of the ticket proceeds, amounting to about £190,000. The promoters had intended to sell the tickets for £5, plus a voluntary donation of £20. To escape VAT, such a donation must be genuinely voluntary, and advertised as such. In this case the promoters made a mistake, and the £20 was not advertised as voluntary. VAT should therefore have been due on the full £25 admission charge. However, as a genuine mistake had been made, Customs and Excise, with the authority of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, decided not to insist on the VAT on the donational element of the admission charge. This extra-statutory concession sets no precedent for the future treatment of events of this kind, which will have to comply with the normal rules for donations, that these must be in addition to a realistic admission charge, and be completely at the discretion of the purchaser of the ticket. These are clearly set out in the Customs and Excise VAT leaflet on charities, number 701/1/84.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the maximum level of expenditure in the EEC budget implied by a 1·4 per cent. value-added tax ceiling; and if he will list any similar estimates made by other EEC countries or the EEC Commission.

[pursuant to his reply, 16 July 1985]: We understand that for 1986 the Commission estimate that a 1·4 per cent. value-added tax ceiling would allow expenditure of about 35·8 billion ecu for the Community of 12.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the Government's latest policy on public expenditure on the social, welfare, housing services and the infrastructure.

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

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the total contribution of yields from North sea oil to the United Kingdom's gross domestic product in each financial year since 1979–80.

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

asked the Prime Minister why Her Majesty's Government have not yet signed the protocol committing Canada and 20 European countries to reduce sulphur dioxide pollution by 30 per cent.

I refer the hon. Lady to the answer given on 4 July 1985 by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, the Member for Bristol, West in reply to a question by the Member for Central Suffolk Official Report, column 202.

asked the Secretary of State for Wales how many companies supported by the Welsh Development Agency since 1975 have failed; and what has been the cost to public funds.

Eighty-one of the companies in which the Welsh Development Agency has invested funds since its establishment in January 1976 have subsequently failed. The losses involved amount to just under £8 million.

as asked the Secretary of State for Wales what action was taken by his Department following the grounding of the MV Bridgeness on 16 June.

Central Government responsibility for shipping casualty investigations and for the clearance of oil pollution both at sea and on-shore resulting from civil accidents at sea rests with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport. From the start of the incident our officials have maintained a close liaison with the marine pollution control unit of the Department of Transport, the local authorities whose areas were affected and the Nature Conservancy Council.

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the total expenditure of his Department and the agencies responsible to or sponsored by it, in Wales, for each fiscal year since 1978–79, in 1985 prices.

The following list shows the total public expenditure which falls within my responsibility, for each financial year from 1978–79 to 1984–85. The totals shown have been adjusted to 1984–85 price levels by means of the relevant gross domestic product deflators.

asked the Secretary of State for Wales when he expects to announce awards made to voluntary organisations under the special grants programme announced on 5 March.

I am announcing today that awards totalling £60,000 have been made to seven organisations. The details are as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his latest estimate of

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 14 January at column 19.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has as to the varieties of cabbage trees which are present on St. Helena; what estimate he can make of individual numbers of each variety; and what steps he is taking to ensure the survival and general health of the various varieties.

There are four species of cabbage tree: the black cabbage tree, white cabbage tree, he-cabbage tree and she-cabbage tree. No estimates have been made of the individual numbers of each species, but the first three are quite widely distributed on the central ridge of the island. Efforts to propagate the rarer she-cabbage tree and introduce it into its natural environment are proving successful. A number of legal and practical measures have been taken to protect the endemic flora of St Helena, including cabbage trees. Earlier this year, a development aid allocation was approved for a five-year forestry project, one element of which is concerned with the conservation of endemic flora.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what are his future plans for the relief of the famine in the Horn of Africa.

We plan to spend at least £60 million on famine relief in Africa during the 1985–86 financial year. This will be allocated to countries on the basis of need. Among the countries in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia is likely to continue to be the major recipient. We shall also maintain the capacity within the aid programme to respond to appeals for famine relief from elsewhere.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much aid has been sent to the Horn of Africa as defined by country and per month since June 1984 for the following categories (a) the amount of financial aid, (b) the number of vehicles sent, (c) the number of aircraft sent and (d) the number of personnel sent.

Information on the emergency assistance we have provided to the countries in the Horn of Africa viz Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti, since June 1984 is set out in the following table. This information does not include our share of European Community emergency assistance to these three countries, nor the British response to appeals from international agencies for the famine in Africa, from which these countries are likely to benefit.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on current negotiations about the future of Cyprus.

The United Nations Secretary-General is continuing his efforts to make progress towards a settlement in Cyprus. He has our full and active support.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the progress of negotiations with Argentina on the future of trade relations and other matters.

Our decision to lift our ban on imports from Argentina has given the Argentine Government the opportunity to respond and thereby to open the way to further steps towards normalising bilateral relations. We regret its response has so far not been more constructive, but we still look to it to take practical steps to match our initiative to the benefit of both countries.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government seek to extend the funding of British Council cultural programmes abroad.

We would not wish to anticipate the result of the public expenditure survey which will as usual be made known in my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer's autumn statement, nor the particular decisions my right hon. and learned Friend will take for the programmes for which he is responsible.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what report he has received from Her Majesty's Ambassador in Baghdad regarding the claim by the Palestine Liberation Organisation on Voice of Palestine Radio in 7 July about two terrorist attacks on bus stations near Tel Aviv with loss of life; and whether any message has been conveyed to the Iraqi Government about these incidents.

We are aware of a Palestine Liberation Organisation claim to responsibility for two bomb attacks on 7 July but we have received no confirmation of the incidents or the extent of any casualties. We have riot conveyed any message on this subject to the Iraqi Government.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list in order the seven criminal offences which have led to the greatest number of people in prison; and if he will show the prison population in each case.

The readily available information is published annually in "Prison Statistics, England and Wales" (Tables 1·5, 3·2, 4·1 and 5·1 of the latest issue for 1983, Cmnd. 9363). The 19M issue will be published in the near future.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of (a) men arid (b) women on rule 43 in prisons in the United Kingdom on 30 June.

The number of sentenced prisoners in England and Wales who were segregated under Prison Rule 43 for their own protection or for reasons of good order or discipline as at 31 March 1985 (the latest date for which figures are available) was as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the prisons in the United Kingdom where association does not take place.

In England and Wales, association does not take place at HM prisons Liverpool, Manchester and Wandsworth.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the present position regarding his Department's review of existing pay and sick pay rates being paid to prisoners at present in prisons in the United Kingdom.

The rates of inmate pay in England and Wales are reviewed annually. They are currently under consideration and revised rates of pay are expected to be brought into force on 7 October 1985. A departmental working party is reviewing the earnings systems currently in force, and will report by the end of the year. The earnings rates of prisoners in Scotland and Northern Ireland are the responsibility of my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the number of prisoners who have been sent to outside hospitals for treatment and have escaped from the hospital during each of the last three years.

The numbers of adult prisoners who escaped from outside hospitals to which they had been sent for treatment, either as in-patients or as out-patients, were as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what kind of accommodation is provided by outside hospitals for prisoners sent to them for medical treatment; and if he will make a statement.

This is determined at the time according to the circumstances of the case.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions of individuals for holding street collections in London without a licence during the period March 1984 to March 1985 are now pending before the courts.

The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis tells me that the number of persons summoned under the Street Collections (Metropolitan Police District) Regulations 1979 in respect of alleged unauthorised street collections made between 1 March 1984 and 31 March 1985, whose cases have yet to be dealt with by the courts, is 140.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the introduction of legislation based on the White Paper Cmnd. 9521 entitled "Scientific Experiments on Living Animals" is dependent on the final adoption of the proposed Council of Europe convention for the protection of vertebrate animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes; and if he will make a statement.

The text of the convention was adopted at a meeting of Ministers' deputies on 31 May 1985. The convention will be opened for signature in the early autunm. I intend to introduce legislation based on the White Paper Cmnd. 9521 as soon as Parliamentary time permits; the introduction of such legislation is not directly dependent on the adoption of the convention.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the maximum number of entries in the seen or checked in noteworthy circumstances sub-category of the stolen and suspect vehicle index of the police national computer for each of the months from April 1984 until September 1984.

Statistics of the number of entries in the "seen" category are collected only once a month. For the period requested they are as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will describe the use of the new convictions index held on the police national computer; whether the index will be linked to the criminal names index; what is the projected size of the convictions index, the anticipated access rates and performance of the index; and when the index will be operational.

The convictions file, which will be linked to the criminal names file, is intended to help the police with their operational duties, including the provision of information to the courts. The file is expected to be available to the service in 1987 by which time it is likely to contain details of some 2·5 million convictions recorded since 1981. It is not possible at this stage to provide an accurate estimate of the extent to which the police will use the new facility; response times are expected to be about five seconds.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the number of reported robberies with violence of persons over 60 years for each of the last 10 years and the number of convictions for such robberies for each of the last 10 years.

Information collected centrally on offences of robbery does not include the age of the victim(s) either for those offences recorded by the police or for those offences which were the subject of court proceedings; nor does it distinguish between robberies involving the use of violence and those involving only the threat of violence. The only information collected centrally on the age of victims of robbery relates to those offences in which a firearm was reported to have been used and is given in the following table; corresponding information for earlier years is not available. Information on all offences of robbery recorded by the police and on persons found guilty or cautioned for offences of robbery is published annually in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales" in the volume for 1983, Cmnd. 9349, chapter 2 for offences recorded, chapter 3 for those offences in which firearms were reported to have been used and chapter 5 for persons found guilty or cautioned.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women were being held on remand at the latest available date.

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

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average length of time people are held on remand for non-violent minor offences.

Information is not available centrally on the average time spent on remand for different types of offences. The available information about the average time spent in custody relates to all untried and all convicted unsentenced prisoners and is published annually in "Prison Statistics, England and Wales" (table 2(g) of the latest issue for 1983, Cmnd 9363). Provisional estimates for males in 1984 were published in a Home Office Statistical Bulletin (Issue No. 8/85) on "The Prison Population in 1984".

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the percentage of people who have been sentenced to community service orders and who are later convicted of further crimes; and how this compares with other forms of sentence.

Reconviction rates for those given community service orders, including comparison with reconviction rates for those discharged from custodial sentences, are published in "Reconvictions of Those Given Community Service Orders", Home Office Statistical Bulletin 18/83 (tables 1 and 2 and paragraph 12). Information on reconviction after other types of sentences can be found in "Previous Convictions, Sentence and Reconviction," Home Office Research Study No 53 (in particular figure 3·1). Copies of these publications are in the Library of the House. In comparing reconviction rates, it needs to be remembered that the main factors related to subsequent reconviction (sex, age on conviction, the number of previous convictions and the type of offence) are also likely to have influenced the sentence of the court.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will now list those police forces which have agreed to participate in Brave Defender.

The chief officers of all the police forces in England and Wales have agreed to participate except for Durham.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the number of men who fall within the definition of Commonwealth citizens settled in the United Kingdom in section 1 (5) of the Immigration Act 1971; and how many of these men were born in the United Kingdom.

I will reply as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give, for each of the years 1982, 1983, 1984 and for the first quarter of 1985, the numbers of wives accepted for settlement in the United Kingdom and the numbers refused and the reasons for refusal, together with the nationalities of wives both accepted and refused.

The numbers of wives accepted for settlement in the United Kingdom in 1982, 1983 and 1984 were published by nationality in "Control of Immigration: Statistics, United Kingdom" (Tables 2(a) and (b) and 3(a) and (b) of Cmnd. 8944 for 1982; tables 3 and 4 of Cmnd. 9246 for 1983, and of Cmnd. 9544 for 1984). Corresponding figures for the first quarter of 1985 are given in the following table. The information requested on refusals is not available.

asked Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give for each of the years 1982, 1983 1984 and for the first quarter of 1985, the numbers of applications made by wives for entry clearance for immediate settlement, the numbers granted and refused, the reason for refusal and the nationalities of the wives accepted and refused.

Information on applications for entry clearance received, granted and refused for wives in the Indian sub-continent, analysed by country is given in the following table. Information on nationality, reasons for refusal, and on applications in the rest of the world, is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement about the future of Holloway prison.

The report of the Holloway project committee, which was set up last December under the chairmanship of the director of the south east region. Prison Department, has now been submitted to the Director General of the Prison Service and I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Library and the Vote Office.The project committee's report provides a valuable analysis of Holloway's difficulties. I very much welcome the committee's positive programme for an urgent increase in the prison's remand capacity, the development of its regimes, improvements in management structure, and ways of reviewing staff deployment to ensure that the prisoners get more time in association and more access to Holloway's extensive facilities. I want to see particular progress in the following areas.I have asked for urgent consideration to be given to how Holloway's operating capacity can be increased to 400 as soon as possible, as the committee recommends. A manpower appraisal will be carried out and staff deployment at Holloway will be closely monitored, to ensure the most effective use of resources. The aim must be to provide as positive a regime as possible.The specialist functions consequent on Holloway's role as the major local prison for women in the south-east will remain. These include the capacity to accommodate unsentenced women who are highly disturbed, many of whom will come within the ambit of mental health legislation but for whom a period of assessment in secure conditions may be required. These prisoners are presently accommodated on C1 unit. I accept the committee's view that C1 unit is not currently meeting their needs as well as it should, despite the best efforts of the staff, which I also commend, and that urgent action is needed to rectify its deficiencies. Its physical state is wholly unsatisfactory and its management structure is not clear. I acknowledge the desirability of re-siting C1 unit in purpose-built accommodation in a different part of the establishment and have asked for an urgent assessment of whether this is feasible.But C1 cannot be rebuilt overnight. Immediate steps will be taken to improve conditions on the unit. Particular attention will be paid to improvements to the fabric, the replacement of potentially dangerous fittings, and the provision of more space for association. High priority will be given to improving the regime on CI so that the prisoners there can take full advantage of the specialist training and therapeutic facilities available. The management structure and oversight of the unit will be reviewed. Particularly attention will be paid to the need to improve liaison between the nursing and discipline officer staff, and the need to create an environment conducive to the assessment and treatment of disturbed inmates. For as long as the unit contains both remand prisoners for assessment and difficult sentenced prisoners for special care, its routines must recognise the different requirements of these groups.The rapid throughput of prisoners at Holloway has limited the extent to which the therapeutic unit for women prisoners with drug and other dependency problems has been able to fulfil its role. The unit will, as the committee recommends, be discontinued in its present form. Meanwhile, women with dependency problems who might benefit from a therapeutic regime will continue to be provided with specialist professional care on an individual basis.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress has been made in putting into effect the commitments given in his statement on 14 March, Official Report, columns 451–52, about the report of the committee of inquiry into the education of children from ethnic minority groups; and if he will make a statement.

In the statement I made on the publication of the Swann committee's report, at columns 451–52, I said that the problem of underachievement at school was not confined to children from the ethnic minorities; and that one way in which the Government would try to improve the position of those children would therefore be through measures intended to raise performance generally. In the White Paper "Better Schools", published shortly after the Swann report, a wide range of policy initiatives—on the curriculum, on examinations and in other areas—was described. They will help tackle the obstacles to higher achievement and as they take effect ethnic minority children will share in the benefit. These policies form the background to the more specific steps we have been taking in response to the Swann report, some of which are outlined below.We need improved statistical information in order to monitor and secure progress. I informed the House on 11 July, at columns

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what has been the expenditure on books for

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what data were available to Her Majesty's inspectorate on the basis of which it reported, in paragraph 7 of its report on the effects of local authority expenditure policies on education provision in England in 1984, a statistically significant association between certain levels of resource provision and certain qualities of work; encourage good practice in English language and mother tongue teaching; an HMI conference on the teaching of mother tongues is being held for chief education officers and others in September.Much remains to be done, but I believe that a worthwhile start has been made.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will state (a) the number of teachers, (b) the number of pupils and (c) the number of schools, in 1960, 1970 and 1985 in local education authorities throughout the United Kingdom.

The numbers of maintained schools, pupils and teachers in England in the years 1960, 1970 and 1984 are:schools by Hertfordshire county council in each of the last five years in terms of