Written Answers

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Written Answers To Questions

Thursday 31 March 1988

Prime Minister

Unused Land

Q38.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will pay an official visit to a publicly owned site of unused land.

I have at present no plans to do so.

Community Care

Q101.

To ask the Prime Minister what proposals she has arising from the publication of the Griffiths report for improving the co-ordination of Her Majesty's Government's policies on community care.

We are considering Sir Roy Griffiths' recommendations and will bring forward our own proposals in due course.

Terrorists (Surveillance)

Q116.

To ask the Prime Minister if, in the light of the killings in Gibraltar, she will make it her policy that future surveillance and apprehension of suspected terrorists be carried out by police officers.

It will remain the Government's policy that military assistance may be requested by a chief constable in the United Kingdom or the competent authority in a dependent territory, where this is appropriate.

Health Insurance

To ask the Prime Minister if the views expressed by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, the hon. Member for Derbyshire, South (Mrs. Currie) on the ITV "This Week" programme, regarding elderly people remortgaging their houses in order to pay for private health insurance, represent Government policy.

My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security pointed out that many elderly people have substantial capital assets. They have the option, if they choose to pursue it, of considering private health care.

Agricultural Stabilisers

To ask the Prime Minister what progress has been made on the details of the agricultural stabilisers following the recent European Council provisional agreement on extra funding; and if she will make a statement.

I refer my hon. Friend to the replies which my right hon. Friend the Minister of State, Ministry of Argriculture, Fisheries and Food gave to my hon. Friend the Member for York (Mr. Gregory) on 10 March, at columns 323–24, and to my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridgeshire, North-East (Mr. Moss) on 30 March.

European Council

To ask the Prime Minister what proposals have been tabled for discussion at the next meeting of the European Council.

The agenda for the European Council will be established by the German presidency. No formal proposals have yet been made. Completion of the single market is expected to be the main item of discussion.

Ec Expenditure

To ask the Prime Minister what is her latest estimate of the amount to be spent by the EEC in the current year, in the light of currency movements since the meeting of the European Council; and if she will make a statement.

The draft budget for 1988 established by the Council of Ministers on 7 March for total expenditure of 44·7 billion ecu (£31·0 billion) in commitments and 43·4 billion ecu (£30·1 billion) in payments. Both sums include 1 billion ecu (£693·6 million) for a monetary reserve to cover the effects on agricultural guarantee expenditure of substantial unforeseen movements in the ecu/dollar exchange rate. The European Parliament has the right under the treaty to add a further 380 million ecu (£263·6 million) in commitments and 341 million ecu (£236·5 million) in payments to the Council's figures.

Scottish Electricity Boards

To ask the Prime Minister whether the speech of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Stale for Energy, the hon. Member for Worcestershire, South (Mr. Spicer), in Miami on 28 March represents Government policy in respect of the privatisation of the two Scottish electricity boards; and if she will make a statement.

The Government's policy on the privatisation of the Scottish electricity industry is set out in the White Paper (Cm. 327) presented to Parliament by my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland on 2 March 1988.

Companies (Names)

To ask the Prime Minister what guidelines are in force concerning contracts or dealings between Departments and companies trading under the name of serving Ministers of the Crown.

There is no guidance on dealings with companies on the basis of how they are named.

Engagements

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 31 March.

In addition to my duties in the House I shall be having further meetings later today, including one with the President of Cyprus.

The Arts

China

To ask the Minister for the Arts whether he will list the British arts companies who have performed in China in each of the last five years.

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: The following list comprises only those British arts companies which have visited China with British Council assistance. Other companies may have made their own arrangements. There are no centrally kept comprehensive records.

British Council visitors to China—Arts, 1983–87
Companies
1983–84
Royal Ballet	19 Performances, Beijing, Shanghai Guangzhou
Sir Anton Dolin	Ballet
John Alldis	Master classes, Beijing and Shanghai
Music Group of London	Master classes and concerts
Jane Glover and Martin Isepp	Master classes
Sir Michael Tippett and Meirion Bowen
Simone Michelle	Dance workshop
Poster Art Exhibition
Tuckwell Wind Quintet
1984–85
Belinda Wright and Jelko	Production of "Giselle" with
Yuresha	Central Ballet
Photographic Exhibition	"The Petroleum Story" (five cities tour)
Rodney Slatford	Double bass player
Royal Ballet School	Exchange with Central Dance Academy, Beijing
European Community Youth
Orchestra
1985–86
Albion Wind Quintet
Music Group of London
John Alldis	Choral conductor
David Glass	Mime
Noelle Barker	Voice specialist
Royal Ballet School	Continued exchanges
John Giorgiardis	Master classes with the China Youth Orchestra
1986–87
Gabrieli Brass Ensemble
Alberni String Quartet
Graphics UK Exhibition
Jane Glover	Master classes
Shakespeare Display	At Shakespeare Festival, Shanghai
Little Angel Marionette Theatre
Norman Morrice	Choreographic workshop
David Glass	Mime
British History Exhibition

Figures for 1987–88 are not yet available.

To ask the Minister for the Arts whether he will list the Chinese arts companies who have performed in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years.

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: The following list comprises only those Chinese arts companies which have visited the United Kingdom with grants from Visiting Arts. Other companies may have visited under their own funding arrangements. There are no centrally kept comprehensive records.

Visiting Arts
Visits to Britain by Chinese arts companies (in receipt of V A grants)
Year	Arts group	Venue
1983–84	—	—
1984–85	Chinese National Dance Company	Billingham Festival
1985–86	Two Chinese Musicians	Appearance with BBC
	Welsh Symphony
	Orchestra at Cardiff	Festival of Music
	"Theatre du Petit Miroir"	Prema Project
	Chinese Puppet Theatre
	The Emperors Warriors	Edinburgh
	Chinese Terracottas
	Exhibition
1986–87	Peking Opera	10 City tour
	Fujian Hand Puppet Co	Various venues
	A Pictorial History of	Colchester—Royal
	Chinese Dance—Lecture	Festival Hall London
	Demonstration and Exhibition
1987–88	Zigong Sichwan Opera
	Troupe
	Chinese Picture Stories	Museum of Modern Art
	Shanghai Kunju Theatre	Cardiff
	Company

Rylands Library (Manchester)

To ask the Minister for the Arts what action he proposes to take to ensure that books from the Rylands library in Manchester are retained in the United Kingdom.

I do not control sales from individual libraries. However, any book which has been in this country more than 50 years and which is valued at over £16,000 requires an individual export licence. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has statutory responsibility for export licensing.

Library Subscription Services

To ask the Minister for the Arts, pursuant to his oral answer to the hon. Member for Hackney, South and Shoreditch (Mr. Sedgemore) of 28 March, Official Report, column 722, how many letters he has received from members of the public saying that they would like libraries to provide subscription services.

I receive many letters from the public about the public library service either directly or through hon. Members. I regret it is not possible to count and analyse all of them. A significant proportion however recommend the replacement of the present free book loan service by a system of charging, often involving an annual subscription. Some letters, recognising the educational role of the service, have suggested that charges are limited to novels.

Libraries (Premium Lending Service)

To ask the Minister for the Arts, pursuant to his oral answer to the hon. Member for Hackney, South and Shoreditch (Mr. Sedgemore) of 28 March, OfficialReport, column 722, which library authority recently drew up proposals to set up a premium lending service for newly published novels and biographies.

It is not my practice to disclose the identity of library authorities that seek my advice in confidence.

South Bank Arts Estate

To ask the Minister for the Arts what arrangements are being made for the future of the South Bank arts estate.

The Chairmen of the Arts Council and of the South Bank board have asked my consent to the setting up of an independent charitable trust to administer the south bank. With the agreement of the Lord President of the Council I have given my consent, to be effective from 1 April 1988. The charitable trust to be known as the South Bank Centre will assume the powers hitherto exercised by the South Bank board as a committee of the Arts Council. The sole trustee of the South Bank Centre will be a public limited company to be called the South Bank Board Limited, and the Arts Council will grant a lease of the south bank estate to that company, in its capacity as trustee, at a nominal rent.A report on the discharge of the responsibilities of the South Bank Centre, and its accounts, will be laid before Parliament annually, as provided by section 47 of the Local Government Act, 1985. The Accounts will of course continue to be certified by the Comptroller and Auditor General.I have appointed Mr. Ronald Grierson, who is at present chairman of the South Bank board, to be the chairman of the South Bank Centre for three years from 1 April 1988. The other members of the South Bank board have been appointed, with my approval, to be members of the South Bank Board Limited.As I undertook in an answer to a question by the hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks) on 14 March, at column

432, I shall be placing a copy of the trust deed setting up the South Bank Centre in the Library as soon as it has been executed.

Wales

Education Maintenance Allowance

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many households are in receipt of an education maintenance allowance for 16 to 19-year-olds in full-time school or further education; what is the average payment; which local education authorities are making such payments; and how many each authority has made in the last financial year.

Not all of this information is held centrally in the form requested. The only authorities which have reported expenditure on such payments in 1986–87 are Clwyd, Gwent, Mid Glamorgan and Powys.

Inner Cities

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proportion of his Department's budget is spent in the inner cities.

Separate figures are not readily available for spending in inner city and other urban areas in Wales. However, the budget or allocations for specific bodies and programmes which concentrate on urban areas for 1987–88 include; the Welsh Development Agency, £77 million; Cardiff Bay Development Corporation, £11·5 million; the urban programme, urban development grant (including URG) and special measures for the South Wales valleys, £32·4 million.In addition, expenditure provision for main local authority programmes in Wales makes a significant contribution to spending in urban areas.

Export Breakfasts

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much of the £29,488 spent on his two Welsh export breakfasts was spent, respectively, on (a) the equipment, (b) the road crews, (c) the speakers and (d) the presenter.

Following the competitive tender, the contract for the two breakfast time export seminars was given to the Central Office of Information and much of the work was subcontracted. Details of the costs of the various elements of the work are commercially confidential.

Press Office

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what has been the annual cost, at constant prices, since 1985 of his Department's press office; and what is the planned future budget provision for 1988–89.

Expressed in real terms as measured by the GDP deflator at market prices using 1986–87 as the base year. the information requested is as follows:

1985–86	1986–87	1987–88	1988–89
£ Thousands	£ Thousands	£ Thousands	£ Thousands
145	147	154	156

Forestry

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy that grant money will not be paid by his Department, or through the Forestry Commission, in respect of its activities in Wales, for schemes whereby broadleaf forests are replaced by confier forests.

There is already a strong presumption in operation against the payment of grants for the conversion of broadleaved forests to conifer forests.

House Condition Survey

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he expects to publish the Welsh house condition survey.

On 6 May.

Local Authority Services (Competition)

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the results of the consultation exercise undertaken in November 1987 on competition in the provision of local authority services.

All responses to the consultation exercise have now been carefully considered. As a result I propose to make the following changes to the initial proposals circulated in the consultation document. These take account of the fact that a decision on the possibility of adding sport and leisure management to the list of defined activities has not yet been taken, and therefore, if this activity is added by order, some delay in implementing competition for it is inevitable.

1. The initial implementation date will be deferred from 1 April to 1 August 1989, with the second phase of implementation starting on 1 January 1990 and so on thereafter.

2. The implementation of ground maintenance competition will be by five annual tranches of 20 per cent. instead of six monthly tranches of 10 per cent. as originally proposed. The initial implementation date for ground maintenance will be 1 January 1990.

3. Refuse collection has been separated from other cleaning such as street cleaning, thus enabling authorities to let these activities on a different time scale from each other.

4. The implementation of school and welfare catering and building cleaning will be separated by at least one year. This will reduce the burden on education authorities in the implementation of school catering and school building cleaning competition.

Those local authorities which responded to the consultation exercise were content with the grouping of local authorities for implementation purposes detailed in the consultation document. As a result, I do not intend to make any changes. Nor do I intend to change the £100,000 "de minimis" level suggested in the document, below which work carried out by authorities is exempt from competition.I have arranged for copies of a revised schedule arising from the proposed changes, giving details of phasing in of competition by authority, date and activitiy, to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Foreign Investment

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the number of foreign-owned plants established each year in Wales since 1983, and the number in each zone which have been closed down since 1983;

Manufacturing units in Wales 1986
	Gross Value Added as a percentage of gross output	Payments to ATC's as a percentage of gross output	Payments to Operatives as a percentage of gross output	Payments to ATC's in pounds per head	Payments to Operatives in pounds per head pounds per head
	(per cent.)	(per cent.)	(per cent.)	(pounds)	(pounds)
All units	31·0	5·0	9·9	10,960	8,181
Japanese-owned units	18·8	3·0	6·0	8,979	6,659
All United Kingdom units classified:
"Electronic consumer goods and other electronic equipment not elsewhere specified"·	16·6	4·6	5·3	10,304	6,527

Source: Annual Census of Production, 1986.

Notes:

ATC = Administrative, technical and clerical staff. These payments have been used to indicate salaries, and payments to operatives to indicate wages.

The third line of figures is a more appropriate comparison for Japanese-owned units in Wales since the category is the dominant one for these units.

(2) if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each year since 1983 the number of new plants established in Wales by foreign-owned firms which were not already manufacturing in other countries in the United Kingdom and the total numbers now employed in such plants compared to the numbers employed in 1983.

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: The number of new plants and major new developments and expansions by overseas companies commenced during the period 1983 to 1987 were as follows:

	Number
1983	21
1984	45
1985	43
1986	36
1987	52
TOTAL	197

In addition to this investment, a further 17 companies were acquired by overseas investors during the period.Of the six plants which subsequently closed, three were located in Gwent, and one each in the counties of Gwynedd, Mid Glamorgan and South Glamorgan. In 1987 plants established by foreign firms since 1983, and still open, employed 3,500 as compared with 100 in 1983. However, it is not possible to say which of these firms were already manufacturing elsewhere in the United Kingdom without incurring disproportionate costs.

Manufacturing

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for manufacturing plants in Wales generally and for those which are owned by Japanese firms (a) the gross value added as a percentage of gross output, (b) wages and salaries, respectively, as a percentage of gross output, and (c) average wages and salaries, respectively, per head.

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: The information is given in the following table:

Consultancy Contracts

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list each management or computer consultancy contract awarded by his Department in 1987, giving in each case the name of the consultancy firm and the subject of the assignment.

[holding answer 30 March 1988]: The following centrally managed contracts were awarded by my Department in 1987.

Firm	Subject of assignment
Inbucon Management Consultants Ltd.	Financial, management and policy review of the National Museum of Wales
Frank Griffiths Associates	Review of Departmental Purchasing
R. A. Pengclly	Review of Welsh Dental Advisory Committee
Burgoynes Consultants	Atlantic Trading Estate and Barry Dock Public Inquiry

It is not possible to identify without disproportionate costs management or computer consultancy contracts awarded in respect of projects not centrally managed.

Nurses

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish a table showing (a) the establishment figures, (b) the funded establishment figures and (c) the in-post figures of each health authority in Wales for the following nursing grades: regional nursing officer 1 and 2, regional nurse 1 and 2, district nursing officer grades 1 to 7, director of nursing services grades 1 + to 6, senior nurse grades 1 + to 8, sister I, sister II, health visitor, deputy nursing sister, staff nurse, senior enrolled nurse, enrolled nurse and nursing auxiliary/assistant; and if he will publish, for each grade category, the number of employees in full-time posts, the number of part-time employees and the whole-time equivalent of those part-time employees.

[holding answer 30 March 1988]: Only information regarding staff in post is available centrally and is given in the following table (as at 30 September 1987).

		Part-time
Health authority/Grade	Whole-time number	Number	Whole-time equivalent
Clwyd
Chief administrative nursing officer¹	1	—	—
Director of nursing services grades 1+ to 6	5	—	—
Senior nurses grades 1+ to 8	133	2	0·9
Sister I	17	1	0·8
Sister II	480	45	29·4
Health visitor	59	15	8·3
Deputy nursing sister	3	37	28·6
Staff nurse²	547	390	245·6
Senior enrolled nurse²
Enrolled nurse	494	316	208·8
Nursing auxiliary/assistant and NNEB's³	443	584	412·5
East Dyfed

		Part-time
Health authority/Grade	Whole-time number	Number	Whole-time equivalent
Chief administrative nursing officer¹	—	—	—
Director of nursing services grades 1+ to 6	4	—	—
Senior nurses grades 1+ to 8	53	—	—
Sister I	19	—	—
Sister II	324	40	27·1
Health visitor	46	10	5·0
Deputy nursing sister	—	—	—
Staff nurse ²	271	273	150·4
Senior enrolled nurse²
Enrolled nurse	276	268	155·3
Nursing auxiliary/assistant and NNEB's³
	383	333	213·3
Pembrokeshire
Chief administrative nursing officer¹	1	—	—
Director of nursing services grades 1+ to 6	—	—	—
Senior nurses grades 1+ to 8	17	—	—
Sister I	3	—	—
Sister II	103	27	20·2

		Part-time
Health authority/Grade	Whole-time number	Number	Whole-time equivalent
Enrolled nurse	663	658	413·0
Nursing auxiliary/assistant and NNEB's³
	850	820	537·8
Powys
Chief administrative nursing officer¹	1	—	—
Director of nursing services grades 1+ to 6	3	—	—
Senior nurse grades 1+ to 8	23	—	—
Sister I	10	—	—
Sister II	179	70	40·0
Health visitor	22	9	5·2
Deputy nursing sister	2	—	—
Staff nurse²	70	101	43·3
Senior enrolled nurse²	70	101	43·3
Enrolled nurse	163	122	64·5
Nursing auxiliary/assistant and NNEB's³
	174	355	228·3
South Glamorgan
Chief administrative nursing officer¹	1	—	—
Director of nursing services grades 1 + to 6	5	—	—
Senior nurse grades 1+ to 8	114	2	1·3
Sister I	5	—	—
Sister II	571	171	105·3
Health visitor	66	44	23·7
Deputy nursing sister	1	25	18·4
Staff nurse²	738	493	260·3
Senior enrolled nurse²
Enrolled nurse	531	356	210·3
Nursing auxiliary/assistant and NNEB's³	689	1,018	641·3
West Glamorgan
Chief administrative nursing officer¹	1	—	—
Director of nursing services grades 1+ to 6	5	—	—
Senior nurse grades 1 + to 8	77	—	—
Sister I	9	—	—
Sister II	511	34	20·9
Health visitor	67	18	8·7
Deputy nursing sister	3	—	—
Staff nurse²	610	580	333·5
Senior enrolled nurse²
Enrolled nurse	429	423	260·4
Nursing auxiliary/asssistant and NNEB's³
	301	476	331·4
¹ This is the highest in Welsh Health Authorities and is equivalent to a district nursing officer in England·
² It is not possible to give a reliable split between these two grades·
³ NNEB's are staff holding the Certificate of the National Nursery Examination Board·

Hospital Beds

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the number of beds available in Wales in each specialty in (a) 1979 and (b) for the last year for which figures are available; and if he will give the percentage increase or decrease.

[holding answer 30 March 1988]: The information is given in the following table:

Average daily available beds
Specialty	1979	1986	Percentage ²
General medicine	1,620·6	1,697·0	+ 4·7
Paediatrics	513·8	473·1	- 7·9
Infectious diseases	92·6	19·3	-79·2
Diseases of the chest	725·8	231·2	-68·1
Dermatology	135·3	131·6	- 2·7
Neurology	79·1	72·7	- 8·1
Cardiology	53·7	50·6	- 5·8
Physical medicine/Rehabilitation	76·0	66·8	-12·1
Sexually transmitted diseases	4·0	1·5	-62·5
Rheumatology	69·7	91·4	+31·1
Geriatrics	4,090·2	4,164·8	+1·8
Younger disabled	37·2	33·5	- 9·9
General surgery	1,873·0	1,768·7	- 5·6
Ear, nose and throat	360·5	340·1	- 5·7
Traumatic & orthopaedic surgery	1,379·4	1,281·5	- 7·1
Ophthalmology	266·9	240·0	-10·1
Radiotherapy	140·1	166·2	+18·6
Urology	98·9	158·9	+60·7
Plastic surgery	78·4	90·3	+15·2
Thoracic surgery	36·5	19·0	-47·9
Dental surgery	63·2	74·0	+17·1
Neurosurgery	66·2	83·5	+26·1
Gynaecology	686·2	654·2	- 4·7
Obstetrics	981·9	9110	- 7·2
Special care baby unit	237·3	220·7	- 7·0
Mental illness children	37·0	30·1	-18·6
Mental handicap	2,484·9	2,089·4	-15·9
Mental illness	5,263·9	4,210·4	-20·0
Adolescent psychiatry	45·5	32·0	-29·7
Pre-convalsecent	303·9	168·0	- 44·7
General practitioner—maternity	187·4	117·2	-37·5
General practitioner—medical	9085	1,019·4	+12·2
General practitioner—dental	0·1	0·1	0·0
Unclassified	52·0	27·5	-47·1
Staff wards	11·4	1·3	-88·6
Intensive therapy units	17·3	81·1	+368·8
Renal dialysis	4·0	21·1	-427·5
Burns surgery	36·0	34·7	-3·6
Short stay unit	11·2	38·9	-247·3
Cardiac surgery	15·9	23·3	-46·5
Psycho-geriatric	184·7	458·2	+148·1
Chronic sick	4·3	8·0	+86·0
Haematology	17·7	58·9	+232·8
Continuing care (cancer)	8·3	34·3	+313·3
Medical Research Council	9·8	8·1	-17·3
Spina bifida unit	11·5	11·6	+0·9
Polish patients	—	74·0	n·a·
Elderly mentally infirm	10·0	10-0	0·0
Pain clinic	—	2·2	n·a·
Programmed investigation unit	—	3·1	n·a·
Coronary care	—	13·2	n·a·
War pensioners	56·7	19·8	-65·1
High dependency unit	—	10·0	n·a·
Spinal injuries	—	39·1	n·a·
Miners treatment centre	7·3	—	-100·0
Total¹	23,456·1	21,686·2	-7·5
¹ Individual specialty figures may not add to total due to rounding·
² Increase/decrease·

n.a. Not applicable.

Mink Farms

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he is taking to ensure that all mink farms in Wales comply with the terms of the Mink Keeping Order 1987; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 30 March 1988]: The Mink (Keeping) Order 1987, prohibits the keeping of mink on certain offshore islands of Great Britain and in certain areas of Scotland and prohibits the keeping of mink in the rest of Great Britain except under licence. Any new premises to he used as a mink farm are inspected after an application for a licence is received or if it becomes known that mink are being kept in captivity. In considering an application for a licence my officials would wish to be satisfied that the mink are to be kept in the manner prescribed in the Mink (Keeping) Regulations, 1975, as amended. Any other relevant factors would also be taken into account including the likely impact on farming and wildlife if mink were to escape from captivity. Licences are valid for a period of up to 12 months. There are powers of revocation.

Energy

Inner Cities

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what proportion of the energy programme is spent in the inner cities.

This information is not available in the form required.

Parliamentary Questions

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if, in the light of the new £250 limit on resourcing the answers to parliamentary questions, he will review all replies given since June 1987 that gave no substantive answer on the grounds that such were only possible at disproportionate cost, to ascertain whether substantive replies may now be given following the resource increase.

No.

Ministerial Interview

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will seek to obtain from the BBC copyright permission to place in his departmental library a copy of the interview on the Radio Four "Today" programme broadcast on 28 March, with the hon. Member for Worcestershire, South (Mr. Spicer) the Under-Secretary of State, on opportunities for United States commercial investment in the privatised United Kingdom nuclear programme.

No. I understand that the Library of the House does obtain transcripts from the broadcasters on behalf of hon. Members.

Power Station Statistics

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what is the uranium charge of each operating Magnox and advanced gas-cooled reactor in the United Kingdom; what will be the expected figure for the pressurised water reactor plants to be constructed; and how much plutonium he estimates will be produced by each during the effective life of the stations.

For the uranium charges for Magnox and advanced gas-cooled reactors, I refer the hon. Member to the reply by the hon. Member for Midlothian (Mr. Eadie) to my hon. Friend the Member for Bedfordshire, North (Sir T. Skeet) on 14 December 1977 at column 218. I understand that the core of a pressurised water reactor of the type under construction at Sizewell B requires approximately 500 tonnes of natural uranium in its manufacture.The lifetime production of plutonium during the life of any nuclear station is dependent on its load factor and assumed lifetime. In evidence to the Sizewell inquiry, a copy of which has been placed in the House Library, British Nuclear Fuels plc estimated that the total lifetime production of plutonium from the United Kingdom's civil Magnox and advanced gas-cooled stations will amount to some 78 tonnes. The amount of plutonium produced by a PWR station similar to Sizewell B during its lifetime was estimated to be about 8 tonnes.

Nuclear Waste

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy, assuming that no fuel elements were reprocessed in the United Kingdom, what accumulated tonnage of untreated nuclear fuel elements would have to be stored; and on the basis of reprocessing, what tonnage of waste will have accumulated in the United Kingdom by 1991, taking into account all types of operating nuclear power plants.

Spent fuel currently stored under water in the United Kingdom will have to be reprocessed for safety reasons. Details on the volumes of raw wastes arising from reprocessing to the year 2029 were published in the eighth annual report of the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee. This is available in the House Library. The relevant table is table 5, appendix F.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy (1) what was the total throughput of spent Magnox fuel, expressed in terms of uranium content, which was reprocessed at BNFL Sellafield in each year from 1979 to 1987, by financial year;(2) what was the total throughput of spent Magnox fuel, expressed in terms of uranium content, which was reprocessed at the Windscale reprocessing works in each financial year from 1963–64 to 1969–70;(3) what was the total throughput of spent Magnox fuel, expressed in terms of uranium content, which was reprocessed at the BNFL Sellafield in each of the financial years 1977–78 and 1978–79.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Mr. Goodlad) to the hon. Member for Islington, South and Finsbury (Mr. Smith) on 11 December 1985 at columns 638–39, to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Member for Worcestershire, South (Mr. Spicer) to the hon. Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn) on 1 February 1988 at columns 473—74, and the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Colne Valley (Mr. Riddick) on 16 December 1987 at column 516.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy, what is his estimate of the likely stockpiling of plutonium resulting from reprocessing spent nuclear fuel from United Kingdom reactors over the next 10 years.

Production of plutonium from reprocessing of irradiated fuel from United Kingdom civil magnox reactors is expected to continue at a rate of 1·5 to 2 tonnes per year for the next 10 years. Reprocessing of irradiated fuel from United Kingdom AGR reactors, which is expected to commence in the 1990s is expected to produce up to 5 tonnes of plutonium over the next 10 years.

Bradwell Reactor

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what are the implications for other electricity board Magnox reactors on the grid of the decision to close the Central Electricity Generating Board Magnox reactor at Bradwell; and if he will make a statement.

The Health and Safety Executive's nuclear installations inspectorate has listed a number of measures that the Central Electricity Generating Board will need to take to allow continued operation of the Bradwell reactors after certain dates. I understand that the CEGB is considering what action to take: no decision to close Bradwell has been taken. Work on long-term safety reviews of other Magnox reactors is in hand and the NII's decisions on these will be announced in due course.

Trade And Industry

Industry Regeneration (Lewisham)

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will put forward proposals to regenerate industry in Lewisham.

Industry in Lewisham, as elsewhere, stands to benefit from all we are doing to create a climate that stimulates enterprise, cuts red tape, encourages healthy competition and expands markets for British products and services. The business consultancy scheme which we launched earlier this year, under the enterprise initiative, can help small and medium-sized firms improved their performance and profitability. Lewisham is an urban programme area with a programme of £1·95 million proposed for 1988–89. As a result of this status, eligible companies there qualify for the higher rate of assistance under the enterprise initiative and may also submit projects for city grant. The borough was also the finishing point this year for our national US roadshow, offering detailed guidance on the United States' market to local exporters.

British Steel (Privatisation)

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what progress has been made in the preparations for the privatisation of British Steel.

The British Steel Bill is currently in Committee. Other preparations for privatisation are also proceeding, and a number of Government advisers have been appointed.

Manufacturing Industry (Exchange Rate)

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment he has made of the effects of a high exchange rate on British manufacturing industry; and what is his expectation of the effect on Anglo-German trade in manufactured goods of a sustained exchange rate of the pound sterling equalling over 3 deutschmarks.

The exchange rate is only one of many factors affecting performance in manufacturing, as Germany's experience confirms. The outlook for United Kingdom manufacturing output, investment and exports generally is one of continuing growth. Our improved performance in areas such as quality, design, and reliability is particularly relevant to the demands of the German market.

Inner Cities

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what proportion of the trade and industry programme is spent in the inner cities.

My Department plans to spend £1,250 million in 1988–89. All its programmes take account as appropriate of the needs of the inner cities. Inner cities will in particular benefit from the enhanced rate of support for business development consultancies under the enterprise initiative. But it is not possible in every case to identify that proportion of the budget which is spent in the inner cities. However expenditure by the inner cities unit and grant in aid for English Estates new managed workshop programme are solely directed at inner city areas and this will amount to £27 million in 1988–89.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) if he will list in the Official Report which wards of which local authorities he treats as part of the inner cities;(2) which local authorities, or parts of local authorities, are covered by the inner cities;(3) which areas of the United Kingdom are not eligible for assistance under the action for cities programme.

The areas for action for most of the cities programmes are shown in the map in the "Action for Cities" document, copies of which have been placed in the Library and Vote Office, and distributed to Members of the House with urban constituencies. Some programmes or initiatives, such as the urban development corporations, urban programme, enterprise zones, and inner city task forces, operate within precisely defined boundaries. For urban programme purposes, priority areas are either formally defined, in the case of partnership areas, or agreed with local authorities in order to target resources through inner area programmes. Urban programme areas are also used to target some other forms of support including special assistance under the enterprise initiative. Support through other programmes, such as housing association grant and estate action is available more widely, but is concentrated in inner cities.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will give for each inner city area, and for inner cities in total, the population, employment, unemployment, child population, school population and pensioner population.

Figures are available only for urban programme areas and not for any other definition of inner city areas. Those figures are shown in the tables. Table 1 gives the latest available estimates of numbers of employees, taken from the September 1984 census of employment. The results of the September 1987 census are expected to become available next year. Table 2 gives estimated district level unemployment percentage rates for November 1987, using 1981 census data on population as the denominator. Table 3 gives the usually resident self-employed population aged over 16, drawn from the 1981 census. Table 4 gives OPCS population estimates for mid 1986, broken down (i) for under 15s, (ii) for those of pensionable age.

Employees in employment:¹September 1984
Local authority district²	Number (thousands)
Birmingham	473·9
Hackney	79·9
Islington	114·5
Lambeth	129·1
Liverpool	219·7
Manchester	270·0
Salford	89·1
Newcastle upon Tyne	152·1
Gateshead	67·5
Barnsley	73·0
Blackburn	55·4
Bolton	87·9
Bradford	173·6
Brent	97·4
Bristol	197·6
Burnley	33·1
Coventry	124·7
Derby	106·2
Doncaster	94·8
Dudley	92·9
Greenwich	64·8
Halton	41·8
Hammersmith	77·2
Haringey	58·4
Hartlepool	29·0
Kensington and Chelsea	83·6
Kingston upon Hull	105·4
Kirklees	121·5
Knowsley	53·5
Langhaurgh	44·2
Leeds	294·7
Leicester	159·5
Lewisham	59·6
Middlesbrough	50·0
Newham	68·3
North Tyneside	63·7
Nottingham	156·2
Oldham	69·4
Plymouth	94·8
Preston	66·6
Rochdale	68·9
Rotherham	77·1
St· Helens	59·4
Sandwell	129·1
Sefton	79·7
Sheffield	218·0
South Tyneside	42·6
Southwark	130·7
Stockton-on-Tees	60·4
Sunderland	94·4
The Wrekin	42·6
Tower Hamlets	81·1
Walsall	102·5
Wandsworth	83·3
Wigan	85·7
Wirral	88·1

Local authority district ²	Number (thousands)
Wolverhampton	101·6
Total all 57 districts	6,040,100
¹ The figures exclude the self employed and members of Her Majesty's forces·
² The districts are defined in terms of ward boundaries as at 1984

District level unemployment: percentage rates
	per cent.
Birmingham	15·85
Hackney	21·06
Islington	17·57
Lambeth	16·65
Liverpool	20·98
Manchester	19·01
Salford	13·44
Newcastle	16·87
Gateshead	13·61
Barnsley	15·01
Blackburn	11·46
Bolton	11·39
Bradford	11·61
Brent	11·63
Bristol	10·95
Burnley	94·8
Coventry	13·85
Derby	12·46
Doncaster	15·86
Dudley	10·49
Greenwich	11·57
Halton	16·05
Hammersmith and Fulham	13·80
Haringey	14·35
Hartlepool	17·35
Kensington and Chelsea	11·20
Kingston upon Hull	16·74
Kirklees	9·36
Knowsley	19·71
Langbaurgh	16·28
Leeds	10·50
Leicester	11·47
Lewisham	13·00
Middlesbrough	19·44
Newham	14·27
North Tyneside	13·46
Nottingham	15·56
Oldham	10·10
Plymouth	12·09
Preston	10·96
Rochdale	10·92
Rotherham	14·65
St. Helens	13·87
Sandwell	14·00
Sefton	12·88
Sheffield	14·82
South Tyneside	17·54
Southwark	17·26
Stockton on Tees	15·38
Sunderland	17·67
The Wrekin	14·25
Tower Hamlets	20·28
Walsall	12·16
Wandsworth	9·90
Wigan	12·34
Wirral	14·38
Wolverhampton	15·50

Usually resident population aged 16+
Self-employed
District	Number
Birmingham	25,035
Hackney	6,438

District	Number
Islington	6,740
Lambeth	9,078
Liverpool	10,543
Manchester	11,341
Salford	6,637
Newcastle upon Tyne	6,147
Gateshead	4,207
Barnsley	5,521
Blackburn	4,969
Bolton	9,483
Bradford	15,901
Brent	12,061
Bristol	12,163
Burnley	3,324
Coventry	7,288
Derby	5,141
Doncaster	7,615
Dudley	9,355
Greenwich	6,371
Halton	2,197
Hammersmith and Fulham	6,933
Haringey	9,503
Hartlepool	1,877
Kensington and Chelsea	9,433
Kingston upon Hull	4,763
Kirklees	13,401
Knowsley	2,755
Langbaurgh	2,979
Leeds	23,026
Leicester	8,175
Lewisham	7,781
Middlesbrough	2,582
Newham	5,744
North Tyneside	4,613
Nottingham	6,373
Oldham	8,007
Plymouth	6,868
Preston	4,334
Rochdale	7,534
Rotherham	5,892
St. Helens	4,265
Sandwell	6,381
Sefton	10,295
Sheffield	14,222
South Tyneside	3,060
Southwark	6,510
Stockton-on-Tees	3,508
Sunderland	5,587
The Wrekin	3,569
Tower Hamlets	4,853
Walsall	7,883
Wandsworth	10,631
Wigan	9,028
Wirral	9,882
Wolverhampton	6,318
Total	436,120

Source: 1981 Census of Population.

Mid-1986 Population Estimates (OPCS)
(Thousands)
Local Authority Area	Total Population	Age Group
		0–15	60–65+
Birmingham	1,004·1	219·4	177·0
Hackney	187·1	41·6	30·0
Islington	168·0	30·9	28·1
Lambeth	245·0	47·1	40·1
Liverpool	483·0	99·0	92·1
Manchester	451·4	92·6	81·7
Salford	239·3	48·7	46·1
Newcastle	281·4	54·2	54·9
Gateshead	207·3	40·7	38·9
Barnsley	222·2	46·4	39·4
Blackburn	139·1	33·5	24·0

Local Authority Area	Total Population	Age Group
		0–15	60–65 +
Bolton	261·6	58·8	45·1
Bradford	463·1	108·5	78·9
Brent	255·7	51·8	39·9
Bristol	391·5	74·7	76·9
Burnley	88·2	19·5	16·3
Coventry	310·4	66·2	54·4
Derby	216·2	46·5	38·9
Doncaster	289·3	61·7	47·8
Dudley	300·9	60·2	50·8
Greenwich	217·8	46·3	38·5
Halton	123·2	30·1	17·6
Hammersmith and Fulham	150·8	25·6	26·8
Haringey	196·1	38·8	30·8
Hartlepool	90·7	19·6	15·2
Kensington and Chelsea	137·4	19·7	21·7
Kingston upon Hull	258·0	56·6	47·0
Kirklees	376·6	82·3	65·6
Knowsley	163·8	39·6	23·1
Langbaurgh	146·8	32·6	22·9
Leeds	710·9	142·7	131·4
Leicester	281·1	63·9	49·4
Lewisham	232·0	45·6	43·6
Middlesbrough	144·3	43·8	22·5
Newham	205·2	46·6	32·9
North Tyneside	192·3	37·8	38·2
Nottingham	277·8	57·1	50·4
Oldham	220·0	48·7	38·4
Plymouth	256·0	52·4	44·4
Preston	125·0	26·8	23·5
Rochdale	206·6	47·6	33·8
Rotherham	2521	54·8	40·9
St· Helens	187·9	39·9	31·0
Sandwell	301·1	63·5	55·9
Sefton	298·0	59·8	57·9
Sheffield	534·3	97·9	1079
South Tyneside	156·9	30·7	30·7
Southwark	216·0	42·5	40·6
Stockton on Tees	175·8	39·5	25·3
Sunderland	297·7	65·6	48·0
The Wrekin	130·2	30·8	18·4
Tower Hamlets	152·8	33·6	25·3
Walsall	261·8	55·6	42·5
Wandsworth	257·1	47·0	45·9
Wigan	306·6	66·2	50·1
Wirral	334·8	69·7	65·1
Wolverhampton	251·9	54·0	44·8

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) what was the expenditure of each Department in the inner cities in each year since 1978–79;(2) what was the expenditure of each Department on the inner cities planned for 1988–89; and what is the estimated outcome for 1986–87 and 1987–88;(3) if he will state the expenditure for 1988–89 and all the years of the public expenditure White Paper spent by each Department as part of the inner cities programme.

Information on inner city expenditure by Departments is not available on a consistent basis before 1988–89. Final decisions have not been taken on the proportion of planned expenditure which will be directed to inner cities for later years of the public expenditure survey. My right hon. Friends are responding individually to the hon. Member on the proportion of their Department's expenditure directed at inner cities. We estimate that some £3,000 million will be directed to the inner cities through the programme and initiatives described in the "Action for Cities" document, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.

Mr Peter Luff

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will specify what steps he has taken to ensure that the departmental duties of the special adviser, Mr. Peter Luff, are not compromised by the investigation of his former employers by his Department into possible illegal takeover conduct; and when these steps were taken.

It has been established practice, followed in Mr. Luff's case, that special advisers should not at any time have access to information about companies for whom they worked.

Export Credits Guarantee Department

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will reinstate Export Credits Guarantee Department cover to Nicaragua; and if he will make a statement.

Cover is available for short term business (up to 180 days credit) subject to the security of confirmed irrevocable letters of credit. The position on cover for medium-term business is kept under review.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which Central and South American countries are currently covered by the Export Credits Guarantee Department.

Some cover is currently available, subject in some cases to payment security, for all Central and South American countries except Argentina.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when Nicaragua ceased to be covered by the Export Credits Guarantee Department; and how long cover had been provided prior to its cessation.

Medium-term cover for Nicaragua was withdrawn in October 1978 because of the economic problems caused by the war and the acute shortage of foreign exchange. Prior to that date such cover had been available over a continuous period. Short-term cover (up to 80 days) remain available subject to the security of confirmed irrevocable letters of credit.

Fida 88 Exhibition, Chile

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what level of support was given to British companies exhibiting at Fida 88 in Chile; and what companies were involved.

The Government provided no financial support for companies exhibiting at the Fida trade fair.

Action For Cities Initiative

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he expects to hold the first working breakfast in his action for cities initiative; and what is the location.

The first working breakfast following the announcement of the Government's action for cities initiative will be held at Newcastle on Wednesday 13 April 1988.

Ec Countries

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many committees have been established under the process of unifying standards throughout the European Community, on which subjects and how many of the chairmen are British.

Standardisation in Europe is carried out by two bodies — the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) for non-electrical products, and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) for electrical products.According to our latest information, CEN has 90 technical committees, of which 11 are chaired by the United Kingdom, while CENELEC has 44 technical committees of which 11 are chaired by the United Kingdom.

Letter Post

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what progress has been made by the Post Office in the implementation of the recommendations made in the Monopolies and Mergers Commission's report on the letter post service; and if he will make a statement.

The Monopolies and Mergers Commission's report on the letter post service of the Post Office in the head post office areas of Glasgow, Belfast and Cardiff and in the numbered London postal districts (Cmnd. 9332) was published in September 1984. The report made 78 recommendations covering quality of service, financial control, costing and forecasting, mechanisation and manpower and industrial relations. Of the 78 recommendations, 76 were accepted by the Post Office. The Commission was also asked to include in its report a view on whether the Post Office was pursuing a course of conduct which operated against the public interest. It concluded that it must suspend judgment on this since so much depended on what was achieved in the following years.The Post Office has now produced its three-year report on progress in implementing the MMC's recommendations and I am placing copies in the Library of the House. The Post Office reports that it has implemented the great majority of the 76 recommendations it accepted.There are still certain recommendations where further work is required, several of which the Post Office declared at the outset would take longer to implement, and my Department will continue to monitor progress. The Post Office reports eight recommendations as still undischarged. One of these recommendations, that the Post Office should seek to increase post code usage to 70 per cent. of all mail, has been accomplished since the Post Office reported on progress in September. Of the remainder, three concern the establishment of standard times and costs and a productivity scheme based on standard times. This is an area in which the Post Office has experienced many industrial relations problems, but I am glad to say the work measurement scheme is now proceeding well and I understand that the new bonus scheme introduced as part of the agreement concluded between the Post Office and its unions in December on a shorter working week will form a better basis for the introduction of a full standard-based scheme.The other recommendations which remain undischar-ged concern quality of service, the introduction of a computerised system for manpower statistics, the computerisation of the system for recording and notifying weights of airmail bags and the replacement of sorting machines at the Post Office's foreign section with modern equipment. While there has been an improvement in quality of service since the report was made, both in the intra-London service and nationally, it is disappointing that the Post Office has continued to fail to meet its targets. As the Post Office comments in its progress report, a factor in this has undoubtedly been the high level of unofficial industrial disputes in recent years. On the other recommendations, although there are plans for their implementation, it is disappointing that the introduction of the new systems and machinery required has been so long delayed.There are also several recommendations recorded as discharged, particularly those relating to the introduction of better costing information for management, on which, while I acknowledge that the Post Office has done much towards carrying out the MMC's recommendations, further long-term work remains to be done. I shall continue to monitor progress in all these areas.I do, however, acknowledge and welcome the significant progress that has been made over the three years since the MMC reported, particularly in the introduction of mechanisation and improved working methods. It was largely because of failure to implement recommendations in these areas made in its 1980 report on the inner London letter post that the MMC was led to conclude that it should suspend judgment on the question whether the Post Office was operating against the public interest. I also acknowledge the Post Office's creditable track record over the period in terms of price control, growth in business, profitability and employment creation.

Consultancy Contracts

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list each management or computer consultancy contract awarded by his Department in 1987, giving in each case the name of the consultancy firm and the subject of the assignment.

[holding answer 30 March 1988]: The following is the list for the 1987 calendar year:

Human Resource Development Ltd.— Footwear Industry Study.

Technical Change Centre—The success of R & D projects.

Admiral Management Services Ltd., Software Sciences Ltd. —Commercial Computer Security work.

Patrick Associates—Vanguard Awareness.

Computer Sciences Co. Ltd. — Patent Office Computer project.

General Technology Systems Ltd. — Co-ord of IT programmes.

Metron Technology Ltd.—Computer Capacity Planning.

PA Technology (Cambridge)—Study of Industrial Growth Industry.

GEC Transportation Projects Ltd.—Transport study.

Software Sciences Ltd.—Computer study.

Coopers & Lybrand Associates — Effectiveness of Innovation centres.

National Computing Centre Ltd.—Starts Programme.

Expertech Ltd.—Expert Systems Feasibility.

C. M. I. (UK) Ltd.—Study of management, education and training.

A. S. I. UK Ltd.

National Computing Centre Ltd.—Information Systems.

John Drew Tucker Associates—High Definition Television.

P A Technology (Cambridge) — Advice on Inner Cities initiative.

Price Waterhouse Associates—Organisational studies.

Agriconsult—Safety study: Fire resistance.

Best Grange Ltd.—Efficient Ship programme.

Admiral Computing Group — Software Standards & Quality advice.

Organisation and System Innovation Ltd. — Application Study

FRH Associates—Intelligent Knowledge based systems

Taylor Nelson Applied Futures — Home of the future project

AMP Systems Ltd.—Company Information Database

Sherington Software Ltd.—Trade Fairs Computer Schemes

Concurrent Computer Corporation Ltd. — Capacity plan-ning study

PA Computers and Telecommunications — Evaluation of UK Communications

Technical Change Centre—Engineering Research in EEC

Logica UK Limited—Computer Project for Fixed Services

Technical Change Centre — Study of UK Science in key areas of research

Logica UK Limited—Satellite Communications Study

T. William Olle Associates—Database Standards

PA Technology—Sets Study

Cap Industries Ltd.—OSI Upper Layer Architecture

British Telconsult—Advisory Services

Segal, Quince Wickstead—Support for Design Scheme

Prognosis Ltd.—Semi-conductor study

Ewbank Preece Group Ltd.—Overseas Project Monitoring Advice

Patrick Consulting Associates—Quality Assurance Study

Neotech Associates—Large Scale Demonstrator project

The Institute of Mechanical Engineers — Demonstrator project

Prognosis Ltd—Semi-conductor layers on silicon study

Scientific Generics Ltd.—Nanotechnology Project

National Computing Centre Ltd. — Computer graphics study

KPMG Peat Marwick McLintock — OSI Demonstration project

Kennedy and Donkin Power Systems Ltd. — Overseas project evaluation

Hollobone Hibbert and Associates—Computing Database preparation

General Technology Systems Ltd.—Space Cost Study

Mott, Hay and Henderson International—Overseas project study

Computer Market Communications — Super Computer Research

British Telecom Research Laboratories — Cellular Radio consultancy

Spicer and Pegler Associates—Strategy study

Metron Technology Ltd.—Computer Capacity Study

Xionics Limited—Internal Network

Inbucon Management Consultants Ltd. — Awareness Statistical Survey

March Consulting Group—Maintenance UK Study

Brown and Root Vickers Ltd.—Purchasing Consultancy

Met Ocean Consultancy Ltd. — Resources from the Sea Study

PA Technology—Programme advice

CAP Ltd.—Advice on use of RPCTE implementation

WS Atkins and Partners—Advice on EC Public Purchasing procedures

Alpha Industrial Electronics Consultants Ltd. — Large demonstrator programme

British Telecom Research Laboratories—OSI Opportunity Study

Organisation and System Innovations Ltd.—Strategy for Expert EC Systems

Human Resource Development Ltd.—Footwear Industry project

Further Education Unit—CNC Machine Tools in Further Education Study

Price Waterhouse Associates — Software Standards and certification study

HR International — Top management programme and advice on deregulation assistance

Coopers & Lybrand Associates — Organisation of DTI Surface Mount Club

March Consulting Ltd. — Managed Workshop Feasibility Study

Logica Ltd.—Quality Management Systems study

Laser-Scan Labs Ltd.—Advice on computer graphics

Telecomputing PLC—Interface Standard

Coopers & Lybrand Associates — UK Electronic Components Industry Survey

Communications Complex Design Ltd. — Product Design Trends & Accidents Study

Collins Oil & Gas Consultancy Ltd. — Purchasing consultancy

Touche Ross & Co.—Feasibility Study

Technical Audit Ltd. — Register of UK Quality Assessed Companies Study

Organisation and System Innovations Ltd. — VADS Training Study

London Transport International — Overseas Transport Study

Data Dictionary Systems Ltd.—Draft ISO Standard

Organisation and System Innovations Ltd.—Guidelines for Selection of expert Systems Applications

Logica UK Ltd—Vanguard-computer studies

ISC Electronic Systems Ltd.—Vanguard-UK Construction Industry Study

Plessey Telecommunications & Office Systems Ltd. —Cellular Radio Study

Coopers & Lybrand Associates; Ernst & Whinney Management Consultants—Enterprise initiative services

KPMG Peat Marwick McLintock — Review of Foreign Inward Investment Agencies

International Computers Ltd. (UK)—ICL advice on MAIL Network

Wallace Ltd.—Radio Spectrum Review

Organisation & System Innovations Ltd. — VanguardVADS Communities

Arthur D. Little Ltd.—Vanguard-VADS Communities

KPMG Peat Marwick McLintock — Vanguard-VADS Communities

Langton Ltd.—Vanguard-VADS Communities

Hoskyns Group Plc—Vanguard-VADS Communities

PA Computers & Telecommunications Ltd. — VanguardVADS Communities

CAP Ltd.—Vanguard-VADS Communities

SCICON Ltd.—Vanguard-VADS Communities

Price Waterhouse Associates — Vanguard-VADS Communities

Coopers & Lybrand Associates — Vanguard-VADS inter-working study

Baker & Smith Ltd.—Vanguard Community Development Programme

Regional Aid

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what has been the total spending, and the number of cases assisted in Houghton and Washington, through (a) regional selective assistance and (b) regional development grant from 1984 to 1987, broken down into manufacturing and service industries.

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: The information requested on regional selective assistance and regional development grant in Houghton and Washington' from 1984 to 1987 is as follows:

	Manufacture	Service
Regional Selective Assistance²
Expenditure (£ million)	3·6	0·5
Number of cases assisted
Regional Development Grant³	40	3
Expenditure (£ million)	3·7	0·8
Number of cases assisted	215	41
¹ Interpreted as the parliamentary constituency of Houghton and Washington.
² Project and training grants only. Information on the Business

Improvement Services and Exchange Risk Guarantee Schemes is not available at the local level.

³ Detailed data are available only for the revised scheme, introduced in November 1984. However, £15·7 million was paid under the original scheme to companies in the Houghton and Washington employment office areas during the period in question.

Education And Science

Capitation Payments

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has as to capitation paid to (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) the Inner London education authority and (ii) outer London boroughs in each of the last five years; what information he has as to such payments to be made in the coming year; and if he will make a statement.

Authorities have submitted some details of their per capita allowances for 1985–86 and 1986–87 as part of Her Majesty's inspectorate's 1986 review of LEA provision for education. However, it is not possible to set out accurate comparable data for individual LEAs because each authority has its own type of scheme. Comparisons can be misleading because the allowances do not always cover the same area of expenditure or class of pupils and they are often combined with additional amounts for certain subjects or departments.

Ilea (Abolition)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received about the proposed abolition of the Inner London education authority; and if he will make a statement.

We have received some 1,650 letters from hon. Members, organisations and individual members of the public about the proposals announced by my right hon. Friend on 4 February.

Testing

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much the introduction of testing for seven, 11, 14 and 16-year-olds will cost; what is the estimated annual cost; and if he will make a statement.

The costs will depend on the nature of the tests and assessment arrangements required for various national curriculum subjects. My right hon. Friend will be reaching decisions on these matters, in the light of advice from subject working groups and the task group on assessment and testing. Overall, the Government expect the implementation of the national curriculum and assessment to be contained within its planned level of provision for education, where necessary by redeploying and using resources more effectively.

School Meals

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what are the results of the October 1987 census of school meals; arid what are the comparable figures for the previous census.

The information is as follows:

Maintained Schools (Including Nursery and Special): England
	October 1987		October 1986
	Number	Per cent.	Number	Per cent.
Pupils in attendance	6,210,640	1000	6,351,870	100·0
Pupils taking meals on payment	1,989,746	32·0	1,956,310	30·8
Free	1,101,132	17·7	1,143,817	18·0
Total	3,090,878	49·8	3,100,127	48·8
Pupils bringing own food	2,008,172	32·3	1,937,151	30·5
Pupils having other arrangements	1,111,590	17·9	1,314,592	20·7

An analysis of the returns shows the following proportions for primary and secondary pupils, as percentages of pupils in attendance:

	Primary		Secondary
	1987	1986	1987	1986
Pupils taking school meals	51·9	51·8	46·2	44·5
Pupils bring own food	39·4	37·3	24·4	23·3
Pupils having other arrangements	8·7	11·0	29·4	32·1

Detailed tabulations on the returns from local education authorities in England, from which these national totals were derived, are being placed in the Library.

House Of Commons

Official And Library Corridors

To ask the Lord President of the Council under what circumstances access to the Official Corridor and the Library Corridor is permitted to anyone other than right hon. and hon. Members.

Use of guillotine since 1979
		Bills guillotined in standing committee		Bills guillotined in committee of whole House
Session/Bill	Hours for 2nd Reading	Hours in committee before guillotine	Hours in committee after guillotine	Hours in committee before guillotine	Hours in committee after guillotine	Time allotted for report and 3rd Reading	Number of hours allotted for Lords Amendments1
1979–80
Education (No. 2)	7	82	21	—	—	2 days until midnight	4 hours
Social Security	6	60	32	—	—	2 days until midnight	3 hours
Housing	6	110	34	—	—	2 days until midnight	1 day until midnight
Social Security (No. 2)	6	44	20	—	—	1 day until midnight	—
1980–81
Transport	7	55	41	—	—	1 day until 1 am	1 day until 10 pm
British Nationality	8	90	46	—	—	3 days until midnight	1 day until 10 pm
1981–82
Oil and Gas (Enterprise)	6	70	29	—	—	1 day until midnight and 1/2 day until 7 pm	1 day until 10 pm
Employment	7	91	19	—	—	1 day until midnight	1 day until 10 pm
Northern Ireland	7	—	—	54	10	1 day until midnight	—
1982–83

I shall write to my right hon. Friend.

Guillotined Measures

To ask the Lord President of the Council whether he will list the Bills guillotined since 1979; at what stage each Bill was guillotined; for how many hours such Bills had been debated (a) on Second Reading and (b) in Committee; and how many hours were subsequently allowed for each of the remaining stages.

The information is as follows:

		Bills guillotined in standing committee		Bills guillotined in committee of whole House
Session/Bill	Hours for 2nd Reading	Hours in committee before guillotine	Hours in committee after guillotine	Hours in committee before guillotine	Hours in committee after guillotine	Time allotted for report and 3rd Reading	Number of hours allotted for Lords Amendments¹
Transport	6	80	16	—	—	1 day until	—
Telecommunications	6	110	39	—	—	1 day until midnight	—
Housing and Building Control	6	90	18	—	—	1 day until 1 am	—
1983–84
Telecommunications	6	80	26	—	—	1 day until midnight	—
Rates	7	80	29	—	—	1 day until midnight	—
Rating and Valuation (Amendment) (Scotland)	6	82	18	—	—	1 day until midnight	—
1984–85
Local Government	15	86	59	—	—	1 day until midnight and 1 day until 10 pm	1 day until midnight
Transport	5	76	53	—	—	1 day until midnight and 1 day until 10 pm	1 day until 11 pm
1985–86
Gas	7	75	39	—	—	1 day until midnight and 1/2 day until 7pm	2 hours
Social Security	5	100	41	—	—	1 day until midnight and 1 day until 10 pm	4 hours
European Communities (Amendment)	3	—	—	18	4	1 hour	—
1986–87
Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc (Scotland)	6	101	18	—	—	1 day until midnight and 1 day until 10 pm	3 hours
Local Government Finance	6	—	—	15	6	1 day until midnight	—
1987–88
Education Reform	7	88	75	—	—	4 days until 10 pm	—
Local Government Finance	12	72	64	—	—	4 days², last day until 10 pm	—
Social Security³	7	—	—	—	—	—	6
[Hours rounded to nearest whole.]
¹ Including debate on supplementary order.
² To be confirmed.
³ Allocation of time moved on Lords Amendments.

"The House Magazine"

To ask the Lord President of the Council what forms of access to the precincts are given to employees of Parliamentary Communications Ltd. for the purposes of the operation of "The House Magazine"; if any advance information is given to the magazine by staff of the House; and if he will make a statement.

Three representatives of "The House Magazine" have access to the Press Gallery. In addition, two research assistants have registered an interest in connection with that magazine, as required by the

Resolution of the House of 17 December 1985. The only advance information provided to the magazine, m common with that provided generally to the Press Gallery, is on the future activities of Select and Standing Committees.

To ask the Lord President of the Council when "The House Magazine" was granted permission by the House of Commons (Services) Committee to use the portcullis associated with the House as its insignia.

I am advised that a record of the information requested cannot be traced.

Overseas Development

Non-Military Aid

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the change in the total value of Her Majesty's Government's overseas nonmilitary aid between 1979 and 1987 in real terms; and if he will make a statement.

Figures for gross public expenditure on overseas aid for 1987 are not yet available. Between 1979 and 1986, expenditure in real terms fell by 16 per cent. In the period since 1982, however, it has been more than maintained and, as the recent public expenditure White Paper made clear, the aid programme is now planned to grow in real terms.

Biwaters Project (Malaysia)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs who carried out the independent check that established value for money in the Biwaters Malaysian project.

The value-for-money check was carried out by consultants Coopers and Lybrand, in association with Sir William Halcrow and Partners.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Overseas Development Agency appraisal mission to Malaysia reviewed the performance of Biwater projects elsewhere, particularly in Nigeria; and if he will make a statement.

The appraisal mission was concerned specifically with the project in Malaysia. In the light of its findings, and other investigations carried out, the Government were content both with the viability of the project and with the capability of Biwater to implement it. A review of other projects carried out by the same contractor is not normally practicable, particularly where the Overseas Development Agency is not involved in funding them.

Aid Projects (Single Contractors)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the Governments of Cameroon, Chile and Thailand have insisted on negotiating a contract with a single contractor for United Kingdom aid projects; and if he will make a statement.

No. Where assistance is sought from the aid and trade provision, the nature of contracts is primarily a matter for the contractual parties concerned in the light of the circumstances of each case.

Ethiopia

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a further statement on aid by the United Kingdom to Ethiopia.

British commitments for famine relief in Ethiopia, through bilateral and European Community channels, total over £45 million since the beginning of 1987. This includes the cost of 94,500 tonnes of bilateral food aid to help in meeting needs during 1988 and £3 million to support airlift operations by the office of the United Nations disaster relief co-ordinator. It also includes assistance with transport, port handling equipment, medicines and grain storage.The United Kingdom also maintains a technical cooperation and training programme for Ethiopia and is assisting with famine rehabilitation including a £1.2 million well rehabilitation project in Welo region.

Khmer Rouge

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he has taken to prevent aid provided by Her Majesty's Government for refugees at the Thai-Cambodia border from being diverted for use by the Khmer Rouge.

Our assistance, which is provided through the relevant United Nations agencies, is subject to the stipulation that it should go only to the occupants of those camps controlled by the non-communist elements of the Cambodian resistance. We have received assurances that this stipulation is observed.

Nicaragua

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the last technical assistance training award was made to Nicaragua; how many were made in the previous five years; and why they have ceased.

The last technical co-operation training award was made to Nicaragua in 1982. We have no separate statistics of new awards made to Nicaragua in the five years previous to 1982. After 1982, we provided assistance to Nicaragua only for disaster relief or through voluntary agencies or international relief organisations; the European Community has provided substantial aid of which Britain's share is around 20 per cent.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if Her Majesty's Government will resume technical assistance training awards to Nicaragua; and if he will make a statement.

We have no plans to do so.

National Finance

Tax Revenue

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been raised under the main heads of tax in 1986–87 and 1987–88.

Following is the information :

£ million
	1986–87	1987–88 latest estimate
Income tax	38,500	41,400
Corporation tax¹	13,500	15,600
Petroleum revenue tax²	1,190	2,330
Capital gains tax	1,060	1,350
Development land tax	55	25
Inheritance tax	990	1,070
Stamp duties	1,860	2,440

	1986–87	1987–88 latest estimate
Total inland revenue	57,200	64,200
Value added tax	21,400	24,100
Petrol, derv, etc.	7,500	7.800
Cigarettes and other tabacco	4,800	4.800
Spirits, beer, wine, cider and perry	4,200	4,400
Betting and gaming	780	810
Car tax	960	1,150
Other excise duties	20	20
EC own resources customs duties etc.	1,300	1,470
agricultural levies	250	190
Total customs and excise	41,100	44,700
Vehicle excise duties³	2,580	2.700
Gas levy	520	500
¹ Includes net ACT.
² Includes advance petroleum revenue tax.
³ Includes driving licence receipts.

Special Advisers (Payments)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what rules govern the receipt of payments by special advisers from former employers; and if he will make a statement.

All special advisers, including those on secondment from outside employers, are subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Pay and Conditions of Service Code—except for the rules governing acceptance of outside appointments after resignation or retirement, and certain aspects of the rules on political activities.

Ec Budget (United Kingdom Contribution)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total net contribution made by the United Kingdom to the European Economic Community in the financial year 1987–88; and by what amount this total had to be reviewed in light of the recent European Council agreement.

Final information on the outturn of our net payments to European Community institutions in 1987–88 is not yet available. An estimate was contained in table 3.1 of the latest public expenditure White Paper. On the question of revisions to that estimate, I refer my hon. Friend to the information given by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary in the debate on the White Paper on 24 February, at columns 316–17.

Inheritance Tax

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will list all those representations he has received to amend the exemption limit for inheritance tax on donations to political parties; and if he will place the submissions in the Library;(2) what was the basis on which he calculated that there will be no loss in revenue from his decision to amend the exemption limit for inheritance tax on donations to political parties;(3) how many estates in which donations were made to political parties in each year since 1979 have been subject to inheritance tax liability or capital transfer tax;

(4) how much (a) inheritance tax or (b) capital transfer tax has been paid in each year since 1979 on donations to political parties.

Information is not kept of the number of estates paying inheritance tax or capital transfer tax on gifts to political parties or of the amount of tax paid, but it is not thought that under present rules gifts of £100,000 or more are normally made, so the loss in revenue from abolishing the limit is likely to be negligible. No representations have been received to amend the exemption limit.

Loans (Tax Relief)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer under what circumstances any interest on loans qualifying for tax relief during a lifetime has obtained tax relief for any interest paid after death in any of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Generally speaking, relief for interest paid ceases to be available when the borrower dies. However, in certain circumstances, interest on a loan to buy a borrower's main residence may continue to be eligible for relief where paid after the borrower's death by his personal representatives or the trustees of his will settlement, provided the home continues to be the main residence of the deceased's spouse or dependent relative. No figures are available of the claims made under this provision.

Elderly Home Owners

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what information he has regarding the number of elderly home owners who have raised money by means of (a) home reversionary schemes, (b) mortgage annuity schemes and (c) building society maturity loans in each of the last five years; and what total sums are involved in each case.

The information requested is not readily available in the form requested.

Privatisation

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list, for each privatisation measure since 1983, the Government's merchant bank advisers, brokers and reporting accountants, and details of any advertising agency involved; and if he will state whether any form of competitive tendering was undertaken in each case for each service.

The Government's merchant bank advisers and brokers in each of the privatisation sales since 1983 are as follows. Reporting accountants and advertising agencies employed in the sales were usually joint appointments with the company, and are also listed. In addition, a number of sales of subsidiaries were carried out by nationalised industries. Details of the advisers for these sales are not held centrally.In each of the privatisation sales, except for British Airways, the appointment of merchant bank advisers, brokers and advertising agencies was subject to competition. In the case of British Airways, Hill Samuel (the merchant bank advisers) had advised when privatisation was first considered in 1980 and were retained for the sale because of their knowledge of the company—a competitive rate having been negotiated.

The appointment of reporting accountants was subject to competition in the case of Enterprise Oil, British Telecom and the Plant Breeding Institute/National Seed Development Organisation. In the other privatisation sales the companies' auditors were appointed without

Company	Date of Sale	Government Merchant bank Adviser	Government Brokers	Reporting Accountant	Advertising Agency
(Joint appointment unless otherwise stated)
Associated British Ports	1983	J. Henry Schroder Wagg	W. Greenwell & Co.	Price Waterhouse	—
Enterprise Oil	1984	Kleinwort Benson	Cazenove De Zoete and Bevan	Peat, Marwick, Mitchell	—
British Telecom	1984	Kleinwort Benson	Hoare Govett De Zoete and Bevan	Coopers and Lybrand	Dorlands
British Gas	1986	N. M. Rothschild	Cazenove Wood MacKenzie James Capel	Price Waterhouse	Young & Rubicam¹
British Airways	1987	Hill Samuel	Cazenove Wood MacKenzie	Ernst and Whinney	Allen Brady & Marsh²
Royal Ordnance	1987	N. M. Rothschild	Hoare Govett	Coopers and Lybrand	—
Rolls Royce	1987	Samuel Montagu	James Capel	Coopers and Lybrand	Collett, Dickinson Pearce³
BAA	1987	County Nat West	Cazenove County Nat West	Touche Ross	J. Walter Thompson
Plant Breeding Institute/ National Seed Development Organisation	1987	Lazards	—	Touche Ross	—
¹ Dewe Rogerson were also employed for the advertising of the collection of the second instalment.2
² Government only. The company employed its own agency.
³ Binns Vereka were also employed for the advertising of the collection of the second instalment.

Age Allowances

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of retirement pensioners (a) aged 65 to 79 years and (b) aged 80 years or over who will be better off by (i) £1 per week, (ii) £1 to £2 per week, (iii) £2 to £3 per week, (iv) £3 to £4 per week, (v) £4 to £5 per week, and (vi) £5 per week or over as a consequence of the increase in the age allowances to £3,180 and £3,310 for a single person and £5,035 and £5,205 for a married couple.

Gain¹per week
Number of tax units²who gain as a result of the increase in personal allowances (thousands)
Number of tax units² who gain from the Budget proposals for income tax rates and allowances (thousands)
	Aged 65–79	Aged 80 +	Aged 65–79	Aged 80 +
up to £1	230	65	115	30
£l-£2	1,510	290	515	120
£2-£3	235	15	560	85
£3-£4	80	15	230	35
£4-£5	75	5	130	20
Over £5	10	Nil	600	80
TOTAL	2,120	400	2,120	400
¹ Compared with 1987–88 tax regime.
² Married couples counted as one unit.

Computer Services

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the computer services of (a) the Department of Health and Social Security, (b) the Inland Revenue, (c) the Home Department or (d) Her Majesty's Customs and Excise are to be contracted out.

obtaining alternative tenders, to take advantage of their knowledge of the companies where this was expected to give rise to worthwhile savings in terms of time and costs. In each case a competitive rate was negotiated.

Estimates are given in the table. The first two columns analyse tax units by the gains in 1988–89 due to the proposed increases in the age allowances and, where appropriate, the main personal allowances. The final two columns analyse tax units by the gains in 1988–89 due to all the reductions in rates of tax and increases in allowances proposed in the Budget. Estimates are based on a projection of the 1985–86 Survey of Personal Income and are provisional.

Her Majesty's Customs and Excise announced recently that the Department's proposed new entry processing system (CHIEF) would, subject to satisfactory contractual negotiations, be developed and operated by British Telecom Applied Technology. This company already runs the existing departmental entry processing system (DEPS).Apart from this, and the use of IT consultancy services for specific functions, the Department has no present plans to contract out its computer services.The Inland Revenue has for several years made extensive use of the private sector in supporting its computer services and will continue to do so, but there are no plans to contract out any computer services functions.Responsibility for computer services in the Department of Health and Social Security is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services and in the Home Office the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary.

Higher And Senior Executives

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to ensure that higher executive officers and senior executive grades will receive a pay award in 1988 sufficient to meet the increased cost of living in London and elsewhere; and if he will make a statement.

The Treasury has discussed the 1988 pay claim for the executive grades with the National Union of Civil and Public Servants. An offer of a 4 per cent. increase was made to the NUCPS on 29 March. In response to the claim from the Council of Civil Service Unions the Treasury on 29 March offered an increase of 10 per cent. in London weighting rates. These offers take into account the need to recruit, retain and motivate staff within what can be afforded. Both offers are with effect from 1 April.

Taxation Changes (Purchasing Impact)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the net purchasing impact of taxation changes in his Budget on the regional economies of (a) the south-east, (b) the north-west.

My right hon. Friend's Budget will provide a stimulus to enterprise and initiative in all regions of the country.

Ec Finance Ministers

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he next expects to meet his counterparts from other European Community states; and what matters he intends to raise.

The next meeting of the European Community's Council of Economic and Finance ministers is expected to be held on 18 April. The agenda for the meeting is likely to include the liberalisation of capital movements, a presentation by the Economic Policy Committee on the Commission's indirect tax approximation proposals, and the implementation of the Brussels European Council conclusions on budget discipline.

Business Expansion Scheme

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will clarify the proposed rules for companies which will carry on qualifying activities for relief under the business expansion scheme, through the letting of homes on assured tenancies; and whether he intends that the company will be able to give notice to tenants at the end of the five-year qualifying period for relief under the business expansion scheme.

The proposed rules for this relief will be set out in the Finance Bill. The tenant under an assured tenancy which qualifies for the purposes of the business expansion scheme will have security of tenure (subject to the right of the landlord to recover possession of his property on certain specified grounds set out in the Housing Bill and the Housing (Scotland) Bill).

Drugs (Illegal Imports)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of estimated illegal imports of drugs are now seized by Customs and Excise or intercepted prior to distribution, by category of drug for each of the last five years for which information is available.

I regret that this information is not available.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportions of seizures of illegally imported drugs, by category of drug, come from EEC countries and from each of the other major source countries for each of the last five years for which information is available.

I regret that this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Income Tax (Higher Rates)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much in tax concessions has been received by those on tax rates above 40 per cent. since June 1979 at constant prices to the latest available date; what estimates are available of the amount that has gone to each region and of the regional numbers of taxpayers in the tax bands above 40 per cent.; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 21 March 1988]: Income tax due from the top 2½ per cent. of taxpayers in 1978–79, the group liable at rates above 40 per cent., amounted to £3·4 billion, equivalent in real terms in 1988–89 to some £7·1 billion. In 1988–89, the tax due from the top 2½ per cent. of taxpayers will be about £9·0 billion — an increase of £2 billion, despite the reductions in tax rates and real increases in allowances since 1978–79. If the taxable incomes of the top 2½per cent. of taxpayers in 1988–89 were as they are now forecast to be, and at the same time were subject to 1978–79 income tax rates and allowances indexed to 1988-S9 levels by reference to the statutory formula, their liability would increase by £6 billion. However, the assumption on which this estimate is based is inherently implausible.I regret that corresponding information for each region is not available. Estimates of the number of taxpayers paying tax at the 45 per cent. rate or above in 1985–86, the latest year for which regional information is available, are given in the table.

Number of taxpayers¹ in 1985–86 paying tax at the 45 per cent, rate or above
Region	'000
Northern	17
Yorkshire and Humberside	29

Region	'000
North West	39
East Midlands	25
West Midlands	38
East Anglia	21
South East	291
South West	37
Wales	15
Scotland	40
Northern Ireland	11
United Kingdom²	570
¹ Married couples counted as one unit.
² Includes members of the forces and Merchant Navy and a small number of civil servants serving abroad who have not been allocated to regions.

Department	Cost of London weighting ¹£ million	Number of staff receiving London weighting	Proportion of staff in department receiving London weighting per cent.
Non-industrials²
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food	3·72	2,940	30
Cabinet Office	1·78	1,160	71
Central Office of Information	1·06	700	87
Charity Commission	0·32	210	64
Crown Estate Office	0·06	40	75
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal	0·00	0	0
Crown Prosecution Service³	3·35	2,520	72
Customs and Excise	7·69	6,410	25
Defence	20·16	16,540	18
Education and Science	2·01	1,350	55
Employment Group	12·15	10,160	17
Energy	1·26	830	81
Environment/Transport/PSA	15·27	12,160	34
Export Credits Guarantee Department	1·11	760	42
General Register Officer (Scotland)	0·00	0	0
Government Actuary	0·08	50	92
Health and Social Security	20·06	17,010	18
Home Office	12·28	9,730	28
Inland Revenue	15·21	12,940	19
Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce	0·00	0	0
Land Registry	1·09	1,230	17
Law Officer's Department	0·03	20	94
Lord Advocate's Department	0·03	20	89
Lord Chancellor's Department	5·30	3,940	38
National Investment and Loan Office	0·08	50	100
National Savings	0·24	160	2
Northern Ireland Office	0·16	110	65
Office of Arts and Libraries	0·08	60	98
Office of Fair Trading	0·43	310	98
Office of Gas Supply	0·02	20	100
Office of Population Census and Surveys	1·11	730	35
Ordnance Survey	0·12	140	5
Overseas Development Administration	1·40	950	64
Paymaster General	0·00	0	0
Privy Council	0·05	30	97
Public Record Office	0·43	400	98
Registers of Scotland	0·00	0	0
Registry of Friendly Societies	0·17	110	99
Royal Mint	0·02	10	4
Scottish Courts Administration	0·00	0	0
Scottish Courts Service	0·00	0	0
Scottish Office	0·03	20	0
Scottish Records Office	0·00	0	0
Stationery Office	0·54	360	18
Trade and Industry	10·76	7,770	64
Treasury	2·76	2,070	80
Treasury Solicitor's Department	0·62	410	95
Welsh Office	0·07	40	2

London Weighting Allowance

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what was the total value of that part of salaries paid as London weighting of the employees of each Government Department during the last year for which full figures are available; and what proportion of the total value of salaries paid by each Department of London employees the London weighting payments account for;(2) how many and what proportion of the employees of each Government Department receive London weighting payments.

[holding answers 25 March 1988]: The information is as follows, for non-industrial and industrial staff separately. There is no central record of the total salaries paid by each Department to London employees and this could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Department	Cost of London weighting ¹£ million	Number of staff receiving London weighting	Proportion of staff in department receiving London weighting per cent.
Industrials ⁴
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food	0·05	80	14
Defence	2·86	3,420	5
Employment Group	0·05	60	10
Environment/Transport/PSA	3·73	3,070	29
Health and Social Security	0·03	30	13
Home Office	0·22	210	7
Stationery Office	0·94	660	48
Trade and Industry	0·08	120	36
Treasury	0·23	180	23
Others	0·05	40	2
¹ Estimated cost in 1987–88 financial year.
² As at 1 April 1987 (Source: Mandate).
³ The numbers for the Crown Prosecution Service are an estimate.
⁴ As at 1 January 1987 (Source: Departmental returns).

Pensions

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received seeking changes to reduce the effective 41·6 per cent. rate of tax for pensioners in receipt of age allowance.

[holding answer 25 March 1988]: There have been a number of representations on this subject.The situation to which my hon. Friend refers affects fewer than 2 per cent. of pensioner households, and has nothing whatever to do with the Budget changes. The age allowance has always been withdrawn progressively for taxpayers with incomes above a certain limit. This income limit is at its highest ever level in real terms, and the effective rate within the withdrawal band, at 41·6 per cent., is in fact at its lowest ever level. Those few taxpayers who have incomes within the withdrawal band will gain an extra £2·50 per week from the increase of £800 in the income limit proposed in the Budget, on top of the benefit they receive from the double indexation of the personal allowances and the basic rate cut.

Consultancy Contracts

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list each management or computer consultancy contract awarded by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in 1987, giving in each case the name of the consultancy firm and the subject of the assignment.

[holding answer 30 March 1988]: Following is the available information:

Firm and assignment

Arthur Andersen—Design of VAT work planning systems BIS Systems—Review of planning and control procedure for Customs Handling Import and Export Freight (CHIEF); advice on data cabling of HQ offices (2 contracts)

British Telecom—Technical study of new electronic tariff Calidus Systems — Advice on data administration for CHIEF

Comshare — Development of management information systems

Datafit—Development of various computer programmings

Ernst Whinney—Development of management information systems; review of part of IT strategy

Expert Systems International—Advice on expert systems Honeywell—Study of extension to computerised intelligence system

Hoskyns—Support to CHIEF system (2 contracts)

Hunterskil South—Computerisation of registry

ICL—Support to CHIEF system (4 contracts)

Inforem—Business Systems Analysis methodology

Keith London Associates—Testing of VAT management information system

LBMS—Software design study

Logica—Review of Departmental Entry Processing System requirements; advice on Structural Systems and Design Methodology

Mindworks — Development of management information systems (2 contracts)

National Computing system—Advice on computerisation of personnel records

PActel — Production of project control guidelines for CHIEF

Peat Marwick McLintock — Development of Mainframe links with micro-computers; activity costing and decision support programmes

Regional Computer Systems—Computerisation of personnel records

Soft Option—Computerisation of personnel records

Systems Concepts—Computerisation of personnel records; development of management information system

System Designers—Development of management information systems

Timeslice — Development of accounting system for Solicitor's Office

Yale Data Management—Establishment of CHIEF System Test Branch

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list each management or computer consultancy contract awarded by the Inland Revenue in 1987 giving in each case the name of the consultancy firm and the subject of the assignment.

[holding answer 30 March 1988]: The Inland Revenue awarded the following consultancy contracts in 1987:

Touche Ross—Contingency Planning
Cullinet—Data Management and Database Design
Oracle UK Ltd.—Database Products
Park Avenue Productions PLC—Communications
Celtechnology—Organisation, Management
J. Pincus—Specialist Management Training
Peat Marwick McClintock—Financial Systems

Job Dispersal

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the outcome of the programme for dispersing Government work out of London and the south-east announced in 1979; and whether the Government intend further initiatives on the location of Civil Service work.

In 1979 we announced a programme designed to disperse 5,900 posts, mainly to Scotland and the north. Over 5,500 posts have been dispersed under this programme, and planning is in hand for the remainder. Over the same period, and on their own initiative, Departments have relocated well over 6,000 other posts out of London and the south-east. About four fifths of the Civil Service is now located outside Greater London.No further central targets for relocation are being set, but Departments will be reviewing their location of work with a view in suitable cases to finding locations offering advantages in terms of recruitment and retention of staff, value for money and other considerations relevant to service delivery and management. In their reviews, Departments will consider localities which offer such advantages, including where appropriate areas which are the focus of the Government's regional and urban policies. A copy of the guidelines issued to Departments for these reviews has been placed in the Library of the House.

Exchange Rate

To ask the Chancellor of Exchequer if he will estimate the effect of unsterilised exchange rate intervention on the growth of monetary aggregates over the last 12 months; and if he will estimate any consequent effect on the retail prices index.

The impact of intervention on MO is offset automatically by the Bank of England's daily money market operations. There is no simple relation between the intervention and broad monetary growth. The Government's policy is to fund all intervention, that is, to sterilise it. The published provisional figures for February 1988 indicate that all intervention and other borrowing has been fully funded in the 12 months to that date.

Overseas Investments

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the amount of earnings from overseas investments in 1987–l88; what proportion this constitutes of the national income; and what are the comparable figures for the preceding five years.

The figures are shown in the table.

Year	Net earnings¹on overseas assets £ million	Per cent. of GDP
1982–83	2,056	0·7
1983–84	2,678	0·9
1984–85	4,493	1·4
1985–86	2,905	0·8
1986–87	5,629	1·4
1987–88²	4,196	1·3
¹In respect of United Kingdom investments overseas less overseas investments in the United Kingdom.
² First three quarters only available.

Interest And Exchange Rates

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the connection between interest rates and the exchange rates.

I refer the hon. Member to paragraph 2.11 of the 1988–89 "Financial Statement and Budget Report".

Income Tax

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the weekly gain of a single person earning £150,000 a year from his Budget tax changes.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the weekly gain of a single person earning £100,000 a year from his Budget tax changes.

[pursuant to his reply, 30 March 1988]: I regret the figures given were incorrect. The answer should have been as follows:

"The weekly gain from the Budget of a single person earning £100,000 and £150,000 a year, with no other income, would be £271·92 and £463·23 respectively. The figures refer only to income tax and assume that the taxpayer is entitled to no income tax reliefs or allowances other than the single person's allowance. The calculation is made by comparing the taxpayer's income tax liability under the 1987–88 tax regime with that under the proposed regime for 1988–89."

Transport

Aviation Safety

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what studies of aviation safety have been made by his Department in the last year; and if he will make a statement.

The Department's air accidents investigation branch is responsible for investigating aircraft accidents and their reports are published. The following accident reports have been published during the last 12 months.

No. 1/87 Bell 212 G-BJJR in the North Sea. Issued on 28 April 1987.
No. 2/87 Lockheed Tristar G-BBAI at Leeds. Issued on 25 September 1987.
No. 3/87 Turbo Commander EL-BGL at Eastbourne. Issued on 29 July 1987.
No. 4/87 DHC-6 Twin Otter G-BGPC at Laphroaig. Issued on 10 December 1987.
No. 5/87 Chinook G-BISO in the North Sea. Issued on 20 January 1988.
No. 6/87 Short SD3 EI-BEM at East Midlands. Issued on 20 January 1988.
No. 7/87 Twin Squirrel G-BKIH at Swalcliffe. Issued on 29 February 1988.
No. 8/87 Boeing 747 G-AWNB at Heathrow. Issued on 29 February 1988.
No. 9/87 Bell 214ST G-BKFN in the North Sea. Issued on 28 March 1988.
No. 1/88 DH 89A Dragon-Rapide G-AGTM at Duxford. Issued on 28 March 1988.

Otherwise, the regulation of air safety is the responsibility of the Civil Aviation Authority.

British Rail (Electrification)

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what Government subsidies have been made available to British Rail in each year since 1979 towards its electrification programme.

The Government do not give BR specific investment grants. The public service obligation grant includes provision for the appropriate share of revenue investment and depreciation on capital assets used in the grant-aided railway. A significant proportion of electrification expenditure has, therefore, been eligible for grant. No grant will however be available for inter-city services from 1 April this year: their investment will be expected to show a commercial rate of return.

Road Bridges

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road bridges currently in use were constructed before the introduction of national design standards in 1922; and how many of these are recognised as requiring replacement or strengthening to answer the needs of modern vehicle weights.

The bridge census and sample survey report, which was published in March 1987, shows that there are about 25,000 bridges on local roads in England built before 1922. There are also about 900 pre-1922 bridges on trunk roads in England. The sample survey indicates that about a quarter of these bridges may require to be strengthened to meet the requirements of the new bridge assessment code BD 21/84. In November the Government announced a programme for the rehabilitation of bridges on motorways and all-purpose trunk roads including the assessment and strengthening of the older bridges. Discussions are taking place with the owners of bridges off the national road system about a similar programme for their bridges.

Intercity

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what are the latest available figures for the proportion of British Rail InterCity trains that arrive on time; and to what extent these figures differ from the figures published by British Rail according to its definition of on time.

We have agreed with BR its objective that 90 per cent. of InterCity trains should arrive within 10 minutes of the timetabled time. I understand that in the four weeks to 27 February, the latest period for which figures are available, 86 per cent. of InterCity trains arrived within 10 minutes of right time. My Department does not monitor figures for arrival at timetabled times.

M25

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will make a further statement about improvements planned for the M25.

The motorway is being widened to four lanes between junctions 11 and 13. Consultants are investigating ways of widening the length between junctions 15 and 16. No other major improvements are planned between completion of the review of the motorway as a whole. Details of the review will be announced soon.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress there has been in establishing responsibility for the problems in construction of the M25 between Leatherhead and Reigate.

Under the conditions of contract it is for the engineer to decide where responsibility rests. He has determined that responsibility rests partly with the Department and partly with the contractor. The Department is considering its position. I shall make a statement as soon as possible.

A51 (Clotton)

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will introduce a speed limit for Clotton on the A51.

No. Conditions on this part of the A5I still do not meet the nationally applied criteria for a speed limit.

A6 (Disley-High Lane Bypass)

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport why the special landscape areas of (a) Cheshire and Derbyshire were, and (b) Stockport and the Etherow-Goyt River Valley Park were not, included in his published map of the proposed A6 Disley-High Lane bypass; and if he will make a statement.

The special landscape areas of Cheshire and Derbyshire were shown diagramatically in the consultation brochure because they formed part of those councils' planning policie. Although the Greater Manchester structure plan designated an area that falls within Stockport MBC's boundary as land of special landscape policy it was only on 12 January, six days before the public consultation bagan, that the areas were included in the Stockport borough local plan after committee approval. We shall take account of the special designation in our further consideration of options for a High Lane-Disley bypass.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on what date he saw a delegation from the High Peak borough council in connection with the proposed A6 Disley-High Lane bypass; what was discussed at the meeting; and if he will make a statement.

I met a delegation from High Peak borough council on 21 March. The delegation explained its concern about the effects of the "Brown Route" and sought more information on the alternatives.It was agreed that officials from the Department would meet council members and officials to explain the bypass alternatives in more detail. I confirmed that the council's views together with many others we have received would be fully considered in reaching decisions on whether to add a scheme to the national trunk road programme and on choice of route.

Inner Cities

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of the transport programme is spent in the inner cities.

Around 40 per cent. of the value of the national road programme is accounted for by schemes under construction or in preparation which will benefit inner cities.About 30 per cent. of the value of all local road schemes accepted for transport supplementary grant consist of schemes costing over £1 million in or assisting inner cities. In addition, there are a large number of smaller schemes which will help transport and provide safety benefit in inner cities.Over 80 per cent. of grants paid in respect of schemes currently being undertaken under section 56 of the Transport Act 1968 and nearly 60 per cent. of grants paid in respect of current schemes under the Industrial Development Act are supporting inner city projects.Inner cities also benefit from a substantial, though unquantifiable, proportion of Government grants to British Rail and London Regional Transport.

Traffic Growth

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what are his Department's assumptions on growth in traffic (a) overall and (b) on motorways in percentage terms in 1988–89 over 1987–88.

(a) The Department of Transport's national road traffic forecasts predict average rates of annual traffic growth over periods of several years; they are not calibrated for year-on-year forecasting. Since the forecasts were made, traffic has grown at about the upper end of the forecast range. Given a continuation of economic growth, recent trends in traffic growth are likely to continue.

(b) The Department does not forecast traffic by road type.

Road Schemes

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many major road schemes have been announced as due to start in 1987–88 or 1988–89; and how many of these are now scheduled to be started in the current year; how many in 1988–89; if he will list those schemes now likely to be delayed until at least 1989–90; and how many trunk road and local bypass schemes announced and scheduled since 1984–85 have now experienced major slippage in time scale.

I refer my hon. Friend to my replies on 2 April 1987 Official Report columns 571–2 and 8 February 1988 Official Report columns 2–4 when I announced that we planned to start work on 40 schemes in 1987–88 and 34 schemes in 1988–89. Work started on 29 schemes in 1987–88 as indicated in my further answer of 8 February Official Report columns 3–4. Of the remaining schemes originally scheduled to start in 1987–88, we now aim to start 10 in 1988–89 and 1, the A140 Dickleburgh bypass, in 1989–90. Two of the 34 I announced as 1988–89 starts are not now expected to start until 1989–90. They are A16 Boston to Algakirk and A43 Blisworth bypass.The June 1985 report, "National Roads England", showed 40 bypasses on which work was scheduled to start between June 1985 and March 1987. Of these, 17 have not been started.The progress of local bypass schemes is a matter for the appropriate local highway authority.

White Hart Roundabout, Northolt

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action he is taking to improve the flow of traffic and the environment at the White Hart roundabout, Northolt, during current and future work on the Hayes bypass and related works; and if he will make a statement.

Any proposals to improve the flow of traffic and the environment at the White Hart roundabout are a matter for the London borough of Ealing, which is the highway authority responsible for this scheme. I understand that the opening of a section of the new roundabout today together with associated traffic management should improve the situation. The scheme includes environmental measures.

Central London Rail Study

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 25 March, Official Report, column 264, if the central London rail study will take account of (a) his forthcoming announcement concerning the financial objectives of London Regional Transport, (b) the cross-rail proposals of the British Railways Board, published in November 1980 and (c) the type of cost-benefit analysis applied to capital investment on the Victoria line.

I expect to receive initial results from the central London rail study in July, in advance of setting any new objectives for London Regional Transport. The terms of reference are sufficiently wide to embrace any relevant scheme. Detailed appraisal of any such scheme will be in accordance with established appraisal criteria and techniques.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 25 March, Official Report, column 264, if he will make it his policy to direct the central London rail study to take account of, and report on (a) whether any benefits are to be obtained from increasing the volume of rolling stock and train staff on British Rail and London Underground Limited, (b) whether any benefits are to be gained by improvements in the standards of, and number of persons employed in maintenance of track, signalling and rolling stock of British Railways and London Underground Limited, (c) whether there are any benefits for line capacity and punctuality of more platform staff and (d) what are the costs and benefits of dual voltage electrification of the line from Willesden junction to Clapham junction.

The existing terms of reference expressly require the study to examine the scope for improving services and to have regard to the need to make the best use of existing assets.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer concerning the central London rail study of 25 March, Official Report, column 264,(a) which bodies or representatives, or other persons will constitute the membership of the review body, (b) which persons or bodies will be eligible to present evidence to the review body, (c) from which official or other bodies he expects the review body to receive information concerning future levels of passenger demand and if such information will be publicly available, (d) what assumptions the review body will be required to make concerning the level of fares relative to the general cost of living, and the method of ticketing or passes to be used within the Greater London travel-to-work area, (e) what assumptions the review will be required to take account of concerning strategic planning policies of Her Majesty's Government and county councils within the London travel-to-work area and its impact on the growth of daily passenger travel to and from and within London, and (f) what changes in travel demand or pattern the review will be required to take account of consequent on the plans of Her Majesty's Government for the de-regulation of bus services in the area now served by London Buses Limited.

The study will be conducted by LRT, BR and my officials. It is not envisaged that the study team will call for outside evidence. I have not laid down a set of assumptions for the study, but would expect the team to consider how variations in all major assumptions—particularly those relating to demand—would affect its conclusions.

Summer Time

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents about the impact of summer time changes on road accidents; and if he will make a statement.

I have not had any recent representations from the society on this subject. I am aware of its views. My right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, is today issuing a consultation document which will set out the options under consideration.

Airports (Landing Charges)

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information he has as to by how much more or less than the retail prices index landing charges at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester have increased in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

There is no standard index for charges at each of these airports. An approximation is provided by aggregate traffic income per passenger. The table shows aggregate traffic income per passenger for the period 1978–79 to 1986–87 indexed relative to the RPI.

1978–79 = 100
	Heathrow	Gatwick	Stansted	Manchester
1978–79	100	100	100	100
1979–80	93	90	77	96
1980–81	124	107	99	108
1981–82	117	100	101	108
1982–83	105	82	75	100
1983–84	100	89	92	103
1984–85	89	91	77	95
1985–86	84	95	80	91
1986–87	80	95	90	90

Note: Figures prior to 1983–84 include security levy paid to the then Department of Trade.

Radio Beacons

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to announce a national policy for United Kingdom radio beacons; what representations he has made in north-west European discussions on the future of Decca and Loran; which countries are involved in the discussions; when he expects to conclude these discussions; when he expects to make an announcement; if he will list the comparative advantages and disadvantages between Decca and Loran; and if he will detail the total estimated cost of each system.

The Decca navigator system currently provides the main electronic position-fixed system in United Kingdom waters. The system is operated under a contract between the general lighthouse authorities and Racal Decca Marine Navigation Ltd. The contract runs to 1994 and is extendable to 1997.My right hon. Friend is not yet able to make a statement about the international discussions on the possible adoption of Loran C as a standard civil electronic aid in north-west Europe. Informal feasibility discussions are proceeding between the United Kingdom, Norway, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland and the Netherlands, but none of the states concerned is yet committed to any change. Examination of the technical and cost aspects of an international co-operative development of Loran C has yet to be completed. If firm proposals for a change emerge from these discussions, my right hon. Friend expects to seek the views of interested parties before reaching a decision. Full account would be taken of user interests and of the relative costs, accuracy and technical suitability of the respective systems.

Seagoing Craft (Radios)

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has for making (a) VHF radio, (b) Decca or equivalent or (c) radar compulsory for all seagoing craft.

VHF radio is mandatory on all passenger ships and cargo ships of 300 gross tons and upward. Decca is not mandatory.Radar is mandatory on all merchant ships of 1,600 gross tons and upwards and those constructed after 1 September 1984 of between 500 and 1,600 gross tons.There are no plans for making any of these equipments compulsory for all seagoing craft.

Signposting

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what studies his Department has made of French signpost practice on (a) motorways and (b) other roads regarding (i) sites of tourist interest and ill) the availability and quality of hotel accommodation; and what representations he has had on future signposting in the United Kingdom.

On signing matters generally, we are in close touch with other member countries of the European conference of ministers of transport. We are aware of practices in France in relation to signing of tourist attractions and hotels. We have received a variety of representations about signing in the context of the review of directional signs which we completed last year. A copy of the report is available in the Library.In the light of this review we are conducting an experiment in Kent to assess the benefits to be derived from a limited amount of hotel signing on the highway. We have to balance in all this the need of travellers for information against road safety considerations (too many signs are a distraction to the motorist), and the damage to amenity which would arise if there came to be a clutter of signs on the highway.

Motor Cyclists

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the relative risk of injury in road traffic accidents for motor cyclists compared with other road users.

Casualty rates:¹by road user type and severity: 1976 to 1986
Rate per 100 million vehicle kilometres/percentage
	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
Pedal cyclists:
Killed	7·1	5·9	7·4	8·4	7·2	6·9	5·6	6·2	6·8	6·1	6·5
KSI	117	98	112	138	132	123	113	123	130	121	125
All severities	552	459	522	623	591	563	534	589	609	577	623
TWMV riders:
Killed	18	22	21	21	17	15	13	13	13	12	12
KSI	378	406	406	388	344	296	290	288	286	293	281
All severities	1,288	1,353	1,315	1,225	1,073	920	920	917	916	915	898
Car drivers:
Killed	0·8	0·8	0·8	0·8	0·7	0·7	0·7	0·6	0·6	0·5	0·6
KSI	11	11	11	11	10	10	9	7	7	7	7
All severities	46	46	46	45	40	40	40	34	36	37	38
Bus or coach drivers:
Killed	0·3	0·3	0·3	0·1	0·1	0·1	0·2	0·1	0·1	—	—
KSI	4	4	3	3	2	3	2	2	2	2	2
All severities	22	24	23	23	17	18	16	16	14	17	16
LGV drivers:
Killed	0·6	0·5	0·5	0·5	0·5	0·4	0·3	0·3	0·3	0·3	0·4
KSI	9	8	8	8	6	6	6	4	4	5	4
All severities	37	34	34	33	27	26	25	20	21	23	23
HGV drivers:
Killed	0·4	0·4	0·4	0·4	0·3	0·3	0·3	0·2	0·3	0·3	0·3
KSI	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
All severities	17	18	17	16	13	12	13	12	12	13	12
All road users:²
Killed	2·9	2·9	2·8	2·7	2·4	2·3	2·2	2·0	2·0	1·8	1·8
KSI	38	38	37	37	34	33	32	28	29	26	25
All severities	151	151	147	141	130	127	126	115	118	110	106
Percentage of all road users accounted for above Killed	43	45	44	48	47	48	48	46	46	46	45
KSI	52	52	53	54	55	55	55	55	54	53	53
All severities	52	52	52	53	54	54	55	55	55	54	54
¹ 1985 rates have been revised.
² Includes driver and riders of other vehicles.

The following table shows for each year the ratio of TWMV riders to car drivers for each of the three caualty severity classifications—killed, killed or seriously injured and all severities. The table is, effectively, the division of each of the three TWMV rider rows by the corresponding car driver row.

TWMV casualty rates relative to car driver casualty rates: by severity: 1976 to 1986
Car driver casualty rates = 1
Year	Killed	KSI	All severities
1976	23·0	34·4	28·0
1977	27·1	36·9	29·4
1978	26·5	36·9	28·6
1979	26·1	35·3	27·2
1980	24·6	34·4	26·8
1981	21·0	29·6	23·0
1982	19·1	32·2	23·0
1983	22·3	41·1	27·0
1984	21·7	40·9	25·4

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: The information requested is given for all two-wheeled motor vehicle TWMV riders. It is taken from the annual publication "Road Accidents Great Britain — The Casualty Report, 1986".

Year	Killed	KSI	All severities
1985	24·0	41·9	24·7
1986	20·0	40·1	23·6

Defence

Aircraft Accidents

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if the information recorded on the aircraft accident data computer in the Royal Air Force inspectorate of flight safety includes, for each accident (a) the height at which the aircraft was authorised to fly, and (b) the height at which the aircraft was flying immediately prior to the accident.

In those cases where the height at which an aircraft was flying just before an accident can be determined it is recorded on the computerised database of the Royal Air Force's inspectorate of flight safety. Information about authorised heights is not so recorded.

Inner Cities

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of the defence programme is spent in the inner cities.

It would probably not be possible to make a sensible estimate of the proportion of the defence programme spent in the inner cities, but, even if it were, this could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Tanks (Purchase)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to announce a decision on the future purchase of tanks for the British Army; and if he will make a statement.

I have nothing to add to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Bridlington (Mr. Townend) on 12 January, at column 200.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department has carried out any tests upon the Challenger II tank for use by the British Army; and if he will make a statement.

No. A Mk 2 Challenger does not presently exist in fully developed form.

Journalists (Hospitality Costs)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bradford, South of 22 March, Official Report, column 115, what was the estimated cost of hosting Ian Bevitt and Ron Sibbald to the unit at Belize; and what method of travel, from and to which points, was used.

The cost of hosting the journalists was about £35, which was met from unit funds. They travelled by Land Rover and helicopter between military bases in Belize, accompanying service men on routine duties.

Exercise Arrowhead Express

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what part British forces played in the recent NATO Exercise Arrowhead Express in northern Norway; and if he will make a statement on the result of that exercise.

The United Kingdom element of the Allied Command Europe Mobile Force (AMF), including an infantry battalion, a logistic support battalion, a force artillery HQ, force reconnaissance unit, helicopter support and RAF Jaguars, played a full role in deployment, deterrent and combat operations conducted in Exercise Arrowhead Express. The exercise tested the AMF in its role as an immediate reaction force deployed to a threatened flank area of ACE to deter aggression, to demonstrate NATO solidarity and resolve and to operate alongside host nation forces.Detailed assessment and evaluation of the exercise is currently being undertaken by participating nations and the appropriate NATO authorities.From a United Kingdom viewpoint early indications are that the exercise was very successful.

North Sea (Air Combat Platforms)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what consultations his Department has held with British Aerospace in respect of the construction of six air combat manoeuvring system platforms in the North sea; and if he will make a statement;(2) whether his Department has held any discussions with or issued any guidelines to British Aerospace as regards the nationality of the tenderers for the contract to build air combat manoeuvring subsystem platforms in the North sea;(3) what information he has as to the locations of the air combat manoeuvring instrumentation system platforms in the North sea to be built by British Aerospace;(4) whether his Department intends to make use of the air combat manoeuvring instrumentation systems to be constructed by British Aerospace; and whether there will be any restrictions placed on use of this system by the defence forces of other nations;(5) what provision he has made for the cost of contracts which his Department may enter into in respect of the air combat manoeuvring instrumentation system;(6) whether the defence forces of any other country will be allowed to contract directly with British Aerospace in order to make use of the air combat manoeuvring system to be constructed in the North sea;(7) what information he has on the principal use of the air combat manoeuvring instrumentation system to be constructed by British Aerospace;(8) whether British Aerospace is working to any Government guidelines or function specifications as regards the air combat manoeuvring instrumentation project.

Further to my answer at column 365 on 28 March, I can confirm that British Aerospace has presented to my Department its unsolicited proposals to build, on a private venture basis, an air combat manoeuvring installation in the North sea. If constructed, use of this training facility by prospective customers would be a matter for the company within the terms of any applicable legal or other regulations. The details of British Aerospace's proposal are under study in this Department. No commitment of any kind has been made to the company and no funds have been provisioned against future use of such a facility by this Department. No guidelines have been given to the company about any technical specifications nor about any commercial aspect of the venture.

Scientists (Deaths)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will institute an inquiry into the security implications of the deaths of Mr. Victor Moore, Mr. Ashad Sharif, Mr. Vimal Dajibhai, Mr. David Sands, Mr. Peter Peapell and Dr. John Brittan;(2) whether Dr. John Brittan or Mr. Peter Peapell were involved in any subcontracting work for Marconi while in the employment of his Department;(3) whether the current investigation by Ministry of Defence police into contracts placed with Marconi has at any stage in the past involved questioning or examining Mr. Victor Moore, Mr. Ashad Sharif, Mr. Vimal Dajibhai, Mr. David Sands, Mr. Peter Peapell or Dr. John Knight.

The answer to all three questions is no.

Low-Flying Aircraft

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the locations and dates of periods of covert monitoring of low-flying operations conducted by Royal Air Force police since 1974.

[pursuant to his reply, 4 December 1987, c. 736–37]: Records of locations where covert surveys of low-flying activity have been carried out only exist for July 1979 onwards. Thereafter, the available information is as follows:

Dates and locations of RAF Police covert observations 1979–87

Date and Location

1979

Peterborough area
Gaydon area
Newent
Isle of Wight
Liverpool/Manchester area
Pembray Range
Twycross Zoo

1980

Hartley
Isle of Skye
Unknown
Marchington
Glen-Pean
Cowden Range
Colbeck Transmitter Masts
Colchester
Sheffield area
Area between Bolton and Southport
Area between Nottingham and Birmingham
Area between Birmingham and London
North London
Brough area
Bewdley
Banbury

1981

Ashpark
Cranfield airfield
Lichfield
Plaish

3–7 August

Desborough
Cranfield airfield
Street

1982

Pontesbury
Shrewsbury
Otterburn Range
Spadeadam Range
East Riding General Hospital
Witnash

1983

Windermere
Ullswater
Burton-Constable
Hall
Yaxley
Stone, Staffordshire

25–29 July

Northants
Corby

1984

30 May-11 June

Harrogate

22–24 May

Watton
Oundle

9–10 May

Aberystwyth

5–7 June

Area between Birmingham and Thames Valley

6–7 September

Pickering

12–14 September

Newark on Trent

17–20 September

Stone

18–20 September

Saltford

25–27 September

Deans Hangar

1985

30–31 January

Rugby

19–21 February

Market Harborough

26–27 February

Newport, Gwent

5–6 March

St. Crispin Hospital, Northants

12–13 March

Rugby

26–27 March

Gorseinon

17 April

Brynamman, Wales

30 April-2 May

Sibson Airfield
Area between Cambridge and Newmarket
Area between RAF Leeming and Teesside
Holbeach

14–16 May

Kelso
Jedburgh
Duns

30 May

Lutterworth

14 June

Filey, Yorkshire
Area between Felixstowe and Ipswich
Area between Coningsby and Boston
Area between Cambridge and Newmarket

21–23 October

Teesside
Holbeach
Newmarket

5–6 December

Alnwick

1986

14–16 January

Broughton
Burton upon Stather
Burringham

21–22 January

Newport, Humberside

27–31 January

Carlisle
Bowness on Windermere
Hexham
Catterick

7–10 April

Windermere
Carlisle
Penrith
Morpeth
Hexham
Alnwick

22–24 April

Area between Leeming and Teesside
Area between Diss and Ipswich

6 June

Pocklington glider site

24–26 June

Weethley Hamlet

21–22 July

Leeds

Garforth

21–24 July

Builth Wells

21–24 July

Exmoor

30–31 July

Chirnside

4–8 August

Keswick
Barnard Castle

5–8 August

Carlisle
Lowther Castle
Catterick
Richmond
Withernsea

26–28 August

Redditch

23–25 September

West Ayton

24–26 September

Whitnash

8–9 October

Grimsby
Cleethorpes

8 October

East Riding Hospital

9 October

Area between Leeming and Teesside

29 October

Carperby

19–20 November

Rothwell

Late 1986/early 1987

Ashbourne

1987

16–18 March

Banham Zoo

7–9 April

Penrith
Morpeth
Amble

9 April

Alnwick

14–15 April

Pickering
Jed burgh

1 June

Peterborough

7–8 July

Redmile

21–24 July

Dumfries and Galloway

21–24 July

Builth Wells

4–6 August

Grindleford Bridge

4–6 August

Alnwick

5 August

Haltwhistle

19–20 August

Haxby

11–12 August

Leighton Hall, Carnforth

13–14 August

Castle Farm, Devon

15–17 September

Scarborough

21–25 September

Ettrick

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions since 1974 disciplinary proceedings have been instituted against pilots found to have been infringing low-flying regulations by Royal Air Force police involved in covert monitoring in low-flying areas, but where no complaints were received from the public.

[pursuant to his reply, 4 December 1987, c. 736–37]: Responsibility for disciplinary action against pilots found to have been infringing low-flying regulations by Royal Air Force police lies with the commanding officer at the appropriate RAF" station. Central records of the action taken by commanding officers in such cases are not kept.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Royal Air Force police, expressed as full-time equivalent staff, are currently assigned to covert field monitoring of low-flying aircraft; and what changes have taken place in these staffing levels since 1977.

[pursuant to his reply, 4 December 1987, c. 736–37]: Total hours of all RAF police personnel devoted to covert field monitoring of low-flying aircraft currently amounts to the equivalent of approximately one third to one half of a single full-time RAF policemen's job. Figures for 1977 are not available, but there has been a general increase in the number of covert observations carried out since 1979. We are currently reviewing the numbers of personnel devoted to covert and non-covert monitoring.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the practice of covert monitoring of low-flying by Royal Air Force police was introduced.

[pursuant to his reply, 4 December 1987, c. 736–37]: Covert monitoring of low-flying aircraft has been carried out by the RAF police at least since 1977.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the methods used by Royal Air Force police involved in covert monitoring of low-flying activity to assess height and speed of low-flying aircraft.

[pursuant to his reply, 4 December 1987, c. 736–37]: Covert monitoring of low-flying aircraft is carried out visually following the survey of a suitable site noting relative heights and distances of local landmarks. Teams of two RAF police are normally made up one experienced observer and one in training.

Foreign And Commonwealth Affairs

Third World Debt

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next plans to meet representatives of the British banks to discuss Third world debt, and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. and learned Friend regularly meets representatives of major British banks; Third world debt is often discussed. We remain very concerned about the debt problem, but debt owed to commercial banks is a matter for negotiation between the banks and debtor Governments.

Conventions And Protocols

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many conventions and protocols of the Council of Europe have been signed on behalf of the United Kingdom; how many have been ratified; and if he will list in the Official Report those conventions and protocols which have been signed but not ratified.

We have signed and ratified 73 conventions and protocols of the Council of Europe. Nine conventions and protocols have been signed but not yet ratified. These are:

1. Protocol 4 to the Convention of Human Rights securing certain other Rights and Freedoms.

2. European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

3. European Convention on the Recognition of the Legal Personality of Non-Governmental Organisations.

4. European Convention on the Control of the Acquisition and Possession of Firearms by Individuals.

5. European Convention on the Compensation of Victims of Violent Crimes.

6. Convention Relating to Stops on Bearer Securities in International Circulation.

7. Convention on the Establishment of a Scheme of Registration of Wills.

8. European Convention for the Protection of Animals for Slaughter.

9. European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental Purposes.

Bananas

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make it his policy to continue to protect the access to the British market of those countries which are traditional suppliers of bananas; if he will support the continuation of the banana protocol to the Lomé III convention in the negotiations with the EEC for Lomé IV; and if he will make a statement.

We remain committed to provide preferential access for bananas from the United Kingdom's traditional suppliers. Following a recent review of banana policy, we have also decided that the United Kingdom market should be enabled to expand gradually, with a guaranteed minimum of licences to import dollar area bananas allocated to small independent importers. This is consistent with our general objectives of promoting competition and consumer choice. The United Kingdom will fight hard in the negotiations for Lomé IV to ensure that preferential access for these traditional supplies from Jamaica and the Windward Islands is maintained.

Inner Cities

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of his Department's programme is spent in the inner cities.

The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

South Africa (Ec Companies)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has about cases of companies in the European Community seeking to sell to the Republic of South Africa submarine propulsion technology; and if he will make a statement on what steps Her Majesty's Government are taking to prevent this.

It is not our practice to take up with other Governments allegations of breaches of the United Nations arms embargo on South Africa. This is properly a matter for the Security Council committee established under Security Council resolution 421 of 1977.

Israel (Non-Proliferation Treaty)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy, Official Report, 25 March, columns 241–42, when he last made a specific representation to the Israeli Government to sign the non-proliferation treaty.

My right hon. and learned Friend had a recent opportunity to raise the non-proliferation treaty with the Israeli Government. But, at his request the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office did so on 22 October 1987 with the political director of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Israel (Mordecai Vanunu)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy, Official Report, 25 March, column 242, if he will now make it his policy, in the light of the 18-year prison sentence passed on Mordecai Vanunu on 27 March, to make representations to the Israeli Government for a reduction in sentence on human rights grounds.

No.

South Africa (Rugby Tour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the implications for relations with the Commonwealth of the planned World XV rugby tour to South Africa; and if he will make a statement.

As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made clear, we stand by the statement made by Commonwealth Heads of Government in June 1977 — the so-called Gleneagles Agreement—which discourages sporting contacts with South Africa.

Central American Parliament

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance will be provided by Her Majesty's Government in the setting up of the Central American Parliament; and if he will make a statement.

At the San Jose IV meeting in Hamburg we and our European partners agreed to provide assistance in the holding of elections to the Central American Parliament. The form of the assistance is to be defined in discussion between the European Community and the Central American Governments.

Guatemala Agreement

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the measures being taken by Her Majesty's Government to support the Guatemala agreement.

We and our European partners have on a number of occasions expressed our support for the agreement and urged the Central American Governments to fulfil their commitments under the agreement. We have also appealed to countries with links and interests in the region to lend constructive support for the peace efforts of the Central American countries. We have also condemned all acts of violence which might jeopardise the peace process.

Hong Kong (Vietnamese Refugees)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many families among Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong have requested to be repatriated to Vietnam, in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

The numbers of Vietnamese who have asked to be repatriated to Vietnam in each of the last 10

The table below gives details of departures from Hong Kong since 1979 for the United Kingdom and all other countries.
	1975–79	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988 up to 15 March
Argentina	29	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Australia	1,052	90	500	414	915	736	557	459	501	92
Austria	86	318	14	—	—	—	6	—	3	—
Belgium	125	29	6	2	2	11	1	—	42	—
Bermuda	—	7	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Canada	5,187	6,548	2,070	1,088	536	1,008	1,302	975	766	255
China	1	33	1	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
Denmark	264	321	220	180	47	49	18	45	5	1
Finland	—	—	—	—	57	54	—	69	30	—
France	526	188	362	218	181	65	90	47	61	—
Greece	—	42	—	—	—	—	—	—	3	—
Hong Kong	180	109	93	52	12	18	41	70	45	4
Ireland	109	—	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Israel	38	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Italy	113	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Ivory Coast	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Japan	16	36	68	11	1	34	52	5	23	—
Luxembourg	—	5	—	—	—	—	—	—	26	—
Netherlands	261	96	102	110	26	18	13	82	71	—
New Caledonia	32	4	12	21	8	3	—	—	—	—
New Zealand	84	217	2	99	16	20	23	26	51	5
Norway	57	180	187	78	6	27	39	114	33	—
Spain	1	250	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Sweden	8	95	2	13	207	11	—	101	44	—
Switzerland	91	414	97	14	3	9	—	22	8	2
Taiwan	1	4	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
United Kingdom	3,988	6,076	1,775	241	101	88	44	474	156	55
USA	16,583	21,053	12,222	1,657	2,065	1,541	1,721	1,323	333	122
Vanuatu	8	2	—	—	2	—	—	—	—	—
Vietnam	8	—	2	2	2	—	—	—	1	—
West Germany	1,678	537	81	45	13	—	45	44	5	2

Panama

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what advice is currently being given to British citizens resident in, and travelling to, Panama.

years are as follows: six in 1978; two in 1979; two in 1980; two in 1981; four in 1982; three in 1984; one in 1985; one in 1987 and 21 in 1988. Fifteen have been successfully repatriated, 10 withdrew their applications and 17 applications are still being processed by UNHCR. According to Hong Kong Government records there has been only one family application, consisting of a husband and wife and their two children.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Vietnamese refugees have (a) sought sanctuary in Hong Kong and (b) subsequently been accepted for settlement (i) in the United Kingdom and (ii) in any other non-Communist country in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

(a) The Hong Kong Government have accepted all Vietnamese arriving in Hong Kong in boats and has turned none away. The figures for those accepted since 1979 are: 1979 — 68,748; 1980 — 6,788; 1981—8,470; 1982—7,836; 1983—3,651; 1984—2,230; 1985—1,112; 1986—2,055; 1987—3,395; 1988 up to 15 March—716.

(b) The table gives details of departures from Hong Kong since 1979 for the United Kingdom and all other countries:

Our current advice is that there is no danger to British citizens resident in Panama. Visitors are advised not to travel to Panama until further notice unless on urgent business. Those who must travel should bring sufficient cash in US dollars in small denominations to cover all expenses incurred during their stay. They should contact the embassy on arrival.

Council Of Ministers (Forthcoming Business)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish in the Official Report a statement of forthcoming business in the European Community Council of Ministers.

The usual forecast was deposited in the House earlier today. At present five meetings of the Council of Ministers are planned for April.The Research Council will meet on 11 April. The provisional agenda anticipates the formal adoption of the Esprit II programme (1988–1991) and the adoption of the drive, biotechnology, science, bureau of Community reference (BCR) and Delta programmes as 'A' points. Common positions on the fusion programme and the 1988–91 programme of the joint research centre (JRC) will also be discussed. The German presidency will be presenting, for first discussion, papers on the relation between EC and Eureka programmes and the contribution of research programmes to Community norms/standards.The Economic and Finance Council meets on 18 April to consider the Commission's proposals on the liberalisation of capital movements, indirect tax approximation and the discussions on budgetary discipline with the European Parliament.The Agriculture Council will meet on 18–19 April to discuss the 1988 price-fixing measures, and proposals on quick frozen foods, additives, materials and articles in contact with food, harmonisation of meat charges and trade in meat with third countries.The Foreign Affairs Council meets on 25–26 April. Discussions are expected to include follow-up action to the European Council conclusions on financing the Community; EC relations with Japan; a review of progress in the GATT Uruguay round negotiations; preparations for the EC/Turkey Association Council; the 1988 guidelines for the Community's programme of aid to developing countries in Asia and Latin America; and progress made in negotiations with Hungary on a trade and co-operation agreement.The Budget Council will meet on 28–29 April to discuss the European Parliament's amendments and modifications to the 1988 draft budget.

Agriculture, Fisheries And Food

Food Labelling

13.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he has any further proposals for the declaration of nutritional information on food products.

We are pressing manufacturers and retailers to adopt the standard approach to voluntary nutrition declarations set out in the guidelines we issued on 21 January. Proposals for legislation to set out the form in which voluntary declarations must be given, will be considered once we have experience of the operation of the system and European Community intentions on nutrition labelling are clearer.

Less-Favoured Areas

17.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the tribunals deciding upon the final less-favoured area lines will complete their deliberations; and how long after this date he expects to make the decisions public.

I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to the appeal panels which were set up to hear appeals from farmers whose land is currently excluded from the less-favoured areas. The panels do not themselves fix the LFA line, but advise Ministers on whether the land concerned seems likely to meet EC physical criteria for LFA designation. They have now completed their work in England and all the farmers concerned have been notified of the outcome.

Country Landowners Association

19.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met the president of the Country Landowners Association; and what matters were discussed.

I meet Mr. Gordon Lee-Steere frequently to discuss agricultural matters.

Forestry Commission

20.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met the chairman of the Forestry Commission; and what matters were discussed.

I meet the chairman of the Forestry Commission from time to time to discuss a wide range of forestry matters.

Torry Research Station, Aberdeen

21.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what research is being undertaken by staff at the Torry research station, Aberdeen, into the processing of fish.

The main areas of research concern the preservation of fish, the safety of fish products for the consumer and the utilisation of fish and fish products.

23.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the number of people employed in the Torry research station, Aberdeen; and if he will break that number down by occupational category.

The number of staff currently employed at Torry research station is 115, of which 64 are scientific, professional and technical staff, 27 are in industrial worker grades and 24 are administration group staff.

33.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has any plans to visit the Torry research station in Aberdeen within the near future.

My right hon. Friend has at present no plans to do so; I visited Torry research station in 1986 and hope to do so again this year.

Ec Agricultural Budget

22.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he is now satisfied with the recently agreed control mechanism for European Economic Community agricultural budget expenditure.

I am satisfied that it is as good as we could possibly have got it in the recent negotiations.

Sheepmeat

24.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received in the current year on the future of the European sheepmeat regime.

We have received a number of representations on many aspects of the Commission's proposals for reform of the sheepmeat regime.

Poultry And Eggs

25.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to assist the United Kingdom poultry and egg industry; and if he will make a statement.

We shall continue to assist the eggs and poultry industry by promoting efficiency and ensuring that it trades under conditions of fair competition.

Rivers (Pollution)

26.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to reduce pollution in rivers arising from agricultural activities.

My Department warns farmers of the dangers of polluting rivers and the severe fines which successful prosecution brings with it. I myself reinforced these views at a recent conference on silage effluent and my Department continues to support water authority action to encourage farmers to avoid pollution. Grants for tanks to handle silage and slurry effluent are available at the rate of 60 per cent. in the less-favoured areas and 30 per cent. elsewhere.

Milk Quotas

27.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the latest position on the operation of milk quotas.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given yesterday by my right hon. Friend the Minister to my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton (Mr. Nicholson).

Pigs

28.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he is satisfied with the present state of the pig industry; and if he will make a statement.

40.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he next intends to meet the National Farmers Union and other representatives from the pig industry to discuss EEC import subsidies.

I refer the hon. Member and my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridgeshire, South-West (Sir A. Grant) today.

Agricultural Policy

29.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he next expects to meet his opposite number in the EEC to discuss agricultural policy.

The next meeting of Agricultural Ministers is scheduled for 18–19 April.

34.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what discussions he has had with the National Farmers Union about reforming the common agricultural policy.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave earlier today to my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough and Horncastle (Mr. Leigh).

Food Aid

30.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what discussions he has had with organisations eligible to operate the EC free food scheme.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on 30 March.

35.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about progress in implementing the EC free food scheme.

43.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about the arrangements for the distribution of surplus EC food in the United Kingdom.

I refer the hon. Member and my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on 30 March and to the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central (Mr. Cousins) today.

Monetary Compensatory Allowances

31.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will increase beef cow hill land compensatory allowances; and if he will make a statement.

The rates of hill livestock compensatory allowances to apply this year were announced in the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Torridge and Devon, West (Miss Nicholson) on 9 December 1987 at column 157. The allowances for 1989 will be considered later this year following the autumn review or the economic conditions in the hill and upland areas.

Tenant Farmers Association

32.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met the chairman of the Tenant Farmers Association; and what matters were discussed.

I saw him on 4 March when were both at a conference discussing diversification and the tenant farmer. We are also in regular contact with tenant farmers and their representatives to discuss matters of mutual interest.

Wool Board

36.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met the chairman of the Wool Board; and what matters were discussed.

My right hon. Friend, the Minister, last met the chairman of the Wool Board on 1 February 1988 to discuss the prospects for the 1988 clip year.

Green Pound

37.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received on the green pound from the National Farmers Union and Farmers Union of Wales; and if he will make a statement.

I have received representations from both these organisations.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many representations he has received in the current year on the value of the green pound.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave earlier today to my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford (Dr. Clark).

Milk Marketing Board

38.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met the chairman of the Milk Marketing Board; and what matters were discussed.

My right hon. Friend last met the chairman of the Milk Marketing Board on 1 March when a number of issues of current concern to the dairy industry were discussed.

Freezer Trawlers

39.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the current number of United Kingdom registered freezer trawlers; what are the fishing grounds within which they operate; and which species they are allowed to catch.

Fishing vessels are not required to state their method of operation when registering. However, there are currently five vessels which are licensed by United Kingdom fisheries departments as freezer trawlers; of these, three are licensed for the full range of stocks in Community waters for which the United Kingdom has quotas. The two remaining vessels are licensed for demersal species only. Three of the five vessels also have access to licences which enable them to fish in external waters for species for which the Community has quotas.

Farm Woodland Scheme

41.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has for reducing the minimum acreage to qualify for the farm woodland scheme.

None.

Pollution

42.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he intends to introduce special help for farmers or take any other measures to combat the pollution caused by modern farming methods.

My Department continues to encourage farmers, through the provision of assistance and advice, to adopt practices which minimise the risk of pollution. These measures are kept under continuous review to ensure they remain effective in combating pollution.

Set-Aside Scheme

44.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total estimated expenditure on set-aside payments for (a) 1988, (b) 1989 and (c) 1990; and if he will make a statement.

Public expenditure planning totals were increased in the last survey by £16 million for 1989–90 and £22 million for 1990–91 to cover set-aside and extensification in the United Kingdom.

Bass

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why the net sizes for the bass regulations are posed so as to exclude the standard channel mesh size.

The measures recently proposed for the management of the bass fishery are intended to protect juvenile bass and safeguard recruitment to spawning stocks. They include mesh size restrictions for gill and other specified nets, but for this purpose we do not consider it necessary to apply these restrictions to trawls, Danish seines or similar towed nets used in the English Channel for which Council regulation (EEC) No. 2968/87 prescribes a minimum mesh size of 75mm, increasing to 80mm from 1 January 1989.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how he intends to ensure that the proposed bass regulations prevent the French from fishing spawning stock in mid-Channel; and what information he has on the amount taken from the spawning stock by French fishermen.

As I explained on 21 March in reply to an earlier question from my hon. Friend at column 14, I have no plans to prevent fishing for adult bass. I have no recent figures of French bass catches in the Channel, but I am advised that statistics published in France show landings of bass from the Channel area up to 1983 as between 600 and 800 tonnes a year. This includes bass from French stock caught both in French inshore waters and in mid-Channel.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many French fishing boats were engaged in bass fishing in the English Channel last season.

This information is not held by my Department.

Agriculture Council

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about the outcome of the Agriculture Council meeting held at the end of March.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 30 March to my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridgeshire, North-East (Mr. Moss).

Forestry

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what consultations were held between his Ministry and timber and land-owning interests concerning the proposed new grant arrangements for forestry; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave earlier today to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies).

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he proposes to revise his estimate of annual new planting of trees in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.

I intend that the combination of the new woodland grant scheme and the proposed farm woodland scheme will result in a significant increase in new planting in England and Wales.

Farming Unions

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met representatives of the farming unions; and what matters were discussed.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave earlier today to my hon. Friends the Members for Fylde (Mr. Jack) and for Gainsborough and Horncastle (Mr. Leigh).

Inner Cities

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of the agriculture, fisheries and food programme is spent in the inner cities.

Expenditure in the inner cities under this programme is not separately recorded.

Salmon Farming

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the representations he has received from Mr. Chris Tyderman of the World Wildlife Fund on the dangers of salmon farming to wild salmon returning to rivers for spawning.

I have received no such representations from the World Wildlife Fund (UK).

Arctic Foxes

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his Department's policy towards the farming of arctic foxes within Great Britain; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 8 March at column 130–31 to the hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks) on the subject of arctic foxes.

Food Irradiation

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent representations he has received about the irradiation of foodstuffs; and if he will make a statement.

I am still receiving some representations about the safety of food irradiation and the need for controls over the use of the technique. The Government have, of course, already made it clear that we need to be satisfied as to effective controls before there could be any question of lifting the present general prohibition — over which there would in addition be further consultation.

Common Agricultural Policy

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his latest estimate of the amount per week which the common agricultural policy adds to the average family food bill in the United Kingdom; and if the sums spent on exporting food are additional to this amount.

The magnitude of the costs of the CAP to consumers and taxpayers depends on the nature of the alternative policy envisaged. The Government's aim is to achieve lower levels of support worldwide thereby reducing the costs borne by consumers and taxpayers.

Free Food

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent discussions he has had within the European Community about operating the free food scheme.

The Government have requested the Commission to allocate to us a sum equivalent to £10£4 million in 1988 which the Commission has indicated is the maximum available for the United Kingdom. I await the response of the Commission.

Pig Producers

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what further steps he proposes to take to help British pig producers; and if he will make a statement.

We continue to be in close touch with the representatives of the pig producers. The market appears to have stabilised following the support measures which were taken earlier. Cereal prices continue to show a downward trend. We accept the objective of removing the MCAs from the pigmeat sector and will be actively pursuing this.

Farm Woodlands

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what effects the new grant arrangements for forestry will have on his proposals for farm woodlands; and if he will make a statement.

The farm woodland scheme will be linked to the Forestry Commission's new woodland grant scheme. However, we have decided that farm woodland scheme planting will only attract increased planting grants for broadleaves. These will apply to both pure broadleaf planting and the broadleaf component of other woodlands and will increase the incentive to mixed and broadleaved planting under the scheme. The planting grants for conifers will remain unchanged.

Sheep (Radioactivity)

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many sheep have been monitored for radioactivity in each month since October 1987 in (a) each county of England and (b) the areas of the former

Sheep monitored in England 1 November 1987 to 18 March 1988
County¹	November 1987	December 1987	January 1988	February 1988	March 1988	Total
Cheshire	25	—	—	—	—	25
Cumbria	16,759	3,974	3,508	3,177	1,620	29,038
Devon	77	—	—	—	—	77
Durham	180	—	—	—	—	180
Lancashire	101	—	40	—	—	141
Northumberland	438	—	—	229	—	667
Shropshire	50	—	—	—	—	50
Somerset	79	—	—	—	—	79
Yorkshire (North)	5,112	—	—	—	—	5,112
Yorkshire (West)	200	—	—	—	—	200
Total	23,021	3,974	3,548	3,406	1,620	35,569
¹ No sheep have been monitored in counties not included in this list.

Scotland

Rating Reform

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the police, immigration officials or staff working in Department of Health and Social Security fraud units will be able to inspect names and addresses found in the community charge register.

Under section 20(2)(a) of the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987 certain parts of the community charges register, including addresses and names, will be made available for public inspection.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will make it his policy to include in the next edition of his recent publication "You and the Community Charge" information to the effect that the name and address of individuals who appear on the community charge register may be sold without their knowledge or consent;(2) if he will make it his policy to include in the next edition of his recent publication "You and the Community Charge" information to the effect that the name and address of individuals who appear on the community charge register may be used by the police, Inland Revenue or Department of Health and Social Security specialist squads.

My right hon. and learned Friend has at present no plans to issue a further edition of the booklet "You and the Community Charge". As to his policies in respect of the matters referred to, I refer the hon. Member to my replies of 9 February at column 63 and of 21 March at columns 14–15.

Aids

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will make a statement on current and future plans to prevent the spread of HIV in Scottish prisons;(2) what is the latest number of HIV-positive prisoners in Scottish prisons.

metropolitian counties of west midlands, Greater Manchester, Greater London, Tyne and Wear, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.

[holding answer 25 March 1988]: The information requested is set out in the table:

As my right hon. and learned Friend made clear in his statement on 29 March 1988, the Government take the problems of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection very seriously. Guidance has been issued to the Scottish prison service informing staff of the nature, the effects and the modes of transmission of HIV infection and the hygiene and other precautions necessary to prevent transmission in prison.The guidance makes it clear that there are no medical reasons for segregating inmates who are known to have HIV infection or for limiting the normal range of work or recreational activities in which they may engage. This guidance has been supplemented by local training using audio-visual material.Medical staff have been issued with specialist guidance on testing and counselling. Testing is available on request to any inmate who may be risk. In the absence of compelling medical indications, testing would not be undertaken without prior explanation and consent or in the absence of suitable arrangements for counselling and support when the result is known. Selected nurse officers are being given training to improve their counselling techniques.The public education campaign to draw the dangers to the attention of those at risk has been extended into prisons and will be continued as further suitable material becomes available. It will continue to be Government policy to seek to restrict situations likely to high risk of transmission of HIV infection in prison. The management of symptomless carriers and the treatment of inmates who are ill as a result of HIV infection will share the aims and principles which are applied to care in the community. Specialist advice or support is sought as required from the National Health Service through the normal system for referral.Full annual returns for 1987 are not yet available, but the number of inmates so far confirmed as HIV positive by medical officers for penal establishments, or who have indicated that they have been positively tested prior to coming into custody, is 73.

It is impossible to estimate numbers who may have been infected prior to reception into custody but have not yet been tested either in the community or in custody.

Forestry Commission

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will place in the Library a copy of the Forestry Commission's mapped assessment of the suitability of land in the flow country of Caithness and Sutherland for afforestation.

I assume that the hon. Member is referring to one of a set of indicative overlays prepared by the Forestry Commission for use by a working group of officials. It related to technical plantability only and did not show the major constraints on planting, such as the need to protect areas of high conservation value.I will arrange for a map, prepared from that overlay, to be placed in the Library of the House.

Paper Board And Timber Mills

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list in the Official Report information available to him on the paper board and timber mills reliant on home-produced timber since 1980, the amount of public subsidy, assistance, grant or other inducement given to encourage the establishment of those plants and the estimated cost to public funds of each job created.

Information in the form requested is not available. However, in 1985 plants classified to the pulp, paper and timber industries* employed some 10,600 people in Scotland with sales of around £533 million. Since 1980, offers of regional selective assistance (RSA) made to firms classified to these industries have amounted to £17·5 million, associated with the creation of 1,420 jobs and the safeguarding of a further 3,140 jobs. Since the inception of the revised regional development grant scheme (RDG2), approvals to companies in the paper board and timber industries have totalled £6–4 million, and been associated with the creation of 840 jobs. It should be noted that some firms may receive both RSA and RDG2 and that where this occurs associated jobs may appear twice in the above figures.

^* Pulp, paper and timber industries are defined as plants classified to the following Activity Headings on the 1980 Standard Industrial Classification.

4610 Sawmilling, planing, etc. of wood.

4620 Manufacture of semi-finished wood products and further processing and treatment of wood.

4710 Pulp, paper and board.

Strip Searches

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many body searches and strip searches were carried out in Cornton vale prison in 1986 and 1987; and what are the comparable figures for such searches in other prisons in Scotland.

The number of body and strip searches carried out at Cornton vale institution in 1986 was 3,270 and in 1987 it was 2,651 (the statistics kept do not differentiate between body and strip searches). Statistics are not kept on the number of strip or body searches carried out at other prisons.

Forestry

45.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has any plans to give new grants to assist forestry.

As announced by my right hon. and learned Friend on 23 March, at columns 138–9 a new woodland grant scheme is to be introduced on 5 April 1988.

North Sea Oil

46.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if it is his intention to place in the Library copies of the cards which give the latest readings of suspended wellhead positions on the United Kingdom continental shelf; and if he will make a statement.

Cards providing the location of' suspended wellheads on the United Kingdom shelf are published on a half yearly basis by the fisheries Departments from data supplied by the Department of Energy and the Sea Fish Industry Authority. The cards are readily available and are distributed free of charge to fisheries organisations, local fishery offices and other interested parties at home and abroad, and I am arranging for copies to be placed in the Library.

Inner Cities

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proportion of his Department's budget is spent in the inner cities.

I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. and learned Friend's statement in the House on 29 March about urban renewal measures in Scotland.

Department Of Agriculture And Fisheries

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will detail the current annual expenditure involved in the provision of (a) the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Scotland, area office in Inverness and (b) the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Scotland, area sub-office in Dingwall; if he will give his estimate of the anticipated annual savings which will accrue from the closure of the latter; and if he will make a statement.

The current annual expenditure, including the cost of administration support staff, involved in the provision of: (a) the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland Area office in Inverness is £205,247 and (b) the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland Area sub-office in Dingwall is £35,710. The anticipated annual savings resulting from the closure of the latter is estimated to be £22,000.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide a breakdown of the number of farmers and crofters within the district covered by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Scotland, area sub-office in Dingwall; how many obtain their information and services from the area office in Inverness; what information and services are sought from Inverness rather than Dingwall; and if he will make a statement.

A total of 1,174 farmers and crofters are located within the district presently covered by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland area sub-office in Dingwall. All of those farmers and crofters within that district requiring information and services in relation to certain schemes obtain these from the area office in Inverness. Information and services sought from Inverness include advice and guidance from surveying staff in relation to capital grant schemes, crofting counties agricultural grant schemes, crofters building grants and loans schemes, procurement of labels under the seed potato labelling scheme, and veterinary services in relation to animal heath schemes.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received concerning the proposed closure of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Scotland, area sub-office in Dingwall; and if he will make a statement.

Representations concerning the closure of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland area sub-office in Dingwall have been received from the Dingwall community council and also from the Dingwall and district chamber of commerce.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his policy towards the retention of Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Scotland, area sub-offices; if he will list all such offices in the Official Report; whether he is considering any Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Scotland, territorial areas for further rationalisation; and if he will make a statement.

Retention of Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland area sub-offices depends on the location of the individual area sub-offices in relation to the area offices themselves and on the extent to which these offices can be justified for the maintenance of an economical and efficient service. Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland area sub-offices are presently located at:

Dingwall
Lerwick
Lairg
Stornoway
Benbecula
Elgin
Cupar
Stirling

The operational need for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland area offices and sub-offices is kept under review on a continuing basis.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the nature and extent of public consultation which took place prior to his decision to close the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Scotland, area sub-office in Dingwall; which representative public bodies were involved and what was the nature of any submissions made by them; what was the time between the commencement of such consultations and the announcement of his decision; and if he will make a statement.

The decision to close the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland area sub-office in Dingwall was made in the light of the need to make the most economical use of resources without impairing the efficiency of the service provided to the agricultural community. My noble Friend, the Minister of State, had regard to the good communications between Dingwall and Inverness and to the fact that, as well as certain services provided direct from the area office of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland, the animal health divisional office and the college advisory services for the Dingwall area are already provided from Inverness. No public consultations were carried out at this time.

Mink Farms

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what is the size and location of each mink farm currently operating in Scotland;(2) how many licences are current for the operation of mink farms in Scotland; what the figure was 12 months ago; and if he will give similar information for the number of mink farms actually in operation.

As at 31 March 1988 there were six licences for the farming of mink covering eight farms in force in Scotland. All of these farms are currently operational. As at 31 March 1987 seven licences were in force covering eight farms.Farms currently in operation are located in the undernoted regions of Scotland:

Region	Number
Central	1
Grampian	2
Lothian	1
Strathclyde	¹2
Tayside	2
¹ The renewal of a licence for one of these farms is currently under consideration following a change of ownership.

Two of these farms carry stocks of over 5,000 mink; the remainder carry stocks of less than 5,000.

Police Inquiries (Guidelines)

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give details of the guidelines which are issued to members of local police committees on the action to be taken by individual members when they or their spouses are the subject of police inquiries into matters which may lead to criminal charges being made.

No such guidelines addressed specifically to members of police authorities have been issued by the Scottish Office. I shall send my hon. Friend a copy of the national code of local government conduct.

Nhs (Seminar)

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total cost to public funds of the seminar arranged by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Scottish Office, the hon. Member for Stirling (Mr. Forsyth) and held on 2 October 1987, dealing with privatisation in the National Health Service in Scotland.

The cost of the seminar —which discussed competitive tendering not privatisation —was £263·93.

Michael Forsyth Ltd

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make it his policy to refrain from dealings with the company Michael Forsyth Limited so long as it continues to trade under the name of a Minister in his Department; and if he will make a statement.

No. Government dealings with private companies are carried out in accordance with rules that are generally well understood; I do not propose to add to these rules any proposition about the name under which a company chooses to trade. The Minister for education and health no longer has an interest in Michael Forsyth Limited.

Patient Administration (Computerisation)

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what progress has been made regarding the computerisation of hospital patient administration systems and their introduction by health boards.

Contracts were signed today by the Common Services Agency for the Scottish Health Service with Honywell Bull Ltd. and McDonnell Douglas Information Systems Ltd. for the provision of systems and hardware for the following hospitals.

Company and hospital	Health board
McDonnell Douglas
Huntlyburn	Borders
Dunfermline and West Fife	Fife
Raigmore	Highland
Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh	Lothian
Western General, Edinburgh	Lothian
Bangour General	Lothian
Honeywell Bull Ltd
Royal Alexandra, Paisley	Argyll and Clyde
Vale of Leven	Argyll and Clyde
Ayrshire Central	Ayrshire and Arran
Crosshouse	Ayrshire and Arran
Dumfries Royal Infirmary	Dumfries and Galloway
Falkirk and Stirling Royal Infirmaries	Forth Valley
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary	Grampian
Law	Lanarkshire
Ninewells	Tayside
Lewis	Western Isles

The total value of the equipment, software and services provided under these contracts is £8 million.

Prisons (Alcoholism)

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland to what factors he attributes the fall in the number of male inmates in Scottish prisons treated for alcoholism between 1985 and 1986.

[holding answer 8 February 1988]: There has been a continuous fall since 1982 in the number of male inmates in Scottish prisons treated for alcoholism. Inmates who are diagnosed by prison medical officers as suffering from alcoholism fall into two groups: those convicted of crimes related to drunkenness and those convicted of other crimes who may, coincidentally, have drink problems. This continuous fall in numbers treated for alcoholism is attributable in some degree to changes in police practice and court sentencing patterns over recent years and in the Aberdeen area, particularly to the establishment, with substantial Government financial support, of Albyn house as a designated place. This has been a major factor in the reduction of prosecutions for drunkenness in the Aberdeen area. Thus, in the five-year period between 1981 and 1986, there was a 67 per cent reduction in the number of persons in Scotland proceeded against for drunkenness and a 54 per cent. reduction in the number of persons received into prison either directly or by default following convictions for drunkenness. Between 1985 and 1986 in Scotland there was a particularly marked fall of 57 per cent. in the number of fine defaulters convicted arid fined for drunkenness.

Consultancy Contracts

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list each management or computer consultancy contract awarded by the Scottish Development Agency in 1987, giving in each case the name of the consultancy firm and the subject of the assignment.

[holding answer 28 March 1988]: In 1987–88 (to 31 March 1988) the Scottish Development Agency commissioned 113 management or computer consultancies of a value of £5,000 or more. Several hundred consultancies to a lesser value were also commissioned: these were not exclusively management or computer consultancies. A detailed breakdown comprising the names of companies which have successfully tendered for contracts and the subject of these contracts cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate expense.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total amount spent by the Scottish Development Agency in 1987 on management and computer consultancy contracts, excluding hardware and software purchases.

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: The amount spent by the Scottish Development Agency on consultants' fees in 1987–88 (to 31 March 1988) was £6,851,863.This includes fees for research and development, advisory services, appraisal arid administration, such as tax and accountancy advice, pension and legal consultancies, as well as management and computer consultancy.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list each management or computer consultancy contract awarded by his Department in 1987, giving in each case the name of the consultancy firm and the subject of the assignment.

The information requested is as follows:

Firm and Subject of Assignment

J. B. Schofield & Partners—To develop a fully integrated database system for monitoring the design, construction, inspection, and maintenance of highway structures.

Babtie Shaw & Morton — To develop a computer programme for estimating the cost of alternative designs for new bridges.

J. M. P. Consultants Ltd. — To develop a system for recording and storing results of materials testing carried out during the construction of new bridges.

BP International—Development of a Procurement Manual.

A. Macdonald Associates — Review of Building Regulations: Intelligent Information Systems Frank Griffiths Associates Ltd. — Overview of Roads Procurement Procedures.

IBM—Systems Engineering Services.

Ashford Associates—Investigation into document storage and retrieval for the Scottish Office ELGIN project.

Ashford Associates — Evaluation of text processing packages.

Ashford Associates — Construction of a text storage data base for the Scottish Police College library.

IBM—Systems Engineering Services.

MSA — Installation of the MSA Accounts Payable and Receivable packages.

CIPFA Services — To develop a specification of user requirements to assist local authorities in Scotland with the preparation for the community charge.

Social Services

Housing Benefit

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many people of pensionable age in England and Wales were in receipt of housing benefit during 1987;(2) how many people of pensionable age in England and Wales were in receipt of housing benefit during 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1986.

Table A shows the number of pensioners in receipt of housing benefit in 1979, 1983, 1986 and 1987. Information for 1975 is not available, and from 1983 onwards information can be provided only for Great Britain. These figures refer to rate rebate only to avoid the risk of double-counting.Table B indicates the more detailed position of pensioners gaining or losing entitlement as a result of the April 1988 changes. These modelled figures encompass gains and losses in rate rebates, and in rate rebates or allowances.

Table A
Numbers of pensioners receiving rate rebates¹
	000s
1975	n/a
1979	²2,000
1983	³4,100
1986	³3,990
1987	⁴4,040
1988	⁵3,390
¹ The figures relate to rate rebates only to avoid the risk of double counting. They understate the numbers of recipients by the very small numbers getting rent allowance or rent rebate only.
² Figure derived from the Department of the Environment, which had policy responsibility for housing benefit until 1982, and based on a small sample for England and Wales only. This figure excludes those who then received help with rates via supplementary benefit.
³ Source: DHSS statistical enquiries, Great Britain.
⁴ Source: Table 15.14 to the 1988 Public Expenditure White Paper, Great Britain.
⁵Estimate derived from DHSS model, based on the Family Expenditure Survey, related to expected caseload in the 1988–89 fiscal year and refers to tax units in which the head or spouse is aged 60 or above.

The estimated figures for pensioners gaining or losing housing benefit (rate rebate, rent rebate and rent allowance) as a result of the social security reforms are illustrated in the following table:

Table B
		Thousands
a.	(i)Gain from existing entitlement	970
	(ii)Gain from new entitlement	20
b.	(i)Lose some housing benefit, retain entitlement	2,570
	(ii)Lose all housing benefit entitlement	750
c.	Total on housing benefit after April 1988	3,560

Notes:

1. Figures relate to expected claimant caseload from April 1988, taking the effect of the Budget into account.

2. Figures denote tax-units, rather than households, in which the claimant or spouse is aged 60 or above.

3. These tables include in the gains and losses those losing, or gaining less than 50p per week.

General Practitioners (Charges)

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is his estimate of the annual yield, excluding administration cost, from requiring all patients to pay £5 for each consultation with a general practitioner;(2) what is his estimate of the annual yield, excluding administration costs, from requiring all patients, except the chronically sick, to pay £5 for each consultation with a general practitioner;(3) what is his estimate of the annual yield, excluding administration costs, from requiring all patients, except those in receipt of retirement pension, to pay £5 for each consultation with a general practitioner;(4) what is his estimate of the annual yield, excluding administration costs, from requiring all patients, except those in receipt of supplementary benefit, to pay £5 for each consultation with a general practitioner;(5) what is his estimate of the annual yield, excluding administration costs, from requiring all patients, except the chronically sick and those in receipt of retirement pensions or supplementary benefit, to pay £5 for each consultation with a general practitioner.

The figures requested are as follows. Broad estimates only are possible, as the Department does not collect any data on a routine basis on consultations with general medical practitioners. The only information which is available is derived from the general household survey which is an annual inquiry based on some 12,000 households. It gives consultation rates by age and sex, but does not identify separately the consultation rates applying to specific groups such as the chronically sick or those in receipt of retirement pension or supplementary benefits; and an assumption has therefore been made that the consultation rates for these groups are the same as for the population as a whole in the relevant age group for each sex. The figures give the estimated annual gross yield on this basis before deduction of administration costs, and assume no change in present consultation patterns.

Estimated annual yield in England assuming a payment of £5 for each consultation with a general medical practitioner applying to:
	£ million
All patients	980
All patients except the chronically sick1	670
All patients except those in receipt of retirement pensions²	760
All patients except those in receipt of supplementary benefit³	840
All patients except the chronically sick and those in receipt of retirement pensions and supplementary benefit^{1 2 3 4}	470
Notes:
¹ The chronically sick are defined as those reporting a long-standing illness in the General Household Survey.
² Those receiving retirement pensions are assumed to be all men aged 65 and over, and all women aged 60 and over.
³ It is assumed that partners and dependents of people in receipt of supplementary benefits would also be excepted.
⁴ It is assumed that the same proportion of chronically sick people are in receipt of supplementary benefit as the population as a whole in each age group for each sex.

No estimate has been made of the administration costs involved in collecting such charges but these costs would not be insignificant.

Cleveland Child Abuse Inquiry

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make it his policy to reimburse North Tees health authority for the costs of representation at the Cleveland child abuse inquiry.

I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to him on 25 March 1988 at column 248.

Spending Power

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish tables similar to those published in reply to the hon. Member for Kensington, Official Report, 4 February, columns 737–42, but taking account of changes proposed in the Budget.

I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Pembroke (Mr. Bennett) on 30 March 1988.

Mentally-Ill People

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many mentally-ill people received treatment (a) as in-patients and (b) as out-patients in the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale health authority in (i) Calderstones, (ii) Brockhall and (iii) other hospital sites in the last 12 months.

In 1986, the latest year for which information is available, the table shows the number of inpatient admissions and out-patient attendances at NHS mental illness hospitals/units in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale health authority.

Hospital	In-patient admissions	out-patient attendances
Burnley General	847	9,447
Rossendale General	345	2,189

These figures include patients who have been admitted or attended hospital on more than one occasion during the year.Brockhall and Calderstones hospitals are mental handicap hospitals. Central information shows very few admissions to these hospitals of mentally handicapped residents with an associated mental illness diagnosis.

Community Health Councils

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give a list of the community health councils in England together with their expenditure of public funds in the latest available year.

Following is the information requested derived from the 1986–87 annual accounts of the relevant health authorities.

Community health councils Total expenditure 1986–87
	£
Northern region
Hartlepool	27,139
North Tees	33,682

	£
South Tees	34,299
East Cumbria	38,068
South Cumbria	59,044
West Cumbria	36,831
Darlington	32,488
Durham	31,981
North West Durham	34,921
South West Durham	30,417
Northumberland	40,008
Gateshead	24,399
Newcastle upon Tyne	33,438
North Tyneside	30,974
South Tyneside	32,409
Sunderland	31,844
Districts total	551,942
Trent region
North Derbyshire	37,280
Southern Derbyshire	61,320
Leicestershire	47,589
North Lincolnshire	35,304
South Lincolnshire	44,866
Bassetlaw	30,109
Central Nottinghamshire	34,268
Nottingham	46,320
Barnsley	32,947
Doncaster	34,596
Rotherham	29,717
Sheffield	53,522
Districts total	487,838
Yorkshire region
Hull	38,184
East Yorkshire	41,402
Grimsby	28,499
Scunthorpe	31,906
Northallerton	31,827
York	29,852
Scarborough	32,963
Harrogate	36,248
Bradford	31,633
Airedale	31,141
Calderdale	31,569
Huddersfield	29,971
Dewsbury	31,901
Leeds Western	38,325
Leeds Eastern	35,005
Wakefield	27,603
Pontefract	30,649
Districts total	558,678
East Anglian region
Cambridge	34,446
Peterborough	43,568
West Suffolk	29,705
East Suffolk	31,872
Norwich	41,481
Great Yarmouth and Waveney	35,451
West Norfolk and Wisbech	43,055
Huntingdon	37,424
Districts total	297,002
North-West Thames region
North Bedfordshire	37,924
South Bedfordshire	47,919
North Hertfordshire	33,311
East Hertfordshire	55,551
North-West Hertfordshire	42,937
South-West Hertfordshire	48,711
Barnet	43,959
Harrow	38,901
Hillingdon	57,656
Hounslow and Spelthorne	49,568

	£
Ealing	55,821
Brent	42,130
Paddington and North Kensington	47,522
Riverside	47,663
Districts total	649,573
South-East Thames Region
Brighton	30,973
Eastbourne	35,906
Hastings	29,077
South-East Kent	30,061
Canterbury and Thanet	32,706
Dartford and Gravesham	33,095
Maidstone	27,773
Medway	30,825
Tunbridge Wells	23,110
Bexley	32,651
Greenwich	30,480
Bromley	30,145
West Lambeth	47,033
Camberwell	33,160
Lewisham and North Southwark	52,925
Districts total	499,920
South-West Thames region
North-West Surrey	28,103
West Surrey and North East Hampshire	36,919
South-West Surrey	29,188
Mid Surrey	34,018
East Surrey	33,533
Chichester	30,088
Mid Downs	35,749
Worthing	31,365
Croydon	56,434
Kingston and Esher	39,666
Richmond, Twickenham & Roehampton	53,741
Wandsworth	63,655
Merton and Sutton	38,496
Districts total	510,955
North-Easl Thames region
Basildon and Thurrock	37,504
Mid Essex	36,153
North-East Essex	32,899
West Essex	33,762
Southend	45,433
Barking/Havering/Brentwood	45,658
Hampstead	38,715
Bloomsbury	46,082
Islington	40,441
City and Hackney	42,075
Newham	31,984
Tower Hamlets	33,372
Enfield	34,098
Haringey	43,313
Redbridge	35,367
Waltham Forest	39,379
Districts total	616,235
Wessex region
East Dorset	35,334
West Dorset	28,090
Portsmouth & S E Hants	34,993
Southampton & S W Hants	32,906
Winchester	27,798
Basingstoke & N Hants	27,524
Salisbury	28,693
Swindon	31,498
Bath	30,689
Isle of Wight	31,013
Districts total	308,538

	£
Oxford region
East Berkshire	40,505
West Berkshire	42,252
Aylesbury Vale	29,235
Wycombe	39,600
Milton Keynes	34,893
Kettering	37,311
Northampton	34,461
Oxfordshire	56,138
Districts total	314,395
South Western region
Bristol & Weston	61,351
Frenchay	40,723
Southmead	38,243
Cornwall/Isles of Scilly	57,514
Exeter	37,901
North Devon	32,359
Plymouth	39,301
Torbay	43,074
Cheltenham	37,132
Gloucester	50,617
Somerset	44,541
Districts total	482,756
West Midlands region
Bromsgrove and Redditch	30,056
Herefordshire	39,971
Kidderminster	32,368
Worcester	31,208
Shropshire	54,823
Mid Staffordshire	32,832
North Staffordshire	34,934
South-East Staffordshire	32,877
Rugby	31,108
North Warwickshire	32,557
South Warwickshire	33,726
Central Birmingham	39,452
East Birmingham	33,820
North Birmingham	27,943
South Birmingham	36,694
West Birmingham	36,464
Coventry	37,808
Dudley	33,675
Sandwell	34,905
Solihull	36,724
Walsall	33,309
Wolverhampton	35,546
Districts total	772,800
Mersey region
Chester	35,536
Crewe	34,871
Halton	41,715
Macclesfield	36,413
Warrington	35,096
Liverpool	80,248
St. Helens and Knowsley	34,589
Southport and Formby	35,828
South Sefton	29,657
Wirral	36,399
Districts total	400,352
North Western region
Lancaster	39,275
Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde	35,037
Preston	43,613
Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley	38,559
Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale	38,446
West Lancashire	28,476
Chorley and South Ribble	42,127
Bolton	52,086

	£
Bury	29,192
North Manchester	43,242
Central Manchester	42,297
South Manchester	43,194
Oldham	32,419
Rochdale	30,802
Salford	33,137
Stockport	42,080
Tameside and Glossop	30,406
Trafford	26,472
Wigan	32,000
Districts total	702,860

Note:

In addition to the figures for district health authorities the 1986–87 annual accounts of the Northern Regional Health Authority show similar expenditure totalling £10,710.

Prostaglandin Abortion (Poison)

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will introduce legislation to prohibit the use of poison in the case of prostaglandin abortion; and if he will make a statement.

Successive Governments have accepted since the passing of the 1967 Abortion Act that legislation in this field is initiated by private Members. The Government's position is that the method by which a legal abortion is performed is a matter for the clinical judgment of the doctor concerned, having regard to all the circumstances of the particular case.

District Health Authorities (Land)

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the ability of a district health authority to cede land to a voluntary housing society.

Health authorities are required to dispose of surplus land in a publicly acceptable manner and, in general, to obtain the full market price. There are provisions under which with Ministers' agreement, surplus land can be leased to voluntary bodies on concessionary terms, provided the use to be made of the land complements a NHS service. Land cannot be gifted without the approval of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Inner Cities

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what proportion of the health budget is spent in the inner cities.

Total expenditure for 1986–87 (the latest year for which figures are available) in health districts and family practitioner committee areas, which cover inner city areas, was as follows:

	£ million
Hospital and Community Health Services¹(Revenue and Capital)	4,449
Family Practitioner Services²	1,222
¹ Includes an element of £158 million (estimated on a pro-rata to total population basis) for revenue and capital expenditure incurred by regional health authorities for their regions as a whole.
² Expenditure on family practitioner services cannot strictly be

attributed to particular regions or districts. Total expenditure has been estimated pro-rata to the total population of each region with expenditure assigned to each region geographically (ie from the annual accounts of the family practitioner committees which account for it).

This was a total of £5,671 million within a total expenditure of £14,745 million. However, it should be noted that many of these districts and FPCs serve a geographical area considerably wider than the inner city and, in particular, that a number of the inner city districts contain teaching hospitals and provide regional specialty services, in addition to their local services. It is not possible to disaggregate those elements of expenditure which relate directly to the inner city areas.

Social Fund

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations he and his Department have received from Councillor Sam Darby and the town clerk of Manchester in regard to social fund allocations for 1988–89; what reply he is making; if there is any action he will be taking; and if he will make a statement.

The Permanent Secretary of the Department and I have received letters dated 21 March from the town clerk, and Councillor Darby of Manchester city council, respectively. Replies will be sent shortly.

Project 2000

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what discussions he has had on the proposals in Project 2000 relating to nurse training and education; and what conclusions he has reached.

All four health Departments have undertaken widespread consultation on the "Project 2000" proposals put forward by the United Kingdom Central Council for the reform of nurse education and training. We hope to be in a position to make a response to the proposals in the near future.

Hepatitis B

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what progress is being made against the spread or hepatitis B infection; what groups of people are being inoculated against it; and if he will make a statement.

The number of cases of acute hepatitis B reported to the public health laboratory service has declined from approximately 2,200 in 1985 to approximately 800 in 1987. During this period there has been not only an increase in vaccination against the disease but the issue of detailed advice to health authorities on preventing the spread of both hepatitis B and HIV infection in specific high risk situations, as well as widespread publicity on the risks of AIDS and HIV infection.The current memorandum from the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation (JCVI), which advises the health Departments on all aspects of immunisation, recommends that specific groups of health care personnel, patients, and family contacts should be considered for vaccination against hepatitis B. We hope shortly to make an announcement about a review of this guidance which has been undertaken by the JCVI.

Chlamydia

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what progress is being made to diagnose, treat and counter the spread of the chlamydia infection within the community.

Facilities exist in every district to diagnose chlamydia, and the disease responds readily to the appropriate antibiotics.The public information campaigns about AIDS by the Department and the Health Education Authority should not only help to reduce the risks of HIV infection but should assist, with other work on public education, in preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including chlamydia.

Nurses (Professional Conduct)

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (I) what complaints have been received by the professional conduct committee of the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting on allegations of poor nursing practice and negligence in each year since 1979;(2) how many of the complaints of poor nursing practice and negligence brought to the attention of the professional health conduct committee of the Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting have been settled by mutual agreement without conducting a hearing in each year since 1979;(3) what has been the cost to his Department of the settling of cases of complaints of poor nursing practice and negligence brought to the attention of the professional conduct committee of the Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting but which were settled by mutual agreement without conducting a hearing in each year since 1979;(4) what assessment has been made by his Department of the proportions of cases of allegations of poor nursing practice and negligence brought to the attention of the professional conduct committee of the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting which arise from instances of low staffing levels and low morale.

The work of the professional conduct committee is the responsibility of the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC) which was formally established in 1983. I understand from the council that most of the information sought is not available in the form requested.It is the committee's function to determine the outcome of the cases brought before it. None are settled by mutual agreement and there is no cost to the Department. Information on the work of the professional conduct committee may be found in the annual report of the UKCC which is in the Library.

Community Care

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many placements of people who have been transferred from long-stay mental handicap hospitals into community-based settings have proved unsuccessful due to (a) lack of funding, (b) poor service design and (c) neighbourhood hostility.

This information is not available centrally. However, the Department is not aware of any significant number of unsuccessful transfers of residents from mental handicap hospitals to community-based settings, although there may be initial difficulties for a number of reasons in such placements.

South Manchester Health Authority

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Stretford of 28 March, he will give precise details of the date on which the Minister for Health the right hon. Member for Braintree (Mr. Newton) decided to refuse to meet a delegation of hon. Members about South Manchester health authority, having been asked to reconsider his decision to refer the matter to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary;(2) if, pursuant to his answer of 28 March, he will give details of the circumstances, including the means of communication by which he learned of the refusal of the hon. Member for Stretford to meet the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State about South Manchester health authority.

My decision not to see a delegation of hon. Members about South Manchester health authority after they had refused to meet my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary was made on 14 March 1988. It was conveyed over the telephone by my private office the same day to the hon. Member for Manchester, Withington (Mr. Bradley), who had requested the meeting on behalf of hon. Members and from whom my office learnt of the delegation's refusal to meet the Parliamentary Under-Secretary.

Strontium 90

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the average levels of strontium 90 present in the bone marrow of children of the same age, born and raised in the United Kingdom, at intervals of five years from 1975 to the present; and whether the figures are based on actual measurements or from estimates from air and food levels.

I am not aware of measurements or estimates which provide the information requested. Strontium 90 if found principally in bone rather than the bone marrow. The National Radiological Protection Board has made estimates for adults of radiation dose from strontium 90; these estimates are of notional lifetime dose from a particular year's intake. They are derived, using mathematical models, from measurements of levels of Strontium 90 in the diet.

Sheltered Housing (Rents)

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what response he has made on the representations from the hon. Member for Woolwich dated 19 February about the decision of Greenwich council to raise rents for its frail elderly tenants in sheltered housing schemes.

My office wrote to the hon. Member on 7 March explaining that the correspondence was forwarded to the Department of the Environment as the matters raised are the responsibility of that Department.

Tranquillisers

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what discussions he has had with other European countries about problems associated with benzodiazepines; and if he will make a statement.

We have had no such discussions.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many representations he has received since 1 January 1987 about suspected adverse drug reactions involving benzodiazepines; and how many of these have been from (a) members of the public, (b) voluntary organisations counselling patients who claim to have suffered adverse effects and (c) general practitioners.

Benzodiazepines
Number of Prescriptions 1978–1986
Great Britain (Thousands)
Drug Group	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	Net Ingredient Cost £000 1986
Temazepam	314	736	1,329	2,151	3,088	3,628	4,222	6,279	7,160	13,756
Nitrazepam	10,174	10,148	9,014	8,371	7,861	7,048	6,403	5,974	5,541	1,147
Diazepam	11,096	10,488	8,819	8,023	7,077	6,222	5,407	5,402	5,235	754
Lorazepam	1,826	2,094	2,390	2,921	3,466	3,528	3,240	3,117	3,149	3,251
Triazolam	—	175	544	1,043	1,147	1,093	1,274	1,646	1,994	5,833
Chlordiazepoxide	2,942	2,638	2,156	1,996	1,806	1,550	1,347	1,165	1,081	1,321
Oxazepam	724	736	688	785	759	712	64.5	721	766	808
Lormetazepam	—	—	—	38	202	406	521	146	191	472
Clonazepam	37	48	47	54	65	80	90	107	113	461
Loprazolam	—	—	—	—	—	2	66	24	80	185
Clobazam	—	132	326	404	457	466	487	130	45	222
Alprazolam	—	—	—	—	—	171	339	83	1	6
Flurazepam	2,100	2,295	2,300	2,233	2,241	2,045	1,970	459	—	—
Clorazepate Dipotassium	1,042	1,045	1,181	1,139	1,186	1,189	1,255	267	—	—
Flunitrazepam	—	—	—	—	8	112	241	69	—	—
Bromazepam	—	—	—	—	10	95	188	43	—	—
Ketazolam	—	—	49	127	168	174	153	36	—	—
Medazepam	331	336	230	210	183	161	125	29	—	—
Prazepam	—	—	—	—	14	66	65	14	—	—
Total	30,586	30,871	29,073	29,495	29,738	28,748	28,044	25,711	25,356	28,216

Note:

These estimates are based on a sample of prescriptions of approximately 1 in 200 in England and Wales and 1 in 100 in Scotland which were dispensed by community pharmacists.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations he has received from the Council on Involuntary Tranquilliser Addiction on Merseyside about problems associated with benzodiazepines; and what his response has been.

I have received an invitation to visit the Council for Involuntary Tranquilliser Addiction which I have regretfully had to decline. I have also received representations on the council's behalf from the hon. Member, to which I responded today.

Northern Rha (Performance Indicators)

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what criteria will be used in the proposed use of performance indicators to assess the Northern regional health authority.

Since 1 January 1987, we have received 22 letters from hon. Members or members of the public on this matter. None has been from a voluntary organisation or a general practitioner.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the number of prescriptions for each type of benzodiazepines dispensed by community pharmacists in Great Britain in each of the years 1978 to 1986 inclusive, giving the cost to the National Health Service in each case.

Information on the number of prescriptions for benzodiazepines in each of the years 1978 to 1986 and on the net ingredient cost in 1986 is set out in the table. Information on the costs for earlier years is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Health Service indicators show each regional and district health authority's position in relation to other health authorities on a whole range of issues. 'The purpose of the indicators is, using local knowledge, to stimulate questions and enquiry about the reasons behind the variations across the country and between districts within regions. Northern region and its districts are being asked, like all other authorities, to analyse their indicators for the past four years and present the results to their authorities. Regions are specifically asked to look at variations across the region and at progress over time in addressing performance issues raised by the analysis. The results of these regional analyses will be discussed during this year's accountability reviews between the Department and regions.

Social Security Advisory Committee

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services when the Social Security Advisory Committee will be publishing its next annual report.

I understand that the SSAC's sixth report will be published on Wednesday 6 April 1988. Copies will be available in the Vote Office on that day.

Independent Living Fund

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish the eligibility criteria for applications to the Independent Living Fund.

Broadly, the fund will be open to severely disabled people on low incomes who receive attendance allowance and who have to pay for domestic care.The detailed criteria are as follows:THE INDEPENDENT LIVING FUND

Target Group

People who are severely disabled, whether physically, mentally or sensorially, to the extent that they need help with their domestic duties and/or personal care to enable them to live independently in their own homes.

Eligibility Criteria

1. The applicant is living in the UK either:
a. alone; or
b. with a partner, or parent or parents, or other person or persons who are unable because of old age, ill-health, disability, other responsibilities, or the extent of the care need, to provide the total amount of personal care and domestic assistance required.

For this purpose paid or voluntary support on a live-in basis does not disqualify an applicant from receiving help.

2. The applicant is:
a. receiving attendance allowance or constant attendance allowance; or
b. has claimed and been found to satisfy the attendance allowance eligibility criteria, but the six months qualifying period has not yet been completed.

If the applicant has submitted a claim to attendance allowance which has still to be decided but which the Trustees consider is likely to succeed, they may make an interim payment until decision of the claim if that would prevent the applicant's admission to institutional care.

3. The applicant is severely restricted in his ability to perform normal personal care and/or domestic tasks because of his disablement without extensive help.

4. The applicant or partner, or parent in the case of a dependent child, is:
a. in receipt of income support; or
b. not in receipt of income support but has net income in excess of income support level of less than the amount needed to pay for his essential personal care or domestic assistance and has capital of less than £6,000 (the Trustees may disregard capital earmarked for specific uses such as for adaptations or a car as they see fit.)

5. That part of personal care and domestic assistance provided by a close relative who incurs only minimal expenses, or provided by a local authority, is not normally eligible for help from the fund.

6. Personal care and domestic assistance has to be paid for.

7. The above criteria having been satisfied the Trustees may give such assistance with the cost of provision of personal care and domestic assistance, having regard to receipt of attendance allowance, invalid care allowance, the income support severe disablement premium, excess income under 4(b), net housing costs, to other care needs and to such other factors as they think fit.

8. Notwithstanding that the above criteria may not all be met, the Trustees may exceptionally make payments as they think fit if such payments would prevent a severely disabled person's admission to institutional care.

9. In the case of payments from the fund being taken into account for the assessment of housing benefit, payment may be made from the Fund to make good the housing benefit reduction, retrospectively, once legislation has been made to disregard payments from the Fund for the purposes of assessing housing benefit.

Notes

1. Domestic duties are taken to be normal household duties such as cleaning and tidying; cooking and preparing meals and washing up; essential laundering and ironing, and essential shopping.

2. Personal care duties are taken to be those personal duties that a fit person would normally do for himself such as dressing, eating, washing and bathing, helping in and out of bed and with general mobility around the home.

Nhs (Compensation Payments)

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now publish the outturn figures for 1986–87 for compensation payments to National Health Service staff in respect of redundancies and early retirements in the manner described in the Government's reply to the first report from the Social Services Committee of Session 1984–85, breaking down the figures to distinguish between competitive tendering and other cases.

The outturn figures for 1986–87 are as follows:

	Number of cases £	Compensation cost £	Total cost including super-annuation £
Competitive tendering
New cases	1,935	3,999,000	8,808,000
Continuing cases	1,479	1,487,000	2,099,000
Other cases
New cases	1,767	6,100,000	16,401,000
Continuing cases	7,790	12,098,000	24,185,000

Social Security Reform

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what progress has been made in each of the social security regions on converting existing supplementary benefit claims to income support; and when he expects the conversion to be completed.

We plan to complete the conversion of current supplementary benefit claims to income support by 11 April in all offices although a small number of offices still have some way to go. The table shows the position in each of the seven regions on 11 March 1988.

Region	Percentage load converted¹
Scotland	89
orth East	83
North West	84
Midlands	82
Wales and South Western	85
London North	74
London South	70
¹ Staff are using the conversion to update claims records. The exercise has shown that some claims are still recorded as live even though the person is no longer receiving supplementary benefit. This means that some recent counts of the number of current

supplementary benefit claims on which these percentages are based have not reflected the fall in the number of people receiving supplementary benefit.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will provide for employee families with children, figures similar to those in table 9B of "Impact of the Reformed Structure of Income Related Benefits" showing average changes in disposable income after housing costs (a) below gross earnings levels ranging from £75 to £200 and (b) below present disposable income levels after housing costs ranging from £75 to £200, the figures all to be displayed in £25 steps.

The figures are in the table:

All income related benefits: Average change in disposable income after meeting housing costs: Employee families with children in real terms
Gross weekly original income, less than (£)	Average change	Present disposable income after housing costs, less than (£)	Average change
	£ per week		£ per week
75	+4·10	75	+12·60
100	+3·10	100	+3·70
125	+3·60	125	+3·40
150	+340	150	+3·50
175	+3·40	175	+3·50
200	+3·40	200	+3·40

The estimates are consistent with assumptions in "Impact of The Reformed Structure of Income Related Benefits," October 1987, cover survey families of all sizes, ages and tenure types and include both couples and lone parents who are employees in employment working 24 or more remunerative hours. No adjustments have been made for the 1988 Budget changes.

Adjudication Officers' Guide

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services when the adjudication officers' guide will he published; and if he will make a statement.

The adjudication officers' guide will be published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office today. Its 10 volumes contain detailed guidance on the full range of adjudicable social security benefits including the new benefits of family credit and income support. Previous guidance on other benefits, most of which was not published, has been completely rewritten. The guide will be invaluable both to adjudication officers in determining social security claims and questions and to outside agencies in providing help and advice to claimants. Copies have been placed in the Library.

Nhs Finance

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give for each district health authority, regional health authority and special health authority and for England as a total the amount of income to the National Health Service from (a) charitable appeals, (b) subscriptions, (c) donations and grants, (d) legacies, (e) dividends and interests and (f) the total trust fund income for the latest available year.

[holding answer 1 March 1988]: Tables showing information for National Health Service trust funds and derived from the 1986–87 accounts of health authorities in England have been placed in the Libarary.

Children In Care

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the annual figures for the number of children received into care by reason of homelessness: if he will give this information for England as a whole and for each local authority area; what are the latest figures for the number of children in local authority care where the reason for their admission into care was homelessness; if he will give this information for England as a whole for each local authority area for the years ended 31 March 1985, 1986 and 1987 or the three most recent years; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 25 March 1988]: A child may be taken into care for a number of reasons of which homelessness may be a contributory factor, although not identified as a specific cause in the statistics.Information on children in care where the specific cause was that their family was homeless is given in the tables for 1984, 1985 and 1986 for each local authority in England.

Table 1 Children received into care of local authorities because family homeless (eviction or other cause) during the year ending 31 March, 1984, 1985 and 1986²
Numbers
	1984	1985	²1985
England	244	212	204
Cleveland	0	6	0
Cumbria	0	3	5
Durham	4	3	3
Northumberland	6	0	0
Gateshead	0	0	0
Newcastle upon Tyne	8	6	10
North Tyneside	0	6	1
South Tyneside	3	0	1
Sunderland	0	0	1
Humberside	10	8	2
North Yorkshire	11	2	0
Barnsley	3	0	3
Doncaster	3	3	9
Rotherham	1	1	0
Sheffield	1	¹1	¹1
Bradford	18	11	4
Calderdale	1	0	2
Kirklees	8	2	5
Leeds	3	14	6
Wakefield	1	0	0
Cheshire	5	0	2
Lancashire	10	11	14
Bolton	2	1	0
Bury	0	3	0
Manchester	3	11	9
Oldham	0	0	0
Rochdale	1	1	2
Salford	4	0	8
Stockport	6	0	2
Tameside	¹0	1	1
Trafford	0	0	0
Wigan	0	0	0
Knowsley	4	0	0
Liverpool	2	0	2
Sefton	2	11	2
St. Helens	4	0	0
Wirral	2	4	4
Hereford and Worcester	0	2	0
Shropshire	2	0	0
Staffordshire	4	2	2
Warwickshire	0	0	1
Birmingham	9	3	4
Coventry	5	2	1
Dudley	0	1	0
Sandwell	1	0	1

	1984	1985	² 1986
Solihull	1	0	2
Walsall	3	3	7
Wolverhampton	2	0	0
Derbyshire	0	0	3
Leicestershire	0	4	1
Lincolnshire	3	10	2
Northamptonshire	1	0	3
Nottinghamshire	7	5	2
Bedfordshire	6	2	1
Berkshire	1	3	5
Buckinghamshire	0	0	2
Cambridgeshire	4	0	0
Essex	4	7	3
Hertfordshire	2	0	1
Norfolk	0	2	2
Oxfordshire	6	0	4
Suffolk	0	1	1
Camden	0	0	3
Greenwich	0	3	1
Hackney	0	0	0
Hammersmith	2	0	1
Islington	¹2	¹2	¹2
Kensington	1	0	0
Lambeth	0	0	0
Lewisham	0	0	0
South wark	1	1	2
Tower Hamlets	¹1	¹1	¹1
Wandsworth	4	5	4
Westminster	0	0	0
City of London	0	0	0
Barking	2	0	1
Barnet	0	0	0
Bexley	2	2	0
Brent	0	2	2
Bromley	0	1	1
Croydon	7	1	2
Ealing	0	2	0
Enfield	0	2	0
Haringey	2	0	0
Harrow	0	0	0
Havering	0	0	0
Hillingdon	1	3	1
Hounslow	1	0	0
Kingston upon Thames	1	0	0
Merton	0	1	0
Newham	0	8	13
Redbridge	0	0	0
Richmond upon Thames	0	0	0
Sutton	3	0	3
Waltham Forest	1	0	0
Dorset	2	0	2
Hampshire	2	11	0
Isle of Wight	1	0	0
Kent	4	¹4	¹4
Surrey	3	2	3
East Sussex	1	3	1
West Sussex	0	0	0
Wiltshire	0	2	0
Avon	8	0	4
Cornwall	0	0	4
Devon	3	0	¹0
Gloucestershire	2	0	1
Somerset	0	0	1
¹ Estimated from information for previous years.
² 1986 figures are provisional.

Table 2
Children received into care of local authorities because family homeless (eviction or other cause) as at 31 March 1984, 1985 and 1986 ²
Numbers
	1984	1985	1986²
England	713	598	513
Cleveland	4	3	3

	1984	1985	1986 ²
Cumbria	6	8	7
Durham	12	11	10
Northumberland	4	3	1
Gateshead	3	3	2
Newcastle upon Tyne	11	10	9
North Tyneside	7	10	9
South Tyneside	8	5	5
Sunderland	3	2	3
Humberside	9	10	9
North Yorkshire	10	5	3
Barnsley	12	12	12
Doncaster	3	8	9
Rotherham	2	2	2
Sheffield	16	¹6	¹16
Bradford	23	19	4
Calderdale	2	2	1
Kirklees	9	8	7
Leeds	3	7	8
Wakefield	12	9	8
Cheshire	16	14	9
Lancashire	21	19	18
Bolton	2	1	0
Bury	2	4	0
Manchester	13	15	12
Oldham	0	0	0
Rochdale	5	3	3
Salford	8	6	10
Stockport	7	3	3
Tameside	¹0	0	0
Trafford	3	1	0
Wigan	6	5	5
Knowsley	4	4	4
Liverpool	25	0	0
Sefton	7	6	4
St. Helens	5	5	3
Wirral	5	6	4
Hereford and Worcester	7	8	6
Shropshire	15	9	6
Staffordshire	21	13	12
Warwickshire	8	8	8
Birmingham	7	4	4
Coventry	11	7	5
Dudley	6	6	5
Sandwell	3	7	4
Solihull	1	0	0
Walsall	6	6	7
Wolverhampton	4	2	2
Derbyshire	2	3	2
Leicestershire	4	3	2
Lincolnshire	5	1	3
Northamptonshire	9	6	6
Nottinghamshire	12	9	10
Bedfordshire	15	12	8
Berkshire	14	15	9
Buckinghamshire	2	2	2
Cambridgeshire	6	4	4
Essex	15	12	9
Hertfordshire	12	12	10
Norfolk	2	2	1
Oxfordshire	4	3	1
Suffolk	8	6	6
Camden	0	0	0
Greenwich	0	2	1
Hackney	5	5	3
Hammersmith	7	5	3
Islington	¹0	¹0	¹0
Kensington	8	7	5
Lambeth	2	0	0
Lewisham	1	1	¹1
Southwark	2	1	3
Tower Hamlets	¹24	¹24	¹24
Wandsworth	5	4	4
Westminster	4	4	2
City of London	0	0	0
Barking	0	0	0
Barnet	0	0	0
Bexley	0	0	0

	1984	1985	19862
Brent	3	5	4
Bromley	4	4	2
Croydon	5	4	1
Ealing	5	5	4
Enfield	0	2	0
Haringey	5	4	3
Harrow	1	0	0
Havering	0	0	0
Hillingdon	0	1	1
Hounslow	2	1	1
Kingston upon Thames	0	0	0
Merton	0	0	0
Newham	0	1	11
Redbridge	0	0	0
Richmond upon Thames	0	0	1
Sutton	2	1	3
Waltham Forest	0	0	0
Dorset	13	10	9
Hampshire	40	32	26
Isle of Wight	1	0	0
Kent	13	¹13	¹13
Surrey	3	4	5
East Sussex	9	4	6
West Sussex	8	7	6
Wiltshire	13	12	5
Avon	12	11	10
Cornwall	0	0	2
Devon	20	14	¹14
Gloucestershire	5	3	3
Somerset	4	2	2
¹ Estimated from information for earlier years.
² The 1986 figures are provisional.

Motor Cyclists

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the annual cost to the National Health Service of the treatment of leg injuries sustained by motor cyclists in road traffic accidents.

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: The annual cost to the National Health Service of treating injuries to motor cyclists and their passengers is estimated to be £22 million (England 1986). Information is not available on the cost of particular types of injury.

District Health Authority Staffing

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list in respect of each district health authority (a) the total number of full-time equivalent employees and (b) the total number of full-time equivalent management employees above the level of department head or ward sister.

[holding answer 4 February 1988]: Such information as is available centrally is shown in the tables. Information on management employees in the form requested is not held centrally.

NHS directly employed staff^{1 2}in post 30 September 1986
Region	Whole-time equivalent³1986
Northern	53,510
Yorkshire	59,570
Trent	74,310
East Anglia	30.490
North West Thames	54,810
North East Thames	69,060
South East Thames	61,860

Region	Whole-time equivalent ³ 1986
South West Thames	45,660
Wessex	43,520
Oxford	33,210
South Western	52,370
West Midlands	84,230
Mersey	42,870
North Western	74,080
England⁴	801,590
Source:
DHSS(SR7) Annual censuses of NHS medical and non-medical manpower.
¹ Includes permanent paid, ho norary and locum medical and dental staff.
² Includes agency nursing and midwifery staff.
³ Figures are independently rounded to the nearest ten(10) whole-time equivalents.
⁴ Includes staff in London Post Graduate Special Health Authorities, Dental Estimates Board, Prescription Pricing Authority, London Ambulance Services Staff, and Family Practitioner Committees' directly employed staff.

NHS directly employed staff ^{1 2 3} in post 30 September 1986
	⁴ Whole-time equivalents
Northern RHA
Total	53,510
Hartlepool	1,570
North Tees	2,490
South Tees	5,020
East Cumbria	2,980
South Cumbria	2,060
West Cumbria	2,050
Darlington	2,270
Durham	2,440
North West Durham	1,370
South West Durham	2,690
Northumberland	5,190
Gateshead	2,680
Newcastle (T)	9,600
North Tyneside	1,840
South Tyneside	1,770
Sunderland	5,000
Yorkshire RHA
Total	59,570
Hull	5,180
East Yorkshire	2,960
Grimsby	2,460
Scunthorpe	2,040
Northallerton	970
York	4,370
Scarborough	1,660
Harrogate	2,190
Bradford	5,090
Airedale	2,500
Calderdale	2,600
Huddersfield	3,650
Dewsbury	1,910
Leeds Western (T)	6,940
Leeds Eastern (T)	6,430
Wakefield	3,770
Pontefract	1,940
Trent RHA
Total	74,310
North Derbyshire	3,750
Southern Derbyshire	7,510
Leicestershire (T)	12,460
North Lincolnshire	4,620
South Lincolnshire	3,600
Bassetlaw	1,210
Central Nottinghamshire	4,200

	⁴ Whole-time equivalents
Nottingham (T)	11,200
Barnsley	2,900
Doncaster	4,060
Rotherham	3,200
Sheffield (T)	12,740
East Anglia RHA
Total	30,490
Cambridge (T)	5,140
Peterborough	3,050
West Suffolk	2,860
East Suffolk	5,050
Norwich	7,140
Great Yarmouth and Waveney	2,580
West Norfolk and Wisbech	2,160
Huntingdon	1,370
North West Thames RHA
Total	54,810
North Bedfordshire	2,780
South Bedfordshire	3,360
North Hertfordshire	1,950
East Hertfordshire	1,840
North West Hertfordshire	5,440
South West Hertfordshire	2,200
Barnet	5,250
Harrow	2,660
Hillingdon	3,900
Hounslow and Spelthorne	3,550
Ealing	2,930
Brent	4,020
Paddington and North Kensington (T)	4,040
Riverside (T)	8,760
North East Thames RHA
Total	69,060
Basildon and Thurrock	4,110
Mid Essex	3,920
North East Essex	5,130
West Essex	2,910
Southend	3,760
Barking Havering and Brentwood	5,820
Hampstead (T)	4,640
Bloomsbury (T)	7,850
Islington	3,200
City and Hackney (T)	5,760
Newhara	2,260
Tower Hamlets (T)	5,050
Enfield	2,730
Haringey	2,790
Redbridge	2,710
Waltham Forest	4,560
South East Thames RHA
Total	61,860
Brighton	4,680
Eastbourne	3,330
Hastings	2,400
South East Kent	2,970
Canterbury and Thanet	4,570
Dartford and Gravesham	3,780
Maidstone	2,690
Medway	3,650
Tunbridge Wells	3,640
Bexley	2,800
Greenwich	4,070
Bromley	3,820
West Lambeth (T)	5,440
Camberwell (T)	4,530
Lewisham and North Southwark (T)	7,730
South West Thames RHA
Total	45,660
North West Surrey	2,960
West Surrey and North East Hampshire	3,020
South West Surrey	2,450

	⁴ Whole-time equivalents
Mid Surrey	3,100
East Surrey	3,540
Chichester	2,420
Mid Downs	3,140
Worthing	2,830
Croydon	4,390
Kingston and Esher	2,920
Richmond Twickenham and Roehampton	2,440
Wandsworth (T)	5,740
Merton and Sutton	4,940
Wessex RHA
Total	43,520
East Dorset	5,570
West Dorset	3,190
Portsmouth and SE Hampshire	6,520
Southampton and SW Hampshire (T)	7,970
Winchester	2,820
Basingstoke and N Hampshire	3,080
Salisbury	2,490
Swindon	3,300
Bath	5,430
Isle of Wight	1,900
Oxford RHA
Total	33,210
East Berkshire	4,040
West Berkshire	5,650
Aylesbury Vale	3,080
Wycombe	2,310
Milton Keynes	1,360
Kettering	2,650
Northampton	4,400
Oxfordshire (T)	8,180
South Western RHA
Total	52,370
Bristol and Weston (T)	7,170
Frenchay	4,680
Southmead	3,870
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly	5,380
Exeter	6,370
North Devon	1,820
Plymouth	5,480
Torbay	3,130
Cheltenham and District	2,380
Gloucester	4,640
Somerset	5,790
West Midlands RHA
Total	84,230
Bromsgrove and Redditch	2,150
Herefordshire	2,100
Kidderminster and District	2,200
Worcester and District	3,590
Shropshire	5,310
Mid Staffordshire	3,530
North Staffordshire	7,430
South East Staffordshire	3,330
Rugby	840
North Warwickshire	2,400
South Warwickshire	3,540
Central Birmingham (T)	6,100
East Birmingham	2,700
North Birmingham	2,630
South Birmingham	4,980
West Birmingham	4,950
Coventry	5,000
Dudley	4,120
Sandwell	2,960
Solihull	2,140
Walsall	3,450
Wolverhampton	4,320

	⁴ Whole-time equivalents
Mersey RHA
Total	42,870
Chester	3,570
Crewe	3,070
Halton	1,100
Macclesfield	2,700
Warrington	3,920
Liverpool (T)	10,430
St. Helens and Knowsley	4,690
Southport and Formby	2,080
South Sefton	4,130
Wirral	5,030
North Western RHA
Total	74,080
Lancaster	3,800
Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde	4,290
Preston	5,390
Blackburn. Hyndburn and Ribble Valley	4,900
Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale	4,420
West Lancashire	1,780
Chorley and South Ribble	1,060
Bolton	3,410
Bury	1,830
North Manchester	4,680
Central Manchester (T)	4,610
South Manchester (T)	6,540
Oldham	2,790
Rochdale	2,190
Salford (T)	6,340
Stockport	3,750
Tameside and Glossop	2,500
Trafford	2,350
Wigan	3,810

Source: DHSS annual census of National Health Service medical and non-medical manpower.

Notes to all regional tables:

1. Includes permanent paid, honorary and locum medical and dental staff. Excludes consultants in non-teaching district health authorities and senior registrars in all district health authorities — these staff have their contracts with regional health authorities.

2. Includes agency nursing and midwifery staff.

3. Regional totals including regional headquarters and headquarters units staff, and staff whose contracts are held by regional health authorities.

4. Figures are independently rounded to nearest ten (10) whole-time equivalents.

(T)—Denotes teaching authority.

Employment

Consultative Documents

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make it his policy that responses received to consultative documents issued by his Department be made publicly available in his Department's library, except where the respondent has specifically asked that this be not done; and if he will arrange for this procedure to be made clear when future consultative documents are issued.

The Department of Employment operates a system whereby responses to consultative documents issued by my Department are made available in the Library for public inspection, on request. Responses are not made available when the respondents have stated that they do not wish their comments to be made public.

Deaf People (Training Schemes)

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what plans he has to increase the supply of properly qualified communicators with deaf people on training schemes;(2) whether he intends to establish further courses along the lines of that run at Bournville further education college, Birmingham, to train communicators with deaf people.

The Manpower Services Commission is committed to assist in increasing the supply of trained communicators for deaf people in order to support deaf trainees in the commission's youth and adult training programme. Plans include the setting up and running of a number of courses over the next year to 18 months based on the experiences of the Bournville course, which was itself funded by the commission.

Telephone Communications

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment why telephone callers to his Department's advertised number of 213 3000 are being asked successively to redial two further numbers, the last of which is mainly engaged; what action he proposes to take to improve telephone communications with his Department; and if he will make a statement.

The 213 3000 number for this Department was changed to a new number on 18 January 1988 as part of the modernisation programme of the Whitehall telephone exchange system which is run by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), as part of the common service to Government Departments.After the changeover, a recorded message was placed on the 213 number and callers were asked to phone a central switchboard where they are told the new number of the person or section they want to contact. Provided the extension is not busy the call is then transferred, avoiding the need to dial an additional number.However, the passport office was also on the old 213 exchange and because of the large number of people who ring there the number has sometimes become overloaded. At such times operators have asked callers to dial the new number directly in order to deal more quickly with new inquiries.The CCTA has recently installed a new intercept recorded announcement message, which gives more prominence to the new number of the passport office. This should reduce the number of callers erroneously ringing the number used by this Department. The volume of callers on the 213 number is also decreasing as people are becoming aware of the new numbers. The CCTA is also ensuring that all callers who ring the 273 number are transferred to the new extension number and are not being asked to make a further call.

Adult Training Scheme

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what representations he has received asking him to reconsider his decision to require those participating in the adult training scheme to pay the first £5 of their travel expenses.

None. It was the unanimous recommendation of the Manpower Services Commission that only participants' travel expenses in excess of £5 should be met, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has accepted this.

	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
Permanent workers dismissed for offence justifying summary dismissal	—	—	—	2	—	—	—
Reinstated by order of East Anglia Dock Labour Board and Appeal Tribunals	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Dismissal upheld by East Anglia Dock Labour Board and Appeal Tribunals	—	—	—	2	—	—	—

Training Schemes

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many school leavers were on YTS/ YOPs schemes during 1987; and hos many and what percentage of these school leavers obtained work on completing their time on the scheme.

There were on average about 400,000 young people training on YTS at any one time in 1987. The youth opportunities programme ended in 1983. The latest Manpower Services Commission follow-up surveys of YTS leavers show that of those who completed their training programme between April 1986 and September 1987, 73 per cent. were in work at the time of the surveys.

Inner Cities

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of the employment programme is spent in the inner cities.

In 1987–88 it is estimated that approximately one third of the expenditure by this Department and the Manpower Services Commission on employment, training and enterprise programmes in England is in the inner cities.

Health And Safety Executive

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what consideration he has given to privatising the Health and Safety Executive; and if he will make a statement.

The Government have no plans to privatise the Health and Safety Executive.

Wages

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will delineate the average, in percentage and real terms, increase in wage levels in all regions of the United Kingdom from 1979 to the latest available date.

Dock Workers

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many permanent registered dock workers in the East Anglia labour board area in each year from 1980 to 1986 have been dismissed by their employer for an offence justifying summary dismissal under the disciplinary provisions of the dock labour scheme; how many of these men have been reinstated by order of the local dock labour board and appeal tribunals; and if he will make a statement.

The figures requested are as follows:

I am sending the hon. Member the information requested, which is also available in the Library.

Industrial Tribunals

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of applications to industrial tribunals in each of the last three years for which figures are available have been subject to a pre-hearing assessment; in how many cases a warning as to costs was issued; and following such warning how many applications were withdrawn.

[pursuant to his reply, 7 March 1988, c. 37]: I regret that there were some errors in my original reply. The correct information should read as follows:

	12 months ending
	31 December 1984	31 March 1986	31 March 1987
Proportion of applications subject to pre-hearing assessment (per cent.)	9·4	3·7	2·5
Number of costs warnings issued	1,266	672	517
Number of applications withdrawn or settled after costs warning	1,004	510	403

National Dock Labour Scheme

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many permanent registered dock workers in the London labour board area in each year from 1980 to 1986 have been dismissed by their employer for an offence justifying summary dismissal under the disciplinary provisions of the dock labour scheme; and how many of these men have been reinstated by order of the local dock labour board and appeal tribunals.

[pursuant to his reply, 14 March 1988, c. 448–49]: The figures requested are as follows:

	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
Permanent Workers dismissed for an offence justifying summary dismissal	9	7	10	2	—	1	—
Reinstated by order of London Dock Labour Board and Appeal Tribunals	9	5	8	2	—	1	—
Dismissal upheld by London Dock Labour Board and Appeal Tribunals	—	2	2	—	—	—	—

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many permanent registered dock workers in the Hull and Goole dock labour board area in each year from 1980 to 1986 have been dismissed by their employer for an offence justifying summary dismissal under the disciplinary provisions of the dock labour

	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
Permanent workers dismissed for an offence justifying summary dismissal	7	—	1	2	1	1	—
Reinstated by order of Hull and Goole Dock Labour Board Appeal Tribunals	7	—	1	1	1	1	—
Dismissal upheld by Hull and Goole Dock Labour Board and Appeal Tribunals	—	—	—	¹—	—	—	—
¹ The second man in this year left the industry without his case being resolved by the Local Board.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many permanent registered dock workers in the Tyne and Wear local dock labour board area in each year from 1980 to 1986 have been dismissed by their employer for an offence justifying summary dismissal under the disciplinary provisions of the dock

	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
Permanent workers dismissed for an offence justifying summary dismissal	2	1	—	1	—	—	—
Reinstated by order of Tyne and Wear Dock Labour Board and Appeal Tribunals	1	1	—	—	—	—	—
Dismissal upheld by Tync and Wear Dock Labour Board and Appeal Tribunals	1	—	—	1	—	—	—

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many permanent registered dock workers in the Grimsby and Immingham local dock labour board area in each year from 1980 to 1986 have been dismissed by their employer for an offence justifying summary dismissal under the disciplinary provisions on

	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
Permanent workers dismissed for an offence justifying summary dismissal	5	1	—	1	—	—	—
Reinstated by order of Grimsby and Immingham Dock Labour Board and Appeal Tribunals.	5	—	—	1	—	—	—
Dismissal upheld by Grimsby and Immingham Dock Labour Board and Appeals Tribunals	—	1	—	—	—	—	—

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many permanent registered dock workers in the West Scotland local dock labour board area in each year from 1980 to 1986 have been dismissed by their employer for an offence justifying summary dismissal under the disciplinary provisions of the dock labour

scheme; and how many of these men have been reinstated by order of the local dock labour board and appeal tribunals.

[pursuant to his reply, 14 March 1988, c. 448–49]: The figures requested are as follows:the dock labour scheme; and how many of these men have been reinstated by order of the local dock labour board and appeal tribunals.

[pursuant to his reply, 14 March 1988, c. 448–9]: The figures requested are as follows:labour scheme; and how many of these men have been reinstated by order of the local dock labour board and appeal tribunals.

[pursuant to his reply, 14 March 1988, c. 448–9]: The figures requested are as follows:

	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
Permanent workers dismissed for an offence justifying summary dismissal	8	9	3	1	2	2	1
Reinstated by order of West Scotland Dock Labour Board and Appeal Tribunals.	7	9	3	1	2	1	1
Dismissal upheld by West Scotland Dock Labour Board and Appeals Tribunals	1	—	—	—	—	1	—

Home Department

Community Programme

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many places have been allocated under the community programme for crime prevention.

On 29 February 1988, the latest available date for which information is available, 8,637 community programme places had been approved on 323 crime prevention schemes.

Charities

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to amend the law governing charities so as to give the Charity Commission power to take action against a charity operating contrary to the law.

Charities are subject to the criminal law in the normal way. In addition, the Charity Commission has powers under sections 6 and 20 of the Charities Act 1960 to investigate any charity and where necessary take action to protect its property. The Government have accepted that the commission's powers for dealing with abuse should be strengthened in line with the recommendations of the Woodfield report, and will introduce legislation accordingly.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to amend the law governing charities to ensure that greater importance is attached to the methods by which the charity fulfils its objects.

	Number of classes		Average number of inmates in each class	Total number of class hours
	Day	Evening
Birmingham	33	0	8·3	66
Leeds	75	36	7·2	222
Pentonville	64	33	6·5	193
Manchester	44	15	7·6	109
Wandsworth	47	49	7·8	209·5
Wormwood Scrubs	21	39	8·3	120
Holloway	¹102	20	8·6	244
¹ Figure includes vocational training.

As the Government's recent reply to the second report from the Select Committee on Education, Science and Arts on prison education makes clear, very positive efforts are being made to improve both the quantity and the quality of education in Prison Department establishments. The figures for a small selection of prisons, including some of our most overcrowded local establishments, should not be regarded as representative. At Birmingham, for instance,

Trustees are under a clear obligation to ensure that the method by which a charity fulfils its objects are within the law. Action can be taken against a charity wherever there is evidence that its activities are not in the public interest.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce legislation to ensure persons with convictions for dishonesty are not permitted to become charitable trustees.

One of the recommendations of the Woodfield report is that provision should be made that no person should, without the permission in writing of the commissioners, act as the trustee of a charity if they have been convicted of any offence involving fraud or dishonesty. The Government intend to introduce legislation to implement the Woodfield report's recommendations before the end of the life of this Parliament.

Prisoners (Education)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison daytime and evening education classes were held; what was the average number of prisoners in each class, and what was the total number of hours of education in the most recent convenient week, at each of the following prisons: Birmingham, Leeds, Pentonville, Manchester, Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Holloway; and if he will make a statement.

The information for the week commencing 14 March 1988 is as follows:where the level of overcrowding makes movement to classes very difficult, considerable work has been done on the development of learning packs for use in cell.

Data Protection

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many subject access requests under the terms of the Data Protection Act the Metropolitan police and police national computer unit have received; what were the anticipated number of requests; and whether he is reconsidering the subject access fee charged by the police as a result; and whether he will make a statement.

I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that from 11 November 1987 to 24 March 1988, the Metropolitan police have received subject access requests under the Data Protection Act 1984, as follows:

	Number
i. for disclosure from the police national computer	34
ii. for disclosure from data registered in common on the police national computer and on force systems	45
iii. for disclosure from Metropolitan police systems only	10

The Metropolitan police had anticipated some 4,000 applications per annum.Over the same period, the subject access office of the National Identification Bureau, which deals with requests for access to data on the police national computer, has received 404.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will provide information to the Data Protection Registrar in a way that does not compromise national security, on the number, scope and extent of the certificates that he has signed under section 27 of the Data Protection Act.

Such arrangements are not required by the Data Protection Act and would not be in the interest of national security.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the benefits for the public of the code of practice covering personal data used for police purposes.

The public benefit from the procedures set out in the code of practice since they seek to ensure that personal data held on police computer systems are properly obtained, maintained and secured in all forces, and comply with the data protection principles laid down in the Data Protection Act 1984.

Prison Workshops

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many workshops there are; and for how many hours they were open in the most recent convenient week at each of the following prisons: Birmingham, Leeds, Pentonville, Manchester, Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Holloway.

In the week ending 28 February 1988 the following numbers of industrial workshops were in operation in each of the listed prisons:

	No. of Employment Places		Average number Employed in w/e 28 February 1988
	Industrial Workshops and Farms and Gardens	Domestic Catering and Maintenance Duties	Industrial Workshops and Farms and Gardens	Domestic Catering and Maintenance Duties
Birmingham	160	158	126	154
Leeds	280	170	149	147
Pentonville	124	135	45	119
Manchester	195	227	102	227

Number of Workshops	Opening Hours
Birmingham
Laundry	23·50
Heavy Textiles I	13·75
Heavy Textiles II	9·75
Leeds
Heavy Textiles I	21·75
Heavy Textiles II	21·00
Heavy Textiles III	21·00
Light Textiles	21·00
Engineering	8·00
Assembly	Nil
Pentonville
Tailoring	13·50
Assembly	7·15
Manchester
Tailoring	30·00
Laundry	29·00
Textiles	27·50
Assembly I	20·50
Assembly II	20·35
Wandsworth
Laundry	19·50
Heavy Textiles	17·50
Dry Cleaning	16·00
Leather	15·75
Brushmaking	15·00
Tailoring	14·75
Carpenters	8·50
Wormwood Scrubs
Engineering	12·85
Tailoring	12·10
Cutting	11·25
Binding	9·25
Sewing Machine Repairs	9·25
Assembly	7·50
Light Textiles	2·50
Holloway
Light Textiles	18·00

Prisoners (Employment)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the maximum number of prisoners who can be employed; and how many prisoners were actually employed (a) in workshops and (b) on other tasks in the most recent convenient week, at each of the following prisons: Birmingham, Leeds, Pentonvilile, Manchester, Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Holloway.

The information is as follows:

	No. of Employment Places		Average number Employed in w/e 28 February 1988
	Industrial Workshops and Farms and Gardens	Domestic Catering and Maintenance Duties	Industrial Workshops and Farms and Gardens	Domestic Catering and Maintenance Duties
Wandsworth	451	288	202	288
Wormwood Scrubs	228	204	137	173
Holloway	52	97	14	90

In addition to those employed in work as defined above, significant numbers of prisoners were also engaged in other out of cell activities including full or part-time education, vocational training and construction industry training courses.

Inner Cities

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of his Department's expenditure is spent in the inner cities.

Much Home Office expenditure goes to inner city areas without being specifically targeted to them. It would involve disproportionate cost to calculate the sums involved.

Police Officers (Firearms)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what guidance he has issued to chief constables about the use by police officers of firearms to shoot animals;(2) what was the number of operations in which firearms were issued to police officers in England and Wales in 1987 where the firearms were used to shoot animals; how many animals were so killed; and if he will list the species involved.

The guidance issued to chief constables about the use of firearms to destroy dangerous animals is contained in a comprehensive booklet prepared by the West Yorkshire police force in conjunction with the Association of Chief Police Officers. I am arranging for a copy of that guidance to be placed in the Library.Firearms were issued to police officers on 41 operations in England and Wales in 1987 for the destruction of animals; 44 beasts were destroyed. The species included bullocks, bulls, cows, deer, dogs, horses and pigs.

Passports

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long it is now taking his Department's office at Peterborough to process legitimate passport applications.

Correctly completed non-urgent applications are now being dealt with within 26 working days. Urgent applications are given priority.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests for the urgent return of passports were received by his Department during February from people whose passports had been sent to the Home Office before 31 December 1987 in connection with applications for British citizenship.

No comprehensive statistics are available concerning the number of such requests. The practice is to undertake searches when urgency is established.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there has been an increase in demand for passports; what action is being taken to avoid delays in the handling of passport applications in advance of computerisation of the passport offices; and if he will make a statement.

So far this year overall demand for new passports and for amendments to existing passports has been over 25 per cent, up on the corresponding period of 1987. In anticipation that this heavy demand will continue throughout the summer months a number of special measures are being taken to help reduce delays at the passport offices. These include:

(1) the recruitment of additional staff at all offices;

(2) overtime working at weekends;

(3) the immediate grant of free short-term extensions to expired passports for personal callers;

(4) issuing emergency travel documents to personal callers whose postal applications cannot readily be traced.

In addition, Governments of countries to which British citizens travel most frequently have been approached and invited exceptionally to accept travellers using uncancelled United Kingdom passports which have expired within the last five years, or British visitor's passports, where these are not already accepted. British visitor's passports, which are already accepted by all countries in Western Europe, are currently available from the 1,500 main post offices in Britain from Monday to Friday only. It is hoped to extend this service shortly to Saturday mornings.To date, the following countries have either agreed, or have indicated their willingness in principle, to accept expired passports and British visitor's passports under these arrangements:

USA
Israel
Netherlands
Hong Kong
Antigua and Barbuda.

Information about these arrangements, including the operative dates of agreements with other countries, will be made available through the travel trade, on Prestel, and through the media.

The phased programme of computerisation of the United Kingdom passport offices is due to begins in July this year. Glasgow will be the first, and arrangements are in hand to disperse work on postal applications now done in London to that office as soon as practicable following computerisation, to relieve the pressures on the London office. Computerisation of the remaining five passport offices should be completed by the end of 1989.

Computerisation is designed to enable the passport offices to cope with the anticipated rises in future demand for passport services without the excessive and unacceptable delays that have arisen in recent years with the present outdated manual system of passport production.

Prisoners (Drug Addicts)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has of the percentage of prisoners in Her Majesty's prisons who have a drug addiction and who have their habit sustained while they are in prison custody.

The number of inmates reported by medical officers as having some degree of dependence on drugs at the same time of their reception into custody is included in the medical statistics on page 70 of the "Report On The Work of the Prison Service 1986–87" (Cm. 246), a copy of which is in the Library. It shows that 3,051 were so reported during that year. Information is not available on which to estimate how many sustain their addiction while in custody. The House was informed in answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Pembroke (Mr. Bennett) on 14 December 1987, at column 342, of measures taken in Her Majesty's prisons to prevent and detect illicit drugs.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what treatments and counselling services are provided for those receiving prison sentences who are found to be hard drug addicts;(2) what survey is made of those prisoners serving sentences who have a hard drug addiction; and what clinical and psychological efforts are made to get them off the habit and to attempt to dissuade them from returning to drug taking, either in prison or after their release.

As the House was informed in answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Pembroke (Mr. Bennett) on 14 December, at columns 342–43, the possibility of a history of drugs misuse is one of the factors medical officers inquire into during the course of their examination of inmates being received into prison custody. Where indicated, medical help in withdrawing is offered, its nature and extent determined by the medical officer's clinical assessment of the individual case. Additionally, at a number of establishments personal support continuing after withdrawal is provided by members of staff or drug counselling agencies from the community.Guidelines prepared in discussion between the Prison Department and probation service for the introduction at all establishments of a more co-ordinated response to drug misusers were issued on 25 September 1987. These describe the responsibility of the Government to ensure the development of a coherent system and the complementary roles of medical and probation officers in the provision of care and support. The use of suitable drug counselling agencies from the community is encouraged. The particular advice offered an inmate prior to discharge will depend upon individual circumstances but progressively as the system is introduced will include the issue of a brief advisory card with which all establishments have been supplied. A copy of the guidelines and card are in the Library.

Traffic Wardens (London)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many traffic wardens were deployed in each London borough during the last three completed years.

I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that the information in the form requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The traffic warden service was restructured under the reorganisation of the force and responsibility for operational matters devolved to areas. The number of traffic wardens in each of the areas at the end of the last two years was as follows:

	31 December 1986	31 December 1987
No. 1 Area (North)	185	154
No. 2 Area (East)	89	100
No. 3 Area (South East)	169	156
No. 4 Area (South)	189	153
No. 5 Area (South West)	75	77
No. 6 Area (West)	176	156
No. 7 Area (North West)	196	187
No. 8 Area (Central)	429	413
	1,508	1,396

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has, pursuant to his reply of 11 March, Official Report, column 357, on the reasons for the reduction of traffic wardens in London between 31 December 1984 and 31 December 1987.

I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that the fall in the number of traffic wardens is due to a high level of resignations and a shortfall in recruitment. Dissatisfaction with pay and conditions are given as the main reasons for resignation. A scrutiny of the traffic warden service has made recommendations for improvements which are being considered.

London Fire And Civil Defence Authority

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department why he refused to allow the London Fire and Civil Defence Authority to maintain the Greater London co-ordinating centre; and if he will make a statement.

The Greater London co-ordination centre (GLECC) has been maintained by the London Fire and Civil Defence Authority by virtue of temporary sanctions under section 19 of the Local Government Finance Act 1982. The authority sought primary legislation which would enable it to maintain GLECC on a permanent basis. We concluded, in the light of expert advice, that there was no role for GLECC that could not otherwise be met and that primary legislation would not be justified. The London boroughs have the necessary powers to fund the authority to maintain GLECC if they consider there is a need.

Police Act 1964

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many cases in 1987 damages have been paid after judgment under section 48(2)(a) of the Police Act 1964; what was the average settlement figure; and what was the average level of damages awarded.

This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Metropolitan Police (Wrongful Acts)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what were the amounts paid in out-of-court settlements of claims arising from the wrongful acts of Metropolitan police officers in 1987; and what were the amounts paid under awards made by courts in 1987 and the number of cases concluded in 1987.

I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that in 1987 the total amount paid by the Metropolitan police in settlements out of court arising from allegations of wrongful acts by Metropolitan police officers (whether or not formal proceedings were instituted) was £173,714. A total of £11,233 was paid under awards made by the courts. In all, 133 cases were concluded.

Bbc Hulton Picture Library

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement about the future of the BBC Hulton picture library.

I understand that it is the BBC's intention to sell the Hulton picture library. There are likely to be certain conditions attached to its sale, however, which might include a requirement for it to remain in the United Kingdom and for it to retain its title.

Immigration Officers (Birmingham)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many immigration officers were based at the Birmingham immigration office at 31 December 1987.

Twenty-four.

Entry Clearance Applications

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many entry clearance applications had been referred to his Department by entry clearance officers but had not yet been allocated to an immigration office at 31 December 1987.

I regret that the information requested is not available.

Summer Time

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Government have in mind for the future of summer time.

An order has been laid before Parliament to continue the present arrangements for 1989. Departments are being asked to consult interested groups on the merits of three options which emerged with the most support from a preliminary survey towards the end of last year. These are the continuation of the present position; the harmonisation of the date for ending summer time to bring it into line with the rest of the Community; or the introduction of Greenwich mean time plus one hour in the winter, with Greenwich mean time plus two hours from the end of March to the end of September. The last option would mean that the United Kingdom would be in the same time zone as most other EC countries throughout the whole year. Copies of the consultation document have today been placed in the Library of the House. After this consultation process has been completed the Government will canvas public and parliamentary opinion more generally with a view to testing the degree of support for change.

Lunar House, Croydon

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average and maximum recorded delay before members of the public are able to get through by telephone to the passport and immigration departments, respectively, at Lunar house, Croydon.

[holding answer 25 March 1988]: Information is not available on the number of calls to Lunar house which receive an engaged tone. Information is available on the average and maximum recorded delays for calls from members of the public who have been connected to the nationality telephone inquiry bureau at Lunar house but whose calls have not yet been answered. This does not, however, distinguish between calls that are answered and those that are terminated by the exchange equipment or the callers.Over the three months from December 1987 to February 1988 the average and maximum recorded delays described above were three minutes and 14 minutes respectively.Similar information about calls answered by the immigration telephone inquiry bureau is not available. However, on the afternoon of 22 March, the average waiting time was six minutes. The longest delay was nine minutes.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff are currently employed answering telephone calls from the public in the passport and immigration departments at Lunar house, Croydon; and what was the comparable figure 12 months ago.

[holding answer 25 March 1988]: The nationality telephone inquiry bureau has nine staff answering telephone calls from the public compared to six, 12 months ago.The immigration telephone inquiry bureau has an average of 10 staff carrying out this duty compared to 17 a year ago. The reduction reflects the priority given to providing staff for the public inquiry office which deals with those who call in person.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to improve telephone access to the public of the facilities at Lunar house, Croydon.

[holding answer 25 March 1988]: The matter is being given urgent consideration.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many outside telephone lines are currently available to receive calls from the public at the passport and immigration departments at Lunar house, Croydon.

[holding answer 25 March 1988]: The nationality telephone inquiry bureau has 14 telephone lines available to receive calls from the public. There are 30 lines in the immigration telephone inquiry bureau.

Michael Ryan

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police as to what procedure was used by the late Michael Ryan to deliver his original firearms form 1 application to Thames Valley police;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date and procedure used by the late Michael Ryan to deliver firearms form 1 applications for variation to Thames Valley police.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that this information is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police as to the date and procedure used to deliver the original firearms certificate to the late Michael Ryan and the registration identification number;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police as to the date and procedure used to deliver the varied firearms certificates to the late Michael Ryan, and the registration identification number.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that records relating to the delivery of firearm certificates are destroyed after six months. The information requested is therefore not available. However, the normal practice is to send firearm certificates by recorded delivery through the post.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police as to which of the chief constable, deputy chief constable or assistant chief constable personally authorised the original grant of the firearms certificate to the late Michael Ryan, or the rank to which they delegated that responsibility;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date on which either the chief constable, deputy chief constable or assistant chief constable personally authorised the variations to the firearms certificate of the late Michael Ryan or the rank to which that responsibility was delegated.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that Michael Ryan's application for a firearm certificate was authorised at assistant chief constable level and that his variation applications were also authorised at that level on 30 April 1987 and 30 July 1987.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police as to the ranks of police officers or civilians receiving the late Michael Ryan's application for the original grant of a firearms certificate at police headquarters;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police as to the date on which the original firearms form 1 application was received and recorded at local station level and by what rank of police officer or civilian acting for the police in the case of the application of the late Michael Ryan;(3) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date and the rank of police officers or civilians recording receipt of the grant fee of £25, the receipt number and date in respect of firearms certificates issued to the late Michael Ryan by Thames Valley police.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that Michael Ryan's application for the grant of firearms certificate was received at Hungerford police station on 26 November 1986 by a police constable who issued a receipt (number 472484) for the fee paid. The application was received at police headquarters by the assistant chief constable on 10 December 1986.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library the contents of the statement made by the ex-manager of the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon, to the police, into the status of the late Michael Ryan's membership on 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 December 1986; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: No. It is not the practice to disclose the contents of statements obtained during police inquiries into criminal offences.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the police have located or seized a 7·65mm/0·32 Scorpion machine pistol alleged to have been held at any time by the late Michael Ryan on a firearms certificate.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that they have no knowledge of the weapon in question.

Firearms

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to how many firearms certificates had been granted on, or prior to, 11 December 1986 by the Thames Valley police to applicants giving their good reasons as (a) probationary or (b) full membership of the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that no firearm certificates were issued on or before the date in question to applicants giving probationary membership of the Dunmore shooting centre as their good reason for possessing a firearm. Information in respect of applicants having full membership at that time is not known.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will place a copy of the original home approval certificate for the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon, and any subsequent amendments or additions to, and renewals of it in the Library;(2) if he will

(a) list and (b) place in the Library copies of all relevant documents relating to inquiries made and completed by his Department and Thames Valley or other police forces into the applications by the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon, for consideration for the issue, amendment, additions to, or renewals of, his Department's approval certificates;

(3) if he will (a) list and (b) place in the Library a copy of all documents submitted in the course of the applications by the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon to the police or his Department for the issue, amendment, addition to, or renewal of, his Department's approval certificates;

(4) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to on which date the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon, was first granted his Department's approval and on which subsequent dates this approval was reviewed and certificates reissued or renewed.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: The club in question was approved for the use of small and full-bore pistols on 16 September 1986 and approval was extended to small and full-bore rifles on 15 February 1988.It is not the practice to place documents of this kind in the House Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a copy of Home Office form coded PSL 4381 Firearms 20. (Rev. 5/69) and all such amended variations since 1968 to include draft and any final copies of those forms recommended by his recent working parties.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: We have been unable to identify the form requested with either the Home Office stationery branch or Her Majesty's Stationery Office. If the hon. Member would care to send further details of the form requested we will look into the matter further.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will place in the Library (a) a copy of Thames Valley police form FIR 25(9/74), (b) all such previous variations of copy since 1968, (c) all amended variations of copy form since 19 August 1987 and (d) a copy of the questionnaire completed by police officers or civilians after interview of the late Michael Ryan upon receipt by Thames Valley police of his original firearms form 1 application for a firearms certificate;(2) if he will place in the Library

(a) a copy of Thames Valley police form FIR 25(9/74) and (b) a copy of the questionnaire completed by police officers or police civilian employees after interviewing the late Michael Ryan upon receipt by Thames Valley police of his firearms form 1 variations applications to his firearms certificate;

(3) if he will place a copy of the Thames Valley force's standing orders concerning the administration of the Firearms Act 1968 with dates of issue and all amendments to it, with dates, in the Library.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable that the documents requested are essentially for operational use and I do not think it right to place a copy of them in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) who holds (a) the provisional and (b) full membership cards for the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon, issued to the late Michael Ryan; and if he will place copies in the Library;(2) who holds the firearms certificate issued to the late Michael Ryan; and if he will place a copy in the Library;(3) who holds the provisional membership card for the Wiltshire shooting centre issued to the late Michaal Ryan; and if he will place a copy in the Library.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that Michael Ryan's firearm certificate has never been found. It is believed that it was destroyed in the fire at his home together with his club membership card.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to how many entries were made by the late Michael Ryan in the register of users of the range facilities of the Wiltshire shooting centre;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to how many visits were made by the late Michael Ryan, and on what dates, to the Wiltshire shooting centre.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that Michael Ryan attended the Wiltshire shooting club on at least 10 occasions between 13 July and 19 August 1987. Further details of the visits made are not known.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date on which the firearms form 1 variations applications were received from the late Michael Ryan and recorded at (a) local station and (b) division; and by what rank of police officer or civilian police employee;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date and the ranks of police officers or civilian police employees receiving the late Michael Ryan's applications for variations of his firearms certificate at police headquarters.(3) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the rank of police officer or civilian recording receipt of the variation fee of £20, the receipt number and date, in respect of each variation of the firearms certificate of the late Michael Ryan.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that Michael Ryan's applications for a varitation of his firearm certificate were received on 24 March 1987 and 17 July 1987 at Hungerford police station by a police sergeant who issued receipts for the variation fee paid (numbers 503378 and 508185). The applications were received at police headquarters by the assistant chief constable on 2 April 1987 and 30 July 1987.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date and rank of all police officers or civilians (a) involved in and (b) authorising by means of signature each stage of inquiries relating to the variation applications by the late Michael Ryan on his firearms certificate; and which stages did not contain a request for a signature, rank, or date by inquiring police officers and-or civilians;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date and the rank of police officers and/or civilian police employees completing the processing at

(a) local station and (b) divisional level and passing the applications to vary his firearms certificate by the late Michael Ryan to force headquarters.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that Michael Ryan's first application to vary his firearm certificate was submitted by a police constable on or about 28 March 1987 to a superintendent who forwarded it on 1 April 1987. It was received by the assistant chief constable the following day for approval. His second application was submitted by a police constable to an acting inspector on or about 25 July 1987 who forwarded it on the same day to a chief inspector. The application was received on 30 July 1987 by the assistant chief constable for approval.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date and ranks of police officers or civilian police employees completing the checks with special branch for the variations to the firearms certificate of the late Michael Ryan;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date and the ranks of police officers or civilians completing the checks with special branch for the original grant of a firearms certificate for the late Michael Ryan.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that no checks other than those made with the criminal records office were made.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to on which dates and by what rank of police officer or civilian police employee the late Michael Ryan was advised concerning storage security arrangements upon applications for variations to his firearms certificate;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to on which dates and which rank of police officers or civilian police employees inspected the storage and security arrangements at the house of the late Michael Ryan upon applications for variations to his firearms certificate;(3) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the dates and ranks of police officers or civilians first recording the information regarding the possession by the late Michael Ryan of a firearms security cabinet;(4) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to what ranks of police officers or civilians inspected the storage and security arrangements at the house of the late Michael Ryan; and on which date each visit took place;(5) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to on what date arid by what rank of police officer or civilian acting for the police the late Michael Ryan was advised concerning storage security arrangements and obtaining a security cabinet.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that a police constable visited Michael Ryan's house on 30 November 1986 to inspect his storage and security arrangements in respect of his application for a firearm certificate. Further inspections were carried out on 28 March 1987 and 25 July 1987 by a police officer of the same rank in respect of applications made to vary the original certificate. A survey was also carried out by a police constable from the community liaison department as a crime prevention officer.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to date on which the late Michael Ryan signed and dated his original firearms form 1 application for a firearms certificate; and if he will place a copy of it in the Library;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date on which the late Michael Ryan signed and dated his firearms form 1 application for variations of his firearms certificate; and if he will place copies of it in the Library.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that the dates on which Michael Ryan signed his original application form and applications for a variation of a firearm certificate were 23 November 1986, 23 March 1987 and 14 July 1987 respectively.The requested documents are essentially for police operational use, and I do not think it right to place them in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date and the ranks of police officers or civilian police employees completing the checks with the criminal records office for the variations to the firearms certificate of the late Michael Ryan;(2) If he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date completed and ranks of police officers or civilians completing the checks with the criminal records office for the original grant of a firearms certificate for the late Michael Ryan.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police detailed records of checks made with the Criminal Record Office are not kept.

(2) If he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date on which the late Michael Ryan made written application for membership of the Wiltshire shooting centre;

(3) If he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date on which the late Michael Ryan's application was received by the Wiltshire shooting centre; and by whom.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that Michael Ryan joined the club in question on 13 July 1987 but that further details of his application for membership are not known.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date procedure used and ranks of police officers or civilians involved in the checks to verify the late Michael Ryan's (a) provisional and (b) full membership of the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon; and with whom they have been verified by the police at the club and on behalf of that club;(2) If he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the dates, procedures used and ranks of police officers or civilian police employees involved in the checks to verify the late Michael Ryan's

(a) provisional and (b) full membership of the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon; and with whom they had been varified at the clubs, upon his application for variation to his firearms certificate;

(3) If he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the dates and ranks of police officers and-or civilians involved in the checks to verify the late Michael Ryan's provisional membership of the Wiltshire shooting centre; and with whom they had been verified at the club, upon his application for variations to his firearms cerficate.

[holding answer 25 February 1988] : I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that it is common practice for reporting officers to telephone club secretaries to confirm membership of a club and to discuss an application with the secretary. Available police records indicate that the secretaries of both clubs in question were contacted but not the dates on which inquiries were made.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to on what dates police officers or civilians acting for the police discussed the application for the original grant of a firearms certificate with the late Michael Ryan;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to on which dates police officers or civilian police employees discussed the applications for variations of his firearms certificate with the late Michael Ryan.

[holding answer 25 February 19881: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that interviews with Michael Ryan about his applications for the grant and variation of a firearm certificate took place on 30 November 1986, 28 March 1987 and on or about 25 July 1987.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the good reasons written by the late Michael Ryan on his firearms form 1 variations applications for each firearm, requested in his applications for variations of his firearms certificate;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the good reason written by the late Michael Ryan on his original firearms form I for each firearm, requested in his application for a firearms certificate.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that the good reason given by Michael Ryan on his firearm application and renewal forms was target shooting on approved ranges.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to how many Thames Valley police officers were involved in giving any form of instruction or guidance in (a) the use of firearms or (b) related matters, to the late Michael Ryan, giving ranks and dates.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that this information is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to what procedures or requirements have been amended by the Wiltshire shooting centre in respect of applications for membership since 19 August 1987.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that inquiries made of the Wiltshire police indicate that no changes in the rules regarding membership of the Wiltshire shooting centre have been made since the date in question.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date on which the late Michael Ryan was granted provisional membership of the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon; by whom; what assessment was made; and by what procedure;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date on which the late Michael Ryan was granted full membership of Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon; by whom; what assessment was made; and by what procedure;(3) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date on which the late Michael Ryan made written application for membership of the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon;(4) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date on which the late Michael Ryan's application for membership of the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon was received; and by whom.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that Michael Ryan's applications for provisional arid full membership of the club in question were granted by its manager on August bank holiday 1986 and 8 December 1986 respectively. Details relating to the consideration given to these applications is not known. Nor is it known whether the applications were made in writing.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the date

Date of purchase or date of notification where date of sale not known	Make or model of firearm	Date of sale or transfer	Firearm dealer
23 December 1986	Beretta 9 mm pistol	—	Dunmore shooting centre
8 January 1987	Smith and Wesson ·38 pistol	2 May 1987	Dunmore shooting centre
6 May 1987	Bernadelli ·22 pistol	—	Dunmore shooting centre
3 May 1987	CZ 32 pistol	—	Sportique
6 August 1987	7·762 Kalashnikov rifle	—	Westbury Guns
8 August 1987	·30 Underwood rifle	—	Wiltshire shooting centre

I further understand that Michael Ryan was authorised to possess, at any one time, 500 rounds of each calibre, but restricted to acquiring only 200 rounds at any one time of each calibre. Information relating to the amount of ammunition he purchased is not known as this is recorded on the firearm certificate presumed destroyed at the fire at his home.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to how many entries were made by the late Michael Ryan in the register of users of the range facilities of the Dunmore shooting centre;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to how many visits were made, and on what dates, by the late Michael Ryan to the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that range records for the club in question show Michael Ryan attended the range facilities on the following dates:

29 September 1986
6 October 1986
8 October 1986
17 October 1986
20 October 1986
21 October 1986
11 November 1986
18 November 1986
20 November 1986
25 November 1986
28 November 1986
1 December 1986
10 December 1986
6 January 1987
21 January 1987
7 February 1987
16 February 1987
23 February 1987
24 February 1987
5 March 1987
9 April 1987

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to what

of purchase, sale or transfer by the late Michael Ryan of all firearms, giving the make and model and quantity of each calibre of ammunition in each case and the names of all firearms dealers involved.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that details of Michael Ryan's firearm transactions are as follows:procedures or requirements have been amended by the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon, in respect of applications for membership since 19 August 1987.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that since September 1987 the club in question requires a minimum period of six months probation before full membership may be conferred.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to the dates and ranks of all police officers or civilians (a) involved in and (b) authorising by means of signature each stage of inquiries relating to the original grant of the application by the late Michael Ryan of a firearms certificate; and which stages did not contain a request for a signature, rank, or date by inquiring police officers;(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police as to the ranks of police officers or civilians completing inquiries at

(a) local station and (b) divisional level into the application by the late Michael Ryan for the original grant of a firearms certificate;

(3) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police as to the date on which completed, and rank of police officers or civilians completing the processing at (a) local station and (b) divisional level and passing the original application for a firearms certificate by the late Michael Ryan to force headquarters.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that Michael Ryan's application for a firearms certificate was submitted by a police constable on or after 30 November 1986 to a chief inspector and that it was received by the assistant chief constable on 10 December 1986 for approval.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to how many Thames Valley police officers were members of the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon, on the date the late Michael Ryan applied for membership;

(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to how many Thames Valley police officers are currently members of the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon;

(3) if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police force as to how many Thames Valley police officers were members of the Dunmore shooting centre, Abingdon, on 19 August 1987.

[holding answer 25 February 1988]: I understand from the chief constable of the Thames Valley police that the information requested is not known.

Northern Ireland

Mentally Ill People

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many residential places have been provided in the community for patients discharged from mental hospitals in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years;(2) how many residential places have been provided in the community for patients discharged from mental hospitals in Northern Ireland with a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia psychoses in each of the last 10 years;(3) how many residential places in the community have been provided for patients with a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia psychoses discharged from mental hospitals in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years.

This information is not held centrally. Local provision of living accommodation available for those discharged from mental hospitals comprises a wide range of residential types including hostels, group homes, residential and nursing homes and private accommodation run by individual carers. This range of accommodation is operated by the statutory, private and voluntary sectors and is not necessarily solely for those discharged from mental hospitals.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many patients with a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia psychoses have been discharged from mental hospitals in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years.

The available information is given below:

Year	Number of discharges
1986	981
1985	1,120
1984	1,096
1983	1,037
1982	985
1981	1,015
1980	1,078
1979	983
1978	1,063
1977	1,040

These figures may include patients discharged more than once in the same year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many long-stay mental patients he expects there will be in Northern Ireland in each of the next seven years.

This information is not available centrally.

Mental Hospitals

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many mental hospital beds have been opened in Northern Ireland in each of last 10 years;(2) how many mental hospital beds have been closed in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years.

This information is not available in the form requested.The net figures for beds available in mental illness hospitals (that is adjusted to take account of beds opened and closed) for the period from 1977 to 1986 are :

Year	Beds
1986	4,330
1985	4,478
1984	4,599
1983	4,732
1982	¹
1981	4,760
1980	4,777
1979	4,889
1978	4,903
1977	4,999
¹ Not available due to industrial action.

Protestants And Roman Catholics

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the most recent percentages available for the Protestant and Roman Catholic sections of the community; what percentage of Protestants and Roman Catholics are known to be employed by (a) the Bank of Ireland and (b) Allied Irish Banks plc; and which departments of the Northern Ireland Office employ either the Bank of Ireland or Allied Irish Banks as their bankers.

It is estimated that 36.8 per cent. of the population of Northern Ireland aged 16 and over in 1987 were Roman Catholic and 60.9 per cent non-Roman Catholic. In the survey from which these figures are taken 2 to 3 per cent. of those surveyed did not state a religion.The latest available figures published by the Fair Employment Agency in March 1986 show the percentages of Protestants and Catholics employed in the banks referred to as follows:

	align="right">Protestant per cent.	Catholic per cent.
Bank of Ireland	42	58
Allied Irish Banks plc	28	72

The Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland employs Allied Irish Banks plc as its banker. No other Northern Ireland Department employs either bank as its principal banker, although several have isolated accounts with one or the other.

Psychiatric Nurses

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many community psychiatric nurses there were in Northern Ireland in 1979; how many there are now; and how many he estimates there will be in 1991.

The information is as follows:

Community psychiatric nurses in the health and personal social services
Year	Number
1979	30
1987	115
¹1991	169
¹ Estimated.

International Investments Ltd

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will call for a report from the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary on the progress of inquiries into the losses incurred by Northern Ireland investors with International Investments Ltd. of Gibraltar.

The Royal Ulster Constabulary's fraud squad has been conducting an investigation into the financial affairs of International Investments Ltd. following the collapse of the company in June 1984. I can confirm that papers on the case have been passed to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who directed no prosecution against agents employed by the company in Northern Ireland. The police investigation is continuing into other aspects of the case and it is likely to be some time before it is concluded.

Radioactive Fallout

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give details of the medical consequences of the radioactive fallout in Northern Ireland (a) as anticipated following the fire in No. 1 Pile at Windscale in October 1957 and (b) by today's standards.

No medical consequences were anticipated in 1957 nor have the Government any evidence to suggest that the health of people in Northern Ireland has been adversely affected by this incident.

Housing

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many dwellings were constructed in each of the past live years by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive; and how many architectural staff were employed by the Executive in each of those five years.

This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive but I am advised by the chief executive that the number of dwellings constructed and the number of architectural staff employed by the Housing Executive in each of the last five years is as follows:

Year	Number of dwellings	Number of architectural staff¹
1983	4,044	174
1984	3,588	173
1985	3,233	169
1986	2,580	161
1987	1,764	160
¹ Architectural work is also undertaken by consultants.

Environmental Health And Building Control Staff

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which district councils are within each group system for the employment of environmental health and building control staff; in each group, which council has the authority to make the individual appointments: and what roles or authority the other councils have in each group when new appointments are being made.

The district councils which are within each group system for the employment of environmental health and building control staff are prescribed in article 3 of the Local Government (Employment of Environmental Health Officers) Order (NI) 1973 (SR & O (NI) 1973 No. 168) and the Local Government (Employment of Building Control Staff) Order (NI) 1973 (SR & O (NI) 1973 No. 167) copies of which are available in the Library. Article 4(1) of those orders identifies those councils, known as employer councils, which have authority to make individual appointments.Other councils within each group have a representative role in relation to appointments. They are represented on a group committee which advises the employer council on staffing levels and they may also be present on shortlisting and interviewing panels for new appointments although they have no voting rights.

Community Programme

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish the guidelines set out for entrance on the community programme in the Province; and whether consultations are held with relevant representatives of commerce and business prior to community programme schemes being undertaken.

Guidelines for the action For community employment scheme are contained in leaflet CP1 published by the Department of Economic Development. These guidelines place a responsibility on ACE sponsors to consult with relevant bodies, including industry and commerce, whose interest may be affected by a proposed project.

Harland And Wolff

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has of how many jobs outside Harland and Wolff are directly related to the activities of the company (a) in Northern Ireland and (b) in Great Britain.

Based on a number of recent studies the number of jobs in Northern Ireland directly related to the activities of Harland and Wolff is about 500. There are insufficient statistical data available to provide an accurate assessment of the numbers in Great Britain.

Residential And Commercial Property

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will take steps to have replaced the use of site value as a basis of compensation for residential or commercial property compulsorily required for redevelopment by a more equitable arrangement for compensation through market value payments.

Legislation to abolish the site value rule for residential property in article 91(1) of the Housing (NI) Order 1981 will be brought forward as soon as practicable in line with a similar proposal for Great Britain. The current site value rule does not apply to commercial properties for which compensation is already assessed on the basis of market value.

Ministerial Private Office (Staff)

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether any members of the staff of the Private Office of the Minister responsible for agriculture, Lord Lyell, was absent on leave on 24 January 1987.

No.

Houses In Multiple Occupation

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what percentage of tenants in houses in multiple occupation in Northern Ireland receive housing benefit;(2) in how many cases housing benefit is paid directly to the landlords of houses in multiple occupation in Northern Ireland.

The information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Government Offices (Relocation)

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are his intentions about the relocation of central Government offices into South Down in the light of the level of unemployment in that constituency.

I cannot at present add to the reply that I gave to the hon. Gentleman on 10 November 1987, at column 165.

Housing Associations

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list all the housing associations in Northern Ireland and give details of the number of habitations provided by each of them.

The attached table lists all the housing associations registered with the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland and indicates the number of dwellings managed by them at 31 December 1987.Information on unregistered housing associations is not held centrally.

Registered Housing Associations—stock in management at 31 December 1987
Association	Stock
Abbeyfleld NI Development Society	8
Ballymacarrett Housing Association	9
Ballynafeigh Housing Association	161
Baptist Union of Ireland Housing Association	32
Belfast Community Housing Association	138
Belfast Improved Houses	1,079
Ben Madigan Housing Association	31
Botanic Housing Association	56
Broadway Housing Association	Nil
Church of Ireland Housing Association (NI)	63
Clonard Housing Association	37
Connswater Housing Association	203
Coral Crescent Housing Association	21

Association	Stock
Covenanter Residential Association	32
Craigavon and District Housing Association	202
Craigowen Housing Association	2
Derry Housing Association	236
Donacloney Housing Association	92
Down and Connor Housing Association	Nil
Dungannon and District Housing Association	68
Flax Housing Association	Nil
Fold Housing Association	1,314
Gosford Housing Association (Armagh)	41
Grove Housing Association	373
Habinteg Housing Association (Ulster)	294
Hearth	58
James Butcher Housing Association (NI)	736
Latharna Housing Association	21
Lisnagarvey Housing Association	18
Malone Housing Association	66
Masonic Housing Association (NI)	93
McGarel Housing Association	21
Newington Housing Association (1975)	158
Northern Ireland Co-ownership Housing Association	5,999
Nih Housing Association	242
North Belfast Mission Housing Society	9
Open Door Housing Association (NI)	38
Presbytarian Housing Association (NI)	286
Royal British Legion Housing Association (NI)	389
Students' Housing Association Co-op	164
St. Matthew's Housing Association	136
Tennent Street District Housing Association	144
Triangle Women's Housing Association	33
Ulidia Housing Association	84
Ulster Homemaker	Nil
Willowfield Parish Church Housing Association	50
Woodvale and Shankill Housing Association	247
Total	13,484

Inner Cities

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of his Department's budget is spent in the inner cities.

There is no formal definition of inner city areas for Northern Ireland. However, several measures are specifically designed to promote urban regeneration and the budget for these schemes in 1988/89 is 15·4 million.

Royal Ulster Constabulary

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will call for a report from the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary on the role of Royal Ulster Constabulary informants and paid agents, and the control over payments made to them and as to what sums were used for these purposes in the latest available year; what was the largest sum paid to one individual in the latest available year; when changes were last made in the financial controls; what were the last changes made in procedures; and if he will make a statement.

It is not the practice to comment on such matters.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what form of declaration of secrecy officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary are required to sign; and what guidance is given to them on the extent to which this permits or obliges them to conceal material evidence from investigating officers or the courts.

All RUC officers are subject to the provisions of the Official Secrets Act 1911, 1920 and 1939. No guidance of the type mentioned by the hon. Member is given.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many Royal Ulster Constabulary personnel are also members of the Orange Order, Freemasons, Royal Black Preceptory and the Apprentice Boys; if he will initiate an investigation into the effects of this membership and compatibility of such membership with service in the Royal Ulster Constabulary; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 28 March 1988]: The information requested is not available. There are no plans to initiate such an investigation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many civilians have been killed by members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary since 1969.

[holding answer 29 February 1988]: Forty, including civilians believed to have been terrorists and civilians who were not.

Urgent Needs Payments

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on recovery of urgent needs payments made as a result of flood damage in Strabane, indicating what consideration was given to the questions referred to in 58602 (2) of the urgent cases regulation 25 under the Supplementary Benefit Act 1976, section 4(2).

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: The recovery of urgent needs payments made as a result of flood damage in Strabane is being considered in accordance with regulation 25 of the urgent cases regulations and with paragraph 8602 and other relevant paragraphs of the supplementary benefit manual.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the procedure instructions in code AX to adjudication officers in Northern Ireland regarding the manner and rate of recovery of an urgent needs payment and whether to abandon recovery.

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: The procedures for both the recovery and abandonment of recovery of urgent needs payments in Northern Ireland follow those in operation in the rest of the United Kingdom. They provide for recovery to be abandoned where the claimant's resources are at or below supplementary benefit level and there is no, or is unlikely to be, available capital or disregarded income from which recovery may be made. In those cases where recovery action is appropriate, repayment may be made either by a lump sum payment, where the claimant has available capital, or by instalments, or deduction from supplementary benefit or other prescribed benefits. In each case the rate of recovery is determined in relation to the claimant's resources and requirements. Where supplementary benefit is in payment the weekly rate of recovery is subject to an overriding limit of £10 where there is available capital, or half the weekly amount of disregarded income.Where supplementary benefit is not in payment, the weekly rate of recovery is limited to the amount by which resources exceed supplementary benefit requirements plus half of any disregarded income or £10 where there is available capital, subject to an overriding limit of one third of the claimants' personal benefit rate.

Homes (Insulation)

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement indicating the total financial allocation to the new homes insulation scheme.

[holding answer 30 March 1988]: The allocation for this scheme for the 1988–89 financial year is £297,000.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what information is available to indicate the numbers of insulation grants made in each of the past three years to people who were not on housing benefit, supplementary benefit, or family income supplement.

[holding answer 30 March 1988]: No such information is available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what information is available to indicate the numbers and total values of supplementary benefit single payments for insulation or draught-proofing in Northern Ireland in 1986 and 1987.

[holding answer 30 March 1988]: Information in the precise form requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, the annual statistical inquiry shows that the following payments were made for draught-proofing during the preceding 12 months to people on supplementary benefit at the time of the inquiry:

Inquiry	Single Payments
	Numbers	£
February 1986	8,307	468,718
May 1986	11,776	502,319

Source: 5 per cent. sample.

Chernobyl

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what investigations have taken place into the presence of radioactive materials deposited in Northern Ireland as a result of the accident at Chernobyl; what is his assessment of the period which will pass before restrictions on the affected areas will be lifted; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: Following the accident at Chernobyl the Departments of Agriculture and Environment undertook Province-wide investigations into the levels of radioactivity in milk and milk products, meat, fish, forage, fruit, cereals, migratory birds, air and water. Experimental investigations were carried out on the transfer of radio caesium from forage to milk, milk products and sheepmeat.It is not possible at this time to predict when the controls on the movement and slaughter of sheep from the three restricted areas could be lifted.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what sums have been paid, for how many sheep, and to how many farmers in Northern Ireland for each year or financial year as a result of the Chernobyl accident.

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: To 28 March 1987 in the current financial year, £951.85 was paid to three farmers in respect of market loss on 121 sheep and £11,688·30 was paid to 83 farmers in respect of handling costs of 8,991 sheep.

Extraditions (Irish Republic)

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will now list the names of the persons for whom extradition warrants were sent from Northern Ireland to the Irish Rebublic in each of the last five years, indicating in each case which persons were extradited, which warrants were held to be defective, and

Table A
Non terrorist-type offences
Year of request	Number of requests	Granted	Held to be defective while before Irish courts	Other outcome³
1983	6	2	¹1	3
1984	0	0	0	0
1985	5	0	²1	4
1986	6	0	0	6
1987	21	0	0	21
¹ B. Burns—warrants defective owing to irregularity in issue.
² J. G. O'Reilly—warrants defective primarily because it could not be proved that the person issuing them was a judicial authority.

Table B
Non terrorist-type offences
Year of request	Number of requests	Granted	Held to be defective while before Irish courts	Other outcome³
1983	22	10	0	12
1984	10	1	0	9
1985	28	5	0	23
1986	0	0	0	0
1987	1	1	0	0
³ Includes cases where the warrants were subsequently withdrawn, the fugitive was arrested in the United Kingdom, cases rejected by the Irish courts for other reasons and cases as yet uncompleted.

Consultancy Contracts

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the total amount spent by his Department in 1987 on management and computer consultancy contracts, excluding hardware and software purchases.

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: Total expenditure under this head in 1987–88 is estimated at £2,862,000.

Mv Saga Moon

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will call for a report from the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary on the incident on the vessel Saga Moon in the port of Belfast, on 14 March; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 28 March 1988]: No. The officers involved in the alleged incident on the Saga Moon were members of the Belfast harbour police and as such do not come under the jurisdiction of the Chief Constable of the RUC.

the manner in which they were defective in each case, and whether the persons being sought were to be charged with terrorist-type activity.

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: As I indicated to the hon. Gentleman on 9 February, at column 165, it would not be in the public interest to give details of individual cases prior to Irish court proceedings, Furthermore, it must be remembered that an extradition application can consist of many individual warrants and be the subject of extensive discussion with the Irish authorities.Against this background, the available information is as follows:

Sinn Fein

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about his policy towards proscription of Sinn Fein and organisations which may pose a threat to the state.

[holding answer 28 March 1988]: As I made clear in the House on 17 March, at columns 1247–48, in response to questions from the hon. Member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone (Mr. Maginnis) and my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Mr. Gow), we keep such matters under review.

Homelessness

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what figures are available to indicate the number of homeless households in a given week in Northern Ireland.

[holding answer 24 March 1988]: Information on the exact number of homeless households in Northern Ireland is not available. However, the following information gives some indication of the extent of homelessness in Northern Ireland.At 31 December 1987 26 homeless families and 75 homeless single people were living in temporary accommodation arranged or provided by area health and social services boards and voluntary organisations.At the same date the total number of applicants who had been awarded A1 status — that is, in need of accommodation because of homelessness or threatened homelessness or other emergency situations—under the Northern Ireland Housing Executive's housing selection scheme was 601. Few, if any, of these applicants were without shelter of some form.

Civilians (Deaths)

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many civilians have been killed by members of the British armed forces in Northern Ireland since 1969.

[holding answer 29 February 1988]: Two hundred and forty, including civilians believed to have been terrorists and civilians who were not.

Northern Ireland nursing staff by board at 31 December 1987
	Eastern board			Northern board			Southern board			Western board			All boards
	Full time	Part time	WTE of part time	Full time	Part time	WTE of part time	Full time	Part time	WTE of part time	Full time	Part time	WTE of part time	Full time	Part time	WTE of part time
CANO¹	1	—	—	1	—	—	1	1	—	1	—	—	4	—	—
SANO¹	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	—	—
ACANO¹	5	—	—	3	—	—	3	—	—	3	—	—	14	—	—
Director of Nursing Services²	14	—	—	3	—	—	3	—	—	4	—	—	24	—	—
Senior Nursing Grade 1+	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Senior Nursing Grade 1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Senior Nursing Grade 2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Senior Nursing Grade 3	—	—	—	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	—	—
Senior Nursing Grade 4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Senior Nursing Grade 5	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Senior Nursing Grade 6	9	—	—	6	—	—	1	—	—	9	—	—	25	—	—
Senior Nursing Grade 7	46	—	—	20	—	—	39	—	—	32	1	0·64	137	1	0·64
Senior Nursing Grade 8	62	—	—	23	1	0·88	9	—	—	2	—	—	96	1	0·88
Health Visitor³	537	53	28·47	248	58	37·23	218	26	14·2	198	27	15·81	1,201	164	95·71
Staff Nurse4	2,191	1,655	945·59	561	499	330·85	519	629	388·55	963	215	134·58	4,234	2,998	1,799·57
Senior Enrolled Nurse	51	10	7·37	3	—	—	10	—	—	8	—	—	72	10	7·37
Enrolled Nurse	785	748	459·52	438	345	231·22	354	236	152·92	384	50	31·72	1,961	1,379	875·38
Nursing Auxiliary	525	716	491·61	304	124	88·3	193	158	105·15	203	20	11·42	1,225	1,018	696·48
Nursing Assistant	248	407	104·37	—	—	—	222	4	2·8	168	13	8·66	638	424	115·83
Sisters5	811	24	18·27	199	4	3·05	219	16	8·32	171	4	3·23	1,400	48	32·87
¹ Chief administrative nursing officer; senior administrative nursing officer; assistant chief administrative nursing officer—There are no regional nursing officers or regional nurses employed in the health and personal social services. The grades shown equate to district nursing officer grades 1–7.
² Director of nursing services—Information on numbers by grades is not held centrally.
³ Health visitor includes—Health visitor, health visitor/fieldwork teacher, District nurse, School nurse, District midwife, District nurse/midwife.
⁴ Staff nurse includes—Staff nurse, State registered nurse, Staff midwife, Staff nurse/midwife, Staff nurse (RFN).
⁵ Sister includes—Community sister (psych), Departmental sister, category B, Night charge nurse, Nursing sister charge nurse 2, Sister-in-charge, Nursing sister-charge nurse I, Ward sister, Departmental charge nurse category C, Departmental sister category C, Deputy charge nurse, Home sister category A, Midwifeiy night sister, Occupational health sister, Senior night sister.

Consultancy Contracts

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list each management or computer consultancy contract awarded by his Department in 1987, giving in each case the name of the consultancy firm and the subject of the assignment.

The information is as follows:

Nurses

To ask the Secretary of Stale for Northern Ireland if he will publish a table showing (a) the establishment figures, (b) the funded establishment figures and (c) the in post figures of each of the health and social services boards in Northern Ireland for the following nursing grades; regional nursing officer 1 and 2, regional nurse 1 and 2, district nursing officer grades 1 to 7, director of nursing services grades 1 + to 6, senior nurse grades 1 + to 8, sister I, sister II, health visitor, deputy nursing sister, staff nurse, senior enrolled nurse, enrolled nurse and nursing auxiliary/assistant; and if he will public, for each grade category, the number of employees in fulltime posts, the number of part-time employees and the whole-time equivalents of those part-time employees.

The establishment and funded establishment figures are not held centrally and cannot be obtained in the time available. My hon. Friend with responsibility for these matters will write to the hon. Members.The in-post figures are as follows:

Firm and subject of assignment

Aims Training — Structured Systems Analysis Design Methodology (SSADM) Consultancy Systems Development.

Charles Allison—Auditing Development Systems.

Professor J. Alty—To evaluate the potential contribution of a Northern Ireland Software Engineering Institute to the Local Software Industry.

Arthur Andersen — Information Technology Resourcing Study.

A. Manning & Associates—Management Training.

Beecom—Roads Service Integrated Systems, Water Service Integrated Systems, Systems Development, User Awareness.

Belfast IT Services—User Awareness.

Belmin Systems—Videotext software for local sourcing and performance indicators.

BIC Systems—Microcomputing, Systems Development.

BIS Applied Systems —Telecommunications, Management Training.

Brennan & Simmons—New Leadership Initiative—Women and Men Together.

British Telecom—Government Network.

Capita Ltd. — Feasibility Study on use of software packages, Strategy Review, Superannuation.

CCTA — Technical Data Flow System (TDFS), Strategy Study—DFP, Enabling Study, Project Support, Strategy Study—DANI, Strategy Study—DED.

Chartered Institute of Finance and Accountancy —Financial Skills Training.

Coopers and Lybrand Associates—The development and implementation of a departmental information technology strategy for social security benefit payments. Financial Management Surveys of 3 Education and Library Boards. IDB Review. Clerical Work. Measurement Training. To advise on the Technical and Economic aspects of Private Sector Electricity Generation

D. E. Barnard Systems — NI0 Prison Officers Payroll —SSADM. Land Registry. Telecoms. Print Unit Review. Systems Development.

Deloitte, Haskins and Sells — To examine the Financial Systems of the NI Training Authority Financial Management assignment (Harland and Wolff).

Denham-Nash—User Awareness.

Denton Hall Burgin and Warrens—To negotiate and draft Contractural Arrangements with Private Sector Electricity Generators.

Dianne Bailey Associates—New Staff Appraisal Training.

Digital—Office Automation.

Elston Computer Services Ltd. — Development of Payroll System Under VME (Virtual Machine Environment).

Ernst Whinney—Review Internal Audit.

EOSYS—Data Communications Strategy Review.

Frost and Sullivan—Computer Related Training.

Gilpin Black — Strategy Setting. Objective Setting. Management Skills for Professionals.

Health Economics Consortium of the University of York—Investment Appraisal Training.

ICL — Mainframe Upgrade; Technical Support; Programming; Systems Development.

Industrial Training Service Ltd.—Assistance with new YTP Workscheme; Enterprise Training in Community Workshops; Evaluation of Selected Community Workshops

Institute of Manpower Studies — Ongoing advice on the application of Equal Opportunity across the Northern Ireland Civil Service

International Systems Corp of Lancaster (ISCOL)—Review the role and functions of Management and Manpower Review Division (MMRD)

IT Services Ltd. — Evaluation of Pilot Job Training Programme

Learmouth and Burchett Management Systems —Implementation of PROMPT (Project Resources Organisation Management and Planning Techniques); DED Training Division; SSADM

Management Development Services (NI) Ltd. — The provision of Training and Consultancy Services to Enterprise Allowance Participants

Mary Moran—Assertiveness Skills; Management Training for Women

K McDowall—Review GIS

R A McLaughlin—To assist in the Management of the European Community STAR Programme

NCC—SSADM Manuals

Netherlands Economic Institute — Enquiry into the proposals of Economic Development in Northern Ireland

NI Council on Alcohol—Alcohol in the Workplace

Northern Bank Ltd.—Pre-Retirement

Otto Gold GMBH & Co. KE—Otto Gold is retained by DED to provide Technical Advice on the Assessment of work carried out under the Lignite Prospecting Licences and Related Mining Feasibility Studies

PA Management Consultants—Review of Work Study

Pauline Farrell—New Leadership Initiative

Phillips Diane—Review functions of Historic Monuments and Buildings Branch

Price Waterhouse — Assistance with statutory audits; Investment Appraisal; Financial Skills; To review the Pilot Manpower Training Scheme

Printing and Packaging Industry Research Association —Disposal of Waste Paper

Purchasing Index (UK) Ltd. — Purchasing studies for DANI, Northern Ireland Housing Executive and the General Supplies Index

Queen's University of Belfast—Professional Qualifications of Internal Audit offered by Institute of Internal Auditors; Investment Appraisal; Basic Book-keeping; Judicial Review Training

N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd.—To advise on the viability of the Financial Structure underlying Private Sector Electricity Generating Proposals

Simdell Ltd.—Register of Student Nurses

Software Ireland — Computerisation of Valuation and Lands Officer Microcomputing Systems Development User Awareness Development of Payroll System Under VME

South West Regional Health Authority — Implementation of National Child Health Computer System

The Mindweeks Partnership—Business Analysis training

Time Manager International—Time Management

Touche Ross—Assessment of audit needs, development of audit processes and assistance with computer audit, both for Departmental Internal Audit and the Statutory Audit function

Touche Ross Management Consultants — Provision of Consultancy Services in the Department of Economic Development in respect of Harland and Wolff

University of Ulster at Jordanstown—Investment Appraisal Policy Analysts

Xentec Ltd. — Consultancy — Including Analysis of Technical Design specification for Transit Project

Environment

Water Supplies

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to announce his decision on the allocation of responsibility for water pipes up to the meter.

An announcement will be made shortly on this and other aspects of the water and sewerage law review.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to report on water board monitoring of the chemical content of water supplies; and what steps he will take if the chemical content is found to be too high.

If the chemical content of a public water supply exceeds concentrations permitted under the EC drinking water directive, the water authority must take steps to reduce the concentrations to an acceptable level. If this will take time, the water undertaker must submit an action programme to the Department for approval. My right hon. Friend has no plans to report on monitoring by water undertakers.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if there has been any official communication from Her Majesty's Government to the European Commission that the United Kingdom will comply with the European Community drinking water directive; and if he will make a statement.

The information contained in my statement of 20 January 1988, at column 742, about the withdrawal of nitrate derogations, and in the statement of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment on 21 December 1987, at column 915, about the interpretation of the term "maximum admissible concentration" in the drinking water directive has been officially communicated to the European Commission by Her Majesty's Government.

Non-Governmental Organisations (Grants)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the non-governmental organisations in receipt of grants from his Department during 1986–87 and 1987–88 together with the size of each grant.

I have placed in the Library a list of some 185 bodies in receipt of grant from the Department in the

Local authorities' housing investment programme allocations: England
£ millions: 1988–89 prices
	1978–79	1980–81	1982–83	1984–85	1986–87	1988–89
London boroughs and GLC	1,785	1,177	820	648	469	372
Metropolitan districts	1,339	909	783	579	407	300
Non-metropolitan districts in South East	756	420	389	308	228	150
Other non-metropolitan districts	1,386	864	856	610	435	305
Total	5,266	3,370	2,848	2,145	1,539	1,127

Notes:

1. Figures include the basic allocations and homes insulation scheme allocations, also additional retrospective allocations for 1982–83.

2 South-east is the standard region comprising the authorities in the Department of the Environment administrative eastern (excluding East Anglia) and south-eastern regions.

Local Authority Housing

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list, at 1986–87 outturn prices, local authorities housing capital expenditure (a) on new building, (b) on renovation of local authority stock, (c) on renovation grants, (d) on loans to housing associations and (e) on other purposes during (i) 1976–77, (ii) 1978–79, (iii) 1980–81, (iv) 1982–83, (v) 1984–85 and (vi) 1986–87; and if he will give this information (1) for England as a whole, (2) for Greater London, (3) for metropolitan authorities outside Greater London, (4) for non metropolitan authorities in the south-east and (5) for non metropolitan authorities in England.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether regulation 4(1)(e) of the Local Government (Prescribed Expenditure) (Amendment) Regulations 1988 applies to capital receipts arising from the disposal of assets acquired by councils from development corporations under the new towns transfer agreements; and if he will make a statement.

I shall write to the hon. Members.

North Sea Conference

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will outline the reasons for the United relevant years. The Department also operates schemes for providing revenue support to housing associations; assisting companies and other organisations with the cost of reclaiming derelict land; assisting with the provision of water supply and sewerage in assisted areas; and assisting statutory water companies with civil defence costs. The list excludes organisations in receipt of local authority or non departmental public body contributions supported by grant from the Department.

Housing Investment Programme

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list at 1988–89 prices his Department's initial housing investment programme allocations (a) to English local authorities, (b) to local authorities in Greater London, (c) to metropolitan authorities outside London, (d) to non-metropolitan authorities in the south-east and (e) to English non-metropolitan authorities (i) for 1978–79, (ii) for 1980–81., (iii) for 1982–83 (iv) for 1984–85 (v) for 1986–87 and (vi) for 1988–89.

The figures are in the table:Kingdom's rejection of the European Commission proposal of December 1987 to implement the results of the North sea conference at European Community level.

Far from rejecting any formal proposal, the United Kingdom agreed with all other member states of the Environment Council on 3 December 1987 on conclusions welcoming the significant progress made at the second international conference on the protection of the North sea. The council recalled the need to combat fresh water and marine pollution, and expected to pursue Community action in this field on the basis of appropriate proposals by the Commission.

Mcdonald's Hamburgers Ltd

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many planning applications submitted by McDonald's Hamburgers Ltd. have been turned down by local authorities since 1979, which have been the subject of an appeal to him; how many appeals have been successful; and from which local planning authority each application has been made.

The information requested is not readily available from departmental records, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Westminster Council (Sale Of Cemeteries)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many complaints he has received about the actions of Westminster city council in respect of the sale of cemeteries owned by the authority.

Since 4 January we have received 74 letters from members and 39 direct from members of the public.

Chlorofluorocarbon Gases

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will be meeting the management of ICI to discuss the phasing out of chlorofluorocarbon gases production.

I have no plans to do so. Officials in the Department keep in close touch with both United Kingdom producers of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) on the steps they are taking to develop suitable and safe substitutes for the CFCs controlled by the Montreal protocol. ICI has recently reaffirmed its commitment to the development of such alternatives and has scheduled a rapid increase in its investment in this field.

Rating Reform

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he last met representatives of English local authorities regarding the poll tax; and what matters were discussed.

My right hon. Friend and I frequently meet representatives of English local authorities in the course of official business and discuss many aspects of the proposed community charge.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of the average community charge and the national non-domestic rate that would be levied in 1988–89 if the Local Government Finance Bill were in force.

I shall write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has received any analysis from the Association of District Councils regarding the costs of collecting and administering the poll tax in Nottingham.

The Association of District Councils undertook a survey last year of the preparation and collection costs of the community charge. From this survey the association extrapolated national estimates but did not supply figures for individual authorities nor offer analysis of their estimates. Nottingham is one of the sample authorities included in the study now being undertaken by Price Waterhouse for my Department.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has made of the initial costs which will be incurred by Eastbourne borough council in setting up the administrative machinery for the proposed community charge in each of the two years ending 31 March 1989 and 1990 and of the annual administrative costs thereafter; and what financial assistance is proposed to be made by his Department towards those costs.

My right hon. Friend included estimates of these costs for all charging authorities in the financial memorandum to the Local Government Finance Bill. I have announced initial capital allocations totalling £25 million towards these costs in 1988–89, which will be distributed to authorities including Eastbourne borough council within the next few days. We shall reflect the further resources needed in 1989–90 and subsequent years in future capital allocations and grant settlements.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from member of religious orders seeking exemption from the community charge; and what response he intends to make.

I have received a number of representations from members of religious orders. The Government propose to table amendments to the Local Government Finance Bill which will have the effect of exempting from the community charge members of religious orders the principal occupation of which is devoted to prayer, contemplation, the relief of suffering, education or such other activities as may be prescribed. The exemption will be limited to those who are dependent on their communities for their material needs, and who have no income or capital of their own.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what is the average cash figure paid by the lowest paid 5 per cent. of households under the present system towards the cost of local services; what this amount is as a percentage of their average after-tax income; and what these figures will be when the community charge is implemented;(2) what is the average cash figure paid by the highest paid 5 per cent. of households under the present system towards the cost of local services; what this amount is as a percentage of their average after-tax income; what these figures will be when the community charge is implemented; and what the above figures will be when the income tax changes proposed in the Budget are implemented.

[holding answer 23 March]: Households contribute to the cost of local services both directly via local taxation and indirectly via national taxation. Assessments of the size of contributions rely on data from the family expenditure survey. Limitations in the sample size prevent reliable estimates of the relative contribution of the highest and lowest paid 5 per cent. of households.

Local Authority Publicity

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he proposes to include in the forthcoming code of recommended practice on local authority publicity a provision to the effect that a local authority should not engage in publicity in order to promote the use of services offered by a particular private business, to the detriment of other businesses offering similar services to the public in the authority's area.

The draft code of recommended practice makes it clear that there should be no discrimination in favour of, or against, persons or groups in the compilation and distribution of local authority publicity material.

South Africa (Rugby Tour)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to uphold the Gleneagles agreement by seeking to ensure that the planned World XV rugby tour to South Africa does not take place.

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister confirmed the Government's continuing commitment to the Gleneagles agreement during Prime Minister's questions on 29 March. I welcome the efforts of English Rugby Union to discourage players from taking part in the projected tour.

Bed-And-Breakfast Accommodation

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of the numbers of (a) children and (b) pensioners living in bed-and-breakfast accommodation for each local authority in England and Wales.

At 31 December 1987 there were 10,370 households temporarily placed in bed-and-breakfast accommodation by English local authorities under the homelessness provisions of the Housing Act 1985. Information on the number of children and pensioners in these households is not collected by my Department. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales has responsibility for these matters as they affect the Principality.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the latest cost of keeping a family in bed-and-breakfast accommodation for each local authority in England and Wales.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Cardiff, West (Mr. Morgan) on 16 March, at column 601.

Inner Cities

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of the expenditure of his Department is spent in inner cities.

Spending from my Department's programmes specifically targeted at inner cities is expected to be about £1,070 million, 16 per cent, out of a public expenditure total of £6,833 million in 1988–89 for the housing and other environmental services. Inner city areas will also benefit from my Department's other countryside programmes which spend some of their resources in these areas; separate figures for inner cities are not available. Expenditure from these programmes which is not incorporated in the 16 per cent, includes: water authorities, heritage, recreation, local environmental services, other local authority current, most local authority spending on housing.

British Canoe Union

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total amount of Sports Council grants to the British Canoe Union in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and what information he has as to what estimate was made of the total membership of the British Canoe Union in the years in question.

Sports Council grant-in-aid to the British Canoe Union for the last three years for which figures are available was as follows:

Year	£
1984–85	269,614
1985–86	239,410
1986–87	196,789

Estimates of membership as supplied by the BCU are from November to October in each of those years:

Year	Numbers
1984–85	11,377
1985–86	12,733
1986–87	13,667

Amateur Rowing Association

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total amount of Sports Council grant to the Amateur Rowing Association in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and what information he has as to what estimate was made of the total membership of the Amateur Rowing Association in each of the years in question.

Sports Council grant-in-aid to the Amateur Rowing Association for the last three years for which figures are available was as follows:

Year	£
1984–85	288,540
1985–86	382,546
1986–87	439,850

Estimates of membership for the calendar years 1984, 1985 and 1986 are as follows:

Year	Number
1984	24,910
1985	25,173
1986	24,842

Water Authorities

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to monitor the performance of water authorities in England and Wales in their compliance with discharge concerns.

Details of discharges from sewage treatment works are contained in the public registers which water authorities are required to maintain. In addition, since 1986 the authorities have made annual reports to the Department detailing works which have failed to comply with consent conditions. The reports for 1987, which are now being received, will be followed-up by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution to establish the reasons for non-compliance and the remedial measures which the water authorities; propose to deal with the problems. The Department; will also examine water authority plans to improve the performance of their sewage treatment works in the context of their corporate plans.

Ec Harmonisation Programme

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make a statement on the programme of work in which his Department is involved with the construction and allied industries relating to the European Community's harmonisation programme in 1992 under the Single European Act.

The Department leads the negotiations on the draft construction products directive as part of the agreed Community programme for the completion of the single market by the end of 1992. The directive, when implemented, should benefit the United Kingdom construction products industry by requiring the removal of non-tariff barriers to trade between member states. Although negotiations on the draft directive are at an advanced stage it is not yet possible to say when it will be implemented.The Department is also involved in the development of European technical standards in support of the directive.

Nuclear Waste

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will acquire for his departmental library a copy of the paper presented by M. E. Ginniff of United Kingdom Nirex Ltd. to the Waste Management '88 conference in Tucson, Arizona, on future nuclear waste management strategies for the United Kingdom.

A copy of the paper to which the hon. Member refers has been acquired for the departmental library.

West Midlands (Nitrogen Dioxide)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a summary of the findings of the investigation of atmospheric concentrations of nitrogen dioxide in the west midlands commissioned by the air and noise division of his Department in collaboration with west midlands local authorities and in particular regarding emission from domestic balanced flue gas appliances, which investigations were the subject of a report in 1987.

The contractors for the west midlands survey of nitrogen dioxide concentrations, Midland Environment Ltd., will be presenting a summary paper on all aspects of the study to the investigation of air pollution standing conference, in Birmingham on 7 June this year. The Department, in line with normal practice, has also encouraged Midland Environment to publish papers on the survey results in the appropriate scientific and technical journals.

Boundary Changes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if, pursuant to changes in county boundaries following the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, he will list those areas in England and Wales which have subsequently been transferred from one economic planning region to another, and the dates on which such changes formally occurred.

I shall write to my hon. Friend.

House Prices

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list what information he has on those areas in England where major new housing development has resulted in reductions of house prices.

I regret that information is not available in sufficiently fine detail to identify such areas.

Planning System

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to propose changes in the working of the planning system.

We keep the planning system under constant review to ensure that it operates efficiently to enable development which contributes to the growth of the economy while protecting and enhancing the urban and rural environment. We are at present consulting about proposals to amend and consolidate the general development order, and about proposals for incorporating EC requirements on environmental assessment into the planning system. We also intend shortly to introduce revised procedure rules for planning inquiries.

Rented Housing

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has to increase the supply of rented housing.

The main aim of the deregulation proposals in part I of the Housing Bill is to increase the supply of rented accommodation. We are confident that the relaxation of rent controls over new lettings, backed up by the generous tax relief under my right hon. Friend's proposed extension of the business corporation scheme, will provide a powerful incentive to invest in rented property.The Local Government Act 1988 also included an explicit new power for local authorities to assist in the provision of privately let accommodation.We are also helping housing associations to provide more new homes for rent and to repair some empty properties to bring them back into rented use. We have both increased the Housing Corporation's programme by some £50 million in 1988–89 rising to a total of £850 million in 1990–91 and announced major increases in the grant rates available for schemes using private finance to make public money stretch further in providing new homes.

Basildon (Debt Burden)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what account he took of Basildon district council's debt burden in deciding to rate-cap that authority for 1988–89.

As required by statute, my right hon. Friend selected Basildon district council for rate limitation for 1988–89 by reference to the best information available to him about its likely total expenditure for 1987–88, which reflected among other things the costs falling that year on Basildon's ratepayers as a result of the council's debt.

Industrial Installations (Radiation)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to change the legal dose limits for acceptable levels of exposure to radiation for those working in, or living in the vicinity of, industrial installations.

My right hon. Friend has no plans for changing legal dose limits for acceptable levels of exposure to radiation. Dose limits, for workers and for members of the general public, are contained in the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1985, which are enforced by the Health and Safety Executive. The Health and Safety Commission has set up a working group on ionising radiations, which is reviewing the subject and will be reporting to the commission in due course.

Local Government Act 1988

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will announce his final decisions on the timing of implementation of the competition provisions of the Local Government Act 1988.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that my hon. and learned Friend gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate (Mr. Banks) yesterday.

Council Houses (Nottingham)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which private company is carrying out research into tenants' views on the sale of council estates on behalf of his Department in Nottingham; and what other work the company has done for his Department.

I shall write to the hon. Gentleman.

Local Authorities (Property Assets)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to monitor the performance of local authorities in ensuring that their real property assets are managed efficiently and cost effectively.

The Audit Commission has recently published a report which recommends measures for the improvement of local authorities' management of their property. The auditors will be following up the recommendations of the report with individual local authorities during the next audit round. My Department will be discussing with the local authority associations and the commission ways in which councils can be encouraged to adopt the report's recommendations.

Property Services Agency Board

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in the Offical Report the terms of reference of the Property Services Agency Board; when the scope of its functions and powers was last reviewed; and what steps the board is currently taking to encourage greater competition and private sector involvement in the management and execution of its duties so far as they relate to the real property assets of each Government Department.

I shall write to my hon. Friend.

Property Services Agency

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many buildings the Property Services Agency rents for Government Departments in central London; and what is the annual cost and the rent per square metre.

The Property Services Agency leases 159 buildings for occupation by Government Departments in the following central London postal districts: WC1 and 2, W1, SW1, SE1 and EC1 to 4. The rent bill for these properties is currently some £80 million, representing an annual rental of a little over £ 100 per sq m.

Glanville Fritillary

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to make a decision on the Glanville fritillary; if he will list the representations he has received; and what information he has on where in the United Kingdom this butterfly is found.

I shall write to my hon. Friend.

Greenwich (Rents)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what response he has made to the representations dated 19 February from the hon. Member for Woolwich about the decision of Greenwich council to raise rents for its frail elderly tenants in sheltered housing schemes.

I shall write to the hon. Member.

Crown Suppliers

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) whether, after privatisation of the Crown Suppliers, any staff wishing to remain in the Civil Service will be found equivalent employment elsewhere in the Civil Service, with retraining and regrading where necessary;(2) whether, after privatisation of the Crown Suppliers, staff nearing retirement or with long service not wishing to transfer out of the Crown Suppliers will have the option of going to the new organisation on secondment or taking early retirement;(3) whether staff of the Crown Suppliers will be able to transfer out of the organisation prior to privatisation and will have equality of opportunity with other staff to apply for other jobs within the Civil Service;(4) what are the expected financial savings to Government of privatising the Crown Suppliers;(5) which parts of the Crown Suppliers organisation will be retained within the Civil Service;(6) whether, after privatisation of the Crown Suppliers, any changes to the terms and conditions of service of staff will be subject to the same consultation with the trade union side as at present;(7) whether, following privatisation of the Crown Suppliers, any staff will be made redundant compulsorily.

I shall write to the hon. Member.

County Hall

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement concerning the future use of the former headquarters of the Greater London council at county hall, SE1.

The future use of county hall is a matter for the London residuary body and any future owner taking into account planning and listed building considerations. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will be considering the recent High Court judgment on his planning decisions of 20 October 1987, when the transcript becomes available.

Warrington-Runcorn New Town

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give for each year since 1981 the square footage of factory space vacated by tenants of Warrington-Runcorn new town.

The information requested is as follows:

Factory space vacated
	1 gross square footage
1985–86	259,000
1986–87	291,500
1987–88	296,750
¹ Estimated.

Note: These figures do not take account of re-allocations or other re-lettings. Information for 1984–85 and previous years is not readily available.

I should emphasise that a significant proportion, about a third, of vacations arise from expansion, and that these figures do not therefore reflect the success of the corporation's role in the industrial development of the north-west.

Non-Metropolitan County Councils

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (I) if he will publish for each non-metropolitan county council in England (a) the outturn expenditure for 1986–87, (b) the current expenditure for 1987–88 and (c) the percentage increase between the two;(2) if he will publish for each non-metropolitan county council in England

(a) the current expenditure for 1987–88, (b) the budgeted expenditure for 1988–89 and (c) the percentage increase between the two.

I shall write to the hon. Member shortly.

Hackney

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has come to a decision on the future of Hackney's building direct labour organisation following his request to the borough to submit a special report.

My right hon. Friend has considered Hackney's special report and subsequent correspondence and has today informed the borough, in accordance with his powers under S17(5) of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980, that with immediate effect its direct labour organisation shall not have power to undertake major new building work except as necessary to complete work already awarded to it, and that its power to carry out this work will cease completely a year from now.The borough claimed to have made a surplus on its major new works account in 1985–86 following losses of £3·2 million in 1983–84 and £1·75 million in 1984–85. My right hon. Friend is now satisfied, however, that the claimed surplus is spurious.

Brompton Hospital

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to accept the advice tendered on architectural and historical grounds by English Heritage that the Brompton hospital be added to the statutory list; and if he will make a statement.

I shall write to the hon. Member.

Local Authorities (Expenditure)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has on English local authorities' expenditure plans for 1988–89; and what amount of block grant he estimates will be payable to them.

On the basis of information received by 21 March, English local authorities are budgeting for an aggregate total expenditure in 1988–89 of about £27,610 million, compared with £26,569 million provided for in the RSG settlement. On this basis, the amount of block grant payable will be £8,955 million, £516 million less than provided in the settlement.

Ozone Layer

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on his policy on the initiatives to reduce damage to the ozone layer.

[holding answer 29 March 1988]: In September 1987 the United Kingdom signed the Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer and we are currently working with other member states on proposals for implementing the protocol within the European Community. The Department is also discussing with representatives of producers and users of chlorofluorocarbons and halons steps to reduce consumption of these chemicals through the development of suitable and safe substitutes and measures such as recycling and recovery.

Sites Of Special Scientific Interest

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list any sites of special scientific interest that have been ploughed up for cereal growing in the last 12 months showing their habitat type; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 25 March 1988]:The NCC's 13th annual report shows that 27 SSSIs notified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 suffered damage (mainly superficial) from agricultural activities. Another 21 awaiting or proposed for notification suffered similarly. The Nature Conservancy Council is compiling the information requested in respect of cereal growing. I shall write to the hon. Member with the details shortly.

Volume 130: debated on Thursday 31 March 1988

Written Answers To Questions

Prime Minister

Unused Land

Community Care

Terrorists (Surveillance)

Health Insurance

Agricultural Stabilisers

European Council

Ec Expenditure

Scottish Electricity Boards

Companies (Names)

Engagements

The Arts

China

Rylands Library (Manchester)

Library Subscription Services

Libraries (Premium Lending Service)

South Bank Arts Estate

Wales

Education Maintenance Allowance

Inner Cities

Export Breakfasts

Press Office

Forestry

House Condition Survey

Local Authority Services (Competition)

Foreign Investment

Manufacturing

Consultancy Contracts

Nurses

Hospital Beds

Mink Farms

Energy

Inner Cities

Parliamentary Questions

Ministerial Interview

Power Station Statistics

Nuclear Waste

Bradwell Reactor

Trade And Industry

Industry Regeneration (Lewisham)

British Steel (Privatisation)

Manufacturing Industry (Exchange Rate)

Inner Cities

Mr Peter Luff

Export Credits Guarantee Department

Fida 88 Exhibition, Chile

Action For Cities Initiative

Ec Countries

Letter Post

Consultancy Contracts

Regional Aid

Education And Science

Capitation Payments

Ilea (Abolition)

Testing

School Meals

House Of Commons

Official And Library Corridors

Guillotined Measures

"The House Magazine"

Overseas Development

Non-Military Aid

Biwaters Project (Malaysia)

Aid Projects (Single Contractors)

Ethiopia

Khmer Rouge

Nicaragua

National Finance

Tax Revenue

Special Advisers (Payments)

Ec Budget (United Kingdom Contribution)

Inheritance Tax

Loans (Tax Relief)

Elderly Home Owners

Privatisation

Age Allowances

Computer Services