To ask the Prime Minister if, pursuant to her reply on 14 June, Official Report, column 464, concerning capital expenditure on road and rail facilities related to the channel tunnel, she will tabulate in the

	£ million (1989 prices)
Trunk roads
Completing and widening (part of) M20 from M25 to Folkestone and upgrading A20 to Dover	265
Upgrading M2/A2 route	115
Upgrading A27/A259 south coast route	330
	—	710
Local authority roads in Kent		75
British Rail investment
Intercapital passenger rolling stock	350
Waterloo international terminal	100
North Pole (west London) maintenance depot	75
Initial order of freight locomotives and track electrification	80
	—	1605
Infrastructure improvements for passenger services		2210
Freight Infrastructure		3145
Passenger rolling stock for services beyond London and related infrastructure improvements
Ashford international station		4110–375
Night trains from London
Further freight locomotives and wagons
		1,855–2,120
1 Already approved by Government.
2 Only £45 million of this subject to Government approval.
3 Government approval not required.
4 Detailed proposals not yet submitted.

To ask the Prime Minister what representations she has received calling for impartial international observers from the United Nations or other organisations to observe during the period of the next general election in the United Kingdom to ensure that it is conducted and financed fairly.

None.

To ask the Prime Minister what is the number and nature of occasions when Spicer and Oppenheim have advised her Government in the last two years; and what was the cost.

This information is not held centrally.

The £2 billion of public investment planned on roads and railways to the channel tunnel comprises the following:

To ask the Prime Minister if she will transfer the responsibility of the Department of Health for the pharmaceutical industry to the Department of Trade and Industry.

There are no plans to do so.

To ask the Prime Minister what changes have been made in the composition of the United Kingdom delegation to the consultative assembly of the Council of Europe.

I have appointed my hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley (Mr. Thompson) as a full member in place of my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Test (Mr. Hill), and my hon. Friend the Member for Poole (Mr. Ward) as a full member in place of my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip-Northwood (Mr. Wilkinson). I have also appointed my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Kent (Mr. Rowe) as a substitute member.These changes will take effect from the close of the meeting of the standing committee on Tuesday 3 July.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will make a statement about the chairmanship of the Review Body for Nursing Staff, Midwives, Health Visitors and the Professions Allied to Medicine.

Sir James Cleminson's period as chairman will come to an end when the review body completes its supplementary report on senior nurses. The Government are very grateful to him for the leadership, skill and dedication which he has shown as chairman since his appointment in 1986. I have appointed Mr. Michael Bett to succeed him.

To ask the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on how the living standards, environment, quality of life and general prospects of (a) the retired in Britain, (b) others in the country and (c) their European counterparts have fared since 1979.

[holding answer 25 June 1990]: The improvement in living standards since 1979 is demonstrated by a number of indicators. For example, real household disposable income per head rose by 26 per cent. between 1979 and 1989. The retired have shared in this prosperity. The average increase in pensioners' total net incomes was 31 per cent. over and above inflation between 1979 and 1987, which is the latest date for which information is available.Directly comparable data for other European countries are not available. However, real output per head in the United Kingdom has risen faster since 1979 than in many other Europan countries, including France and Germany.The rising expectation of life, the fall in infant mortality and improvement in housing standards are set out, together with a range of other indicators, in "Social Trends" and "Regional Trends". Both publications also contain some comparisons with other European countries. Copies are available in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his estimate of land in public ownership being used for the building of motorways and trunk roads over the next five years.

The information is not available in the form requested.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether weighbridges are now provided for all commercial vehicles entering the United Kingdom from the continent of Europe by sea.

The Department has provided weighbridges with the agreement of the port authorities at most United Kingdom ferry ports to enable its traffic examiners to weigh incoming heavy goods vehicles. In addition, a trial has just been completed of automated weighing systems in five ports. In the light of a consultant's report on the trial which is expected shortly, we shall be considering whether to extend the installation of automated weighing systems to other ports. Preliminary negotiations have already taken place with some ports.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made in considering the approval of the construction of the new trains required to operate the through passenger services to the continent via the channel tunnel from the north of the country; when he expects these trains to be ordered; and what undertakings have been given that they will be completed in time for the service to commence from the opening of the tunnel.

British Rail published its plans for services beyond London on 14 December and I refer to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Mr. Lee) on that date, Official Report, column 767. I understand that BR currently intends to submit its investment proposals for approval this summer, with a view to ordering the trains later this year and commencing services when the tunnel opens.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether there are any plans to restrict the types of cars that young people can drive on the basis of engine capacity.

I have no plans at present to impose such a restriction.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the destinations chosen for brown tourist signs on motorways.

Tourist sign destinations are not chosen by the Department. They are applied for and authorised against published criteria. The following destinations have been authorised for inclusion on tourist signs on motorways in England by region:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when his officials were last in touch with Luton borough council about the prospective sale of Luton international airport to private sector owners; and what issues or problems were then discussed.

I very much welcome the moves by Luton council to sell Luton airport to the private sector. My officials communicate regularly with officers of Luton borough council on a range of airport matters, including its possible sale. My hon. Friend will be aware that the council was recommended by its advisers to await the Civil Aviation Authority's advice to my right hon. Friend on airport and airspace capacity before holding detailed discussions with interested parties. Publication of the authority's advice is expected next month.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what information his Department holds on the incidence of accidents on stretches of three-lane carriageways where the centre lane may be used by vehicles travelling in either direction;(2) if he has any plans to phase out three-lane carriageways where the centre lane may be used by vehicles travelling in either direction.

In England wide single carriageways marked in three lanes but without indication of priority—double white lines—were dropped from the Department's standards for new trunk roads about 20 years ago. Many stretches of such carriageway then in existence have since been phased out and re-marked as two lanes. A few sections remain where they are judged to be safe and appropriate to prevailing traffic conditions. Information about such sections of local roads is for local highway authorities. While road accident statistics record the number of lanes they do not distinguish between those three-lane roads with double white lines and those without. The position in Wales and Scotland is a matter for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Wales and for Scotland respectively.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list all schools which had achieved grant-maintained status by 1 April 1990 showing for each (a) the total amount of public funding in 1990–91 with all allocations under different heads, (b) the number of pupils, the age range and the number of pupils in each year group and (c) the total funding for each school under its last year of local education authority funding.

The table below shows the full-year equivalent amounts of annual maintenance grant—AMG—received by the first 20 grant-maintained schools last year. Provisional figures for 1990–91 have been set at a standard notional 6 per cent. above these amounts. Calculations of final AMG figures for 1990–91 are now being finalised as the Department receives information from relevant local education authorities about their spending plans for the year.The 1989–90 figures below do, in turn, reflect a 6·6 per cent. increase over what we estimate to have been LEA direct spending levels on these schools in 1988–89. In addition to AMG, schools receive small special purpose grants, for example to mirror what is available to LEAs under the Government's education support grant scheme.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the average income level of each 1 per cent. of the population with the highest incomes up to the total of 20 per cent. of the population with the highest incomes.

Available information is given in the table. Estimates for 1990–91 are based on a projection of the 1987–88 survey of personal incomes and are provisional. Since some investment income from which tax is deducted at source is not reflected in the survey, these estimates are uncertain and more detailed estimates cannot therefore be given.

Average income of individuals liable to tax at 1990–91 levels of income
Group of individuals liable to tax1	Average income £ per annum
Top 1 per cent.	97,000
Top 5 per cent.	51,000
Top 10 per cent.	39,000
Top 20 per cent.	30,000
1 Husband and wife counted separately.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what limit he can impose on the amounts that firms situated in enterprise zones may offset against any taxable benefit tied to that location in respect of their activities, or that of any of their subsidiaries making losses at locations outside that zone.

The tax reliefs which are available to businesses in enterprise zones are governed by legislation and my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has no proposals for any change in the rules.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what information he has on the number of people six to 12 months in arrears on their mortgage repayments.

The latest available figures show that at end 1989 there were approximately 58,000 mortgage loans six to 12 months in arrears. This represents less than ½ per cent. of total owner-occupied dwellings in the United Kingdom.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans the next issue of gilts.

The Government's funding policy is as set out in annex A to chapter 2 of the 1990–91 "Financial Statement and Budget Report". Gilt issues and purchases will be made as this policy dictates.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he plans to amend the designation of the Dublin docks area as a high-tax area for the purposes of the controlled foreign companies' legislation.

The Inland Revenue maintains and publishes a list of countries, some of which are qualified in respect of particular provisions in their law, in which companies can operate without coming within the controlled foreign companies legislation. That list is kept under review and updated when necessary in the light of changes is the tax provisions of other countries.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report the method by which he calculates personal real disposable income.

Personal disposable income is calculated by deducting from total personal income before tax the sum of United Kingdom taxes on income, social security contributions, payments of the community charge, but not, in the past, payments of rates and transfers abroad. Real personal disposable income is derived by dividing personal disposable income by the consumers' expenditure deflator the ratio of consumers' expenditure at current prices to consumers' expenditure revalued at constant prices. A description of the personal sector and of the methods of calculating the various compoenents of the personal disposable income calculation can be found in chapter 6, part A of the Central Statistical Office's "United Kingdom National Accounts: Sources and Methods".

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he has discussed his proposals for parallel currencies with (a) the President of the European Commission and (b) the president of the Bundesbank; whether he has any plans to do so before the intergovernmental conference; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 26 June 1990]: As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer said on 21 June in reply to a question by my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond and Barnes (Mr. Hanley) at column 655, he will be discussing his proposals further with his colleagues in the European Community, over the coming weeks.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on his proposals for parallel currencies as outlined in his speech to the German Industry Forum.

[holding answer 26 June 1990]: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer my right hon. Friend the Chancellor gave my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond and Barnes (Mr. Hanley) on 21 June, at column 655.

To ask the Minister for the Civil Service what are the reasons for the Central Office of Information's decision to recruit a private advertising firm to undertake a publicity campaign to promote the April 1991 census; and if he will make a statement.

I have been asked to reply.The census offices have commissioned the Central Office of Information to assist them in a publicity campaign to create public awareness of the 1991 census. The Central Office of Information will be handling this work in the same way as it handles work for other Government Departments. The Central Office of Information will be appointing an advertising agency, as it does for all Government advertising campaigns.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which missions abroad are fitted with fax machines.

Most of our posts overseas are fitted with facsimile machines. I refer the hon. Member to the current edition of the "HM Diplomatic Service Overseas Reference List", a copy of which is in the Library of the House, which provides facsimile numbers in each case.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contribution was made by Her Majesty's Government to Europe Day on 8 May.

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister contributed a message to a volume prepared by the Jean Monnet Foundation to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Schuman plan.The United Kingdom was represented at the ceremonies in Brussels for Europe Day on 8 May by Her Majesty's permanent representative to the European Communities.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Minister of State's visit to China in July represents any change in the policy of no high level contacts with China; and if the visit's discussions will be limited to the question of Hong Kong.

It has always been accepted by our European partners that we have a special need to maintain contact and gradually to rebuild good working relations with China over Hong Kong. My visit is in pursuance of that aim. Details of the programme remain to be settled, but it is intended that the discussions should cover Hong Kong and other issues of common concern.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the occasions, if any, at international conferences or meetings within the last five years when Her Majesty's Government have formally rejected or objected to the territorial claim over the United Kingdom contained in the constitution of the Republic of Ireland.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to a similar question on 20 June 1990. British delegates at all international conferences and meetings explicitly represent the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and this clearly demonstrates our position.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what analysis he has made of the steps being taken by football clubs to implement the findings of the Taylor report.

Analysis of responses to inquiries made last year of the police, fire authorities and local authorities, which are responsible for the issue of safety certificates, about implementation of the urgent recommendations of the interim report of the Hillsborough inquiry indicated that nearly all of them had then been implemented at football league grounds, as had many of the non-urgent recommendations. The majority of the safety recommendations of the final report which are aimed at football clubs comprise recommendations which were in the interim report, with the exception of those on all seated accommodation. We shall be looking to the Football Licensing Authority to check the progress of clubs towards the introduction of all-seated accommodation at football league grounds.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what response he has made to the representations of Sir David Napley that scientific and forensic expertise ought to be made available to defences.

My right hon. and learned Friend has received no direct representations from Sir David Napley on the availability of scientific and forensic expertise for the defence although we are aware of his recent newspaper article on the subject. The establishment of forensic science units independent of the Government is a matter for private initiative.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many prosecutions have been brought for dog fighting in England in each of the last five years; and by whom such prosecutions were brought;(2) how many prosecutions have been brought for dog fighting in Wales in each of the last five years; and by whom such prosecutions were brought.

Information collected centrally does not distinguish offences relating to dog fights from other offences under the Protection of Animals Act 1911.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has regarding the number of specialist civilian firearms officers employed by police forces to supervise the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988; and what steps he is taking to promote their use.

No records are maintained of specialist civilian firearms officers employed to supervise the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 though returns made by provincial forces to Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary at the end of December 1989 indicated that 80 civilian staff were employed on firearms registration duties with a further 151 in support duties—part-time staff are counted on a two for one basis. The Metropolitan police have 24 such staff.Home Office guidance on the use of civilian staff suggests that they can be used on clerical and administrative duties involved with firearms and other functions where there is no need for police powers.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received regarding the implementation of the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 by different police forces; and what steps he is taking to promote a consistent approach across different forces.

My right hon. and learned Friend has received representations from a number of different sources including Members of both Houses of Parliament, the shooting organisations and individual members of the public about the implementation of the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988. Administration of firearms controls is the responsibility of individual chief officers of police. To help ensure consistency of practice in and between police forces, the Home Department has issued advice on the administration of all aspects of firearms legislation, including the new controls, in the publication "Firearms Law: Guidance to the Police". Copies of the document, which is available to the public, have been placed in the Library. The advice in the guidance is subject to review both by the Home Department and the Firearms Consultative Committee.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will invite public consultation on the introduction of daylight saving by initiating differential time zones between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

No. I do not consider that this would be a practical proposition.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement about the outcome of the meeting of Trevi and European Community Immigration Ministers in Dublin on 14 and 15 June.

A major theme of Trevi Ministers' discussions was the need to improve further co-operation against drug trafficking. We approved a paper examining the links between drug trafficking and other organised crime, and endorsed new arrangements for a co-ordinated response to requests for technical assistance including training from drug producer and transit countries. At my instigation, Trevi Ministers also agreed to an accelerated timetable for work on the proposal for a European drugs intelligence unit, and to examination of the need for such a unit to have effective links with other European countries including those in eastern Europe.As Trevi Ministers, we also reviewed progress during the Irish Presidency on measures to develop police co-operation across the whole range of crime in the light of completion of the single European market after 1992. We approved a programme of action setting out a range of measures, a copy of which I am placing in the Library.The meeting of Ministers concerned with immigration, attended also by a Vice-President of the Commission, was the eighth in the series of such meetings held towards the end of each Presidency since 1986.Ministers took stock of the work carried out in the ad hoc working group on immigration during the Irish Presidency and considered the future programme of work. The main conclusions which we reached are set out in a press release of which I am placing a copy in the Library.I was pleased to join 10 of my Community colleagues in signing a convention on asylum which establishes criteria for determining which member state is responsible for examining a claim for asylum when more than one member state is involved. I am placing a copy of the convention in the Library, and it will also be laid before the House in the normal way.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to announce proposals for the control of dogs.

The Government have today published a consultation paper, "The Control of Dogs", to seek public reaction to proposals which my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary together with my right hon. Friends, the Secretaries of State for Scotland, for Wales and for the Environment wish to make. This paper co-ordinates a number of proposals aimed at tackling dog control problems directly and without the need for a national dog registration scheme.Proposals to improve the control of dogs canvassed in the paper include a new offence of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control; additional powers for local authorities and the police to seize and detain or destroy a dangerous dog; new powers for the courts to impose muzzling and other controls on dogs; additional controls which might apply only to certain breeds or types of dogs, or the banning of such dogs; a new offence of allowing a dog to stray persistently; and a fixed penalty system for enforcement of the collar and tag rules or other dog control provisions.Copies of the paper have been placed in the Library. Comments on these proposals are requested by 15 November.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions (a) under the race relations provisions of the Public Order Act 1986 and (b) under the Malicious Communications Act there have been since their passing.

Information is given in the table. The 1989 data will not be available until the autumn.

Number of prosecutions under section 18 of the Public Order Act 1986 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988
England and Wales
Act	1987	1988
Public Order Act 19861 Section 18	6	22
Malicious Communications Act 19882	n/a	3

Persons indicted1 for homicide where one or more of the victims was aged under 16 years of age, by outcome of proceedings
Number of persons
			Convicted of homicide
Year	Indicted for homicide	Murder	Sec. 2 manslaughter	Other manslaughter	Infanticide
England and Wales
1982	68	18	22	19	6
1983	72	16	11	28	10
1984	64	8	13	29	2
1985	79	22	9	26	8
1986	60	18	7	18	3
1987	77	20	11	36	1
21988	58	12	6	28	6
Essex police force area
1982	1	1	—	—	—
1983	2	—	1	1	—
1984	1	—	—	1	—
1985	2	1	—	1	—
1986	2	—	—	1	—

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the total of costs billed to health authorities by the Metropolitan police to cover emergency cover during the ambulance workers' dispute.

The Metropolitan police have charged the South West Thames regional health authority £9·68 million for its assistance.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the murder rate per 1,000 of the population in the constituency of Basildon in 1989.

The available information is that there were 11 homicides recorded by the Essex police force in 1989, a rate of 0·008 per 1,000 population.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons were (a) charged with and (b) convicted of the killing of children in (i) England and Wales and (ii) the Basildon constituency in each year since 1965.

The numbers of persons indicted and convicted for homicide offences are published annually in Table 4·7 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales", copies of which are available in the Library. The number of such cases where one or more victims was less than 16 years of age are given in the table for the years 1982–88. Information on homicides in the Basildon constituency is not available, but figures for the Essex police force area for the years 1982–88 are included; corresponding figures for the years 1965–1981 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice his Department has issued to local authorities on their responsibilities for granting safety certificates for, and overseeing reductions in, standing accommodation at football grounds in England and Wales for the 1990–91 football season.

[holding answer 25 June 1990]: The Home Office has given advice to local authorities in England and Wales on their responsibilities under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act in a number of circulars over the past 15 years. The safety standards which local authorities are currently advised to apply for both seated and standing accommodation are those recommended in the 1986 edition of the "Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds" produced by the Home Office and the Scottish Office, subject to certain changes recommended in Lord Justice Taylor's interim and final reports on the Hillsborough tragedy of which local authorities in England and Wales were advised in circulars on 4 August 1989 and 7 February 1990.We are advised that it would not be appropriate to use safety certificates to require football grounds to reduce standing accommodation which meets accepted standards of safety or when specific powers are available in other legislation. The circular of 7 February 1990 therefore advised local authorities that they should not be used for this purpose. It is for the football clubs to respond to Lord Justice Taylor's recommendations on all-seated accommodation in the first instance. Powers under section 11 of the Football Spectators Act will be used in due course if it proves necessary to do so.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what assessments under Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations have been undertaken at all workplaces used by civil servants in his Department.

Assessments under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations have been carried out by the Department of Energy at those premises where it is the major user. Where the Department is a minor occupier the responsibility for such assessments lies with the major occupier.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy whether he intends to seek the views of Parliament in the form of a debate before he makes any recommendations on the report of the inspector on the Hinkley Point C pressurised water reactor proposal.

No. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out his intentions for handling the inspector's report in his reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Wanstead and Woodford (Mr. Arbuthnot) on 14 June at column 287.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has received regarding eligibility for community charge rebates.

The Department of Social Security is responsible for the community charge benefit scheme. I refer the hon. Member to my reply to him on 23 May at column 208. In the one month since that reply the Department has received a further 526 items of correspondence about the community charge benefit scheme.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will provide what information he has about the level of investment income for pensioners, according to the level of their weekly pension income.

The latest available information, from the 1987 family expenditure survey, is set out in the table.

Table1: Average investment income according to levels of weekly income from state pension and supplementary benefit2
RP and supplementary benefit £	Average savings/investment income £
00·00 to 39·933	13·45
40·00 to 59·99	15·24
60·00 plus	33·56
1 Source: Family expenditure survey.
2 It is not possible to identify the state retirement pension separately from supplementary benefit from the family expenditure survey.
3 Income bands selected to provide representative sample sizes.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what steps he is taking to ensure provision of social security benefits to blind people with additional costs.

I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Moray (Mrs. Ewing) on 26 February at column 61.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people who were previously denied benefits under the five-year rule governing claims for industrial deafness benefit have re-applied since the ruling of the Law Lords in October 1989 on good cause grounds in (a) Greenock and Port Glasgow, (b) Strathclyde and (c) Scotland as a whole.

Eleven applications for review have been received from people in the Greenock and Port Glasgow area following the Court of Appeal ruling. Figures for Strathclyde and Scotland as a whole can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much it would cost in the current financial year to extend to transitional protection claimants the full annual uprating of income support.

The cost in additional income support has been estimated at about £35 million.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to the answers of 10 May, Official Report, column 191, and 30 April, Official Report, column 419, about energy consumption, what is the square footage of office space to which these figures relate.

[holding answer 25 June 1990]: The area is 17,383,684 sq ft.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much was invested in improving the energy efficiency of his Department in the latest available year.

[holding answer 25 June 1990]: Information is not available separately for the Departments of Health and Social Security. In the financial year 1989–90, the Departments combined invested £133,000 in energy efficiency measures. Further investment was made by the Property Services Agency, but the amount cannot be identified separately from the agency's overall expenditure on energy efficiency.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many tenants qualify for housing benefit in Ceredigion; what were the corresponding figures for the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 22 June 1990]: The information requested is in the table.

	1987–88	1988–89	1989–90
Number of Local Authority and private tenants receiving housing benefit (rounded to the nearest 50)	4,600	3,750	3,500

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the short title of any legislative Act approved by European Community member states since 1 January in relation to which each state must take national implementing measures; and what action has been taken by each state in relation to each such measure.

The table lists the directives relevant to completion of the single European market which have been formally adopted by the Council of Ministers since 1 January 1990. A period of grace, typically 18 months, is allowed for member states to transpose directives into national law. It is generally too early, therefore, to comment on what action member states will take to implement these directives. In addition, directives in other areas of application, most notably concerning health and safety at the workplace, have also been adopted during this period. A full list of these and other legislative acts—regulations, decisions and recommendations—is recorded in the Official Journal of the European Communities, copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what consultations have been undertaken within the EEC on the French Government plan to control the importation of bicycles of Chinese origin by quota; and if he will support similar measures to be extended to the United Kingdom.

Member states have not yet been consulted about any plans by the French Government to restrict imports of bicycles from China. In seeking such action the French Government would have to submit a formal application to the Commission giving detailed evidence of the injury, or threat of injury, to domestic producers from the imports in question. My officials have received no requests from United Kingdom manufacturers for action to restrict imports into the United Kingdom of Chinese bicycles, but we will consider carefully any case with supporting evidence put forward by the industry.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the percentage increase in Chinese bicycle imports in the current year over 1989; and what action he is proposing to take to protect United Kingdom manufacturing interests.

The percentage increase in imports of bicycles from China to the United Kingdom, for January to April 1990 over the same period for 1989 was 30·1 per cent. by volume. Imports of bicycles from China into the United Kingdom are covered by the EC's generalised system of preferences. My Department is in contact with United Kingdom bicycle manufacturers and will be meeting them shortly to discuss what action could be taken.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action he will take with regard to the regulatory position in the light of the case of Dunsdale Securities; and if he has any plans to increase the powers of the Financial Intermediaries, Managers and Brokers Regulatory Association.

It is the responsibility of the Securities and Investments Board to ensure that the regulatory framework established by its own rules and those of the self-regulating bodies, including FIMBRA, provides the appropriate level of protection for investors. The Secretary of State has responsibilities for general oversight of the regulatory system under the Financial Services Act, but not for its day-to-day operation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on what matters were agreed at the European Community Consumer Affairs Council on 13 June.

The directive on package travel was adopted. There was agreement in principle that the European home and leisure accident surveillance system should be extended and that the programme should be adoped later in June. It was agreed that the rapid exchange of information system should be extended, the matter being remitted to the Committee of Permanent Representatives to consider further detailed procedures.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) whether he proposes to make changes in the consumer credit advertising regulations with regard to low start mortgage repayments;(2) whether he proposes to make changes in the consumer credit advertising regulations with regard to home income plans.

[holding answer 25 June 1990]: I have no plans to do so, but I am always ready to consider reasoned suggestions for amending regulations.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he gave his approval to the company name National Front (Printers) Ltd. under section 26 of the Companies Act 1985.

[holding answer 25 June 1990]: Applications for names requiring the Secretary of State's approval under section 26 of the Companies Act 1985 are considered using established criteria and within the framework of administrative law. There were no grounds on which the application could properly have been rejected.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action he intends to take to prevent the abuse of end user certificates; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 18 June 1990]: Where there is evidence of attempts to provide misleading information about the end use of equipment which is the subject of an export licence application, the matter is carefully investigated.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his estimate of the number of teachers of Welsh language and literature required to implement the national curriculum for Welsh; and what proposals he has to make up any shortfall.

Estimates of the number of teachers required to deliver the national curriculum for Welsh are being prepared in the light of discussions with local education authorities, and using recent information on pupil numbers. It is clear that additional teachers of Welsh will be required as the national curriculum is introduced.The need for additional teachers will be met through a mix of initial teacher training—ITT—and in-service training. With regard to ITT we have issued new criteria for the training of primary teachers which will require all initial teacher training institutions in Wales to provide opportunities for students to learn Welsh and improve their Welsh language skills while they are training; added Welsh to the list of secondary shortage subjects for which a bursary of £1,500 will be available in initial teacher training; and introduced the Welsh-medium supplement which could produce teachers capable of teaching Welsh in English medium primary schools if students fail to gain posts in Welsh medium schools.In order to take advantage of the skills available within the existing teaching force we have provided funding to enable courses to be developed for serving primary and secondary teachers to prepare them to teach Welsh as a second language; and provided additional funding for LEA in-service training for Welsh—£900,000 has been made available this year.The teaching as a career unit was established to promote teaching as a career. Its activity in Wales is sharply focused on the need to recruit additional propsective teachers of Welsh and Welsh-medium teachers. A total of £116,000 has been made available through education support grants for LEAs in Wales to support the development of measures to increase the recruitment of teachers in the shortage subjects including Welsh.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many postgraduate students in Wales pursued initial teacher training courses in 1989; and how many benefited from his Department's initiative for meeting the shortfall in Welsh-medium teachers.

A total of 883 post graduate students commenced initial teacher training in 1989. Forty-two of these students are benefiting from the Welsh incentive supplement.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will extend his initiative to train additional Welsh-medium teachers to graduate in Welsh language and literature in order to attract sufficient Welsh-speaking graduates into the teaching profession to implement the objectives of the national curriculum.

The Welsh incentive supplement is aimed at encouraging students who need additional help to develop their language skills to train for Welsh-medium teaching. Additional work is required of these students. Graduates in Welsh would clearly not need additional help and thus there is no case for making the supplement available to this group.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what contribution his Department is making to the survey on countryside change being conducted by the institute of Terrestrial Ecology at the University college of North Wales for the Natural Environmental Research Council.

None. This is a Great Britain-wide survey funded by the Department of the Environment and the Natural Environment Research Council.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what percentage of the school timetable on average Welsh school pupils spend using computers.

This information is not held centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many junior doctors are employed in obstetrics on a whole-time equivalent basis in the national health service in Wales in the current year; and how many were employed in each of the past five years.

The available information, which relates to staff in obstetrics and gynaecology, is as follows:

Junior doctors in post as at 30 September1 (whole-time equivalents)
	Number
1984	109·6
1985	116·4
1986	111·7
1987	113·4
1988	122·0
21989	127·2
1 Senior registrar, registrar, senior house officers and house officers. Excluding locums.
2 Provisional.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) whether he will list, by health authority, the number of beds available in continuing care for elderly people in the national health service in Wales;(2) what steps he is taking to ensure continuing care provision in the national health service for elderly people in Wales;(3) whether he will list, by health authority, the number of beds in continuing care for elderly people which have been contracted out in Wales.

The information requested is not held centrally. It is for local health authority management to decide the nature of the continuous care service it provides, in the light of local needs and circumstances and the overall level of provision.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much money has been allocated in the current financial year by his Department to support the implementation of the all-Wales strategy on mental illness (a) to each local authority in Wales, (b) to voluntary organisations in each local authority area and (c) to voluntary organisations in Wales as a whole.

Provisional allocations have been made in respect of proposals put forward by each of the eight county joint planning teams as follows:

	£
Clwyd	227,100
Dyfed	200,000
Gwent	245,300
Gwynedd	126,597
Mid Glamorgan	137,700
Powys	101,813
South Glamorgan	316,799
West Glamorgan	241,500

In many cases where a proposal involves participation by more than one agency, it has yet to be established how the funding will be apportioned. Some £96,000 has been allocated to the voluntary sector in respect of services being provided on an all-Wales basis.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many secondary schools in each country in Wales are currently served by a school nurse based on the premises.

Information on the number of school nurses based on individual secondary school premises is not collected centrally. The numbers of secondary schools served by a school nurse in each county in Wales is as follows:

Number of secondary schools served by a school nurse, 1988–89
	Number
Clwyd	30
Dyfed	16
Gwent	17
Gwynedd	5
Mid Glamorgan	13
Powys	3

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy that a school nurse be provided at each secondary or high school in Wales.

This is a matter for determination locally.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he intends to issue planning guidance on land for low-cost housing in rural Wales.

There was an excellent and constructive response to the consultation which the Welsh Office carried out last year. Thirty-two local planning authorities and 16 other organisations wrote in reply to the Welsh Office letter and my right hon. Friend and I are grateful for the time and thought which they gave to the proposed planning guidance.Most of the respondents supported the objectives of the guidance and agreed that in suitable places it would encourage the sale of land for low-cost housing at less than full residential value and hence reduce the cost of providing the accommodation itself. There were reservations about the degree of benefit, concern about possible adverse environmental effects of a large-scale growth of housing in rural communities and about the cost of servicing a proliferation of sites in villages, as well as many comments of detail.My right hon. Friend has concluded that to complement existing policies for the provision of low-cost housing in rural areas planning guidance should be issued along the lines of the consultation paper. He recognises proper concerns about the environment and about design and will ensure that in the guidance the importance which he attaches to these will be emphasised. He will also take the opportunity to stress that the scale of provision which he envisages will not be great and certainly not such as to swamp any village with new houses or to put any community at risk because of overprovision of low-cost housing whose disposal is constrained to a low-priced local market. The guidance will be included in a comprehensive planning policy guidance note on land for housing.Meanwhile the Secretary of State takes the view that in considering planning applications for dwellings in rural areas local planning authorities may accept as a material consideration the fact that watertight arrangements are in place which will ensure that the proposed dwellings are available only to provide affordable accommodation for local people. The local planning authority will of course also have to take into account the provisions of the development plan and all other material considerations. In so doing, they will be expected to have regard to the environmental impact of the proposal on the community and to the need for sympathetic design as well as to the extent of the local housing need which the proposal sets out to satisfy.

To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will list those organisations and individuals who can receive the television pictures of the House of Commons chamber, those who have terminated their receivers since the beginning of the experiment and those who have applied for a signal but have been refused.

The list of organisations and individuals within the House and its outbuildings who receive a clean feed from the Chamber is as follows: Mr. Speaker; Mr. Speaker's Secretary; the Chairman of Ways and Means; the Votes and Proceedings Office the Supervisor of Broadcasting; and the Press Gallery, within which some broadcasting organisations have made their own separate arrangements. There are of course also monitors in each of the Division Lobbies.In addition, I understand that some Government Departments have arranged through the Central Office of Information to take the clean feed, though this facility does not apply to Ministers' rooms in the House.So far as organisations outside the House are concerned, all the main broadcasters within the United Kingdom,—the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky TV and BSB—are entitled under the terms of the first report of Sessiton 1988–89 of the Select Committee on Televising of Proceedings of the House to receive the clean feed. Westminster Cable TV has also been approved for this purpose. As regards foreign-based broadcasters, BBC and ITN make available on the daily Eurovision news exchange extracts from the clean feed of up to two minutes, while House of Commons Broadcasting Unit Ltd. has licensed WTN and Visnews to supply overseas customers with material from the House of Commons of not more than five minutes duration. In addition, House of Commons Broadcasting Unit Ltd. has licensed a large number of foreign broadcasters to take longer coverage, including:

Country	Broadcasting organisation
Australia	ABC
	Channel 9
Canada	CBC
Germany	ARD
	ZDF
Hong Kong	TVB News
	Asia TV
Ireland	RTE
Japan	NHK
United States	ABC
	CBS
	CNN
	C-Span
	NBC

House of Commons Broadcasting Unit Ltd. has also licensed the Press Association to provide newspapers with still photographs of the Chamber. These are made, using a freeze-frame technique, from a clean feed supplied for the purpose.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether a request has been made at any time to the Government of the Republic of Ireland to implement article 2 of the European convention on the suppression of terrorism with regard to extradition between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

At the last meeting of the Inter-Governmental Conference on 19 April, Ministers of both Governments commissioned officials to undertake a review of arrangements for dealing with fugitive offenders. We will continue to pursue these matters through the conference.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps have been taken to improve the budgetary allocation in respect of the social fund to each of the social security offices in South Down.

This year's allocations to social security offices took greater account of the level of demand for social fund payments in each area. A copy of a paper describing the allocation formula is available in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the budgetary allocation to each of the social security offices in South Down in each of the years (a) 11 April 1988 to 31 March 1989, (b) 1 April 1989 to 31 March 1990, and (c) 1 April 1990 to 31 March 1991.

The information requested can be obtained from the Library.