To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place a copy of his reply to Charter 87 on the Government's treatment of Kurd refugees in the Library.

I hope to be able to reply shortly to Charter 87's letter of 8 June and will place a copy of that reply in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list all those organisations and individuals who responded to the Green Paper "Punishment, Custody in the Community", Cm. 424 and indicate which of them were in favour and which against (a) direct payment of compensation awards to victims of crime via court funds, (b) mediation by the probation service, (c) alterations of the minimum 40 hours for community service, (d) increasing the maximum period for attending a day centre, (e) greater use of tracking, (f) giving courts powers to require offenders to stay at home, (g) negative restrictions in probation orders, (h) judicial supervision of the proposed supervision and restriction order, (i) increasing the age limit for the juvenile court to 18 years, (j) giving magistrates or GPs the power to determine in which courts 16 to 20-year-olds should be heard, and (k) the setting up of a new organisation to take responsibilities for the arrangement of punishment in the community;(2) if he will make copies of the responses of the organisations and individuals who have responded to the Green Paper "Punishment, Custody in the Community", Cm. 424 available to researchers and other interested bodies.

The main organisations that responded to the Green Paper "Punishment, Custody and the Community" were set out in reply to a question from the hon. Member for St. Helens, South (Mr. Bermingham) on 2 May. It is for those who responded to decide whether to make their comments available more widely.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list all those organisations and individuals who responded to the Green Paper, "Private Sector Involvement in the Remand System" Cm. 434 and indicating which of them were in favour and which against (a) privately managed secure bail hostels (b) the privatisation of remand prisons and (c) the privatisation of escort services;

Eighty five organisations and individuals submitted comments on the Green Paper. These are listed as follows. Copies of the responses (except that from one organisation which commented in confidence) were placed in the Library when my right hon. Friend made his statement of 1 March at columns 277–78. A wide range of views was expressed on many aspects of the issues raised in the Green Paper, and it would be misleading to attempt to summarise the responses in the form requested. The responses are available for inspection on application to the Remands Unit, Home Office, Room 723, Thames house south, Millbank SW1P 4QJ.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was (a) the average daily prison population and (b) the number of places in open prisons each year from 1966 to 1988.

The information requested is published annually in the report of the work of the prison service (appendix 4 of the latest issue, for 1987–88, Cm. 516).

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much money has been raised through the ITV levy from Scottish companies for S4C in each of the years since S4C was established.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he proposes to take to ensure that 15 and 16-year-olds cease to be remanded in custody to prison department establishments.

We are considering the present arrangements for juvenile remands in the light of responses to last year's consultation paper on the unruliness certification procedure and other representations.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to improve facilities in B wing of Hull prison; and what resources are being provided for this task.

A programme of work is in hand to improve conditions in B wing at Her Majesty's prison, Hull. To date, the bathing areas have been upgraded and the wing has been redecorated throughout. In addition, a library has been provided and existing classrooms extended; these are now used for association purposes in the evening. Fire precautions have also been improved, and polycarbonate windows are now being installed. The work to date has cost approximately £130,000.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) occupied places in open prisons, (b) unoccupied places in open prisons and (c) prisoners categorised as category D but held in closed prisons, there are in each prison department region.

The information requested is as follows:

S4C is not funded from levy income. All ITV companies pay a fourth channel subscription to the Independent Broadcasting Authority, which is used to fund both Channel 4 and S4C. The IBA determines the proportion of this subscription to go to S4C, which may be up to 20 per cent.Fourth channel subscription payments by Scottish ITV companies in the years since S4C was established were as follows:

Year ending	STV	Grampian	Border	Total (rounded)
	£ million	£ million	£ million	£ million
December 1982	2·35	0·12	0·05	2·52
December 1983	6·11	0·46	0·11	6·68
March 1985	7·21	0·53	0·12	7·86

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the initiatives that he is taking to combat abuse of the drug known as crack.

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Bosworth (Mr. Tredinnick) on 15 June 1989 at column 1113.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make representations to other Governments in the European Community that they only authorise gaming competitions on conditions that invitations to forward stakes are not sent through agencies or otherwise to countries whose laws forbid such lotteries within their national territories;(2) To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has made to other Governments in the European Community to prevent the unauthorised sale of foreign lottery tickets in the United Kingdom.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has approached the authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany to explore means of stopping the posting of invitations to participate in lotteries based there to people in Great Britain, as the promotion and conduct of foreign lotteries here is unlawful under the Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976. We have no evidence of need to ask for a similar approach to be made to the authorities in any other member state of the Community, but we would certainly do so if necessary. Our understanding is that gambling legislation is a matter for each member state of the Community, as in any other country; and the means, if any, necessary to achieve respect for the law on lotteries in another country is a matter for national determination.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice he has received from the European Commission on whether national legislation on gambling games is justified on grounds of public morality and consumer protection.

None.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date the Official Secrets Act 1989 and the Security Services Act 1989 will come into force.

As soon as practicable.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what representations he has received concerning Navaratnasingam Vathanan, a Tamil who was returned to Colombo in February 1988; and if he will make a statement;(2) what representations he has received concerning Vythialingam Skandarajah, a Tamil who was returned to Colombo in February 1988; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 19 June 1989]: A judicial review of our decisions to refuse refugee status to these two cases and to four other Tamils was dismissed by the House of Lords in December 1987 and they were returned to Sri Lanka in February 1988. On 13 March 1989 an adjudicator upheld appeals against refusal of leave to enter in five of these cases. My right hon. Friend sought leave to appeal to the tribunal on 22 March but on 19 April the tribunal decided that it had no jurisdiction to consider this appeal because of a clerical error in the service of the papers. On 12 May my right hon. Friend sought leave to move for judicial review of the tribunal's decision and leave was granted on 17 May. We have received a number of representations about the cases from hon. Members, organisations and individuals.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will urgently examine existing legislation governing the holding of mass outdoor pop concerts and similar functions to assess the need to strengthen any provisions concerning (i) sound levels and decibel controls, (ii) prior warnings to local residents and (iii) provisions against exceeding any licence terms including time limits.

[holding answer 14 June 1989]: The powers conferred on local authorities for the granting of public entertainments licences under the London Government Act 1963 and the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 are already very wide and should, in my view, be sufficient to enable them to regulate these matters.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will ask the chief constable of Manchester to list the complaints made by members of the public against former PC Gerald Corley and the action taken in each case.

[holding answer 12 June 1989]: Responsibility for the investigation of complaints against police officers and for consideration of disciplinary action rests with the chief officer of the force concerned, subject to the provisions of part IX of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. My right hon. Friend has no part to play in these procedures.It is not the normal practice to reveal details from a police officer's personal file. I understand from the chief constable of Greater Manchester, however, that complaints were made by members of the public against ex-PC Corley on 19 occasions from December 1977. All these complaints were fully investigated in accordance with the statutory procedures in force at the time. Where a complaint was withdrawn prior to the completion of the investigation it was reviewed by a senior police officer in accordance with force procedures.In only two cases were complaints against Mr. Corley found to have a sufficient measure of substantiation to justify action being taken against the officer. Both concerned allegations of irregularity in procedure. On both occasions Mr. Corley was interviewed by a senior officer.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether there has been any further developments following the publication of the discussion document "Phones on the Move" in January; and whether he will make a statement.

My right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has considered carefully the responses to the discussion document in the light of our wish to select at least two operators to provide personal communications networks (PCNs) in the 1990s. We have also received advice from the Director General of Telecommunications.The director general has advised us that the capacity of Mercury Communications Ltd., a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless plc, to provide the full range of telecommunications services in competition with British Telecom is limited by the lack of a mobile radio network to compete with Cellnet, in which BT has a majority stake. We have therefore accepted his advice that a consortium led by Mercury or Cable & Wireless should be a prospective operator and in due course be offered one of the licences to operate a mobile communications network within the frequency range 1·7–2·3 GHz. This is subject to the submission of an acceptable proposal, both in regard to the consortium and in business and technical terms, by 14 September.On the advice of the director general, we intend to identify one, or possibly two, other prospective operators by the end of the year. We are issuing notes for the guidance of applicants today. Copies of these notes have been placed in the libraries of both Houses. The closing date for applications is noon on Thursday 14 September.Applications may be made by any company, whether or not it responded to the discussion document. The exceptions are Cellnet and Racal Vodafone, their associates and main shareholders. Since the new networks are intended to compete with these companies' existing cellular radio operations, we have decided, on the director general's advice, that they should not be able to participate in their development or operation either in their own right or as a member of a consortium. We will, however, keep under review their needs for additional frequencies in the light of the progress they make on the pan-European cellular network and the development of competition in the United Kingdom.We have also considered the choice of PCN technology, which will govern the appropriate technical standards. The two technologies which emerged strongly from the consultation period were those being developed for the pan-European digital cellular radio system and the digital European cordless telephone. it is our intention that the PCNs should operate according to a common technical standard, in order to ensure competition between the operators. It would be highly desirable for this to be based on a technology developed in Europe. Accordingly, we have decided that applications must be based on one or other of these technologies, and applicants may, if they wish, put in separate proposals based on each. The selected common standard will be announced when the choice of operator is made and will take account of developments in Europe.We have also considered the major cost of linking the small radio cells needed to provide a true PCN. To aid the planning of these networks for the 1990s, we have decided that the operators will be able to provide their own radio-based network infrastructure between individual radio cells. However, the links to the public switched network, which provides the basic telecommunications service of conveying messages over fixed links, will still be provided by British Telecom or Mercury pending the outcome of the November 1990 duopoly review. In order to protect the position of the new entrants, any request by the existing cellular operators to provide similar radio links for their own networks will be considered in the light of their progress in implementing the pan-European cellular network but will in any event not be implemented until two years after both of the new PCNs have entered service, provided there are no undue delays in the introduction of the new networks.We have been aware of the possible affect of this initiative on the four Telepoint operators we announced in January. We do not believe that the PCN initiative should significantly affect their prospects for success. The new networks will offer two-way call initiation aimed to compete with cellular radio, with its relatively expensive and sophisticated technology, and will not begin service until 1992 at the earliest. By contrast the inherently lower cost one-way Telepoint technology has already been developed and we expect it to be introduced into the marketplace well before the end of the year. We have, however, asked the director general to pay particular regard to any new ideas from the Telepoint operators themselves as to how the Telepoint concept could be further developed in the future and to advise us as necessary.The "Phones on the Move" discussion document put forward our vision of the future in PCNs and companies responded to it with enthusiasm and imagination. We intend to maintain this momentum, and to encourage industry to make this vision a reality in the early 1990s. We do not anticipate any further major developments in new mobile telecommunications systems for some time. As a result of our announcement today and previous announcements on Telepoint, cellular radio, private mobile radio and paging, the Government have opened up new markets and provided for effective competition. We hope that all the companies involved in this field will continue to respond vigorously and to exploit the opportunities that have been created.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether he has any evidence, in the form of comprehensive and reliable consumer surveys, on the state of consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction with public houses and clubs in Britain.

I am aware of two surveys which are relevant. First the Consumers Association conducted a survey of 2,175 adults in May 1987, which formed the basis of their evidence of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission investigation into the supply of beer. A number of questions were asked which related to consumer satisfaction. According to the Consumers Association, of those respondents who said they visited pubs less often than two years previously, the largest single reason was that drinks in pubs were too expensive.Two thirds of respondents agreed that all pubs should be allowed to sell draught bitter from more than one brewer, and 61 per cent. agreed that pub prices were too high compared with supermarkets and off-licences. More recently, Haig Whisky has published results from a MORI poll of 1,037 adults who go to the pub at least once a month, carried out in 65 constituency sampling points in the second half of May 1989. This survey was carried out to examine attitudes towards the MMC's recommendations for changes in the brewing industry. It showed a majority in favour of the Government implementing the MMC recommendations. Eighty-four per cent. said landlords (that is publicans) should have more freedom to introduce other beers. Sixty per cent. thought the quality of pubs would increase as a result of the MMC recommendations.The Consumers Association and Haig Whisky have published documents containing the detailed results of their surveys. I am aware of recent reports that a survey commissioned by the Brewers Society comes to different conclusions, but I have not yet seen the details.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government towards the continued location of the International Sugar Organisation and the Wheat Council in London; what is Her Majesty's Government's policy towards the anti-competitive foreign subsidies being deferred to those organisations; and if he will make a statement.

As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister told the House on 25 April, the Government welcome the location of these organisations in London. They have based themselves here for many years because of the merits of London as the leading international trading centre for their products. The Government are therefore prepared to give the London chamber's proposal their full support including a financial contribution in equal partnership with the private sector. The Government will, of course, also provide the usual rates concessions to the two organisations. We shall continue to work to discourage subsidised competition so that different locations can compete fairly on their merits.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in respect of which countries export licences have been applied for in respect of the weapon known as Frag 12; and what is the result of the application in each case.

[holding answer 20 June 1989]: No application has been received for a licence to export the Frag 12 fragmentation grenade from the United Kingdom.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the level of pay and recruitment of university clinical cytogeneticists.

It is for the universities as employers to determine the level of pay and recruitment of their staff.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he expects his proposals for attainment targets and programmes of study for English for pupils in junior and secondary schools to be published for consultation.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I have now formulated our proposals for attainment targets and programmes of study in English for pupils in key stages 2 to 4 (broadly ages eight to 16). Our proposals endorse without modification the relevant recommendations of the national curriculum English working group, and build on the provisions in the order covering English in key stage 1 laid before Parliament on 31 May. We are grateful to the group for its clear and helpful advice.I have today referred our proposals to the national curriculum council to start the consultation in England required by the Education Reform Act. My right hon. Friend will be initiating separate consultations in Wales as required by the Act. I have placed a copy of our proposals and the working group's report, together with a copy of my letter to the national curriculum council, in the Library.

To ask the Lord President of the Council what information he has available and what information is available to hon. Members concerning the scope and extent of reportage by sound radio of proceedings in the Chamber of the House of Commons throughout its sittings.

I am not aware of any recent systematic monitoring carried out, either by the House or on its behalf, of the use to which the sound feed from the Chamber is put. So far as the broadcasters themselves are concerned, I am advised that the BBC does not collate statistics of the degree of detail implied by the hon. Gentleman's question and that to do so would be a time-consuming and costly exercise.

To ask the Lord President of the Council what guidance is issued to departmental Ministers on the criteria to be observed in determining whether to answer parliamentary questions tabled during the previous day's sitting.

Ministers are expected to follow the provisions of Standing Order No. 17.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will publish the full set of community charge practice notes; to whom the public should apply for these notes; and when applications should be made.

Community charge practice notes are published jointly by the Government and local authority associations. Nineteen notes have been issued so far and copies are available in the Library of the House. The notes are detailed, technical manuals intended for the use of local authority practitioners rather than the general public. A separate series of explanatory booklets are available to the public free of charge from Community Charge Leaflets Section PO Box 622, Bristol B599 1TR.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what guidelines he has issued on the evidence which is acceptable for poll tax purposes, that an individual is entitled to severe disablement allowance or to invalidity pension; and if he will make a statement.

The Government have no plans to introduce a poll tax.Detailed guidance on the evidence required to satisfy an exemption from the community charge on grounds of severe mental impairment is contained in community charge practice note No. 19, copies of which have been placed in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authorities have indicated to his Department that their costs in implementing the community charge are likely to be (a) less and (b) more than the amount granted for the purpose by Her Majesty's Government.

The information we have on the revenue costs to authorities of implementation suggest that about 15 per cent. of them will be spending less than has been provided in the 1989–90 rate support grant settlement; most of the remainder intend to spend more.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his latest estimate of the proportion of total community charge implementation costs Her Majesty's Government have provided.

The actual costs of implementation will not be known until next year but the figures contained in authorities' budget returns suggest that Government provision will support about half of authorities' estimated revenue expenditure on preparation. Similar figures for capital are not available. It was never the intention that resources received by individual authorities would necessarily meet in full the estimated costs of their own preferred plans. This would give no incentive to efficient implementation. We believe the resources we have made available—£110 million in the 1989–90 rate support grant settlement and capital allocations totalling £160 million—are sufficient to support reasonable levels of local authority expenditure in preparation.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received that his Department arrange for a survey to be made of the costs actually incurred by all local authorities on implementation of the community charge; whether he will undertake such a survey; and if he will make a statement.

We have received no such representations and have no plans to carry out such a survey. The usual financial returns from authorities to the Department will provide this information.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will seek to exempt from the provisions of the poll tax those who are mainly or wholly dependent on moneys provided to victims of Nazi persecutions.

The Government have no plans to introduce a poll tax.Individuals are exempt from the community charge if their circumstances conform to one of the categories set out in schedule 1 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many newspapers printed his recently circulated articles on the community charge.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer which my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State gave the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East (Mr. Nellist) on 23 May at column 488.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many requests for community charge practice notes have been refused.

[holding answer 12 June 1989]: Community charge practice notes (which are produced jointly by the Government and the local authority association) contain guidance on technical details of the new system for the local authority staff who will be operating it. Copies of each note are provided free to all local authorities and others with a specific need for the information, and are placed in the Library of the House. Copies of the notes have not been made generally available to other bodies or the public. We have prepared a range of leaflets for that purpose.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether itinerant workers under the community charge will have to pay a personal charge at their permanent address and a collective charge if they are living in a designated dwelling at or near their workplace levied by their landlord.

[holding answer 21 June 1989]: A person registered for the personal community charge at his or her sole or main residence who stays in a property designated for the collective community charge will pay contributions towards the collective charge payable by the landlord or owner of the property.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many sites of special scientific interest have been designated each year since the inception of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; and how many he estimates will be created in the next 12 months.

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 provides for both renotification of sites of special scientific interest originally notified under the National Park and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 and notification of new SSSIs. The number of such sites are:

Financial year	Number of new SSSIs notified in the year
Renotifications
To 31 March 1989	3,187
New notifications
1981–82	0
1982–83	35
1983–84	183
1984–85	268
1985–86	358
1986–87	261
1987–88	274
1988–89	282

In addition the Nature Conservancy Council expects to renotify 135 sites and notify a further 250 sites in the current financial year.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of the total number of sites of special scientific interest have been (a) destroyed and (b) damaged since the inception of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

No information is available prior to 1 April 1984. I am informed by the Nature Conservancy Council that since then the numbers of SSSIs which have sustained damage are as follows:

	Number	Per cent.
1984–85	192	6·77
1985–86	151	4·84
1986–87	205	6·86
1987–88	139	4·36

This includes damage of all kinds, whether significant or not, and to both those SSSIs notified under the 1981 Act and those notified under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 and not yet renotified. The number of SSSIs suffering significant damage averaged about 1 per cent. over the period.Over this period three SSSIs were destroyed, two in 1984–85 and one in 1985–86.Full information is provided in the NCC's annual reports copies of which are in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many sources of industrial and trade effluent discharges there are into the Bristol channel; and where they are located.

Responsibility for the control of discharges of industrial and trade effluent to the Bristol channel rests with the Welsh, Wessex and South West water authorities. Details of consents granted by the authorities in respect of such discharges are held on the registers maintained by each authority.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will tabulate what a single person living in the london borough of Waltham Forest would pay (a) in community charge and (b) in a system of capital value rates plus local income tax paid in proportions of 80 to 20, respectively if the person earned (a) £40,000, (b) £80,000 and (c) £120,000 and lived in (i) property owned by that person worth £90,000, (ii) property owned by that person worth £120,000 and (iii) property owned by that person worth £150,000, making the same assumptions as in his reply to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Sir H. Rossi) on 22 March, Official Report, column 626.

The information requested is provided in the table.

Illustrative annual liability in Waltham Forest under a system of capital value rates combined with local income tax, 1988–89
Single persons earnings	Property value £90,000	Property value £120,000	Property value £150,000
£40,000	1,375	1,655	1,935
£80,000	1,940	2,220	2,505
£120,000	2,510	2,790	3,070

The figures are based on illustrative tax rates placed in the Library on 23 June 1988 and are for 1988–89. It is assumed that the person lives alone and taxable income is taken as earnings less £260·5, the single person's allowance, in each case. The illustrative 1988–89 community charge in Waltham Forest is £269.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he intends to introduce legislation in response to the Rubinstein case on definitive maps of public rights of way.

The Government have announced their intention to introduce legislation to enable genuine errors in definitive maps to be corrected when there is a suitable opportunity.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has received any representations to allow large scale construction of new properties in the Yeovil constituency to accommodate citizens of the colony of Hong Kong claiming right of abode in the United Kingdom.

None, as yet. It would need about 1¼ million new homes to accommodate 3¼ million people.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to be able to announce a replacement to the HOTCHA scheme; and if he will make a statement.

The Housing Corporation has published proposals to introduce an incentive scheme in 1990 to help housing association tenants to move out and buy homes on the open market. The corporation is considering the responses.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the progress of student certification for the community charge in England and Wales.

The Personal Community Charge (Students) Regulations 1989 were laid before the House on 17 March. They provide for certification officers in all relevant educational establishments in England and Wales, and place a duty on them to issue a certificate in the prescribed form to each person pursuing or about to pursue a full-time course of education. The regulations will come into force on 1 October 1989.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received about reducing pollution from burning fossil fuels; and if he will make a statement.

We have received many representations on this topic. The commitments agreed by the Government under the large combustion plants and motor vehicle emissions directives of the European Community will lead to very substantial reductions in the emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has received an application to extend the runway at London City airport.

No.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy towards the development of sub-sea bed dry storage for civil nuclear waste.

UK Nirex Ltd. has been established to identify and develop a disposal facility for low and intermediate-level radioactive waste. Nirex is currently investigating a repository in the form of a mine under the land. The Government have endorsed this programme. The possibility of investigating other locations at a later stage, or of utilising offshore options cannot be ruled out.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has had about imposing a statutory requirement on local authorities (a) to clean European designated bathing beaches of litter and (b) to clean any beach regularly used by the public after an oil spill.

I have had no specific representations on these subjects. We have, however, announced our intention to place local authorities under a duty to keep land clean. This is one of a number of proposals for legislation on litter which my right hon. Friend intends to announce soon.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what decision has been reached by the steering committee of the London School of Hygiene's small area statistics unit as to whether to proceed with an investigation into the incidence of childhood cancer in Humberside.

I wrote to my hon. Friend on 20 June to explain that existing information is being considered by independent export members of the steering committee so that they can advise the committee when it next meets.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on his responsibilities for the control of environmental pollution in Wales.

I refer the hon. Member to the Department's publication "Protecting Your Environment—A Guide" a copy of which is in the Library of the House. Pages 2 and 3 give a succinct but complete summary of the respective responsibilities of the Secretaries of State for the Environment and for Wales for environment protection.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he next expects to meet representatives of rugby union; and what subjects he expects to discuss.

I have no plans at present to meet representatives of the Rugby Football Union.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the report on dioxins will be published; and if he will make a statement.

The Department of the Environment has today published a report, "Dioxins in the Environment", in the pollution paper series. It is the report of an interdepartmental working group on poly chlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans. The report is the culmination of work on dioxins which began two years ago. Copies have been placed in the Library.The main purpose of the report is to make available the best information we have on dioxins from the United Kingdom and elsewhere. There is an analysis of what this means in terms of possible human health effects and environmental impact.Advice on the health effects of dioxins from the Department of Health's independent advisory committee on toxicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment is also included in the report.It recommends that the major sources of dioxins should be identified and appropriate measures taken to reduce inputs of dioxins to food, consumer products and the environment.The Government welcome this advice and have already taken steps to implement the committee's recommendations.The report has been compiled jointly by the central directorate for environmental protection in DOE, the Department of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Health and Safety Executive.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give details of which of the standards set in the European Community drinking water directive are regularly exceeded by each of the water supplies in England which have been granted derogations.

[holding answer 14 June 1989]: A list has been placed in the Library of those supplies which regularly exceed the EC drinking water directive in respect of the standard indicated and have been granted derogations by the Department under the terms of article 9 of the directive. Such derogations can be granted only where the situation is due to the nature and structure of the ground and there is no public health risk.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if, following the agreement of European Community Environment Ministers in Luxembourg on 9 June on the use of catalytic converters in small cars from December 1992, he has made an assessment of the increased contribution to the greenhouse effect that will be caused by carbon dioxide and water vapour released in exhaust gases from United Kingdom-based cars, in the period to the year 2000.

[holding answer 19 June 1989]: Yes. A United Kingdom fleet of 3-way catalyst cars would emit about 7·5 million tonnes per annum more carbon dioxide than a fleet of vehicles conforming to the standards of the common position reached by Environment Ministers last November. The emission of water vapour from cars does not have a significant input on the greenhouse effect.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the progress on phasing out aerosols containing chlorofluorocarbon propellants; and if he expects to introduce legislation making the sale of such items illegal.

[holding answer 21 June 1989]: Members of the British Aerosol Manufacturers Association are well on course to meet the objective of eliminating the non-essential use of chlorofluorocarbons in their products by the end of this year. Legislation to this effect is not needed in the circumstances.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if English Heritage has any plans to commission a study of the archaeology of waterlogged urban centres.

[holding answer 21 June 1989]: I understand that English Heritage intends to fund a number of archaeological surveys in urban areas. These will include waterlogged sites.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to issue guidance to archaeological bodies on environmental impact assessment and monitoring.

[holding answer 21 June 1989]: No. The broad principle of requiring information on the effect of proposed development being available before planning applications are considered will be discussed in guidance on "archaeology and planning", which is being prepared for local authorities, developers and archaeologists.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment on what date English local authorities were first informed of changes in the amount of mandatory repairs grant from 75 per cent. to 20 per cent. for landlords under sections 130 and 131 of the Housing Act 1988; and on what date they came into effect.

Local authorities in England were notified of proposed changes in the rate of intermediate and mandatory repairs grants for landlords in a letter from the Department dated 14 December 1988, following consultation with the local authority associations in November. These changes were given effect by the Grants by Local Housing Authorities (Appropriate Percentage and Exchequer Contributions) Order 1989 (SI 1989 No. 72), made under sections 509 and 517 of the Housing Act 1985, which came into foce on 19 January 1989.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what recent disussions he has held on concepts of fossil fuel utilisation fiscal devices to enhance or reduce the consumption of such energy sources.

I have had a number of recent discussions with my officials and others about the details of the levy on fossil fuel use for power generation, provision for which is included in the Electricity Bill now before Parliament.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy whether he intends to make any further appointments to regulatory posts covering the privatised electricity industry.

No. Under the terms of the Electricity Bill it is the Director General of Electricity Supply who will be empowered to appoint the staff of the Office of Electricity Regulation, subject to Treasury approval of their numbers and conditions of service.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he expects publication of the report by Dr. Carol Jones of Edinburgh university on contested cases in the Scottish sheriff courts.

Dr. Carol Jones' report on contested cases in the Scottish sheriff courts has not yet been submitted in final form. The question of publication will be considered after it has been submitted.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he expects publication of the report by Dr. Kenneth Miller of Strathclyde university on delays in summarising clinical cases in the sheriff courts in Scotland.

I hope to be able to publish Dr. Kenneth Miller's report on delay in summary criminal proceedings in the sheriff courts during the summer.

Hectares
	England		Scotland		Wales
	NP	R	NP	R	NP	R
(a) Forestry Commission direct planting	130	2,890	3,860	3,980	60	1,720
(b) Planting under woodland grant scheme	150	150	150	160	20	10
(c) Planting under farm woodland scheme	110	—	10	—	—	—
(d) Planting under other Forestry Commission grant schemes	1,490	2,180	22,270	2,090	900	250
(e) Other non-assisted	140	100	40	—	—	—

The figures given for categories

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what has been achieved as a result of competitive tendering in the National Health Service in Scotland.

Since the last general election savings from competitive tendering have increased from £600,000 to £29 million from 81 contracts for ancillary services. That represents substantial additional resources for patient care in Scotland's Health Service over the next three to four years. Almost three quarters of the contracts have been won by in-house teams. The success

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the value of sales so far of Forestry Commission land; and if he will make a statement.

Receipts from the disposal of land and property from the start of the disposals programme in 1981 to 31 March 1989 amounted to some £124 million.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to sell off, and over what period of time, Forestry Commission woodland; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer my right hon. and learned Friend gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries (Sir H. Monro) on 16 June at columns 544–45.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish a table showing the total planting between 1 April 1988 and 31 March 1989 in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, respectively, in each of the categories (a) Forestry Commission direct planting, (b) private planting assisted by the woodland grant scheme, (c) planting under the farm woodland scheme, (d) other assisted private planting and (e) other non-assisted planting.

The information, showing new planting (NP) and restocking (R), is as follows:of the competitive tendering programme so far has encouraged health boards to press ahead with further tendering.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the water supply at Lochaber is in breach of European Community guidelines for aluminium content, or for any other additives, metals or pesticides.

[holding answer 19 June 1989]: Lochaber district is served by numerous public water supplies; which have differing qualities. These supplies are the responsibility of the Highland regional council from which information on any particular supply may be obtained. A number of supplies in the area contain naturally derived aluminium at concentrations which occasionally exceed the European standard but on average are below it. Work to reduce the lead content of water at consumers' taps in lead-plumbed properties is virtually complete. No supply has been found to contain other metals or pesticides in excess of the EC standards.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the last advice he received from the Nature Conservancy Council concerning the practice of blocking of badger setts and digging of fox earths by fox hunters on Foresty Commission land.

[pursuant to his reply, 21 June 1989; c. 127]: The Forestry Commission has an earth stopper's code which is designed to prevent undue interference with badger setts and fox earths.

Reasons for refusal of Social Fund loans and grants 1988–89
	Grants		Loans
	Number of times reason given	As percent of total times reason given	Number of times reason given	As percent of total times reason given
OFFICE: Eston ILO
Savings over £500 sufficient to meet cost	3	0·9	0	0
Not in receipt of IS	n/a	n/a	107	6·4
Not in receipt of IS for 26 weeks	n/a	n/a	300	17·8
Not in receipt of IS and unlikely to become entitled	30	8·9	n/a	n/a
Excluded items	11	33	81	4·8
Excluded persons	11	3·3	2	0·1
Amount <£30 (not travelling expenses	9	2·7	52	3·1
Total debt of £1,000	n/a	n/a	1	0·1
Previous application and decision for the item	10	3·0	78	4·6
No serious damage or risk to health or safety	n/a		47	2·8
Inability to repay	n/a		8	0·5
Help available from another source	6	1·8	6	0·4
Insufficient SF funds, priority too low	8	2·4	929	55·1
Suitable alternative available	1	0·3	3	0·2
Loan refused because CCG awarded	n/a	n/a	31	1·8
Other	248	73·6	40	2·4
	337		1,685
OFFICE: Hartlepool ILO
Savings over £500 sufficient to meet cost	3	0·6	2	0·1
Not in receipt of IS	n/a	—	156	25·4
Not in receipt of IS for 26 weeks	n/a	—	434	24·9
Not in receipt of IS and unlikely to become entitled	72	13·4	n/a	n/a
Excluded items	26	4·8	81	4·6
Excluded persons	10	1·9	2	0·1
Amount <£30 (not travelling expenses	18	3·3	52	3·0
Total debt of £1,000	n/a	—	1	0·1
Previous application and decision for the item	22	4·1	78	4·5
No serious damage or risk to health or safety	n/a	—	77	4·4
Inability to repay	n/a	—	84	4·8
Help available from another source	9	—	62	3·6

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish a table, similar to the one printed on 15 May, Official Report, columns 76–78, in reply to the hon. Member for Leeds, West, (Mr. Battle) but in respect of his Department's local offices at Eston, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Stockton, showing reasons for social fund loan and grant refusals during the period April 1988 to March 1989.

[holding answer 9 June 1989]: The information requested is set out in the table.The proportions have been calculated as percentages of the total number of reasons for refusal. The total number of reasons for refusal may equal or exceed the total number of refusals because the social fund officer can give more than one reason for refusing an application.I refer the hon. Member to my pursuant reply to the hon. Member for Leeds, West (Mr. Battle) today.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if, further to his reply on 4 May, Official Report, column 220, he will categorise the reasons for the remaining social fund loan refusals and community care grant refusals for the year 11 April 1988 to 31 March 1989.

Reasons for refusal of Social Fund loans and grants 1988–89
	Loans		Grants
	Number of times reason given	As a per cent, of all reasons for refusals	Number of limes reason given	As a per cent, of all reasons for refusals
Savings over £500 sufficient to meet cost	938	0·3	2,498	1·7
Not in receipt of IS	35,613	9·6	n/a	n/a
Not in receipt of IS for 26 weeks	99,907	27·0	n/a	n/a
Not in receipt of IS and unlikely to become entitled	n/a	n/a	15,842	10·6
Excluded items	30,759	8·3	9,563	6·4
Excluded persons	1,094	0·3	13,734	9·2
Amount < £30 (not travelling expenses)	11,952	3·2	3,707	2·5
Total debt of £1,000	198	0·1	n/a	n/a
Previous application and SFO decision for this item	14,639	4·0	5,071	3·4
No serious danger or risk to health or safety	24,266	6·6	0	0·0
Inability to repay	14,971	4·0	0	0·0
Help available from another source	8,281	2·2	2,136	1·4
Insufficient SF funds, priority too low	84,027	22·7	13,419	9·0
Other agencies not providing back-up	n/a	n/a	85	0·1
Suitable alternative available	3,978	1·1	1,177	0·8
Loan refused—CC6 awarded	14,725	4·0	n/a	n/a
Other	25,113	6·8	82,400	55·1

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many new claims for family credit were made, how many were decided and how many awards resulted in each week since the beginning of April 1989; how many renewal claims, decisions and awards were made; how many existing awards expired and were not renewed; and what was the net increase in the number of current awards.

[holding answer 13 June 1989]: The available information is as follows:

[pursuant to his reply, 15 May 1989 c.76–78.]: I regret that the reply given has been found to contain an error. The information requested with the amended figures is as follows:—

	Registrations1	Decisions	Awards
New Claims
Week ending:—
7 April	7,639	7,535	4,383
14 April	8,697	7,656	4,597
21 April	16,995	8,554	4,660
28 April	22,867	10,926	5,018
5 May	17,881	10,975	4,191
12 May	24,166	15,740	5,541
19 May	26,267	17,141	6,038
26 May	26,586	14,003	4,714
2 June	17,803	12,990	4,150

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the average amount of family credit awarded in each week since the beginning of April 1989.

[holding answer 13 June 1989]: I regret that the information requested is not available. The latest information relates to all awards of family credit in payment on 18 June 1989, when the average amount was estimated to be just over £25. This is broadly the same as the average amount in payment in March 1989.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if form RR4 is available in all post offices; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 16 June 1989]: Leaflet RR4 "Housing Benefit—new rules" is no longer available in all post offices.From mid-June 1988 to the beginning of April 1989 the leaflet was on display in all Crown post offices. It was removed two months ago at the time of the benefit upratings and changes in some benefit rules. In Crown post offices the four A5 format leaflet display space that the department purchases is now occupied by information on family credit, housing benefit, NHS costs, and in Scotland, community charge rebate.In sub-post offices, whilst leaflets such as RR4 are sent to all of them, neither the Department nor the Post Office has the power to instruct that these leaflets should be displayed or given out. As independent retailers sub-postmasters/mistresses can only be requested to do so.