To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what preparations his Department is making for the advent of the single European market in 1992; and whether he will establish a unit within his Department to study and report on changes in organisation and policy which may be required.

We have recently announced the launching of a national campaign to ensure that British business is aware of the challenge of creating a single Community market and is able to grasp the new opportunities which this will create. The campaign is being organised by a special single market unit within the Department which is working closely with other Government Departments to identify and secure early adoption of the measures needed to remove the remaining barriers.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what information his Department has on the price of four-star petrol at the pump on average (a) in the conurbations and (b) in the small towns and rural areas as at 11 November; what representations he has received from the Petrol Retailers Association on the level of competition in the conurbations and the incidence of petrol retail sites there owned by major oil companies; and if he will make a statement.

Information on prices in the form requested is not collected by the Department. I understand, however, that certain price information is available in published material such as the Petroleum Times.I have received no recent representations directly from the Petrol Retailers Association, although I understand that the association has made representations to the Director General of Fair Trading. I have received a number of representations from hon. Members and from retailers expressing support for the Petrol Retailers Association's views.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what information he has on other EEC countries subsidies for newspaper companies for (a) postage of newspapers, (b) telecommunications, (c) telexes, (d) telegram costs and (e) telephone rental charges.

No information is available.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if, prior to bringing forward privatisation legislation, he will discuss with the British Steel Corporation the possibility of increasing the allocation to BSC Industries from current profits, to assist communities such as Sheffield.

BSC (Industry) Ltd. is a subsidiary of the British Steel Corporation, but has been self-supporting since March 1984. The question of its future financial relationship with BSC is a matter for the corporation itself.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what measures he plans to take to improve the international competitiveness of British manufacturing industry.

Sustained improvements in competitiveness can be achieved only by industry itself. However, my Department offers a wide range of support and advice to assist in this task. That work is under review, and I hope to make an announcement to the House early in the new year.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will introduce a comprehensive motor trade Bill designed to control the problem of the sale of unroadworthy cars and the altering of car mileages.

No. However, together with my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport I am meeting the Director General of Fair Trading and other interested parties to discuss this problem.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) what are the current investment programmes at each British Steel Corporation plant; and what are the current and projected costs associated with each project;(2) what are the total investment costs at each of the British Steel Corporation's five integrated plants during the last three years;(3) what proposals he has received for investment to renew or expand the coke-making capacity at the British Steel Corporation Ravenscraig works.

Capital investment by the British Steel Corporation is a matter for the board of BSC within ceilings agreed with the Government on annual expenditure and individual projects.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) what is the current loading level for each British Steel Corporation strip mill in Britain;(2) what occasions British Steel Corporation forecasts of demand for strip products from 1990–91 have been revised since 1985; and what are the current forecast levels.

Those are matters for the board of the corporation.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is the current level of steel imports into the United Kingdom.

For the nine months ended September 1987, United Kingdom imports of steel amounted to £1,236·3 million.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list in the Official Report, for each steel plant closed since 1967 (a) its location, (b) the date on which closure procedures were initiated and (c) the date of closure.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: This information is not readily available. I shall reply to my hon. Friend in writing as soon as possible and place a copy of the reply in the Library of the House.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what has been the total amount of public money spent on the British Steel Corporation from June 1979 to date.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: The total net amount of public money provided to the British Steel Corporation since June 1979 is £5,151 million, consisting of subscriptions of capital under section 18 of the Iron and Steel Acts of 1975 and 1982, and regional development grants. No public money has been provided to the corporation since December 1985.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) what measures he intends to take to prevent overseas steel and iron companies from buying shares in the proposed privatisation of the British Steel Corporation;(2) what measures he will take to prevent overseas firms and institutions from buying shares in the proposed privatisation of the British Steel Corporation.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: We shall consider whether there is a case for restricting foreign ownership, but no decisions have yet been taken.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what has been the cost to date of the current British Steel Corporation advertising campaign.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: This is a matter for the board of the corporation.

To ask the Prime Minister if she has any plans to pay an official visit to Hiscocks house on the Stonebridge estate in the London borough of Brent.

I have at present no plans to do so.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will make it her policy, before Her Majesty's Government approve any further public funds for Westland plc, to seek to establish the identity of six nominee companies, with shareholdings in the company, and with addresses in Panama, Uruguay, Spain and Australia; and if she will make a statement.

No.

To ask the Prime Minister what representations she has received in favour of compulsory morning assembly in schools, in the form of a short religious service or prayers.

I have received a number of representations about religious education and assembly in schools.

To ask the Prime Minister when she next intends to seek to visit Australia.

I hope to take up the Australian Prime Minister's invitation to visit Australia during the bicentennial year.

To ask the Prime Minister if she has any plans to make an official visit to Clifton on Dunsmore.

I have at present no plans to do so.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will raise at the next meeting of the European Council the recent report of the Court of Auditors on the EEC's food aid programme; and if she will make a statement.

I wrote to the President of the European Commission on 5 October to express my grave concern over the Court of Auditors' findings. The report is now under discussion in the Council of Ministers.

To ask the Prime Minister if she intends to submit any proposals to the emergency meeting of the European Council in February about the financial crises facing the Common Market; and if she will make a statement.

I refer my hon. Friend to the statement I made on Tuesday 8 December, at columns 167–68, on the outcome of the Copenhagen European Council.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 15 December.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 15 December.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 15 December.

This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House I shall be having further meetings later today. This evening I hope to have an Audience of Her Majesty The Queen.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in what form he intends to advertise the Bank of England's buy-back proposals for British Petroleum shares.

Advertisements were placed in the press when details of the scheme were announced, and further publicity will take place, as appropriate, before the scheme closes.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how the powers in section 23 of the Banking Act will be exercised in relation to European Community countries.

The United Kingdom would, of course, fully respect its Community obligations when exercising its discretion to use its powers under section 23 of the Banking Act 1987. The United Kingdom would not use these powers against persons, companies or firms exercising any of their legitimate rights under Community law.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the golden shares held by the Government in each of the privatised industries, giving (a) the expiry date of each of the shares, and (b) the conditions that are attached to each.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: The Government hold special shares in the following privatised companies:

• Amersham International
• BAA
• British Aerospace
• British Gas
• British Telecom
• Britoil
• Cable and Wireless
• Enterprise Oil
• Jaguar
• Rolls-Royce
• Sealink
• Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering

In each case, the rights and restrictions attaching to the special share, including the arrangements for its redemption, are defined in the articles of association of the company concerned.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of persons holding 2½ per cent. Treasury stock 1975 issued in 1946–47, and the size of the average holding.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: There are approximately 13,400 registered holdings of 2½ per cent. Treasury stock 1975 or after with an average size of £35,600. It is impossible without undue cost to distinguish between personal and corporate holdings.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost of redemption of 2½ per cent. Treasury stock 1975.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: The cost of redemption of 2½ per cent. Treasury stock 1975 or after would be £475 million.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to redeem 2½ per cent. Treasury stock 1975.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: There are no plans to redeem 2½ per cent. Treasury stock 1975 or after.

To ask the Minister for the Civil Service what progress is being made in the setting up of the Civil Service occupational health service.

The Civil Service occupational health service (OHS) was set up on 23 June 1986. Since then much has been done to create an integrated, more efficient arid more effective organisation. Substantial economies of scale have been secured and the new service is costing about 7 per cent. less per annum than the organisations it replaced. At the same time it is providing a broader range of services to the whole of the Civil Service, many areas of which now have access for the first time to occupational health care. The OHS will continue to develop and maintain high standards of occupational health in the Civil Service.

To ask the Minister for the Arts what plans he has for further construction of the new British library building at St. Pancras when building work on the present stage is completed in 1993.

I have recently authorised a feasibility study to examine options for the concluding stage of the British Library project, so that a start can be made before the work currently authorised is completed in 1993.The feasibility study will be carried out by the Property Services Agency, in conjunction with the British Library and the architects who designed the first phase of the building. Their findings and proposals will be reported to me by mid-1988.The object of the study is to draw up a plan for completing the project in a way which meets the key requirements of the library at the minimum additional cost. Those requirements are to concentrate most of the British Library's London-based collections at one location in a controlled pollution-free environment, with greatly improved facilities for readers and staff. Subject to the outcome of the study, the new building will enable the British Library to vacate most of the 19 sites around London where its stock is currently located, and to unite its major services within a single purpose-built building.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the progress of tourist signposting in the United Kingdom.

Progress with introducing the new white on brown tourist signs in England has generally been good. Signs have been approved for over 2,500 attractions. Many of these signs have now been erected. We expect even more signs will be in place before next summer's tourist season. We are continuing to encourage local authorities where progress has not been as good as elsewhere. Signing in other parts of the United Kingdom is the responsibility of the Secretaries of State for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how his recent review of road scheme assessment criteria, to ensure that appropriate weight is given to leisure traffic, affects the predictions of traffic expected to travel on the proposed 12-mile two-lane section of the M40 motorway.

In the recent review of road scheme assessment, the value of time for leisure trips was increased. This would increase the economic benefits of the M40 scheme. It would not affect the traffic predictions which contain both work and leisure trips transferred from existing roads within the M40 corridor and from the M1/M6 corridor.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has any information on the subsidies paid for the costs of transporting (a) journalists and (b) newspapers in other EEC countries.

No.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will pay an official visit to the Easington constituency to assess conditions on the A1 between Easington and Dishforth and on the A19 between Dishforth and Easington; and if he will make a statement.

We know quite a lot about conditions on the A1 and the A19 north of Dishforth.Written answers on 2 December at columns

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many passengers were carried on an average day in the latest year for which statistics are available on (a) the London Underground and (b) London buses; what was the comparable figure five years ago; and if he will make a statement.

The information requested is as follows:

Passenger journeys on LRT services
	Daily average (million)
	Underground	Bus
1982	1·4	2·9
1986–87	2·1	3·2

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if the objectives for London Regional Transport laid down by the Secretary of State on 20 July 1984 are still in force;(2) what financial objectives he has determined for London Regional Transport; and what other directions of a general character he has made as to the exercise and performance of the functions of London Regional Transport since 1984.

The 1984 objectives cover the financial years 1985–86 to 1987–88. They have not been superseded or supplemented and are still in force.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information he has about the findings of London Regional Transport's internal inquiry into the fire at Green Park tube station in June and as to the extent to which these have been implemented.

The incident was reported to the Department in accordance with the statute. It is understood that LRT's internal inquiry report made four recommendations, three of which were adopted.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress he has made with reviewing the case for emergency crossing points on the central reservations of motorways.

Since June 1985, when the Department issued advice on the treatment of gaps in central reserve safety fences, the number of emergency crossing points (ECPs) has been reduced by 20 per cent., from 1,292 to 1,038. Agreement has been reached with the emergency services to close a further 568 ECPs by the end of March 1989, bringing the overall reduction to 63 per cent. 224 ECPs have been identified as essential, and 246 are still being considered.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has reached any conclusions on the recommendations of the railway inspecting officer's report on the derailment that occurred in June 1984 at Morpeth; and if he will make a statement.

The inspecting officer's recommendations have been considered very carefully by the British Railways Board and the Government. Action has been taken by the board on the recommendations which called for changes in operating procedures in order to prevent a recurrence of such an accident. The board is also continuing to work towards eliminating the practice of signing on by telephone, and progress on this is being monitored by the Railway Inspectorate.The inspecting officer also suggested that powers be introduced to require railway staff to submit to breath, blood or urine tests. There is no evidence that the railways face serious problems of alcohol or drugs abuse. In addition, the board's rule book makes it clear that staff must not report for duty under the influence of alcohol, or of any drug that might impair the proper performance of their duties, and must not consume alcohol or any such drug whilst on duty. The board considers that this continues to provide a better deterrent than could be achieved by taking powers to require railway staff to submit to breath, blood or urine tests. The introduction of testing could imply the acceptability of a certain level of alcohol, by analogy with the breath-alcohol limits set for motorists, which could undermine the board's more stringent disciplinary code. Supervisors are already instructed to call the police in serious cases, and the board reminds staff regularly of their responsibilities and gives advice to managers and supervisors on these matters.The Government accept the board's conclusions on this question and do not propose to seek powers to breathalyse train crews. Consultation with other transport industries has also confirmed that there is no clear case for the introduction of such powers for staff with similar responsibilities in those industries.There would he advantage, however, in updating the Railway Regulation Act 1842 in order to provide for increases in penalties for offences involving alcohol on the railways, and to extend the provisions to cover offences involving drugs. This would require primary legislation, which we propose should apply to all railways—British Rail, London Regional Transport, and privately owned concerns. We shall seek a suitable opportunity for such legislation in due course.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he proposes to continue to exercise the London traffic control functions transferred to him by the London Traffic Control System (Transfer) Order 1986.

Yes. The London Residuary Body is terminating, with effect from 31 March 1988, the agency agreement under which it carries out certain London traffic control functions and manages the traffic control system unit; and the local authorities have for the time being been unable to agree joint arrangements for running the traffic control system themselves. The corporation of the city of London has agreed to take over the management of the TCSU from the LRB and provide a similar agency service from 1 April 1988. We propose to lay the necessary order early in the new year and to enter into an appropriate agency agreement with the city corporation. We are writing to authorities about the proposed arrangements.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what studies his Department is currently undertaking into the causes of juvenile crime; and when he intends to publish any results.

The Home Office research and planning unit and crime prevention unit have extensive and varied programmes of work, much of which may contribute to further knowledge about juvenile crime. Of particular relevance is a review of research on schools, disruptive behaviour and deliquency, due to be published in February 1988; the report of a study of fruit and video machine playing by 10 to 16-year-olds is also intended for publication early next year.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions during each of the past 10 years convictions have been made for abuse of the exemptions under section 14 of the Firearms Act 1968 by persons who have either acquired and misused or acquired and supplied shotguns to third parties not authorised to hold them.

The information requested is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Government appointees are on the board of the Independent Broadcasting Authority; what are the criteria for the selection; and if he will publish the list of appointees in the Official Report.

The Broadcasting Act 1981 provides for the members of the IBA, including the chairman and deputy chairman, to be appointed by the Home Secretary. The Home Secretary, with a view to enabling the authority to continue to fulfil its responsibility for safeguarding the public interest in broadcasting matters, wishes to ensure that the members of the authority combine personal distinction with a wide and balanced range of interests and experience. The present membership of the IBA is:

• Lord Thomson of Monifieth, Chairman
• Sir Donald Maitland, Deputy Chairman
• Mr. G. R. Peregrine, Member for Wales
• Professor J. F. Fulton, Member for Northern Ireland
• Mr. J. R. Purvis, Member for Scotland
• Mr. R. A. Grantham, Member
• Mrs. P. Ridley, Member
• Professor A. L. Cullen, Member
• Sir Anthony Jolliffe, Member
• Mr. M. H. Caine, Member
• Lady Popplewell, Member
• Mr. Ranjit Sondhi, Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has issued any guidelines to the Independent Broadcasting Authority concerning the production of politically sensitive material; and if he will make a statement.

The Broadcasting Act 1981 places a duty on the IBA to satisfy itself, as far as possible, that due impartiality is preserved on the part of the persons providing programmes as respects matters of political or industrial controversy or relating to current public policy. For this purpose a series of programmes may be considered as a whole. Relevant guidance is contained in the IBA's "Television Programme Guidelines". It is for the IBA, not the Government, to interpret and enforce its statutory obigations.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the present establishment of the Leicestershire police force; and to what extent the force is up to establishment.

The authorised police establishment of the Leicestershire constabulary is 1,733 and there is approval for nine supernumerary police posts. On 31 October 1987, the strength of the force was 1,754, which was 12 above the authorised number because recruitment in that month exceeded wastage.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the establishment of the Leicestershire police force was last altered; what proposals he has recently received to alter that establishment; and what has been his response.

The last change in the authorised establishment of the Leicestershire constabulary was in July 1982 when six additional police posts were approved, bringing the authorised police establishment up to 1,733. We have not recently received any application to vary that establishment.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of south Wales as to the number of occasions on which police officers have been called to deal with incidents at the Cwm Clydach estate and Glyn Coch Farm, Craig-cefri-parc, West Glamorgan, over the last three years; and what has been the total cost to the police force of dealing with such incidents.

I understand from the chief constable of south Wales that since November 1984 the police have been called to five incidents on the Cwm Clydach estate. I further understand that, because the relevant information is not readily available, it is not possible to assess the cost of police attendance at these incidents.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many forms of registration under the British Nationality Act 1981 have been distributed by the immigration service.

Fewer than 100. But since the British Nationality Act 1981 came into force on 1 January 1983 about 1 million application forms have been issued by the nationality division.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will launch an advertising campaign giving details of British nationality by registration on national and regional television;(2) what steps he took to monitor the effectiveness of recent advertisements giving details of British nationality by registration

We have no plans to initiate further advertising at this late stage. The circulation of local newspapers and the geographical concentration of local ethnic minorities were taken into account in deciding which papers to use for our paid advertising campaigns, but the available information did not distinguish the ethnic minority readership. The response rate in the first round of advertising was assessed in deciding which newspapers to use in the second round.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons have been convicted of rape since 1970; and how many of these persons have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Information on court proceedings for offences of rape is published annually in "Criminal Statistics England and Wales: Supplementary Tables Vols 1 and 2" under offence classification 19. The figures include some offences other than under section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 such as aiding and abetting and attempted rape. Figures for proceedings in magistrates' courts and the Crown court are given in tables SI. 1(A) and S2. 1(A): and for the distribution of the lengths of sentences of imprisonment imposed in table S2. 4. Copies are in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes he intends to seek to make in the law and procedure relating to indeterminate sentences, following the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the Weekes case.

The implications of the judgment of the European Court in the Weekes case are still under consideration.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the recent meeting of Trevi Ministers in Copenhagen.

A meeting of Trevi Ministers was held in Copenhagen on 9 December under the presidency of the Danish Minister of Justice, Mr. Ninn-Hansen. We discussed developments since our previous meeting in Brussels in April including terrorist incidents in a number of member states and successes against terrorist activity. We agreed that continued co-operation between countries is the most effective way of countering terrorism and specific successes of such co-operation were reported at the meeting.A number of initiatives launched during the United Kingdom presidency have come to fruition. The coming into operation of the secure communication system has enabled a more rapid exchange of a variety of information to take place between member states, including the exchange of details of the theft and discovery of arms and explosives—an item which had been agreed in principle at our previous meeting. I reported on a successful conference of Trevi officials held in London in November on the detection of firearms and explosives especially at airports, which enabled the participants to exchange information on research into new techniques and to assess existing techniques. We also agreed an updated assessment of the terrorist threat to Community countries.In other areas of Trevi activity we approved a detailed agreement for developing the network of drug liaison officers outside the countries of the EC for the benefit of Community countries. This is the result of an initiative taken by the United Kingdom last year. I also reported that the conference in London in October had established an international network of co-operation to prevent and deal with football hooliganism.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to seek to reform section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911.

As my right hon. Friends, the Attorney-General and the Prime Minister have told the House, the Government have had work in hand for some time to find effective, enforceable and reasonable provisions to replace section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911. This work is continuing and we intend to bring it to a conclusion later this Session. When the work is complete, we shall lay before Parliament a White Paper setting out the Government's proposals for reform of the present law, with a view to early legislation.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the outcome of the recent meeting of the Ministers of the European Community concerned with immigration.

The ministers of the states of the European Community concerned with immigration met on 9 December in Copenhagen under the presidency of the Danish Minister of Justice. A representative of the Commission of the European Community attended the meeting. My colleagues and I considered a further report from the ad hoc working group of senior officials which was established last year during the United Kingdom presidency.The meeting reaffirmed the importance of the coordination of the visa policies of member states. It was agreed that from 1 March 1988 nationals of 50 countries would require a visa if they wished to enter any country in the Community. It was also agreed that, as a general principle, it was necessary to make a specific individual assessment of such applicants before issuing a visa. There will be consultation between member states about any proposal to remove a country from this list. The United Kingdom already requires visas of citizens of these 50 countries. The list includes the five countries to which our visa requirement has been extended since September 1986.Ministers instructed officials to study the possibility of further countries being added during 1988 to this common list of those whose citizens required visas, and to study ways of achieving greater co-ordination of the criteria for the grant of visas. We shall consider again at our next meeting the proposal to draw up a parallel list of countries—notably other European countries which have close links with member states of the Community — from whose citizens visas will not be required.A major problem facing all member states is the need to deal in a humane and orderly way with applications for asylum from those who apply for asylum in different countries, either at the same time or in sequence. It is necessary to establish clear guidelines to determine which country should examine an application for asylum (the "first country of asylum") both to reduce prolonged periods of uncertainty for applicants and to make it possible to deal more effectively with those applications which clearly fail to meet the requirements of the 1951 United Nations convention on refugees.The presidency put before the meeting detailed guidelines drawn up by the ad hoc working group which would be used to determine the country responsible for examining and reaching a decision on any given application. Given that EC countries received more than 150,000 applications for asylum in 1986, it is important to devise an orderly system for dealing with them. There was a wide measure of agreement on the suggested guidelines, and Ministers instructed officials to continue their work so that agreement might be reached at our next meeting under the German presidency in the first half of next year. My colleagues and I endorsed proposals for the regular exchange of information and statistics about policy and procedure in considering applications for asylum and also for the exchange of information about the conditions in the country of origin from which those seeking asylum in the Community have come.All those attending the meeting stressed the value of cooperation between Ministers and officials concerned with immigration, and the United Kingdom will continue to play its full part in this work.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there are any plans to issue Welsh language versions of fixed-penalty notices for road traffic offences; and if he will make a statement.

The chief constables of the four Welsh police forces have recently completed a review of the practicability of issuing notices in the Welsh language following which arrangements are in hand for Welsh language notices to be offered from early in the new year. I welcome this initiative by the police service in Wales.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the development of independent local radio.

Our Green Paper "Radio: Choices and Opportunities", published in February, offered the prospect of additional radio services at national, local and community level. The new stations would operate alongside existing independent local radio services under a lighter regulatory regime. I hope shortly to be able to announce our conclusions in the light of the consultatives process. New legislation would be required to give effect to proposals for a new framework for radio.In the meantime, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) has suggested that, in the current improved financial climate for independent local radio (ILR), it would be sensible for the authority to resume progress with the development of ILR in accordance with its statutory duties. Of the 69 areas approved in principle for ILR purposes by the Government by 1981, 13 remain unserved. The IBA proposes to advertise new ILR contracts in a form which will invite applications from local groups or existing ILR contractors, and to leave it to applicants to propose whether the new services would be free-standing or involve a link with another station. With a view to keeping these costs to a minimum, the IBA proposes to provide services on a single waveband rather than two, and to review its procedures and technical requirements. Contracts will be offered for the period until December 1994, when the last of the IBA's existing ILR contracts expires.The IBA's aim will be to provide an ILR service to at least some of those areas which do not have one at the present. The provision of such services will, of course, be compatible with the opening of further local radio services under new legislation as part of the expansion of radio foreseen in the Green Paper. I have invited the IBA to proceed case by case. The first two contracts to be advertised will be Cambridge and Newmarket and Eastbourne-Hastings.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners suffering from mental disorders were transferred to hospitals (a) before sentence and (b) after sentence, for the last two years for which figures are available.

[holding answer 7 December 1987]: The information for 1985 and 1986 is given in the table. Information for earlier years was published in table 3 of Home Office Statistical Bulletin 31/85, copies of which are in the Library.

Persons1compulsorily admitted to hospital following transfer from Prison Department Establishments in England and Wales under Sections 47 and 48 of the Mental Health Act 1983
	1985	1986
Persons subject to special restrictions on discharge:
Prior to disposal of case	33	50
After sentence	87	84
Persons not subject to special restrictions on discharge, admitted after sentence	13	23
1 Excluding civil prisoners.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many 14-year-olds entering detention centres in 1986 had had (i) no previous court appearances, (ii) one or two previous court appearances, (iii) three to five previous court appearances and (iv) six or more previous court appearances, respectively.

[holding answer 8 December 1987]: The available information is given in the table:

Males aged 14 received into Prison Department establishments under detention centre orders; by previous convictions, England and Wales 1986
Number of previous convictions	Number of persons
0	72
1 to 2	148
3 to 5	188
6 and over	54
Not recorded	71
Total	533

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many 14-year-olds entering detention centres in 1986 had been convicted of (i) crimes of violence, (ii) sexual offences, (iii) robbery, (iv) burglary, (v) theft and (vi) other offences, respectively.

[holding answer 8 December 1987]: The available information is given in the table.

Males aged 14 received into Prison Department establishments under detention centre orders; by offence, England and Wales, 1986
Offence	Number of persons
Violence against the person	45
Sexual offences	3
Burglary	284
Robbery	19
Theft, handling, fraud, forgery	117
Other offences	65
Total	533

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what new arrangements are planned for administering the programme of assisted visits to prisoners; when these changes will come into effect; and if those in receipt of supplementary benefit who are currently eligible for assistance will remain eligible under the new arrangements.

[holding answer 27 November 1987]: New arrangements are being introduced for the administration of the scheme for assisted visits to prisons by close relatives. A new unit of the Home Office prison department will administer the scheme for England and Wales. Because it would be uneconomic to have a separate unit to administer the scheme for Scotland, the Home Office unit will act as an agent of the Scottish Home and Health Department. For administrative convenience, the new arrangements will begin to operate from 1 March 1988 in respect of visits to inmates in Scotland and from 11 April in respect of visits to inmates in Great Britain as a whole. Applications and payments will be handled by post rather than within DHSS local offices as hitherto. In order to take account of forthcoming changes in the social security system, financial eligibility will be based upon entitlement to income support, which replaces supplementary benefit, family credit or a low-income certificate, but apart from this the principal terms and conditions of the scheme will remain the same.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many universities, polytechnics and colleges of higher education run tourism-related courses; and what is the number of students involved.

In 1986, a total of 35 universities, polytechnics and colleges of higher education ran tourism-related courses involving 820 students in universities in Great Britain and 5,620 higher education students in polytechnics and colleges in England.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has on the number of graduates entering the tourism industry.

In 1986, a total of 610 first degree graduates entered the category of hotel, catering and leisure management occupations which includes tourism.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has as to the extent to which the requirement of the Education Act 1944, for a daily period of religious education to take place in maintained schools, is being observed.

There is no requirement in the 1944 Education Act for a daily period of religious education in maintained schools. Section 25(2) of the Act provides that religious instruction shall be given in every county and voluntary school. Section 26 and schedule 5 of the Act require that such instruction in county schools is given in accordance with an agreed syllabus, determined by a conference appointed by the local education authority. The evidence available suggests that a small minority of county schools may not be providing religious instruction in accordance with their locally agreed syllabus. Clauses 6 and 15 of the Education Reform Bill are designed to reinforce the relevant requirements of the 1944 Act.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what information he has of the relative costs per kilowatt installed of 60 m diameter wind turbine generators compared with 3·5 m rotor diameter equipment.

The installed cost for 3·5 m diameter and similar machines is of the order of £500 per kilowatt. The larger machines of around 60 m diameter are all prototypes and no data are yet available of the installed costs for production-run machines of this size. Part of my Department's wind energy research and development programme is to investigate the optimum size of wind turbine generators for electricity production in this country.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what experiments are being carried out as to the effectiveness of the Danwin wind turbine; and if he will make a statement.

The Danwin machine, which is 23 m in diameter and rated at 180 kW, is one of many commercially available machines and is paralleled closely by similar 25 m machines being manufactured by British companies for centralised electricity generation. My Department's research and development programme in wind energy includes investigations of the relative merits of machines of different sizes and types.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what study he has made of the development of windpower in California; and what were his conclusions as to the application to the United Kingdom of the system used in California.

My Department is well aware of the expansion in the use of wind energy for power generation in California over recent years and is following developments there closely. Visits have been made to Californian wind energy sites by my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral, West (Mr. Hunt) by officials from my Department and from the Energy Technology Support Unit, including programme managers, and by the chairman of the advisory Wind Energy Steering Committee. In addition, two British manufacturers, who are involved in my Department's wind energy research and development programme, have installed a number of machines in California: we are monitoring their progress.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will list all Central Electricity Generating Board closed stations, annotating the station's original installed capacity, the year in which it was closed, and its present condition as mothballed, decommissioned, demolished or other status.

This is a matter which falls within the management responsibility of the Central Electricity Generating Board. I have asked the chairman to write to my hon. Friend.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will list Central Electricity Generating Board coal and oil stations whose lives have been extended beyond their planned 40 years.

None of the Central Electricity Generating Board's coal and oil stations has been extended beyond its planned life of 40 years.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will provide an itemised account, for the last financial year available, of Central Electricity Generating Board costs of generating electricity from nuclear fuel and coal, itemising fuel costs, capital charges, interest during construction, provision for decommissioning and all other costs, together with the total number of kWhs generated from each fuel, and calculate an average cost per kWh of each fuel.

The latest analysis of comparative generation costs made by the CEGB gave data for 1983–84. This included an assessment of all costs arising from the construction, operation and decommissioning of power stations, before, during and beyond their lifetime. For plant commissioned between 1965 and 1979 the resultant costs, expressed as an average over lifetime and adjusted to March 1987 prices, are as follows:

	p/KWh
	Coal	Nuclear
Fuel costs	2·30	1·09
Capital charges (including interest during construction and decommissioning)	0·48	1·55
Other costs	0·24	0·40
Average cost per KWh	3·02	3·04
Total electricity generated (GWh)	175,117	31,260

For the more modern plants at Hinkley Point B and the first stage of the coal-fired station at Drax the average cost on a comparable basis was 2·82 p/KWh and 3·03 p/KWh respectively.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what studies his Department has undertaken on the potential for small-scale hydro power schemes of less than 5 MW in Scotland; and if he will list the main conclusions.

Coal imports through Sunderland by country of consignment
Thousand tonnes
	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
Australia	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	13·6
Belgium/Luxembourg	0·5	0·7	—	—	3·0	—	—	11·0
Denmark	—	—	—	0·4	—	—	—	—
German Democratic Republic	—	—	—	—	—	—	12·0	—
Federal Republic of Germany	2·0	8·5	5·9	16·1	19·8	6·1	15·4	10·7
Netherlands	5·3	—	—	9·6	8·8	—	47·6	157·0
Poland	—	—	—	16·8	67·6	17·0	10·6	42·3
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics	—	—	—	0·5	—	—	—	—
United States of America	14·4	3·4	—	—	—	—	2·5	8·3
West Africa	—	—	—	—	2·3	—	—	—
Total	22·3	12·6	5·9	43·4	101·5	23·1	88·2	242·9

Total may not equal sum of constituents due to rounding.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many oral questions Ministers in his Department have answered (a) orally and (b) in writing in each Session from 1979–80 to date; how many questions for written answer have been so answered over that period; and how many questions tabled for answer in the House of Lords Ministers in his Department have answered over a similar period.

Following is the information requested, for both the diplomatic and aid wings of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office which have been drawn from departmental records:

The Department of Energy has commissioned a study of the potential of small-scale hydro electricity in the United Kingdom, including Scotland. The work is being carried out by Salford university and is expected to be completed towards the end of 1988.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if, pursuant to his answer of 2 December, Official Report, column 576, he will list the countries of origin of the coal imported through Sunderland and the destination of the coal.

The countries of consignment of coal imported through Sunderland in each year since 1979 are shown in the following table. The country of consignment is the place from which the coal was dispatched to the United Kingdom and is not necessarily the country in which it was originally mined. I regret that information on the breakdown of coal imports through Sunderland by country of origin or the final destination of these imports is not available.

House of Commons
	Oral	Oral/Written	Written
1979–80	258	1303 (112)	1,926 (354)
1980–81	174	1257 (66)	1,012 (196)
1981–82	197	1348 (89)	1,113 (180)
1982–83	162	1262 (71)	843 (217)
1983–84	251	1477 (93)	1,562 (537)
1984–85	162	1564 (119)	1,286 (468)
1985–86	143 (66)	629 (74)	1,248 (315)
1986–87	62 (30)	315 (37)	660 (107)
1987–88	33 (19)	126 (45)	480 (127)

House of Lords
	FCO Oral	FCO Written	2ODA
1979–803
1980–813
1981–823
1982–833
1983–84	83	146	34

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether an invitation was received to attend the African National Congress conference in Tanzania recently.

The high commission at Dar Es Salaam was invited to be represented at the opening session of the conference.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the total number of Polish citizens waiting for visas to enter the United Kingdom from Poland and the average length of time taken to process these applications; what special provision has been made to ensure that Polish citizens can visit relations in the United Kingdom during the Christmas period; and if he will make a statement.

The British embassy in Warsaw has approximately 1,000 applications awaiting decision, the current average processing time being three to four weeks. However, the embassy is giving priority handling to applications for travel during the Christmas and new year period.

To-ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contact Her Majesty's ambassador in El Salvador has had with opposition and human rights groups since July.

As part of their normal duties, Her Majesty's diplomatic staff accredited to El Salvador maintain regular contact with human rights and other organisations including political parties, trade unions and the Roman Catholic Church.

To ask the Attorney-General whether any criminal prosecutions have arisen from incidents at the Cwm Clydach estate, Craig-cefri-parc, West Glamorgan, over the last three years.

Records kept by the Crown Prosecution Service do not enable criminal prosecutions to be identified as emanating from a particular geographical location. The information requested by the hon. Member could not therefore be obtained without incurring disproportionate costs.

To ask the Attorney-General if he will make it his policy not to grant an immunity from prosecution to Mr. H. A. R. Philby in the event of his return to the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.

I can foresee no circumstances in which, in the hypothetical event suggested by my hon. Friend, it would be my policy to offer immunity to Mr. Philby.

To ask the Attorney-General whether he will seek from the High Court a variation of the injunction of 27 November against Duncan Campbell so that the disclosure or publication of the material or information as defined therein by or to a right hon. or hon. Member shall not be constituted a breach of the order.

No.

To ask the Attorney-General whether he will seek from the High Court a variation of the injunction of 27 November against Duncan Campbell so that a fair and accurate report of proceedings in Parliament or of a court sitting in public shall not be constituted a breach of the order.

I propose to invite the court to take such a course when the matter is next before it.

To ask the Attorney-General if he has any plans to take steps to seize material relating to GCHQ, the same as that transmitted to Mr. Duncan Campbell by others and the subject of the injunction of 27 November, now in the possession of the hon. Member for Workington.

The Attorney-General has no powers of seizure.

To ask the Attorney-General (1) what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government on prosecution of such right hon. or hon. Members as in the course of their work receive material classified restricted and do not return it to the appropriate authorities;(2) what criteria he uses in deciding whether to prosecute under section 2 of the Official Secrets Act such persons as come into the possession of official information classified restricted and do not seek to return it to the appropriate authorities;

This is a matter not for the Government but for the Crown Prosecution Service and for me. In applying the code for Crown prosecutors to such circumstances account would be taken of all relevant factors.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the level of unemployment in Wales.

At 8 October 1987, unemployment in Wales had fallen in each of the previous 17 months and, at 148,050, was 26,055 lower than a year earlier—a fall of 2·2 percentage points.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many members of Welsh local authorities are not liable to pay rates.

I regret that this information is not held centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he has had any meetings since June with representatives of Nirex in relation to the possibility of dumping nuclear waste in Wales; and if he will make a statement.

There has been no such meeting. Responsibility for identifying and developing a deep site is for Nirex, which should be in a position to make recommendations to Government in about a year's time.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the total of council house and flat sales in Wales since May 1979 to the latest available date under both right to buy and voluntary provisions.

57,152 council houses and flats have been sold in Wales between May 1979 and June 1987.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if, pursuant to his answer of 3 December, Official Report, column 654, he will take steps to collect the available information of the proportion of patients attending sexually transmitted diseases clinics in Cardiff that have been tested, and have proved HIV positive.

No. Numbers of positive HIV antibody tests are reported to the communicable diseases surveillance centre by the relevant microbiologist. Cumulative totals of positive tests by region of report together with totals split by sex within patient characteristics are published quarterly. Shortly, the Government plan to seek Parliament's approval for an amendment to the AIDS (Control) Act 1987 which will require each district health authority to publish in an annual report the number of positive HIV antibody test results for their district.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list those areas of Gwynedd in which a community physiotherapy service is available and those areas where the only service available is by reference of patients by their doctors to the orthopaedic department of a district general hospital.

These are matters of operational policy for Gwynedd health authority and I suggest that the hon. Gentleman writes to the district general manager.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish a table showing (a) in current terms and (b) in constant money terms, the expenditure on the National Health Service in Wales over each of the past 10 years, indicating the sum within each figure which is represented by nurses' pay.

The information is given in the table:

£ million
	Total net expenditure on the National Health Service		Expenditure on nurses' pay
Year	Actual	1Constant prices	Actual	1Constant prices
1976–77	306·7	752·3	70·6	173·2
1977–78	346·8	746·9	77·2	166·3
1978–79	398·0	774·3	87·2	169·7
1979–80	465·9	775·5	106·6	177·4
1980–81	599·1	841·2	150·5	211·3
1981–82	682·9	873·3	162·3	207·5
1982–83	751·0	895·9	176·6	210·7
1983–84	797·2	909·1	185·2	211·2
1984–85	862·0	941·6	201·9	220·5
1985–86	920·7	948·4	215·0	221·5
1986–87	989·3	989·3	235·4	235·4
1 Actual expenditure revalued to 1986–87 prices using the GDP deflator·

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make available additional moneys to improve the staffing ratios in Clwyd primary schools; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: No. While provision for Clwyd's grant-related expenditure has been increasing in real terms with a continuing slow fall in pupil numbers, its primary sector pupil-teacher ratio has been rising. Decisions on staffing levels are for the local education authority and it must decide how to manage its resources.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish his reasons for excluding an assessment of, and guidance on, the likely effects of deep psychological trauma on the public and medical personnel on the civil defence plan-making duties of the health authorities.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: I am not aware of any psychological effects of civil defence plan-making.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish his reasons for excluding an assessment of the likely effects of the nuclear winter on the civil defence plan-making duties of the health authorities.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: Since the likelihood of the effect known as nuclear winter arising is still a subject of debate, it would not have been right for reference to it to have been included in the circular "Emergency Planning in the NHS: Health Service Responsibilities in Civil Defence".

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he intends to draw up a staged programme of implementation of the civil defence duties of health authorities as set out in the circular "Emergency Planning in the National Health Service."

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: No.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many health authorities have followed the recommendations of his Department in appointing an emergency planning officer.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: The Department has not recommended that health authorities appoint emergency planning officers. A health emergency planning officer for Wales, whose remit includes all emergency planning matters, has recently been appointed at the Welsh Health Common Services Authority.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish his estimate of the financial, staffing and resource implications of the circular "Emergency Planning in the National Health Service."

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: As health authorities are already responsible for responding to major incidents, and have in place the arrangements necessary to undertake that responsibility, it is not expected that the circular "Emergency Planning in the NHS: Health Service Responsibilities" will have significant resource implications.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received regarding his Department's circular "Emergency Planning in the National Health Service: Health Service Responsibilities in Civil Defence" issued on 14 September.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: None.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much civil defence grant was paid to each health authority in each of the last five years; and what proportion these sums constituted of the total emergency planning budget of each health authority.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: No civil defence grants are paid to health authorities.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with representatives of the medical professions on the moral and ethical problems associated with the policy of triage after nuclear attack; and when he will issue guidelines on the implementation of triage after nuclear attack.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: I have had no such discussions and have no plans to issue guidelines.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy to take steps to ensure that only housing associations based in Wales will receive finance for developing housing in Wales through the approved development programme; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: I approve the Housing Corporation's development programme on the basis of its meeting specific housing needs and policy priorities. The vast majority of projects receiving funding under the approved development programme are undertaken by housing associations based in Wales, but I do not intend that any association should be excluded if it has been identified as the best one to meet a specific need.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he will list by local authority the proportion of the total number of under-fives in pre-school education represented by (a) three-year-olds and (h) four-year-olds.

[holding answer 14 December 1987]: The information in respect of full-time and part-time pupils in all maintained and independent schools as at January 1987, is as follows:

Percentage
	3 year olds1	4 year olds1
Clwyd	45·7	54·0
Dyfed	33·2	61·8
Gwent	39·3	5·91
Gwynedd	24·2	73·8
Mid Glamorgan	39·2	53·7
Powys	24·2	75·5
South Glamorgan	29·5	66·0
West Glamorgan	44·8	47·4
1 Ages as at 31 August 1986.