asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much he is proposing to spend on lunch-time supervision in schools during the current year; how this compares with sums spent for comparative purposes in each year since 1955; what he is proposing to spend in 1986–87; and if he will make a statement.

Some nine out of 10 teachers are now refusing to supervise at midday, a duty which they deem to be voluntary, and very few schools are unaffected by the disruption. That disruption hits directly at parents and their children and is virtually cost-free to teachers. I have previously made clear to the House the Government's willingness to set aside extra money from within the envelope of £1,250 million conditionally available for a new pay structure to help the employers with the cost of supervising pupils at midday. The Government have now decided that resources should be made available to support expenditure of up to £10 million in this financial year and £40 million in 1986–87 on new arrangements for midday supervision in England and Wales. Our purpose in making this new money available is to put local education authorities in a position to secure and pay for effective supervision at midday. It will also remove a long-standing grievance of the teachers.To that end my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I intend to lay before the House amending regulations which will enable us to use our powers under the Education (Grants and Awards) Act 1984 to pay education support grants (ESGs) in respect of approved expenditure by local education authorities on provision for the supervision of school pupils at midday. My right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for the Environment and for Wales will be willing to consider sympathetically representations from authorities seeking disregards of such expenditure in 1985–86 approved for ESG for the purposes of calculating the abatement of block grant.The 1984 Act provides that expenditure approved for ESG should not exceed 0·5 per cent. of total planned expenditure on education by local authorities. In 1985–86 expenditure already approved for ESG and planned support for midday supervision will not exceed that figure, but the addition of £40 million to the programmes already approved for 1986–87 would cause it to be exceeded next year. The Government therefore intend to introduce a Bill to raise the limit to 1 per cent. We also intend however, pending the outcome of the present review of local government finance, to keep expenditure approved for ESG in respect of activities other than midday supervision within 0·5 per cent. of the planned total.We shall consult with representatives of the local education authorities as a matter of urgency on the details of the new arrangements. I hope that they will be willing to take acton swiftly in the interests of pupils and their parents.Figures for comparable expenditure in earlier years are not available.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about the future funding arrangements for Harland and Wolff plc.

Following a review of the company's business prospect the Government has decided to make £36·5 million, inclusive of intervention fund payments, available for the continued support of Harland and Wolff plc in the financial year 1985–86.

asked the Paymaster General whether he will make available the results of the Department of Employment consultation exercise on the European Commission's draft directive on parental leave and leave for family reasons; and if he will make a statement.

The results of the consultation exercise have today been placed in the Library of the House. The exercise drew response from a wide range of organisations and individuals and we have noted the views expressed. We believe these matters are best pursued by voluntary negotiations between employers and employees and that legislation of this nature would be damaging to the prospects for jobs.

asked the Paymaster General what response he has had to the proposals concerning deductions from pay that were published in October 1984; and if he will make a statement.

The consultation exercise showed broad support for the central proposals that deductions from pay would be unlawful unless authorised by statute, by the contract of employment or by the written consent of the employee, and that there would be a right of complaint concerning unauthorised deductions to an industrial tribunal.In the case of deductions relating to stock or cash deficiencies the preponderant view amongst those responding favoured a limitation to 10 per cent. of gross pay otherwise due to the employee.Legislation along the lines of these proposals will be introduced shortly.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if copies of the annual report by the Treasury on civil service manpower reductions in 1984–85 will be made available to hon. Members.

Yes. The 1984–85 annual report has been given to the Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee and copies will be placed in the Library of the House.

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he has concluded his review of the Wales advisory board for local authority higher education; and if he will make a statement.

I have now completed the review. The responses which I received to the consultation paper about the future of WAB were overwhelmingly in favour of retaining a central body to plan local authority higher education in Wales. After considering the responses and after further discussions with the parties concerned I have concluded that the Wales advisory board should continue to operate on broadly the same lines as at present. I do not think that there is any need to change its remit or its three-tier structure of committee, board and working groups. I am satisfied that the committee should in the interests of accountability continue to consist of elected local authority members with a Welsh Office Minister as chairman.Since there is only one voluntary college in Wales I have not been convinced that there is a role for the WAB analogous to that of the NAB in England of advising me on the distribution of resources within that sector. However I shall continue to look to the WAB for advice on the distribution of initial teacher training places and other teacher training matters in both the local authority and voluntary sectors. In view of the arrangements for local authority capital allocations which exist in Wales, which have been developed in close consultation with the local authorities, I do not believe it would be appropriate for the WAB to become involved in making judgments on capital expenditure in local authority higher education.The WAB was set up as a joint local and central government body by the Welsh Office, the Welsh counties committee and the Welsh joint education committee. It is important that the WAB should be clearly seen as an independent and impartial source of advice on local authority higher education matters in the Principality. In order that it may fulfil that role I have been convinced that it should have the status of an independent organisation. I am therefore proposing, with the agreement of the WCC and the WJEC, to bring to an end the present arrangements whereby they and the Welsh Office all provide a secretary for the WAB with the executive secretary being provided by the WJEC. In future the WAB will be served by its own independent secretariat and will have only one secretary. However, I do not consider it necessary for the WAB to be given separate corporate status.I am concerned that greater consideration should be given in the WAB to issues which straddle the "binary" line between the public and university sectors. Although a WAB/university liaison panel has been established progress which has so far been achieved in transbinary co-operation falls short of what I would wish to see. I am therefore proposing that in future a member of the UGC should attend the WAB board as an assessor which I believe will help to increase understanding between the sectors. I will want to keep the issue of university representation on the WAB under review to ensure that these arrangements work satisfactorily.I am grateful to the WAB for the valuable advice it has given and I commend in particular the work it is doing to develop a sound basis for the planning of local authority higher education in Wales. There is much more to be done and there are challenging times ahead for higher education. It is important that the WAB is now seen to be established on a secure footing to tackle the problems and opportunities ahead.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to prepare for the privatisation of Rolls-Royce Limited.

The Department announced on 11 July that Samuel Montagu and Co. Ltd. had been appointed to give preliminary advice to the Government on the privatisation of Rolls-Royce Ltd. I have now received its advice and confirm that, subject to market conditions, the Government intend to privatise Rolls-Royce before the end of the present Parliament.Before privatisation it will be necessary for Rolls-Royce to be re-registered as a public limited company. Preparatory to re-registration, Rolls-Royce will apply to the court for confirmation of a reduction of capital under section 135 of the Companies Act 1985. A resolution to reduce the share capital was approved at an extra-ordinary general meeting of the company on 7 November.The proposed reduction of share capital will take the form of a reduction in the nominal value from £1 to 25p of each of the 600,000,000 authorised shares, of which 508,000,000 are issued. This will reduce the nominal value of the issued share capital by £381 million, to £127 million. £372 million of the reduction will be utilised to eliminate the company's deficit on distributable reserves at 31 December 1984. The balance of £9 million will be credited to a non-distributable reserve.At present, Rolls-Royce operates with the backing of assurances, first given by the hon. Member for Woking (Mr. Onslow) on 22 February 1973 and confirmed by successive Governments, that the Government would ensure that the debts of the company would be met in the extremely unlikely event of a liquidation. The Government intend to ensure that on privatisation Rolls-Royce will have an appropriate capital structure for it to operate in the private sector without the need for such Governmnt assurances. I shall make a further announcement about this in due course.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will give details of changes to his Department's cash limits.

The cash limit for class IV, vote 5 will be reduced by £700,000 from £289,674,000 to £288,974,000 to offset an increase on the non-cash limited class IV, vote 19, where additional provision is to be taken, subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, to cover an increase in the fee payable to the British National Oil Corporation and its successor, the Oil and Pipelines Agency, for acting as the Government's agents in the disposal of petroleum taken as royalty in kind. There is therefore no net change in public expenditure arising from that increase.Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the cash limit for class IV, vote 25 (sale of shares in the British Gas Corporation) will be increased by £850,000 from £650,000 to £1,500,000 because of increased preliminary work in connection with the sale. The increase will be charged to the reserve, and so will not increase public expenditure.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether any changes are proposed in the cash limit for the intervention board for agricultural produce.

Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the cash limit for class III, vote 2 will be increased by £1,468,000 from £21,031,000 to £22,499,000 to meet increased administrative costs incurred in supporting agriculture. The increase will be charged to the reserve and will not therefore add to the planning total of public expenditure.