asked the Minister for the Arts if he will list those items, paintings and objects, obtained in lieu of

Year	Item	Amount of Tax satisfied (£s)	Recipient
1979–80	No items valued at over £250,000 accepted
1980–81	Hebrew manuscripts and tombstones	331,597	British Library; Brotherton Library,Leeds; John Rylands University Library of Manchester; Bodleian Library; Cambridge University Library; British Museum
1981–82	Six drawings by Michaelangelo and Breugel	628,887	Home House Society (at the Courtauld Institute)
	"The Betrayal of Christ" by Sir Anthony Van Dyck	702,635	Bristol City Council (at Corsham Court)
1982–83	Godman collection of Islamic pottery	1,750,000	British Museum
	Double-sided drawing of the "Virgin and Child" by Albrecht Darer	259,492	British Museum
1983–84	Two paintings by Canaletto	312,098	Manchester City Art Gallery
1984–85	Calke Abbey (house, land and contents)	2,584,000	National Trust
	"La Pensée" by Renoir	646,350	Barber Institute
1985–86	Chattels at Mount Edgecumbe	327,132	Plymouth City and Cornwall City Council
	Archive from the Dukes of Portland and Newcastle	1,367,600	Not yet allocated
1986–87	Moorlands in Staffordshire	580,500	Peak Park Joint Planning Board
	"Portrait of a Man" by Van der Weyden	467,500	Home House Trustees (at the Courtauld Institute)
	"Madonna and Child" by Giovanni Bellini	725,000	Ashmolean Museum

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the value in real terms of the housing investment programme for 1987–88 after excluding capital receipts and expressed as a percentage of the housing investment programme for 1978–79.

Because of the success of the right to buy, local authorities can now fund the greater part of their capital expenditure on housing from capital receipts, without needing borrowing approvals. The total planned net capital expenditure on housing in England in 1987–88, after deducting forecast receipts, is £1,959 million, 45 per cent. in real terms of net expenditure in 1978–79.

The information is as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the housing investment programme and the total capital expenditure, respectively, for the London borough of Waltham Forest since 1979.

Housing investment programme allocations and total capital expenditure on housing for the London borough of Waltham Forest since 1979 have been as follows:

£ million
	Allocations	Expenditure
1978–79	12·720	12·678
1979–80	17·046	17·240

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the quantity of liquid and gaseous radioactive discharges in gigabecquerels over the years 1970 to 1986 for the following nuclear installations: (a) Chapelcross, (b) Amersham International plc, and (c) Harwell.

Quantities of liquid and gaseous radioactive discharges from 1976 to 1984 for Chapelcross, Amersham International plc, and Harwell are set out in the Department of the Environment Digest of Environmental Pollution and Water Statistics, and associated additional tables. Figures for liquid radioactive discharges are also given for 1970 to 1975. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House. There are no comprehensive tables for gaseous discharges prior to 1976. Figures for 1985 will be contained in the Environmental Statistical Bulletin (87) 3 (Radioactivity) to be published shortly. Figures for 1986 are being compiled.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if the West Yorkshire residuary body has consulted his Department about the bid made by the Wakefield metropolitan district council for the purchase of County hall, Wood street, Wakefield; what percentage of the proceeds will be returned to the ratepayers of the West Yorkshire metropolitan county council; and if he will make a statement;(2) if the West Yorkshire residuary body has consulted his Department about the bid made by the West Yorkshire police authority for the purchase of County hall, Wood street, Wakefield; what percentage of the proceeds will be returned to the ratepayers of the West Yorkshire metropolitan county council; and if he will make a statement.

The proposed sale of County hall, Wakefield, is primarily a matter for the residuary body. My Department has not been consulted specifically about the bid made by Wakefield MDC. After deduction of the appropriate fees and costs all the proceeds of any sale will be distributed to the district councils in west Yorkshire on a per capita basis.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the average current weekly subsidy to council tenants and housing association tenants, respectively, per dwelling, both inclusive and exclusive of housing benefit; and how this compares with the average weekly benefit to owner-occupiers in the form of tax relief on mortgage interest.

For 1986–87 the amount estimated to be paid as housing subsidy and rate fund contributions to local authority housing revenue accounts in England is equivalent on average to £4·20 per dwelling per week. The amount received by local authority and new town tenants as rent rebates is equivalent on average to £8, per dwelling per week. In total these forms of support are equivalent on average to £12·20 per week for each local authority dwelling.Comparable information cannot be given for housing associations, because subsidy on their schemes is paid in the form of a capital grant, and because statistics are not available of housing benefit paid to housing association tenants.The relief given on mortgages in 1986–87, including mortgage interest relief at source, is estimated to be equivalent to £6·20 per week for each owner-occupier.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to accept for nuclear waste only those sites that are acceptable to the local planning authority and local residents.

It is my right hon. Friend's policy that there should be ample opportunity for all interested parties, including the local planning authority and local residents, to make their views known before planning permission is given for a disposal facility for nuclear waste. We have already announced that any planning application from UK Nirex Ltd. for a facility at any of the four sites currently under investigation as a possible site for a disposal facility for low level waste will be called in for my right hon. Friend's own determination, so that there will be a public inquiry under an independent inspector.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to revise his advice to local planning authorities on the subject of nature conservation and planning; and if he will make a statement.

I shall answer this question shortly.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many British citizens were buying their own houses on mortgage in 1979; and how many in 1987;(2) how many British citizens owned their own house in 1979; and how many in 1987.

The proportion of households owning their own homes and buying their homes with a mortgage are estimated from information collected in the annual General Household Survey; the latest results available are for 1984. The figures below are derived from those proportions and from estimates of total households produced by this Department and the Scottish Development Department.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service if he will publish the results of the Civil Service Commission scheme to monitor the departmental recruitment of ethnic minorities.

The ethnic monitoring being carried out by the Civil Service Commission is of its own recruitment schemes only. Monitoring of departmental recruitment is being carried out by Departments individually.The results of the first year of the Commission's monitoring of executive officer recruitment will be made public within the next few months once the candidates covered by this monitoring have passed through the selection process and the analysis of their progress has been completed. The results of the first year's monitoring of other Commission recruitment schemes will be made public in the Civil Service Commissioners' annual report for 1987.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he expects the consultation on the composition of the advisory committee on teachers' pay to be completed; and if he will make a statement.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how soon he will appoint the chairman and deputy chairman of the advisory committee to advise him on teachers' pay and conditions.

The interim advisory committee on school teachers' pay and conditions will be set up by the autumn and possibly earlier.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science in respect of how many section 12 orders to close primary schools he has reversed the decision of the local education authority in each of the last four years; what percentage this represents; and if he will make a statement.

The table shows the number of proposed primary school closures rejected by my right hon. Friend over the last four years, and the percentage this represents of the total number of primary school closures considered in each year.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information is available to his Department from (a) reports and returns made by district inspectors of Her Majesty's inspectorate, (b) reports and returns made by local education authorities and (c) any other source, as to the adequacy of (i) facilities arid resources for in-service training, (ii) training undertaken by teachers on the new syllab, (iii) training undertaken by teachers and headteachers on techniques and management of in-course assessment and (iv) relevant books and equipment, in each local education authority for the introduction of the general certificate of secondary education; and if he will make a statement.

Discussions are being held with GCSE examining groups, LEAs and teachers' associations as part of a monitoring exercise to assess GCSE resource needs and demands on teachers' time. In addition, details provided by LEAs about actual expenditure on books and equipment and on teacher training will be scrutinised to help determine future resource needs and policy developments.Her Majesty's inspectorate is also monitoring the implementation of the GCSE through

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information is available to his Department on the work load consequences for teachers in changing to the new general certificate of secondary education; what studies have been undertaken or commissioned on the work load relating to in-course assessment; if he will publish a table showing, for each existing examination board, the number of different general certificate of education O-level or certificate of secondary education syllabi (a) with in-course assessment and (b) without in-course assessment, and the number of children taking examinations under each heading in the last year; and if he will make a statement.

The GCSE, and in particular its course work assessment, will make demands on teachers. Such assessment is not new—it had its place in many CSE and some O-level syllabuses—but it will now be more extensive: demands vary between subjects and between syllabuses. Her Majesty's inspectorate is monitoring the work load consequences for teachers as part of its wider GCSE monitoring exercise and discussions with the teachers' associations have also provided valuable information.Under the previous system, some 20,000 O-level and CSE syllabuses in many hundreds of subject titles were offered by the 20 separate examination boards, and schools were free to choose the ones which best met their needs. The number of GCSE syllabuses is far fewer, but information about individual syllabuses is not held centrally.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information is available to his Department on the extent to which the change from general certificate of education or certificate of secondary education syllabi of different examination boards to the new general certificate of secondary education requires new books and equipment; if he will publish such information as is available to identify the examination boards and subjects for which (a) little replacement or (b) major replacement of books and equipment is considered to be necessary; and if he will make a statement.

The introduction of the GCSE does not require the wholesale replacement of existing textbooks: the need is rather for these to be supplemented and updated over time, in the light of demands of particular subjects and individual syllabuses. These needs will vary from school to school subject to subject, and syllabus to syllabus. The Government have provided substantial resources to ensure that schools are able to purchase additional books and equipment for GCSE courses.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish a table showing, for each local education authority, the numbers of children taking general certificate of education O-level or certificate of secondary education examinations of each different examination board in the last year; and if he will make a statement.

The information requested is not available centrally.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much is spent per head of population of each of the metropolitan borough councils on the salaries of (a) teaching staff and (b) other staff, broken down into those categories which are available.

The amounts spent on salaries per head of the 5 to 24-year-old populations are given in the following table.

Expenditure per head of 5 to 24-year-old population—1984–85
	Teachers Salaries £ (a)	Education Support Staff1 £ (b)	Manual and Premises Related Staff 2 £ (c)
Birmingham	464	37	33
Coventry	547	64	47
Dudley	451	21	14
Sandwell	497	42	37
Solihull	433	29	28
Walsall	506	31	51
Wolverhampton	610	65	54
Knowsley	418	23	39
Liverpool	574	54	67
St. Helens	486	27	36
Sefton	408	27	32

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has any plans to publish a White Paper on higher education.

I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) on 17 February 1987, at column 584.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what rationalisation of higher education institutions there has been since 1979 to 1987 in Wales; and if he will make a statement.

None within the University of Wales. Responsibility for other higher education institutions rests with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 26 February, Official Report, column 353, about aid-trade provision, if he will list in the Official Report similar figures for aid-trade provision for the period since 1970, broken down into four-year intervals.

The earliest year for which comparative OECD information is available is 1981. The table, drawn up on the same basis as for my hon. Friend's reply of 26 February, shows figures for 1981, and also gives an annual average figure for the four-year period 1981 to 1984:

Aid used in mixed credits and less concessional tied aid loans as a percentage of gross bilateral aid commitments
	Per cent. (1981)	Per cent. (Average 1981–84)
United States	3	3
Canada	6	7
Germany	11	10
France	20	19
Italy	55	45
Japan	16	11·5
United Kingdom	12	20

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what aid has been offered to the refugee camps in Beirut since 1 January.

Most British aid goes through the European Community to which we contribute 20 per cent. Since January this has included a commitment of £650,000 for emergency medical assistance for the camps in Lebanon. The Community is considering a further allocation of some £2 million in response to appeals from various international agencies.We are also urgently considering our own response to appeals from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross for their 1987 programmes in Lebanon including emergency operations in the camps.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for which developing countries, for what amounts, and at which dates respectively, retrospective terms adjustment has converted loans into grants.

The following 21 countries, plus the east African community, have benefited from the policy of retrospective terms adjustment in relation to past aid loans:

Country	Amount £ million	Date
1 Afghanistan	0·98	13 November 1979
2 Bangladesh	15·67	14 August 1979
3 Botswana	20·69	14 August 1979
4 Egypt	17·80	11 April 1979
5 Ethiopia	2·57	23 July 1984
6 Gambia	5·22	15 June 1979
7 Ghana	50·88	25 June 1985
8 India1	564·16	21 March 1979
9 Indonesia	39·85	11 July 1979
10 Kenya	68·89	15 December 1978
11 Lesotho	0·40	7 June 1979
12 Malawi	30·70	15 June 1979
13 Mozambique	22·50	21 October 1983
14 Nepal	1·97	26 February 1979
15 Pakistan	76·42	26 June 1979
16 Sierra Leone	10·41	8 May 1979
17 Sri Lanka	25·21	24 April 1979
18 Sudan	9·91	2 March 1979
19 Tanzania	3·40	17 April 1979
20 Uganda	16·46	25 January 1982
21 Western Samoa	0·20	4 September 1979
22 East African Community	2.45	1 July 1984
TOTAL	986·74
1 India has continued to make aid loan repayments, but receives an equivalent amount of grant aid to help meet the local cost of development projects.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent decisions have been made by the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Commission concerning aid to non-associates.

The 1987 budget of the European Community includes 220 mecu in commitment appropriations and 284 mecu in payment appropriations for the programmes of aid to Asia and Latin America (including the former non-associates programme funded from chapter 93). This includes a new programme to provide compensation for shortfalls in exports earnings from specified agricultural products for the poorest countries in Asia and Latin America. The regulations governing this scheme (known as Compex) were adopted by the Council of Ministers on 27 January.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the agricultural projects supported by the aid programme in

Table 1 Agriculture and Livestock Projects Commitments in 1986
Sector/Country and Project Title	Commitment £	First Disbursement Date	Final Disbursement Date
Crop Production—ODA—Tanzania
Sunflower Research Phase II	235,000	May 1986	March 1987
Farm Equipment—ODA—Zimbabwe
1986 Tractor Rehabilitation	1,200,000	August 1986	March 1989
Coffee/Cocoa/Tea—CDC—Indonesia, Malawi
Cocoa Estate Development	100,000	September 1986	Unknown
Kavuzi Tea Estate	900,000	April 1986	October 1996
Oil Products—CDC—Ivory Coast, Malaysia
Oil Palm and Coconut Plantations	11,200,000	June 1986	Unknown
Sarawak Oil Palms	14,000,000	September 1986	December 1993
Fibre Crops—CDC—Indonesia
Cloth and Yarn Production	37·37 million Rupiah at 16 December 1986 exchange rate = £15,759.	December 1986	Unknown
Rubber—CDC—Thailand
Rubber Production Expansion	10,000,000	June 1986	August 2003
Crops Development-Processing—CDC—Costa Rica
Palm Oil Extraction Plant	88,000	April 1986	Unknown
Agricultural Research—ODA—Tanzania
Zanzibar Clove Research Phase II	70,000	May 1986	March 1989

Table 2
Agriculture and Livestock Projects Increases to Existing Commitments
Sector/Country and Project Title	Additional Commitment £	First Disbursement Date	Final Disbursement Date
Livestock—ODA—Tanzania
Kilimanjaro Farms Dairy Project	35,000	May 1986	March 1987
Livestock Research—ODA—Kenya
Goat and Sheep Project	88,600	March 1986	March 1989
Goat and Sheep Project	350,000	April 1986	March 1989

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list each project supported by the aid and trade provision since 1979, giving its amount, its nature, its date of approval and the country concerned.

Country and Project	Export Value £ million	ATP Element £ million	Date of Aid Agreement
Bangladesh
Combined Cycle Gas Power Station	17·297	4·680	1 September 1981
Belize
Electricity Feasibility Study	0·081	0·081	21 August 1985

Information to the end of 1985 is given in the ODA document "Projects by Sector—Allocations and Expenditure 1981–85", copies of which are in the Library. Projects in the "Agriculture and Livestock" sector, none of which was financed by the aid and trade provision, are listed on pages 1 to 9; the top half of each page gives allocations (commitments to individual projects) and the bottom half expenditure.New allocations in 1986 are listed in table 1; increases to existing allocations agreed in 1986 are listed in table 2.

The aid and trade provision projects agreed with recipient countries since 1979 are listed in the following schedule. Details of such projects on which expenditure is still being incurred are now in the Supply Estimates: Table 2 to subhead B2 of the overseas aid vote.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) when and why exchange rate cover was withdrawn from European Investment Bank loans;(2) what has been the impact of the withdrawal of exchange rate cover from European Investment Bank loans; how many businesses benefited from European Investment Bank loans in each of the three years before the Government withdrew exchange rate cover; and how many since cover was withdrawn.

Exchange risk cover was withdrawn from loans provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to private sector businesses in the United Kingdom with effect from 18 July 1985, but subject to transitional arrangements for applications which were under consideration at that date. The reasons for doing so were given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Thames (Mr. Lamont) the then Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry, on 18 July 1985, at column 205, in reply to my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Mr. Howard). The number of separate loans provided by the EIB to United Kingdom private sector businesses in each year since 1982 (excluding loans made from new community instrument funds raised by the EC Commission) was as follows:

Year	Number1	Number2
1982	28	1
1983	36	3
1984	30	2
1985	75	2
1986	14	5
1 Number of EIB loans made with exchange risk cover (including loans through intermediaries.
2 Number of EIB loan commitments made without exchange risk cover.

Withdrawal of exchange risk cover has reduced very significantly the number of loans made to private sector business in the United Kingdom, and has meant that EIB loans are in practice no longer made to United Kingdom small businesses through intermediaries.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what was the number of allocations to United Kingdom businesses under global loans for 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986 from EIB own resources and new Community instrument resources;

The information about loans to private sector businesses in the United Kingdom from European Investment Bank (EIB) and New Community Instrument (NCI) resources under the global loan arrangements operated by financial intermediaries is given in the following table:

	(EIB)		(NCI)
	Number of loans	Total amount lent £ million	Number of loans	Total amount lent £ million
1983	33	8·1	131	10·8
1984	29	5·3	65	7·1
1985	73	31·6	37	4·4
1986	6	1·9	—	—

In addition, the EIB also made a larger volume of direct loans to such businesses from its own resources, but not from NCI resources.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the change in the net capital expenditure expressed in 1984 prices, between 1979 and 1984 in the south, defined as the south-east, south-west, East Anglia, and east midlands regions, and in the rest of Great Britain.

The requested information is shown in the following table. The figures relate to investment by manufacturing industry (excluding leased assets).

Net capital expenditure in the South of England and the rest of Great Britain in 1979 and 1984 at 1984 prices
	1979 £ million	1984 £ million	Percentage change
South of England	3,881	3,366	-13
Rest of Great Britain	5,829	4,039	-31

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will (a) detail the checks that are made to see that the end user certificates issued when arms export licences are granted are adhered to, and (b) list any countries that do not need end user certificates when an arms export licence is granted, explaining in each case why the certificate is not needed.

(a) Export licences are not issued unless the Government are satisfied that the end use will be as stated on the application. It is not Government practice to disclose the nature of checks made.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will refer the three opinions of counsel given to the inspectors appointed by the Department of Trade to inquire into the affairs of Lonrho plc to the Attorney-General for further consideration.

Opinions of counsel were sought by, and given to, the Director of Public Prosecutions in 1976 and not to the inspectors who conducted the Companies Act inquiries into Lonrho plc. Whether advice given in relation to these inquiries should now receive further consideration is a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many British citizens he estimates to have held stocks and shares in 1979; and how many in 1987.

Statistics on the number of individual shareholders are not kept by this Department. But it is generally accepted that the number of individual share owners has approximately trebled since 1979.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many British citizens he estimates held a life insurance policy in 1979; and how many in 1987.

I shall reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will take steps to ensure an increased supply of information technology equipment in schools; and if he will make a statement.

Yes. My Department has made excellent progress towards the introduction and use of information technology equipment in schools and continues to do all it can to support this continuing commitment.Following the success of the "Micros in Schools" and "Modems in Schools" schemes, which supported the additional purchases of equipment by schools, my Department launched a three-year scheme — "Support for Educational Software" —in October 1985 which aims to ensure that existing hardware in schools is supported by an adequate supply of educational software.Notwithstanding the success of these schemes it has been found that the provision of IT hardware, including peripheral equipment in schools, is uneven and in certain respects still less extensive than schools need. In order to help counter this shortfall my Department launched a "IT Equipment for Schools" initiative on Monday 9 March. This will make available a further £3·5 million to be spent on IT equipment in schools in the remainder of the current financial year to enable local education authorities to give a modest boost to their existing provision of equipment. This offer of additional funding is available throughout the United Kingdom both to the state and to independent sectors and I hope it will go some way towards enabling the education system to maximise the potential of existing hardware by purchasing printers and disc drives to complement their micro computers, modems and software. Where schools within local education authorities are adequately provided with this equipment, the remaining sums may be devoted to purchase micro computers.

asked the Attorney-General if he will list the numbers of entrants to his Department from the ethnic minorities in the years 1985–86 and 1986–87; if he will also list the monitoring procedures used to ascertain the percentage of the work force represented by ethnic minorities and their patterns of promotion; and what are his methods of recruitment of minorities into the Department.

The ethnic origins of new entrants to the Lord Chancellor's Department have been surveyed since October 1985. The latest available information for the period up to September 1986 is as follows:

Total new entrants to the Lord Chancellor's Department in the period 1 October 1985 to September 1986 is 1010:
Ethnic origins	Number
White	680
Black/Asian	50
Not stated	280

A phased programme of departmental surveys of the ethnic origin of non-industrial civil servants by means of voluntary self-classification is being conducted. By the end of 1986 all non-industrial staff in the county of Avon, the north-west, the east and west midlands, London, the south-east and East Anglia had been surveyed. All remaining staff will be surveyed by 1987. Consideration is being given to ways of using the data on the ethnic origin of staff-in-post to monitor promotion.All departmental recruitment is conducted on the basis of fair and open competition and selection is on merit. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State, Privy Council Office on 20 February 1987, at columns 880–81, reporting the arrangements being made to encourage people from the ethnic minorities to apply to the Civil Service.As regards my own Department, the Law Officers' Department, staff come on secondment from other Departments and there are therefore no new entrants to the Civil Service.

asked the Attorney-General if he will detail the 31 Crown prosecution areas in the United Kingdom, giving the number of solicitors working in each unit, the original number of solicitors planned for each unit and any estimated increase in these numbers planned within twelve months.

The 31 areas of the Crown prosecution service are as listed, together with the details for each area of the present complement of lawyers; the number of lawyers actually in post; and the planned increase in complement during the next 12 months. For these purposes, the term "lawyers" refers both to barristers and to solicitors.