asked the Attorney-General whether the Director of Public Prosecutions has yet made a decision about the alleged abuses of the police national computer by an alleged homosexual ring operating within the Force; and if he will make a statement.

No decision has yet been taken about the case to which the hon. Member refers.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on procedures for following up Monopolies and Mergers Commission reports on the nationalised industries.

In order that MMC studies of nationalised industries are effective, proper follow up is necessary. The Government have reviewed existing arrangements with a view to ensuring that procedures are adequate in this regard.The primary responsibility for considering the recommendations of an MMC report, and for taking the action on them which is judged appropriate, lies with the board of the industry concerned. At present, an industry normally gives its initial response to an MMC report within three to four months of publication. This is followed by a further statement on progress after 12 months explaining the action taken and the results achieved. In practice within this framework, response times have to take account of the differing circumstances of industries and the differing scope of individual MMC reports.Having reviewed the present arrangements, the Government have concluded that, in general, they work well. However, there is some scope for improvement in three regards. First, the existing procedures should be revised as necessary to ensure that they operate as intended. Second, where an agreed programme of follow-up action extends over longer than 12 months, a reporting gap exists at present, and this should be filled. Third, to ensure that follow-up action is not only taken but is seen to be taken, the industries' progress statements should be given some form of publicity.The Government have therefore agreed with the nationalised industries' chairmen's group, the following strengthening of existing arrangements:

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if copies of the annual report by the Treasury on Civil Service manpower reductions in 1985–86 will be made available to hon. Members.

Yes. The 1985–86 annual report has been given to the Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee and copies will be placed in the Library of the House of Commons.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will review matters relating to the law affecting banking services.

The Banking Bill, which is published today, is designed to provide the statutory basis for the important regulatory improvements which were identified in the White paper "Banking Supervision" in December 1985 (Cmnd. 9695). It overhauls and reinforces the system of banking supervision enacted in the Banking Act 1979. The Government have also this year modernised the regulatory framework of building societies (the Building Societies Act 1986) and fundamentally recast the law relating to securities and investments (the Financial Services Act 1986). Together these measures represent a comprehensive reform of the law relating to the protection of depositors and investors.Banks and their customers are also affected by the body of statute law and precedent which is not concerned with prudential supervision but which governs the mechanics of banking, such as the Bankers' Books Evidence Act 1879, the Bills of Exchange Act 1882 and the Cheques Act 1957. The law should provide the necessary legal framework for the provision of banking services on fair and efficient terms. Generally, United Kingdom banking law has stood up well to the test of time. But the nature of banking has changed beyond recognition since the main statutes were drafted. In its White Paper the Government accepted the case for one amendment to remove a possible constraint on EFT-POS transactions by debit card. However, it would be valuable to have a full and coherent review of the law relating to banking mechanisms and practices, taking into account technological and other developments and drawing on the experience of bankers, their personal and business customers and other interested parties. Moreover my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry is in the course of seeking views from organisations representing the credit industry, consumers and enforcement authorities about possible amendments to the Consumer Credit Act. The amendment referred to in the White Paper is therefore not included in the Bill which has been introduced.The Government have decided to set up, in co-operation with the Bank of England, an independent review for this purpose. Further details of the review, whose proposed terms of reference are as shown, will be announced later. The review is flexibly defined to include banking services in the broadest sense, but it will not include the law protecting depositors and investors to which I have already referred. Nor will it be concerned with questions of taxation, or with market-related matters such as the granting or cost of credit or the competitive pricing of other banking services.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there are any plans to hold further campaigns to discourage the misuse of air weapons.

Local campaigns will run in the west midlands and Greater Manchester for three weeks from 17 November to 6 December and from 24 November to 13 December respectively. The aim will be to encourage more responsible use of air weapons and to reduce the number of recorded offences involving air weapons. We shall consider, in the light of our evaluation of these pilot campaigns, whether to run similar ones next year in other police force areas where the incidence of air weapon misuse is high.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has received the report of the review of the regional crime squads; and if he will make a statement.

My predecessor established in 1985 a review of the effectiveness, management and financing of Regional Crime Squads. The review was conducted by representatives of the local authority and police associations under Home Office chairmanship. Their report, which is unanimous, makes a number of valuable recommendations which I accept.I particularly welcome the renewed commitment of all concerned in the tripartite structure of regional crime squads, and the valuable contribution which the review makes to improving their efficiency and effectiveness. I am placing a copy of the report in the Library. Advice will shortly be issued to police authorities and chief officers of police on the implementation of the report's recommendations.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the Government's policy towards the admission of the public to meetings of residuary bodies.

The Government's policy remains as accepted by Parliament during the passage of the Local Government Act 1985. We accept that residuary bodies need to be accountable. The 1985 Act therefore imposes on them an audit regime which gives public access to their accounts. It requires them to produce an annual report which my right hon. Friend must lay before Parliament. The conduct of the bodies is within the purview of the Parliamentary Commissioner. That is an appropriate regime of accountability for bodies of this kind. But for the public to have the right to come to the formal sessions of the bodies is quite inappropriate and unnecessary. It would be wrong to impose such a burden on bodies which are, in fact, a managerial team with a large number of responsibilities, mostly administrative, with a limited life, and with no powers to initiate policies.That is the reason why the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 was not applied to residuary bodies.

It has recently been suggested that the 1960 Act may, in fact, apply by reason of the definition of "rate" in the Public Works Loans Act 1875 and paragraph 1

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has received the report of the public inquiry into the objections made to the proposed amendment to the potato marketing scheme; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales and I have received the report of His Honour David Peck, who conducted the public inquiry into objections to the proposed amendments to the potato marketing scheme. The main effects of the amendments would be to:—

(i) increase the maximum excess area contribution from 5 to 10 times the formula rate used to work out the level of producers' ordinary contributions; and

(ii) increase the maximum penalty on producers for supplying false information to the Board, and other similar offences, from £200 to £2,000.

The report recommends that these two amendments should be adopted subject to one modification. This is that the maximum excess contribution should be increased in two stages, from five to seven times the formula rate for the 1987 and 1988 crops, with a further increase to 10 times the rate thereafter. Ministers have accepted these recommendations and notice of the modification has been given today to the Potato Marketing Board. If the board accepts the modfication the amendments (as modified) will be laid before Parliament shortly.The report also makes recommendations on a number of administrative points, which will be taken up with the board.The report of the Inquiry is being published today and I have arranged for a copy to be placed in the the Library of the House. I have written to His Honour David Peck, on behalf of the Agriculture Ministers, thanking him for a comprehensive report.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what was the outcome of the Council of European Community Transport Ministers held in Brussels on 10 and 11 November.

The Transport Council earlier this week concentrated primarily on the content of a first three-year step towards liberalisation of air transport in the Community by the agreed target date of 1992. While some progress was made on the important issues of capacity controls and access to the market, there was a disappointing unwillingness on the part of some countries to make progress on the vital issue of air forces.A substantial majority in the Council now supports the United Kingdom's proposal that, as a first step, restrictive capacity sharing agreements which currently require airlines operating between two countries to share capacity on a 50:50 national basis should be loosened to 60:40 within three years — so that there can be real competition for capacity. A substantial majority also supports our ideas for allowing additional airlines to compete on existing routes, and for enabling airlines to open up new services, particularly on the important routes linking regional and "hub" airports. On fares, six countries, and the European Commission, support our efforts to ensure that airlines are free to offer the public new types of fare at genuinely low levels, and without the sort of restrictive conditions, such as the requirement to stay six nights or a Saturday night, which limit the usefulness of many cheap fares at present. I made clear that, unless there was reform of fares arrangements in this way, the United Kingdom would not be able to agree to the package of aviation measures under discussion.The Council also discussed a number of inland transport items. It agreed on the objectives and criteria for a medium term programme for supporting transport infrastructure projects and also considered the next steps for work on liberalisation of road haulage on the basis of new Commission proposals.