To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's guidance to health authorities on reception arrangements for armed forces casualties who will be returned to the United Kingdom for treatment in the event of future war in Europe.

No.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to his answers to the hon. Member for Monklands, West of 15 March, Official Report, columns 553–54, what steps he has taken to encourage local authorities to collect data on (a) the discharge and subsequent care of people from long-stay mental illness and mental handicap institutions, (b) the number of carers in their area, (c) the provision of home help support, district nursing services, social work support, or other services to carers and (d) the number of households with a mentally handicapped member, and the numbers receiving sitting services, respite care or holiday relief schemes.

Local authorities are responsible for deciding what information they require for management of services provided for mentally ill and mentally handicapped people in their areas. The need for central collection of information from local authorities is reviewed periodically, for example a new return on residential accommodation was introduced in 1987.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish the number of registered (a) mentally ill and (b) mentally handicapped patients in the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale health authority area for each year from 1979 to 1987.

The numbers of in-patients resident at 31 December in National Health Service mental illness and mental handicap hospitals and units managed by this district health authority are given in the table. The people concerned are not registered and may not have been resident in the area of the health authority before their admission as patients. I regret that the figures for 1987 are not yet available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services, what information he has as to the medical circumstances which created the need for abortions to be performed in emergency to save the life of the mother in those 126 such cases which have arisen since 1967; and if he will indicate the number of times each of those conditions has been a relevant factor.

The information requested is shown in the table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services, what contribution the United Kingdom has made in each of the last five years to World Health Organisation efforts to assess the efficiency of different methods of treatment for drug misusers.

Assessment of the efficiency of different methods of treatment for drug misusers is part of the World Health Organisation programme on prevention and control of alcohol and drug abuse. This is one of the programmes paid for from the organisation's regular budget, of which the United Kingdom's assessed contribution represents 4·77 per cent. of the whole. Within the programme, officials of the United Kingdom Health Departments have contributed to publications and taken part in expert working groups.

To ask the Secretary of State For Social Services if he will list the latest figures available For the number of ancillary staff employed in the National Health Service, by job title, under the terms and conditions of the Ancillary Staffs Whitley council agreements.

Provisional figures show that 115,000 whole-time equivalent ancillary staff were employed in the NHS in England at 30 September 1987. Since the introduction of a revised grading structure in 1986, the agreements of the Ancillary Staffs Whitley council no longer provide for job titles.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if there is a deadline for the submission of evidence for the National Health Service review; and if he will make a statement;(2) if the findings of the National Health Service review will be published.

I should welcome early submission of evidence for the NHS review, although there is no formal deadline. The outcome of the review will be announced to the House, but no decision has yet been taken on the nature of supporting documentation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many individuals are paid industrial disablement pension; and how many will have this disregarded for the purpose of calculating housing benefit (a) in Nottingham, North (b) in Nottingham and (c) in the United Kingdom.

Industrial disablement pension was in payment to about 184,000 people in the United Kingdom in April 1987, the latest date for which information is available. From April 1988, industrial disablement pension is not disregarded for the purpose of calculating housing benefit. Prior to April 1988 a statutory disregard of £4 applied. I regret that the other information requested is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to enable unemployed retained firemen to receive both social security benefits and moneys from incidental and drill fees; and if he will make a statement.

Payments received by retained firemen in respect of any duties performed by them have no effect on their entitlement to unemployment benefit. Payments they receive in respect of drills, retainers, turn-out and stand-by are treated as earnings for income support purposes but are automatically subject to the higher (£15) disregard. The long-service gratuity is treated as capital. There are no plans to change these provisions.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the number and cost of single payments made by his Department's Corby office in each year since 1983.

In the year April 1983 to April 1984, 4,601 single payments were made by the Department's Corby office. The total monetary value was £214,403. The information requested for the years April 1984 to April 1987, which is the latest complete data available, has been placed in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many persons were receiving supplementary benefit from the Corby local office on 1 April 1983, 1 April 1984, 1 April 1985, 1 April 1986, 1 April 1987 and 1 April 1988.

This information is not available in the precise form requested.The number of persons receiving supplementary benefit from the Corby local office in May of each year requested is:

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will indicate the budget provision per health authority on a per capita basis for cervical and breast cancer screening.

Health authorities do not have separate budget allocations for cervical cancer screening. It has been estimated that the average cost of taking and examining a cervical smear is about £10. The allocation given to each regional health authority for the continuing revenue cost of the new breast cancer screening services is based on the financial estimates in the Forrest report and is about £14 per woman screened by mammography including, where necessary, the cost of assessment and diagnosis. Between 1987–88 and 1989–90, on current plans, nearly £55 million will have been provided to set up and run the breast cancer screening service in England.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what representations he has received regarding manning levels for family practitioner committees; and if he will make a statement;(2) what the staffing levels of family practitioner committees

Representations have been received from time to time about resources made available to family practitioner committees for administrative expenditure, about three-quarters of which represents staff salaries. The allocations made for the current year, however, include an overall increase of about 5·5 per cent. in real terms.The number of staff employed by family practitioner committees fell from 4,670 (whole-time equivalent) to 4,600 between 30 September 1983 and 30 September 1986, the latest date for which figures are available. This reduction includes some staff savings achieved as part of the programme of computerisation of patient registration data which was completed on 31 March 1988; further reductions on this account will be reflected in the figures for 1987 and 1988, when these become available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services whether his Department has now received from all family practitioner committees their most recent annual programme and action plan; and what action he proposes to take.

All but one family practitioner committee in England have submitted their current annual programmes during the last six months. Each programme is discussed with the FPC with a view to establishing an agreed action plan for which the committee will be held accountable.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to the answer of 12 April, at which date the period for taking account of views on the Griffiths report will close; and how long after that the Government will issue their own response to the report.

There is no formal closing date for the submission of views on Sir Roy Griffiths' report. We intend to bring forward our own proposals as soon as we have been able to give full consideration to the important issues involved.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services when he anticipates bed availability and occupancy figures for Nottingham district health authority for 1987–88 will become available centrally.

We expect to have this information available centrally by the end of August.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to the reply to the right hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South, Official Report, 29 March, column 445, what is his policy regarding the providing of information to interested Members when investigations into an alleged failure by a pharmaceutical company to report adverse reactions show that there has been a breach of the statutory procedures.

Evidence of cases of apparent failure to report adverse reactions is very rare. Whether or not the public interest would best be served by making the results of investigations into such matters public has to be considered on a case by case basis.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to the reply to the right hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South, Official Report, 29 March, column 445, on what date each of the investigations began into alleged failures to report adverse reactions by two pharmaceutical companies; and by when each is expected to be concluded.

I refer the right hon. Member to my reply to him on 26 February 1988, at column 364. These investigations are complex and I am unable to estimate when they will be completed.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to the reply to the right hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South, Official Report, 29 March, column 445, how investigations are carried out by his Department into alleged failures by pharmaceutical companies to report adverse reactions; how many of his officials are normally involved; if the original data of the company is inspected; and who decides whether or not the allegations are substantiated, on the appropriate penalty and on the publicity that should be given to the findings.

I refer the right hon. Member to my replies to him on 27 November 1987, at columns 354–55 and on 18 December 1987, at column 931. The number and type of officials involved depends on the needs of the case. The company may be asked to submit original data to the Department. The answer to the other questions would depend on the circumstances of the case and are not the subject of any specific departmental rules or guidance.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what estimate he has of the number of people who have savings of (a) £3,000 or more and (b) £6,000 or more for each parliamentary constituency;(2) what estimate he has of the number of people who have savings of

I regret that this information is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people would benefit if the capital limits on social security benefits were rasied to £10,000.

The only social security benefits affected by the amount of capital a person has are income support, housing benefit and family credit. The numbers (in thousands) of people who would become entitled to those benefits if the capital cut-off limit were raised to £10,000 are:

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his policy with regard to supplementary benefit recipients being asked for photostat copies of bank and savings accounts before the new income support grant is granted, with particular reference to those cases where such information is already on record; and if he will make a statement.

During the exercise to convert supplementary benefit payments to income support it was necessary to ensure that up-to-date information was available on all aspects of a claim. Staff are instructed to ask to see statements, bank books, and so on, but not photocopies of original documents.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will review the contents of those parts of the claim forms for income support and family credit which require claimants to declare capital of more than £2,500 rather than £3,000 and which require the divulging of personal information.

Income support and family credit claimants are asked to provide details when savings are more than £2,500. This is below the £3,000 capital limit in case some assets have to be valued at more than their nominal face value (for example shares or national savings certificates).

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services when he will answer the letter from the hon. Member for Birkenhead written to him on 22 February regarding the case of Mrs. Jane Tipping.

I wrote to the hon. Member yesterday.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will place in the Library the report on the maintenance of medical equipment compiled by Mr. David Fernandez.

[holding answer 16 November 1987]: The report has now been placed in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will be taking steps to consult local organisations before making an appointment to the vacant chairmanship of Leeds western health authority; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 18 April 1988]: We are not required to consult anyone in appointing health authority chairmen. However, we take full account of any nominations we may receive from local or other sources.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services when he hopes to be able to announce the format of 1991 census questions on (a) Scots Gaelic speakers in Scotland, (b) Irish Gaelic speakers in Northern Ireland, (c) Welsh speakers in Wales, (d) speakers of indigenous languages other than English in England and (e) speakers of non-indigenous languages in the United Kingdom.

[holding answer 18 April 1988]: No decisions have yet been taken on the content of the 1991 census. Proposals for Great Britain will be published as a White Paper later this year. It is planned to test the proposed questionnaire in early 1989 and thereafter to lay before Parliament a draft Order in Council prescribing the content of the census. The final format of the 1991 census questions will be included in the census regulations which are expected to be laid before Parliament in 1990.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will place in the Library all documents regarding the proposed merger of Hampstead and Haringey district health authorities; and if he will make a statement;(2) what is the financial basis of the proposed merger between the Hampstead and Haringey district health authorities; and what other criteria are involved;(3) what discussions he has had regarding the possible merger of Hampstead and Haringey district health authorities; and with whom.

[holding answer 18 April 1988]: I understand that North East Thames regional health authority is examining, with the two district health authorities concerned, the possibility of a merger between Hampstead and Haringey health authorities. Consideration of this matter is at an early stage and the hon. Member may wish to write to the chairman of the regional health authority for further information about any proposals which may be made. If, following public consultation, the regional health authority decides to proceed with a proposal for the merger of the two health authorities, such a proposal will need to be approved by Ministers. As part of the approval process we would expect to enter into discussions with a wide range of interested parties prior to any final decision.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services whether the decision to merge the Hampstead and Haringey district health authorities will affect in any way the previous decision to retain the regional cancer screening unit at the North Middlesex hospital; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 18 April 1988]: No decision has been taken to merge the Hampstead and Haringey health authorities. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has also stated that we are not prepared to agree to the closure of the radiotherapy unit at the North Middlesex hospital.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Norfolk, North on 26 November 1987, Official Report, columns 319–21, if he will list in league order, with the highest at the top, by acreage of land held, district health authority areas within the National Health Service in England, showing the valuation in each case (a) before the recent revaluation and (b) at the present valuation as decided by the district valuer.

[pursuant to her reply, 18 February 1988, c. 694]: The preliminary aggregation of the 1987 returns from district valuers has now been completed. The open market value of the NHS estate of approximately 44,000 acres was about £6·8 billion at 1987 prices. This figure is subject to revision as the returns are analysed in detail. A breakdown of the respective 1985 and 1987 valuations by district health authority in a league order by site areas has been placed in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the number of nurses per thousand population in each of the regional health authorities.

The number of nursing and midwifery staff per thousand population employed in each regional health authority is given in the table:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what recent discussions he has had with the trade unions regarding privatisation of the electricity industry; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend and I met representatives of the Electricity Supply Trades Union Council on 13 April and we will continue to hold regular meetings to discuss matters of common interest.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what role his Department is playing in the study and development of wind farms in both the private and public sector; and if he will make a statement.

My Department is involved in a collaborative programme with the Central Electricity Generating Board which will include evaluating the public acceptability of wind farms. The programme is expected to cost some £30 million and is expected to involve the establishment of three wind farms in England and Wales and, I hope, at least one in Scotland.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what is the number of full-time employees in the coal industry for (a) Yorkshire and (b) Don Valley constituency; and what proportion of the number employed eight years ago this represents.

This is a matter for the British Coal Corporation, and I have asked the chairman to write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if any uranium import contracts or uranium processing contracts have been signed or carried out since 1979 between BNFL plc. or BNFL and NUFCOR of South Africa which have required (a) bilateral, (b) International Atomic Energy Agency and (c) Euratom safeguards provisions.

[holding answer 25 March 1988]: British Nuclear Fuels plc has a long-standing agreement with the Nuclear Fuels Corporation of South Africa, which was renewed in 1985, to process uranium ore concentrate. All civil uranium imported into the United Kingdom for processing and subsequent re-export is under safeguards.

To ask the Attorney-General (1) if he will inquire into the handling of the affairs of Freddie Andrews by the Official Solicitor; and if he will make a statement;(2) if he will obtain from the Official Solicitor details of all transactions carried out on behalf of Freddie Andrews listing

No. I refer the hon. Member to my earlier replies to him about this case on 25 February 1988, at columns 257–58.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what status the British Government accord to the United Nations Council for Namibia.

We do not recognise the claim of the United Nations Council for Namibia to be the administering authority for the territory. The United Nations General Assembly acted beyond its competence under the charter in establishing such a body.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he was represented at the United Nations Council for Namibia conference (a) in Instanbul on 21 March and (b) on past occasions; and if he will make a statement.

We have not been represented at conferences of the United Nations Council for Namibia, which we do not recognise.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether Her Majesty's ambassador in Amman has reported to him on the reasons advanced by the Jordanian Government for preventing the broadcast of the recent news conference held by the United States Secretary of State, as reported by Voice of Palestine radio on 10 April; and whether Her Majesty's Government have expressed any concern to the Jordanian Government about this.

We have not raised this matter with the Jordanians.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what changes have been made in the composition of the United Kingdom parliamentary delegation to the North Atlantic Assembly.

My noble Friend the Lord Colnbrook has replaced the late Earl de la Warr as a member of the delegation.

To ask the Prime Minister when she next expects to meet the chairman of the London Docklands Development Corporation, in order to discuss the finances of the corporation.

I have at present no plans to do so.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list the achievements of Her Majesty's Government since 1979 with regard to the European Community.

We have concentrated on making European Community policies cost-effective, relevant and equitable. At Fontainebleau in 1984 we agreed that the United Kingdom should pay only its fair share of the EC budget. That agreement has already saved the taxpayer £3 billion. In our presidency in 1986, and at the Brussels European Council this February, we secured major reforms of the common agricultural policy, including a binding ceiling on agricultural spending and automatic cost-cutting regimes for all commodities.We have made it the Community's top priority to complete the single European market for goods and services by 1992 so as to give our industry improved access to important markets in Europe and a better base from which to compete in world markets. We have championed measures to help our citizens such as less regulation, cheaper air fares and higher product safety standards.We supported the entry of Greece, Spain and Portugal into the Community, thereby underpinning their democracy and strengthening NATO. At British initiative the EC member states have agreed an internationally binding basis for closer co-operation in foreign policy. We have supported moves to liberalise the international trading system in the Uruguay round of GATT negotiations, which was launched in 1986 under the United Kingdom presidency.By modernising our own economy we have been able to argue from strength for up-to-date policies for the Community as a whole. We have taken Britain from the sidelines to the mainstream of Europe.

To ask the Prime Minister what child care provision is provided by the Cabinet Office for the pre-school aged children of Cabinet Office employees; what child care provision, for school holiday and/or after-school care, is provided for employees' children aged five and over; what plans there are for increasing provision in the next five years; and how these are to be funded.

At present no child care provision is provided by the Cabinet Office for employees' children. There are no plans to introduce such facilities in the next five years.

To ask the Prime Minister how many employees of central Government are employed in (a) Wales, (b) Scotland, (c) each of the English regions, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) elsewhere; and what proportion of the total they represent.

Geographical analyses of all employees of central Government (including the National Health Service, Northern Ireland Government and other bodies) are not available centrally. Information for the Civil Service is as follows:

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 19 April.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 19 April.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 19 April.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 19 April.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 19 April.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 19 April.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 19 April.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 19 April.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 19 April.

This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House I shall be having further meetings later today.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the (a) shortest time, (b) longest time, (c) median time and (d) arithmetic mean time that it took to process straightforward regional development grant applications processed in 1987.

[holding answer 12 April 1988]: There is no generally accepted definition of a straightforward regional development grant application. Of the total applications dealt with by my Department during 1987, 90 per cent. were processed within four months of receipt. Of these 90 per cent. of cases: (a) the shortest processing time was one day, (b) the longest time was 17 weeks; (c) the median time was eight weeks and (d) the arithmetic mean time was eight weeks. The longer processing time incurred under (b) reflected the need to secure additional supporting information from applicants and to consider policy issues raised by particular applications.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in the Official Report the number of regional development grant applications under consideration by his Department on 31 March.

[holding answer 12 April 1988]: 1,935 regional development grant applications are under consideration following the ending of the scheme. I am delighted that so many firms have come forward with applications following my invitation to apply for regional development grants before they were phased out. This total of applications received between January and March compares with only 520 in the same period last year. I am delighted that the manner in which the Government have phased out the existing RDG grant in order to make way for increased expenditure by the WDA and on regional selective assistance has resulted in this massive injection of investment into the Welsh economy.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what child care provision his Department provides for preschool age children of the Department's employees; what child care provision, for school holiday and/or after-school care, is provided for employees' children age five and over; what plans there are for increasing provision in the next five years; and how these are to be funded.

[holding answer 18 April 1988]: None, but a study is under way to examine the interest in and feasibility of a day care facility for children of Welsh Office staff.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will meet the chairman of Scottish and Newcastle Breweries to discuss the situation of the tenants of Home Ales in Nottingham; and if he will make a statement.

The chairman of Scottish and Newcastle Breweries has not requested a meeting.I understand that the brewery is in negotiation with its tenants over the terms of their tenancy contracts. This is a commercial matter on which it would not be appropriate for me to comment.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the purpose, with particular reference to (a) safety and (b) efficacy of the secret trials currently being undertaken the use of bovine somatrophin in milk production.

[holding answer 15 April 1988]: The trials which are being conducted by pharmaceutical companies in the United Kingdom and other countries are to provide information on the use of the product under field conditions. Before any such trial involving a medicinal product can take place in the United Kingdom it must be authorised by means of an animal test certificate (ATC) issued under the Medicines Act 1968. Such certificates are issued only when the safety of the product to be used in the trial has been satisfactorily demonstrated.Section 118 of the Medicines Act prohibits the disclosure of any information supplied to the licensing authority as part of an application. It is therefore not possible to give details about the trials.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make a statement on the future provision of post-16 education in inner London.

Under the Government's proposals, each inner London council will be responsible for securing the provision of post-16 education in its area. This will be one of the subjects the boroughs will be required to cover in their development plans.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received from the Universities of Dundee and Aberdeen concerning university funding.

While we have received a number of representations, including some from hon. Members, about the position of Aberdeen and Dundee, we have had no recent approaches from the universities themselves. The two universities are in continuing discussion with the University Grants Committee about planning for the future.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to meet the University Grants Committee to discuss the funding of Scottish universities; and if he will make a statement.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to meet the University Grants Committee to discuss future funding of Scottish universities; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave on 19 January, at column 675. to the hon. Members for Fife, Central (Mr. McLeish) and for Kirkaldy (Dr. Moonie).

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to meet the Workers Educational Association to discuss future funding; and if he will make a statement.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to meet representatives of the Workers Educational Association to discuss future funding; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend has no immediate plans to meet the Workers Educational Association. Officials from the Department are currently discussing the future of the association with its representatives.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received from persons or organisations who have submitted information in confidence to his Department about the implications for the preservation of its confidentiality of the recent unauthorised disclosure of a letter from Mr. Paul Gray in the Prime Minister's Office to Mr. Tom Jeffrey in his Office, concerning education tests; and if he will make a statement.

None.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make a statement about proposed future machinery for the determination of pay and conditions for teachers.

The Government are considering responses to the Green Paper "Teachers' Pay and Conditions: A Consultative Document".

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to meet the teachers unions to discuss future arrangements for the determination of payment conditions; and if he will make a statement.

The Green Paper "Teachers' Pay and Conditions: A Consultative Document" set out the Government's proposals for future arrangements for determining school teachers' pay and conditions. Several organisations have asked to see my right hon. Friend about future machinery and such meetings will take place in the next few months.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will issue a circular to local authorities about the control of solvent abuse by pupils in secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.

The Department issued a safety bulletin to all local education authorities in 1984, providing advice about solvent misuse. Guidance specifically on health education concerning solvent misuse was also provided in Her Majesty's inspectorate document "Health Education from 5 to 16", issued to all schools in 1986. My right hon. Friend has no plans to issue further advice.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the pay and conditions of home tutors.

I understand the concern of my hon. Friend about the pay and conditions of home tutors in Cheshire. The Department is in touch with the local education authority about the position.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many applications for school closures are currently being considered by his Department; and what is the average length of time they have been awaiting decisions.

My right hon. Friend is currently considering 84 proposals to cease to maintain schools. The average length of time since the date of publication of these proposals is 5·4 months; this includes the period of two months allowed for the receipt of objections and the further month for the local education authority to comment on these.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to meet the Association of County Councils to discuss future provision of educational maintenance allowances for 16 and 17-year-olds.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to meet with the Association of Metropolitan Authorities to discuss future provisions of education maintenance allowances for 16 and 17-year-olds.

No.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has held any recent discussions with the Nursery Nurses Examination Board about career structure for nursery nurses; and if he will make a statement.

No. My right hon. Friend has no powers governing the career structure of nursery nurses. The career development of nursery nurses working in the public sector is the responsibility of their local government employers, but less than one third of those qualifying annually are initially employed in this way.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement concerning the future organisation and funding of higher and further education in inner London.

The Government's intention is that from April 1989 the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council (PCFC) will have power to fund most non-university higher education in inner London, and that from April 1990 the responsibility for the provision of further education in inner London, and such non-university higher education as is not funded by the PCFC, will transfer from the Inner London education authority to the inner London councils.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a further statement on the progress of his review on student finance.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave earlier to my hon. Friend the Member for Harborough (Sir J. Farr).

To ask the Secretary of State for Eduation and Science what representations he has received on Her Majesty's inspectorate's report on the introduction of the general certificate of secondary education; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer which my right hon. Friend gave earlier to the hon. Member for Blaydon (Mr. McWilliam).

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received on the effectiveness of funding to prepare pupils for the new general certificate of secondary education examinations.

My right hon. Friend has received various representations from teachers, school governors and others about funding for the GCSE. These, and the recently published HMI interim report on the GCSE, indicate that concern about the availability of resources in schools for the new examinations has generally diminished. The Government have allowed for expenditure of over £100 million in each of the years 1987–88 and 1988–89 for the introduction of the GCSE, including specific grant for books and equipment and for the in-service training of teachers. It is for local education authorities and schools to ensure that the funds are spent where they are most needed.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to increase the staying-on rate at the age of 16; and if he will make a statement.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to increase the staying-on rate at the age of 16 years; and if he will make a statement.

As stated in the 1988 public expenditure White Paper, the Government wish to encourage greater participation in post-16 education and training. My right hon. Friend aims to raise the level of attainment of young people and to encourage a more positive attitude to continuing education and training. He considers that the examination reforms and new forms of provision already introduced, together with the curriculum and other school reforms proposed in the Education Reform Bill, will help to achieve this objective.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what further consideration he has given to the advice and information which he will provide to the parents and governors of schools who are considering opting for grant maintained status.

Once the Education Reform Bill has been enacted, my right hon. Friend intends to publish guidance for all interested parties on the proposals for grant-maintained schools. This will include information for parents and governors contemplating grant-maintained status for their school.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what consultations he has had with representatives of ethnic minority groups about the Education Reform Bill; and, in particular, the provisions to abolish the Inner London education authority.

Copies of all the consultation documents on the proposed provisions of the Education Reform Bill were sent to a wide range of organisations known to have an interest in education, and further copies were freely available from the Department of Education and Science. Comments were received from a substantial number of organisations representing ethnic minority groups, in response to the various documents, and copies of these responses have been placed in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he expects to publish in full the latest version of his proposed national curriculum; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Bootle (Mr. Roberts) earlier today.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has received any representations concerning the admissions procedure to grant maintained schools which may be established after the enactment of the Education Reform Bill.

A significant number of the representations which my right hon. Friend received in response to the consultation document on grant-maintained schools showed an interest in the admissions arrangements which such schools would adopt.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what plans he has to meet the leadership of the National Association of Head Teachers; and what matters he intends to discuss with it.

My right hon. Friend has accepted an invitation to address the annual conference of the National Association of Head Teachers on 3 June.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will seek additional funding for the expansion of the LINK programme in 1989–90.

Funding in 1989–90 for LINK programmes and for the science base generally will be subject to review in this year's public expenditure survey.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what recent examination he has made of the adequacy of funding of social sciences in the United Kingdom.

The social sciences are mostly funded through the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the recurrent grant distributed to the universities by the University Grants Committee. The Advisory Board for the Research Councils each year considers the research proposals and funding needs of the ESRC as part of the preparation of advice on the allocation of the science budget. In allocating funds to universities the UGC takes into account planned student numbers in the social sciences, as in other subjects. The committee is currently reviewing national provision for sociology and social policy as part of its programme of subject reviews. Given these arrangements, my right hon. Friend has not thought it necessary to make any additional examination of the funding of the social sciences.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he last attended a meeting of the Advisory Council on Science and Technology.

My right hon. Friend had an informal meeting with members of the council on 7 December 1987.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on his policy for nursery and pre-five school education, in the light of the report by Professor Peter Mortimore, "School Matters", a copy of which has been sent to him.

My right hon. Friend has so far seen only press accounts of this report, which indicate that it did not include any study of under-fives education. But my hon. Friend no doubt has in mind the broad conclusion reflected in its title. The Government accept that children can benefit from pre-school experience but believe they are being realistic in their policy of maintaining both the current discretionary arrangements and level funding of this sector in real terms.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to increase the level of nursery education; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for City of Durham (Mr. Steinberg) on 19 January at column 805.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received urging him to take steps to ensure that the provision of nursery education in inner London is maintained following abolition of the Inner London education authority.

My right hon. Friend has received about 60 representations on this matter.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what is the average cost per pupil of local authority nursery education in (a) East Anglia, (b) Suffolk and (c) England and Wales;(2) what is the proportion of local authority education budgets spent on nursery education in

Local education authorities do not provide separate figures for expenditure on nursery classes in primary schools. The following table shows the net institutional recurrent expenditure per pupil in nursery schools for 1986–87 and the proportion of the authorities' net recurrent expenditure on education that was spent on nursery schools.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what is the proportion of children in the three to five year age group receiving private nursery education in (a) East Anglia, (b) Suffolk, (c) Waveney and (d) England and Wales;(2) what is the number of children attending private nursery schools in

This information is not collected centrally. Figures for Wales are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the proportion of children in the three to five year age group receiving local authority nursery education in (a) East Anglia, (b) Suffolk, (c) Waveney and (d) England and Wales.

Information for areas within local education authorities is not available centrally. In January 1987 the number of children aged under five as a proportion of the estimated three and four population receiving local authority nursery education in East Anglia, Suffolk and England was 10, 14 and 23 per cent., respectively.Figures for Wales are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science, what is the number of children in local authority nursery schools in (a) East Anglia, (b) Suffolk, (c) Waveney and (d) England and Wales.

Information for areas within local education authorities is not available centrally. In January 1987 the number of children under five attending maintained nursery schools in East Anglia, Suffolk and England was 1,199, 162 and 49,502, respectively.Figures for Wales are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list the five education authorities with the highest teacher-administrator ratio and the five with the lowest teacher-administrator ratio.

The figures show the ratio of qualified school teachers to school administrative and clerical staff. They are based on estimates published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) in its "Education Statistics: 1987–88 Estimates".

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what research he is supporting into the effects of electromagnetic fields on health in general, and on the incidence of leukaemia in particular.

I understand that the Medical Research Council is not at present supporting work specifically to investigate the effects on health of electromagnetic fields. The council is, however, supporting several studies on the clustering of cancer cases, including leukaemia, and their possible causes. These studies may establish whether there is any association between the presence of electromagnetic fields and the incidence of cancer.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he seeks from research councils on the subsequent careers of recipients of their grants.

The Department and the Advisory Board for the Research Councils ask the research councils to supply such information as they collect for their own purposes about the first employment destinations of holders of post-graduate student awards. The Department will be discussing with the award-making bodies how the data might be improved and, in particular, how they might be collated on a consistent basis.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is his policy with regard to privatising the building of new schools.

I have written to my hon. Friend on this matter.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what further steps he proposes to take to encourage small rural schools.

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Mrs. Rumbold) gave him on 16 February at column 819.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will undertake a comparative survey of the scientific equipment available in academic and academically related research in the United Kingdom and other industrial countries.

The Advisory Board for the Research Councils (ABRC) has commissioned a study of scientific equipment in United Kingdom higher education institutions. The board expects to advise my right hon. Friend about the outcome of the study, around the end of the year, taking into account such results as are available of similar studies in other countries.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he as any plans to implement the findings of the Child Health and Education Study which reported in 1987 on "The Effects of Early Education"; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend has taken note of t he findings of this report, which was commissioned by my Department and has been published. The broad conclusion of the report is that children can benefit from pre-school experience of a variety of forms. The Government have always accepted this and believe that their current policy of maintaining the discretionary basis of provision is therefore right.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received about his Department's plans to reduce the level of truancy in schools.

The responsibility for taking action on truancy rests with local education authorities and with schools and parents. In the course of preparing circular 2/86, "School Attendance and the Education Welfare Services", and following its publication, the Department received information and representations from interested parties. The Department is considering issuing a further circular relating to school attendance, which would be subject to a similar process of consultation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list all secondary schools in Northamptonshire, stating how many pupils are currently in each school and how many empty places exist in each school.

Information on school places is not available centrally. In January 1987 the maintained secondary schools in Northamptonshire and the number of pupils on roll in each school were as follows :