asked the Minister for the Arts whether Her Majesty's Government have accepted any items in lieu of tax in accordance with the arrangements announced on 6 February.

I am pleased to announce that an enhanced provision of £1,165,000 to Class XIII, Vote 10 to be charged to the Contingency Reserve has allowed the acceptance of a painting of the "Madonna and Child" by Giovanni Bellini, which would be allocated to the Ashmolean museum, Oxford, in accordance with the conditions attached to the offer. The amount of tax satisfied by this acceptance is £725,000. The offer of a second item (which would be similarly funded) is in the final stages of agreement. Further details will be made available when the acceptance has been completed.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will make a statement on his Department's participation in the Prometheus project; and what progress has been made to date.

The Prometheus project commenced on 1 October 1986. The first year is being devoted to the definition of a wide range of studies which complement each other. There is close consultation between Departments and the Science and Engineering Research Council. The Department's participation is principally in the traffic system and route choice aspects which are closely linked with the Department's AUTOGUIDE initiative, itself the subject of close consultation with industry and with potential operators and users. The Department is also coordinating the work of research teams in five countries in this field, and is participating in the work of a council which brings together the interests of the participating companies and their five Governments. Good progress is being made in planning future years' research. Consultants and universities are engaged in preliminary studies with Government financial support.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what information has been given to him by his departmental representative on the Prometheus project on the participation of industrial sub-contractors in the car manufacturing industry in (a) France, (b) West Germany and (c) the United Kingdom; and what steps he is taking to encourage United Kingdom subcontractors to join.

The participants in the Prometheus project are motor manufacturers based in the Eureka member countries. Industrial sub-contractors are not eligible to join in their own right. The participants, who expect assistance from their Governments, will require extensive support from supplying industries and public research institutions in their respective countries. There is no requirement that participants should disclose in detail their links with subcontractors but the motor companies in France (three) and the Federal Republic of Germany (four) are known to be in close touch with their electronics industries, as is the United Kingdom participant. This is Gaydon Technology, acting for Austin Rover, Jaguar and Rolls-Royce. The definition phase of Prometheus commenced in October 1986. Progress has not yet reached the stage at which sub-contracts have been placed. It is a primary objective of the Department and of the Department of Trade and Industry that British firms should seek the maximum technological and commercial benefit from contributing to this and other Eureka projects. The Government will give every encouragement to them to do so.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport when he proposes to announce the route for bypassing Bedford, and a timetable for the sequence of events.

I shall announce the preferred route shortly. The next stage would be to develop the scheme in sufficient detail to enable publication of orders. I shall carefully consider the possibility of publishing orders in separate sections.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the improvements planned for the A22 London-Eastbourne road and the dates on which he expects each such improvement to be completed.

The A22 is not a road for which this Department is responsible. Improvements are a matter for the appropriate local highway authorities, the Surrey, West and East Sussex county councils, and the London borough of Croydon.We plan to improve the junction of the A27 Lewes road with the A22 at Polegate by early next year.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what studies he has made of the delays caused to road traffic at the Hampden Park level crossing north of Eastbourne; and what proposals he has for diminishing the delays.

The Hampden Park level crossing is on a local road for which East Sussex county council is responsible.

asked the Secretary of State for Transport when he proposes to publish a revised "Highway Code"; and if he will make a statement.

The revised "Highway Code" will be published on 4 March. This is the first major revision since 1978 and includes improved advice to road users on a number of important topics.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what responses he has had to the draft circular on awards of costs at planning inquiries; and what advice he now proposes to issue.

Comments were received from nearly 50 organisations and individuals. Copies of the responses from those who gave express permission for their comments to be made public have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses, and in the Department's library, and are available for inspection.The circular is being published in final form today. It is the first major restatement of policy on the award of costs for over 20 years. The basic principle remains the same—that costs will be awarded not for the success or failure of an appeal, but only where unreasonable behaviour by one party at an inquiry has caused another party unnecessary expense.The circular gives details of the sort of behaviour which may give rise to an award of costs. For example, costs may be awarded against a planning authority which fails without good reason to determine a planning application within the statutory period, or gives no good reason for refusing permission. On the other hand costs may be awarded against an appellant who (for example) persists with proposals for major development on green belt land when it is obvious that permission will not be granted.I hope all those concerned with planning appeals will study the circular closely. It is further evidence of our determination to cut out unnecessary expense and delay in the planning process.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the proportion of private finance to urban development grants in urban development grant applications approved by his Department during the last 12 month period for which figures are available, broken down by region.

58 projects were approved for urban development grant during 1 February 1986 to 31 January 1987.

Region	Number of projects	Grant £ million	Private investment £ million
East Midlands	5	2·2	5·8
Greater London	7	5·2	24·4
Merseyside	3	3·1	18·2
North West	11	1·6	4·4
Northern	10	2·2	5·6
South West	1	0·1	0·6
West Midlands	13	6·4	32·4
Yorks & Humbs	8	1·6	3·6
Total	58	22·4	95

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total number of urban development grant applications approved to date where the grant has been under £100,000; and what percentage of all applications approved this figure represents.

65 projects with urban development grant of less than £100,000 have been approved. This represents 28·5 per cent. of all approved projects.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many schemes have been approved to date involving urban development grant on the commercial part, and housing association grant on a related residential part, of a project; and if he will list these schemes in the Official Report, indicating their location and the value of each grant in each case.

None.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many applications have been made for the use of Trafalgar Square for meetings in the past 12 months; how many have been granted; and how many refused;(2) if he will list the organisations which have been given permission to hold meetings in Trafalgar Square and those which have been refused over the past 12 months.

An application from the Co-ordinating Committee for British Withdrawal from Ireland for a meeting on 2 February 1986 was refused. Permission was given for the following 48 events:

Date	Events
2 March 1986	Cyprus Turkish Association
15 March 1986	International Fund for Animal Welfare
22 March 1986	Liberty High School Grenadier Band
30 March 1986	Full Gospel Youth Movement
31 March 1986 am	Elim Pentecostal Church
31 March 1986 pm	Linkopings Skolmusikar (Swedish Band)
5 April 1986	Eelam Solidarity Campaign
6 April 1986	SOGAT
19 April 1986	Black Horse and Standard Morris Dancers
20 April 1986	Revolutionary Communist Party
10 May 1986	Westminster Morris Men
17 May 1986	Human Rights in Iraq
18 May 1986	Methodist Association of Youth Clubs
24 May 1986	Garston Church
26 May 1986 am	Scripture Text Carriers Association
26 May 1986 pm	Terence Higgins Trust
1 June 1986	Steelband Association
7 June 1986	United Evangelistic Mobile Units
8 June 1986	Bengali New Year Festival
14 June 1986	The open Air Mission
15 June 1986	Enkopings Paradorkester (Swedish Band)
21 June 1986	Travelling Gospel Workers Mission & Society for Evangelising London
5 July 1986	Trafalgar Square Evangelistic Rallies
12 July 1986	London City Mission
19 July 1986	London Entertains
20 July 1986	Essex International Arts Festival
26 July 1986	Asian Christian Church
27 July 1986	Universal Pentecostal Church
2 August 1986	Organisation of Human Rights in Iraq
9 August 1986	Youth with a Mission
10 August 1986	Tell a Tourist
31 August 1986	Polish Solidarity Campaign
6 September 1986	Concert World Bomhus Band (Swedish Band)
7 September 1986	Speakeasy (Musical entertainment)
13 September 1986	East Saxon Sword (Morris Men)
14 September 1986	Havering Girl Pipers
20 September 1986	United Evangelistic Mobile Units
27 September 1986	The Society for Evangelising London
5 October 1986	Metropolitan Templar Federation

Date	Events
11 October 1986	The Scripture Text Carriers Association
18 October 1986	Labour Party Young Socialists
19 October 1986	Sea Cadet Association
25 October 1986	Lynx
2 November 1986	Jarrow 86
9 November 1986	Anti-Fascist Action
16 November 1986	Festival of Prophet's Birthday
10 January 1987	Tamil Eelam Support Committee
24 January 1987	Student Organisation of London Tamils
In addition applications for use of the Square up to 30 April 1987 have been decided as follows:—
21 February 1987	National Union of Students	Refused
14 March 1987	City of London Anti-Apartheid Group	Refused
15 March 1987	Internation Fund for Animal Welfare	Given
11 April 1987	United Evangelistic Mobile Units	Given

Permission for large meetings is currently being refused on public safety grounds while Nelson's column is being cleaned.Work on major refurbishment of the square is expected to begin this summer and to last for at least two years. During that time no meetings of any kind will be allowed at the square except for the traditional events before Christmas and on new year's eve.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many derelict land grants have been repaid in respect of schemes in Lancashire in each of the last three years; and (i) in which boroughs the schemes were sited, (ii) how much grant was paid and (iii) what was the total value of the scheme.

For 1984–85 this information could not be provided except at disproportionate cost. The information for 1985–86 and 1986–87 to date is as follows:

Year	Number of schemes on which repayments were made	Borough in which schemes cited	Total grant paid(Gross)1	Amounts of repayments2
			£	£
1985–86	7	Blackburn	48,616	3,000
		Bolton	64,335	500
		Chorley	13,408	6,000
			15,400	4,000
		Fylde	43,799	43,799
		Ribble	3614,788	111,475
		Rossendale	39,180	12,180
1986–873	8	Chorley	35,606	500
		Hyndburn	150,756	2,972
			36,838	20,000
			30,112	150
		Pendle	67,256	23,228
		Rossendale	15,019	450
			131,011	100
		South Ribble	415,995	258,000
1 The figures represent the total grant paid over the life of the scheme at a rate of 100 per cent. of eligible costs.
2 Representing payment of after-value realised on disposal of reclaimed land and income generated in the course of reclamation.
3 To date.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many derelict land grants have been paid in respect of schemes in Birmingham in each of the past three years; how much grant was paid; and what was the value of the schemes.

[pursuant to his reply, 11 February 1987, c. 238.]: In 1984–85 nine grants were paid totalling £206,064. Total value of these schemes was £2,216,812. In 1985–86 two grants were paid totalling £32,589. Total value of these schemes was also £32,589.In 1986–87 16 grants have been paid, totalling £855,385. Total value of these schemes was £2,213,000.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list current applications for derelict land grants in Birmingham and the west midlands.

[pursuant to his reply, 11 February 1987, c. 238]: In 1986–87 there are 160 applications for derelict land grant being processed in the west midland region, four in Birmingham, 94 in the Black Country and 62 in the shire counties. Applications are submitted to the Department in confidence and it is not therefore possible to publish details.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all projects funded by derelict land grants in the west midlands during the past three years.

[pursuant to his reply, 11 February 1987, c. 238]: In the period 1984–87, 609 successful applications for grant were processed in the west midlands, totalling over £31 million. Details of those schemes could be made available only at disproportionate cost.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many summonses were issued by each district and borough council in East Sussex for each year since 1979 for rate payment defaults and recovery through magistrates courts.

The Government do not keep records of the number of summonses issued by local authorities. The information is, however, to be found in the annual rate collection statistics published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many households in the Birmingham, Erdington constituency have benefited from the 66 per cent. loft insulation grant; and what has been the annual cost in each of the years for which the scheme has been running.

This information is not collected for individual constituencies.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what criteria he uses in determining asset disposal targets for the New Towns Commission.

For housing and land for housing development, disposal targets are set following discussions of the Commission's forecasts between the commission and the Department. Targets for disposal of industrial and commercial property and of other assets are set following a review by the Department (with advice from independent property consultants) of the commission's disposals programme and analysis of future prospects.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what were the targets set by him for asset disposals and the amount realised by the New Towns Commission during the last five years.

Targets for capital receipts and outturn achieved by the Commission for the New Towns in the years 1981–82 to 1985–86 are as follows (£ million):

	Receipts target	Outturn
1981–82	76·6	60·3
1982–83	44·1	49·6
1983–84	46·6	51·2
1984–85	40·2	55·8
1985–86	84·4	95·0

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what protection Her Majesty's Government provide for lenders and other creditors in the event of default by a local authority.

A local authority's debt and its creditworthiness have always been its own responsibility. The Government do not stand behind local authority debt. The great majority of local authorities understand the importance of maintining their creditworthiness and behave in accordance with the rules of financial good practice.All loan debt is a statutory charge on all the revenues of an authority. If a local authority were to default, creditors—including those who have provided finance for authorities under arrangements such as deferred purchase schemes which do not legally constitute borrowing—might have to take action in the courts to recover their money. The Public Works Loan Board could not lend to an authority which chose to act illegally or which appeared unable to service and repay the debt, even under its lender of last resort facility.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the comparative figures for arrears in England and Wales of (a) council house rents and (b) local authority mortgage repayments, showing (i) the global sum, (ii) the number of cases and (iii) the relationship of these figures to the total numbers of lettings and mortgages, respectively.

[pursuant to the reply, 5 February 1987, c. 765–66]: The latest estimates of arrears of mortgage repayments are that about 16,000 mortgagors or 3¼ per cent. of private persons with mortgages outstanding to English local authorities, were in arrears of six months or more at the end of 1985–86, for a total of about £10 million.On council house rent arrears, I have nothing to add to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Staffordshire (Mr. Heddle) on 10 December 1986, at column

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the highest know level of radon in any dwelling in Truro constituency; what is the calculated annual effective dose equivalent associated with such a level; what number of dwellings in Truro constituency have been found to have radon levels above the 20 milliSievert action level; what funds are available for remedial building work on such dwellings; and if he will make a statement.

[pursuant to his reply, 6 February 1987, c. 855–56]: I am advised by the National Radiological Protection Board that the highest level of radon found in any dwelling in Truro constituency in the course of its surveys to date is 7,725 becquerels per cubic metre, which is equivalent to an annual effective dose of 390 milliSieverts (mSv). This is more than twice the level found in any other house in the constituency, but 15 other dwellings were found in which the occupants receive annual doses above the 20 mSv action level.The NRPB's preliminary survey identified a total of seven houses, all in Devon and Cornwall, where the annual effective dose was above 100 mSv. The NRPB is in touch with the householder concerned to offer confirmatory measurements and advice.As I stated on 27 January, responsibility for remedial measures must rest with the house owner or landlord. The Government are prepared to consider offering financial assistance towards the costs of remedial work to the most needy owner-occupiers, but until we have received further evidence from NRPB on the extent of the problem and advice from the Building Research Establishment on the most effective remedial measures, it is too early to estimate the funds that may be needed for remedial building work.As the participants in the NRPB's preliminary survey were given an assurance that the results would remain confidential it would not be appropriate for me to identify the properties concerned.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether all the Greenwich royal observatory's activities, with the exception of the equatorial group of telescopes, will be accommodated on the Madingley road site.

I have been asked to reply.It is planned that all the United Kingdom-based activities of the Royal Greenwich Observatory will be accommodated on the Madingley road site, with the exception of the archives section which will be housed in the university library. The future requirement and location for the satellite Laser Ranger is being reviewed by a scientific committee set up by the Science and Engineering Research Council.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish in the Official Report the young mature entry index and the older mature participation index (as defined in the public expenditure White Papers Cmnd. 9702, table 3.12.10, page 194 and Cmnd. 9428, table 3.10.4 page, 150), for the latest public expenditure White Paper, Cmnd. 56 (a) for higher education, and (b) for universities only.

The information is shown in the following table:

Young Mature Entry Index and Older Mature Entry Index for initial home1 entrants to higher education and universities in Great Britain.
	Higher Education		Universities
Academic year beginning	YMEl2	OMPl3	YMEl2	OMPl3
Actual
1981	7·5	0·245	2·0	0·052
1982	7·2	0·246	1·7	0·046
1983	6·9	0·261	1·5	0·048
1984	7·2	0·256	1·6	0·051
19854	7·6	0·267	1·6	0·054
Projection P
1986	7·6	0·267	1·6	0·054
1987	7·6	0·267	1·6	0·054
1988	7·6	0·267	1·6	0·054
1989	7·6	0·267	1·6	0·054
Projection Q
1986	7·8	0·267	1·6	0·054
1987	8·0	0·268	1·6	0·055
1988	8·1	0·270	1·6	0·055
1989	8·1	0·271	1·6	0·056
1 The term "home entrants" refers to entrants domiciled in the United Kingdom.
2 The young mature entry index is defined as the number of initial

Expenditure on mandatory and full value awards: 1979–80 to 1984–85
England and Wales
	Mandatory awards			All full value awards
Academic years	Maintenance expenditure £ million	In 1986–87 real terms1 £ million	Real terms indexed (1979–80 = 100)	Maintenance expenditure £ million	In 1986–87 real terms1 £ million	Real terms indexed (1979–80 = 100)
1979–80	332	528	100·0	382	608	100·0
1980–81	398	548	103·4	451	621	102·0
1981–82	443	561	106·0	499	632	104·0
1982–83	472	562	106·4	531	633	104·1
1983–84	502	572	108·1	566	645	106·1
1984–85	480	523	98·9	545	594	97·7
1 Based on the GDP deflator for academic years plus estimate for the 1986–87 deflator.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has any plans to review the relative tax position of those students who receive their grants from (a) their parents and (b) local authorities; and whether he will make a statement.

I have been asked to reply.In the normal way there is no difference in the relative tax position of students who receive grants either from their parents or from local authorities. Local authority maintenance grants to students are not liable to tax; nor are ordinary (non-covenanted) parental contributions to students' maintenance.If the parent makes his contribution in the form of payments under a deed of covenant, the tax position is different for both the parent and the student. The parent normally obtains tax relief for the payments by deducting basic rate tax from them. The payments form part of the student's taxable income, and by setting his personal allowances against them he may be entitled to repayment of the tax deducted at source.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what has been the total cost to the Exchequer of student maintenance grants in each year since 1970 expressed in the following ways (a) cost terms, (b) indexed, using 1979 as 100 (real terms), (c) including fees and (d) real terms (cash).

I shall reply as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the total value of all full value awards granted by local authorities to students over 19 years for the last five years for which data are available at outturn and at 1986–87 prices, and indexed using 1979 as a base; and what was the total value of mandatory awards according to the same categories.

Figures are given in the following table for all mandatory awards and other full value awards. Figures are not available by age of student, but most will he aged 19 or over.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, pursuant to the reply, 3 November, Official Report, columns 302–4, whether St. Nicholas preparatory school, Birmingham, and Newcourt Christian school, London, have since (a) closed, (b) met the terms of the notice of complaint or (c) had the period for compliance further extended.

I regret to say that St. Nicholas preparatory school has failed to make the necessary improvements. The terms of the order made by the independent schools tribunal thus come into force requiring its closure by the end of the present school year. The period for compliance in the case of Newcourt Christian school runs until 31 May 1987.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish in the OfficialReport the formulae currently used by the University Grants Committee in the allocation of resources to universities.

The University Grants Committee's resource allocation procedures were described in the committee's circular letter 22/85 of 19 November 1985, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. Supplementary information is contained in the committee's circular letters 4/86 and 6/87, in which recurrent grant to universities was announced for the academic years 1986–87 and 1987–88 respectively. Copies of these letters are also available in the Library.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make available finance to the University Grants Committee to cover fully the cost of the recent pay and salary settlement for university staff.

As my right hon. Friend told my hon. Friend the Member for Fife, North-East (Mr. Henderson) on 23 January, at column 745, the government are willing to make available additional funding for university academic pay restructuring on certain conditions. The total cost of a settlement will need to be met from that additional funding and the recurrent grant to universities to which my right hon. Friend announced substantial increases on 6 November 1986, at columns 487–96 for 1987–88 and beyond.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the percentage change in real terms, measured by the gross domestic product deflator, in the funding of each university by the University Grants Committee between 1980–81 and 1987–88, excluding those amounts representing compensation for changes in home student fees, compensation for redundancy and early retirement, changes to take account of minor capital works from the recurrent grant and changes in the level of local authority rates (a) including and (b) excluding additions made for the information technology and new blood programmes; and if he will give similar figures for the provisional distribution for 1989–90.

I shall reply as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much was spent per pupil in primary schools in each local authority area in England for the year 1984–85; and what was the average figure for England as a whole.

The information requested is given in the following table:

Net institutional expenditure per primary school pupil
	£
Barking	860
Barnet	865
Bexley	760
Brent	1,045
Bromley	780
Croydon	795
Ealing	980
Enfield	735
Haringey	1,155
Harrow	805
Havering	775

	£
Hillingdon	840
Hounslow	920
Kingston-upon-Thames	800
Merton	800
Newham	1,045
Redbridge	770
Richmond-upon-Thames	850
Sutton	720
Waltham Forest	915
ILEA	1,255
Birmingham	700
Coventry	825
Dudley	685
Sandwell	815
Solihull	710
Walsall	780
Wolverhampton	860
Knowsley	820
Liverpool	845
St. Helens	715
Sefton	690
Wirral	690
Bolton	655
Bury	660
Manchester	840
Oldham	750
Rochdale	745
Salford	745
Stockport	740
Tameside	760
Trafford	705
Wigan	725
Barnsley	840
Doncaster	830
Rotherham	755
Sheffield	885
Bradford	785
Calderdale	755
Kirklees	720
Leeds	740
Wakefield	795
Gateshead	850
Newcastle-upon-Tyne	900
North Tyneside	835
South Tyneside	830
Sunderland	740
Isles of Scilly	1,125
Avon	735
Bedfordshire	770
Berkshire	725
Buckinghamshire	710
Cambridgeshire	680
Cheshire	710
Cleveland	750
Cornwall	670
Cumbria	735
Derbyshire	730
Devon	670
Dorset	700
Durham	730
East Sussex	705
Essex	685
Gloucestershire	695
Hampshire	685
Hereford and Worcester	680
Hertfordshire	730
Humberside	815
Isle of Wight	705
Kent	645
Lancashire	670
Leicestershire	755
Lincolnshire	665
Norfolk	710
North Yorkshire	730
Northamptonshire	705
Northumberland	720
Nottinghamshire	785

	£
Oxfordshire	765
Salop	715
Somerset	655
Staffordshire	770
Suffolk	725
Surrey	675
Warwickshire	710
West Sussex	660
Wiltshire	695
ENGLAND	760

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if when he next meets the chairman of the Post Office, he will discuss postal services in rural areas.

I have nothing to add to the reply given to my hon. Friend on 28 January, at column 267.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has received from Mr. Tiny Rowlands of Lonrho over the last month about the takeover of House of Fraser by Al Fayed.

My right hon. Friend has received four letters from Mr. R. W. Rowlands dated 12 January, 22 January, 4 February and 12 February.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what sums have been provided by Her Majesty's Government to date to help finance each type of the European Airbus; what rates of interest have been paid on such sums; what repayments have been made to date; and what repayments have yet to be made and when.

To date, Her Majesty's Government have provided launch-aid of £192·3 million to British Aerospace in respect of the Airbus A320 programme. British Aerospace funded its share of the development costs of earlier Airbus programmes wholly from its own resources. The Government's launch-aid for the A320 programme is repayable by a combination of fixed instalments and levies from aircraft sales calculated to yield a real rate of return on the Government's investment. No repayments have yet been made. The first fixed instalment is due to the Government on 1 January 1990 and levy payments are expected to commence during the 1989–90 financial year.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what informaion he has as to how many merchant banks have offered inducements to individuals and bodies corporate to buy the shares of companies involved in takeover battles in the knowledge that the cost would be recovered directly or indirectly from the companies whose shares had been acquired.

Specific allegations have been made in only one case. These allegations are being investigated.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will publish in the Official Report a list of the cases of insider trading referred to his Department for investigation since 1983 together with his findings, indicating which of these cases have been or will be re-opened to make use of the powers which are now available to him.

No. Those involved in the investigation of a possible offence are entitled not to be identified if no prosecution ensues. I could not identify cases where further investigations were being undertaken without jeopardising the prospects of establishing whether a contravention occurred.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the volume of United Kingdom manufactured exports and imports in 1972, 1979 and 1986, respectively, taking 1972 as 100.

The information is as follows:

The volume of United Kingdom exports and imports of manufactures taking 1972 as 100 is given below for years 1972 and 1979 to 1986 1972=100 OTS basis, seasonally adjusted
	Export volume	Import volume
1972	100·0	100·0
1979	133·4	180·6
1980	134·8	179·2
1981	126·8	175·6
1982	129·1	192·3
1983	128·7	217·7
1984	140·7	240·3
1985	149·3	252·2
1986	153·6	266·7

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the future of National Girobank; and if there are any plans for privatisation in the future.

I am confident that, to the benefit of its customers and staff, Girobank can build upon its encouraging record in recent years of prudent and profitable growth. As we have made clear, the Post Office, including its wholly-owned subsidiary Girobank plc, is not excluded from our policy of transferring activities from the public to the private sector wherever it is practicable and commercially sensible to do so. There are, however, no plans to privatise the Post Office or any of its constituent businesses in the present parliament.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what consideration he has given to the implications for United Kingdom responsibilities under European Community law of proposals for United States investigations to conduct internal audits of United Kingdom high technology companies for examining compliance with United States re-export controls; and if he will make a statement.

I do not consider that there are any such implications.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the audit requirements of the United States inspectors he now proposes to admit to the United Kingdom to examine the books of United Kingdom computer companies; and if he will make a statement.

The United States authorities have requested that United States officials should be allowed to check the procedures which United Kingdom firms choosing to use the distribution licence system agree to put in place under it.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has received from the United Kingdom audit profession in relation to the United States-sponsored internal control programme for high technology companies in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.

None.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he has taken to ensure that United States investigators conducting internal audits of United Kingdom defence contractors in the high technology field are not given access to information whose disclosure would prejudice national security or breach commerical confidentiality.

Any visit, if allowed, would take place only on conditions which safeguarded national security and commercial confidentiality.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry under what circumstances he is prepared to allow United States auditors to examine the accounts of British high technology companies in order to investigate compliance with United States re-export controls.

The Government have made clear their rejection of extra-territorial re-export controls on many occasions. We also reject the principle of audit visits designed to monitor compliance with such controls, since any controlled goods imported into this country are subject to our own stringent export licensing requirements.A number of interested trade associations have made it clear that some of their members see advantage in approved foreign consignee status under the distribution licence system, and would not wish the Government to take any action which would deny them those benefits. Even so, I shall not normally allow audit visits except where I am satisfied that a company wishes to maintain approved foreign consignee status and does not therefore wish the Government to reject an application for a visit.In such cases, a number of further restrictions would apply. Where United Kingdom companies refuse visits they should not, on that account, be subject to penalties other than the loss of approved consignee status under the scheme. No information gained as a result of a visit should be used as the basis for United States proceedings or administrative action in relation to activities carried on in the United Kingdom. Finally, all visits would be governed by the guidelines already applicable to the conduct of foreign officials while in this country. In any case, I would not expect more than a handful of visits a year.

asked the Secretary of State for Wales what sums were collected by each of the Welsh area health authorities from non-United Kingdom residents for hospital charges in 1985 and 1986.

The information requested is as follows:

Income from Overseas Visitors	1984–85 £	1985–86 £
Clwyd	1,693	5,239
East Dyfed	1,400	6,582
Gwent	6,327	19,660
Gwynedd	2,907	11,992
Mid Glamorgan	605	9
Pembrokeshire	1,281	3,794
Powys	546	443
South Glamorgan	29,849	17,625
West Glamorgan	4,431	(104)
WALES	49,039	65,240

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he has any plans to introduce quotas on cereals in Wales; and if he will make a statement.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in the Official Report the corresponding tables for Wales to those published in the annual review of agriculture 1987, Cm. 67, as tables 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 20, 21, 22 and 26.

[pursuant to his answer, 12 February 1987, c. 295–6]: The information available is given in the tables. Certain elements are not available for Wales.