To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on Child Support Agency case reference no. 1001953851, dealt with at the Longton agency; and on what grounds the agency cancelled the child maintenance order concerned.

The case was taken on under section 6 of the Child Support Act 1991 and the maintenance order was subsequently superseded and ceased to have effect by virtue of regulation 3(6) of the Child Support (Maintenance Arrangements and Jurisdiction) Regulations 1992.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what is the policy of the Child Support Agency regarding using first-class post rather than second-class post;(2) how many letters on average are sent by the Child Support Agency to each person who is the subject of a claim prior to the statement of the new contribution required;(3) what was the overall cost of administration and the cost of the postage bill for the Child Support Agency in the last available year.

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what instructions are given to the Child Support Agency to protect single mothers who have disabilities or children with disabilities from a possible £8·80 a week income support reduction or withdrawal of their benefit book.

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many assessments the Child Support Agency has made; how many assessments are being challenged by parents with care; and how many assessments are being challenged by absent parents.

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many cases have been dealt with by the Child Support Agency to date;(2) how many of all the cases dealt with by the Child Support Agency to date have involved absent parents who are in receipt of income support.

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in how many cases to date the Child Support Agency has used earnings deduction orders to obtain maintenance payments.

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what target time the Child Support Agency has for completion of assessments of new child support claims; how many of the claims made after April 1993 have been assessed within the target time; and in how many cases the Child Support Agency has exceeded the target time by (a) four weeks, (b) eight weeks and (c) 12 weeks.

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many of the cases dealt with by the Child Support Agency to date have resulted in absent parents requesting a review of maintenance assessment; if there is a target time for dealing with reviews; what is the average length of time required to complete the review process; and in how many cases the review process has exceeded the target time.

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much, on average, it costs the Child Support Agency to access and collect £2·20 from an absent parent on income support.

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, (1) pursuant to his answer of 1 March, Official Report, column 695, when estimates will be available of the amount of money the Child Support Agency will be expected to recover in (a) 1994–95 (b) 1995–96 and (c) 1996–97;(2) pursuant to his answer of 1 March,

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ross Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many cases the Child Support Agency has pursued to date when there is in existence a court agreement regarding maintenance.

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to my right hon. Friend.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list research commissioned or undertaken by his Department since 1979 into the causes and effects of poverty, material deprivation and very low family income among children in any part of the United Kingdom, specifying the year and cost of each project; and whether he has any plans for such research.

Research is regularly conducted into the role of social security and its impact on those in low-income households. A list of research projects sponsored by the Department is published in the social security research yearbooks, formerly the DHSS handbook of research and development, copies of which are in the Library.In addition, the Department sponsors a number of long-running statistical surveys to monitor change in the composition and circumstances of households and the level and nature of their income. These provide the basic data for research and analysis by other interested researchers.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 1 March, Official Report, column 691, if he proposes to prepare a report on poverty for the world summit on social development planned to take place in Copenhagen in March 1995; and if he will specify which other memberes of the European Union have already issued such reports in preparation for that summit.

I have no such plans, and am not aware of any reports on poverty that have been issued by European Union countries in preparation for the world summit on social development.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what changes he plans to make to the rules governing funeral payments from the social fund.

Amendments to the Social Fund Maternity and Funeral Payment (General) Expenses Regulations 1987 have been laid before Parliament today. They aim to ensure that help will be focused more accurately on those who have good reason to take responsibility for funeral costs. People in genuine need of help will not be affected.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants living in private rented accommodation had their housing benefit reduced in the last year; and what was the average level of reduction.

The information requested is not available. Decisions on the level of housing benefit paid in individual cases are matters for local authorities, which may restrict payments on the basis of a rent officer's determination or may choose to pay benefit exceeding that amount.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many crisis loans were paid for rent in advance for the last year.

The information requested is published in my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's annual report on the social fund for 1992–93, which is in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average length of time taken to process an application for family credit.

The assessment of family credit is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what representations he has received from Coventry concerning undue delay in the payment of income support;(2) what standard is set for the time to be taken to process and pay income support to a woman who is within 11 weeks of her expected date of confinement;(3) what information is required of an income support claimant who is within 11 weeks of expected date of confinement in order to evaluate their claim;(4) what representations he has received from Coventry concerning the Benefit Agency asking unnecessary and irrelevant questions of income support claimants;(5) to what explanation an income support claimant is entitled in a case of extensive delay in processing and paying a claim;(6) what investigations are currently being conducted into the processing and payment of income support from the Coventry office.

The administration of income support is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people are currently receiving (a) attendance allowance, (b) disability allowance, (c) family credit, (d) income support, (e) invalidity benefit and (f) sickness benefit in the Doncaster area.

This is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many landowners claiming full exemption from inheritance tax have been found not to have made appropriate arrangements to publicise the right of public access to their land.

Landowners who breach the undertakings they have given to secure conditional exemption are liable to an inheritance tax charge on the current value of the land. To date there has been no need to raise any such charge. Any questions which have arisen have been resolved in discussion.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the initial cost of the valuation of properties for council tax.

The cost of the initial valuation banding of domestic properties for council tax was £36,067,401.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are his current policies within the Paris Club; which countries are in consultation with the club; and if he will make a statement.

The United Kingdom's policy is to work with other creditors in the Paris Club to negotiate sustainable reschedulings of bilateral claims that will maximise recoveries. For severely indebted, low-income countries, the United Kingdom's view is that more concessional relief is required, along the lines proposed by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister in Trinidad in 1990, and the Government are working to achieve a consensus for this.At its latest meeting, which ended on 4 March, the Paris Club agreed concessional reschedulings for Senegal and Niger. The world bank's publication "World Debt Tables 1993–94", a copy of which is in the Library, contains details of earlier multilateral debt relief agreements.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what amount of banknotes will be printed by the Bank of England for each financial year from 1994–95 to 1996–97.

The Bank of England expects to print approximately 1,400 million notes of all denominations in each of the next three years. This is the same as it will print in 1993–94.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the breakdown of the PSBR in this fiscal year between central and local government.

A detailed breakdown of the forecast for the PSBR for 1993–94 was given in table 6.11 of the Financial Statement and Budget Report published last November. The table gives a summary of this information.

	£ billion
Central Government borrowing requirement on its own account	50·2
Local authority borrowing requirement	-0·8
Public corporations borrowing requirement	0·4
PSBR	49·8

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimates he has made regarding the revenue derived from air passenger duty per annum in respect of (a) scheduled passenger flights and (b) charter flights to and from (i) Leeds-Bradford airport and (ii) Humberside airport.

CAA statistics for 1992 show terminal passenger traffic by individual airports. Assuming that all flights are return flights and that the proportion of EC to non-EC flights is the same as nationally, it is estimated that the air passenger duty revenue per annum for flights departing from these airports will be of the order of magnitude shown below.

(£ million)
	Scheduled	Charter
Humberside	0·2	0·2
Leeds/Bradford	0·9	0·8

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table giving the pre-tax profits for each financial year from 1978–79 for the following building societies (a) Halifax, (b) Nationwide, (c) Woolwich and (d) Abbey National now plc.

These figures are not collated by the Treasury, but they are in the public domain. I suggest that the hon. Member approaches the institutions directly.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment his Department has made of the loss of betting duty caused by the cancellation of horse race meetings due to bad whether during the last year.

Receipts from general betting duty in the latest three months, November 1993 to January 1994, were 2·6 per cent. lower than in the same period a year earlier. This compares to an increase of 6 per cent. for receipts in the months May 1993 to January 1994. It is not possible to attribute the fall in receipts specifically to bad weather, but this is likely to have been a factor.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received since the November Budget on the VAT penalty regime; and if he will make a statement.

There was extensive and very helpful consultation about the VAT penalty regime before the Budget. There have been very few further representations since.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the total amount of value added tax wrongly imposed on sports clubs in respect of subscriptions and the hire of grounds and equipment for each year since 1990; and if he will make a statement.

Customs and Excise estimates, based on information from the Department of National Heritage, are that repayments will amount to some £10 million for each calendar year since 1990.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the use of freephone and freepost facilities currently being operated by his Department; how much these facilities are costing; for what purposes these facilities are being used; and how much his Department has spent on operating freephone and freepost facilities in each financial year since 1979.

The Treasury currently makes no use of freephone or freepost facilities and there is no record of it having done so since 1979.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 22 February, Official Report, column 96, if he will provide whatever information is available of those occasions on which he, or other Ministers in his Department, have signed public interest immunity certificates, and for what reasons.

I have not signed any public interest immunity certificates as Chancellor of the Exchequer and no other serving Treasury Minister has ever signed such a certificate.So far as I am aware, the only public interest immunity certificate signed by a Treasury Minister since 1979 was signed in January 1988 by my right hon. Friend the Member for St. Albans (Mr. Lilley) in his then capacity as the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. That certificate was issued in connection with civil proceedings in which the Bank of England was concerned, and related to Treasury and bank documents. Public interest immunity was claimed on the grounds that it was necessary that the documents in question be withheld from production, in the case of some, for the proper functioning of the public service, and in the case of others, for the proper exercise by the bank of its functions and responsibilities as a central bank and banking supervisor. The claim was considered by the court and upheld.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Departments spend on child care; on what provision the sum is spent; how many children receive the child care; and if he will make a statement about child care.

[holding answer 7 March 1994]: The information requested is set out for each of the Chancellor's Departments. The expenditure shown relates to the current financial year, unless otherwise stated.

• Her Majesty's Treasury
• EXPENDITURE: £7,800 per annum.
• PROVISION: School Holiday Playscheme and Emergency Nursery places.
• Number of children receiving childcare this financial year to date: 32.
• Inland Revenue:
• EXPENDITURE: The Inland Revenue subsidise a number of nurseries and playschemes, both in monetary terms and also by providing accommodation, utilities and administrative support. Childcare budgets are delegated to 34 regional offices, and no data are held centrally.
• PROVISION: Nurseries and Playschemes.
• Number of children receiving childcare: 651 use playschemes and 147 use workplace nurseries.
• National Investment and Loans Office
• EXPENDITURE: £481 per annum.
• PROVISION: School Holiday Playscheme.
• Number of children receiving childcare this financial year to date: 3.
• Government Actuary's Department
• No expenditure on childcare.
• Department for National Savings
• No expenditure on childcare.
• Registry of Friendly Societies
• No expenditure on childcare.
• Royal Mint
• No expenditure on childcare.
• Central Statistical Office
• EXPENDITURE: £5,798 per annum.
• PROVISION: Playschemes.
• Number of children receiving childcare this financial year to date: 57.
• The CSO also spent £173,000 in 1992–93 building and setting up an on site nursery for 34 children.
• Customs and Excise
• EXPENDITURE: £428,000 per annum.
• PROVISION: Workplace nurseries, bought in schemes and other playschemes.
• Number of children receiving childcare this financial year to date: approximately 1,000.
• Paymaster General's Office
• EXPENDITURE: £44,500 per annum.
• PROVISION: Nursery.
• Number of children receiving childcare this financial year to date: 43.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department where a 17-year-old alleged offender who is deemed to be category A would normally be held in the prison system.

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to publish the detailed rules of the revised criminal injuries compensation scheme, the tariff scheme.

The detailed rules of the tariff scheme, which comes into force on 1 April 1994, are being published today.A copy of the text of the rules and the accompanying guide, which explains to claimants how the new scheme works and the criteria adopted for deciding applications, have been placed in the Vote Office and the Library. Copies of both documents may be obtained from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, Tay house, 300 Bath street, Glasgow G2 4JR.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 9 February, Official Report, column 253, relating to the expected savings in 1994–95 in respect of bail hostels, what directions have been given to the West Midlands probation service as to the savings to be made in 1994–95.

The Home Office has not given directions to the West Midlands probation committee on this matter. The committee has been asked to identify two approved hostels for closure so that the necessary savings in public expenditure may be made.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he had received about his decision to close 11 bail hostels.

Representations have been received from a number of hon. Members, probation services, and others involved in the criminal justice system from the areas affected.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements will be made for offenders in the west midlands when there is no vacancy in a bail or probation hostel in the west midlands.

There are over 100 approved hostels in England and Wales, a number of which are located in probation areas neighbouring the west midlands. All are available to the west midlands courts and it is the responsibility of the probation service to bring them to those courts' attention.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of those remanded on bail are remanded to bail hostels.

The information requested is not held centrally and is not available.

Receptions into prison service establishments by offence, 19931
Offence	Immediate imprisonment	In default of payment of a fine	All	Percentage in default of payment of a fine
All offences	52,337	22,583	74,920	30
Violence against the person	7,537	1,575	9,112	17
Murder	214	0	214	0
Manslaughter	183	0	183	0
Other homicide and attempted homicide	403	5	408	1
Wounding	4,826	785	5,611	14
Assaults	11,371	612	1,983	31
Cruelty to children	46	1	47	2
Other offences of violence against the person	494	172	666	26
Sexual offences	1,849	34	1,883	2
Buggery and indecency between males	179	1	180	1
Rape	428	0	428	0
Gross indecency with children	223	2	225	1
Other sexual offences	1,019	31	1,050	3
Burglary	9,532	1,673	11,205	15
Robbery	3,075	59	3,134	2

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the total reduction in funding for bail hostels is being met from the west midlands.

Some 16 per cent.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide details of the rates charged by local authorities to other local authorities for accommodating those remanded on bail when there is no vacancy available in their own hostels.

Local authorities are required to pay a standard flat rate charge for hostel residents for whom they have responsibility, irrespective of where that hostel is located. For 1993–94 the weekly charge is £65·03.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were sentenced to a prison term under each offence category in the latest year for which figures are available; and what numbers and percentage of the total were fine defaulters.

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the expenditure (a) per officer, (b) per 100,000 population (i) in total, (ii) on vehicles, (iii) on buildings, and (iv) on communications by year for the last four years for the police forces in (1) Humberside, (2) North Yorkshire, (3) South Yorkshire and (4) West Yorkshire.

Total expenditure per officer and per 100,000 population is set out in the table. Separate totals for expenditure on vehicles, buildings and communications are not held centrally.

(a) Total expenditure per officer, based on establishments at 1 April each year:
	1990–91(£)	1991–92(£)	1992–931 (£)	1993–942 (£)
Humberside	35,572	40,262	42,798	44,665
North Yorkshire	35,100	38,743	43,288	46,604
South Yorkshire	33,935	36,514	41,229	43,565
West Yorkshire	36,651	40,671	42,942	46,306

Arrests and prosecutions per officer and per 100,000 population
	Arrests—all offences		Prosecutions—indictable offences only
	Per officer	Per 100,000 population	Per officer	Per 100,000 population
1989
Humberside	18	4,182	4	916
North Yorkshire	12	2,458	4	737
South Yorkshire	13	3,088	4	983
West Yorkshire	15	3,803	4	1,001
1990
Humberside	18	4,212	4	913
North Yorkshire	14	2,800	4	819
South Yorkshire	15	3,396	4	998
West Yorkshire	16	4,073	4	1,056

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what were the number of (a) arrests and (b) prosecutions, (i) per officer and (ii) per 100,000 population by year for the last four years in the police authority areas covering (1) Humberside, (2) north Yorkshire, (3) south Yorkshire and (4) west Yorkshire.

The readily available information is given in the table.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what were the capital programmes by year for the last four years for the police authority areas covering (a) Humberside, (b) north Yorkshire, (c) south Yorkshire and (d) west Yorkshire.

Total capital allocations for the forces concerned were:

Capital allocation	1990–91 £ million	1991–92 £ million	1992–93 £ million	1993–94 £ million
Humberside	1·567	3·293	2·839	2·811
North Yorkshire	1·119	1·989	1·970	1·905
South Yorkshire	4·081	3·525	4·737	4·112
West Yorkshire	8·646	14·627	14·951	8·469

:: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were charged with criminal offences committed while already on bail in Plymouth in 1993.

The information is not available centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many successful fraudulent trading convictions were obtained in each of the last five years, excluding those obtained by the Department of Trade and Industry.

Court proceedings information held centrally on fraud cases cannot separately identify whether an offence was one of fraudulent trading.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what considerations underlay the reduction of the funding to the West Midlands probation service; what estimate he has made of this on the Shard End drive training project in Birmingham; and what facilities for projects alternative to the Shard End drive project exist in the west midlands.

There has been no such reduction in funding. The West Midlands probation service's revenue grant for 1994–95 is 5·4 per cent. higher than in 1993–94 and the funds allocated to it from the probation supervision grants scheme are 46 per cent. higher. The Shard End drive project has previously been funded under the scheme. It is for the West Midlands probation service to decide, in preparing its plans for partnerships with the independent sector, which individual projects to continue to support.The service has decided to invite applications from any interested organisation in the area to run drive training activities in future. The response will show the service what alternative facilities are or might be available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 2 February, Official Report, column 704, if he will provide occupancy figures for each probation and bail hostel in the west midlands for each of the last four quarters for which figures are available after discounting those beds in hostels which are not available due to refurbishment under the non-availability was approved by his Department.

The West Midlands probation service has provided the following occupancy figures, which exclude places taken out of use for refurbishment. In most cases the Home Office approval for temporary withdrawal of places was not sought or required.

Location	1Per cent.	2Per cent.	3Per cent.	4Per cent.
Carpenter House	91	96	83	78
Bilston	96	81	88	88
Stoke Green	89	72	64	81
Welford House	69	72	67	74
Crowley House	55	48	57	60
Marshall House	89	90	91	92
Sycamore Lodge	80	79	73	84
Stonnal Road	n/a	n/a	81	88
1January to March 1993.
2 April to June 1993.
3July to September 1993.
4October to December 1993.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number of remanded or sentenced women received into custody in (a) Great Britain and (b) the west midlands for each quarter for the last five years for non-payment of fines imposed for not possessing a television licence.

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people he estimates are in the United Kingdom illegally and how many have been here for more than five years; how many adults have children; and how many are self-sufficient in terms of housing and income.

Comprehensive information on the number of persons who have entered illegally or are in the United Kingdom in breach of the conditions imposed on their leave to enter or remain here is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement in respect of the escape from Moorlands prison by remand prisoner, Craig Weekly; and if he has been recaptured;(2) to which prison Craig Weekly, remand prisoner, escaped from Moorlands prison, will be sent when recaptured.

Responsibility for these matters has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what were the numbers and costs of deportations in each of the past three years and the numbers and costs of the enforced deportations in those years when those deported had not been convicted of a criminal offence;(2) how many of those deported in 1991, 1992 and in 1993 were in family units of more than one person.

Information on the numbers of people removed from the United Kingdom under the deportation process is given in the table. The other information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

People removed from the United Kingdom under the deportation process
	1991	1992	1993
Total people removed under deportation process1	2,616	2,583	32,254
of which, a deportation order was enforced2, excluding deportation action following a court recommendation	256	399	3449
1 Including persons who departed voluntarily, but excluding illegal entrants removed. In total, some 6,100 people were removed as illegal entrants or under the deportation process in 1993.
2 That is excluding voluntary and supervised departures.
3 Provisional figure.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the expenditure by each local education authority in respect of classes in prisons, detention centres or community homes with education for each year since 1989; and if he will make a statement.

Payments made to local education authorities for the provision of education in prisons and young offender institutions in England and Wales since 1 April 1989 are as follows:

	£ million
1989–90	20·2
1990–91	24·1
1991–92	26·0
1992–93	28·2
1993–94	18·6
1 Estimated.

The payments in 1993–94 reflect the changeover this year to direct provision through further education colleges and other providers, rather than through local education authorities, consequent upon the provisions of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.Expenditure on education classes in community homes falls within the departmental responsibilities of the Department of the Environment. Details of such expenditure, and of payments made to individual local education authorities, are not held centrally and could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number of quail used in scientific procedures under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 during 1990, 1991 and 1992.

The information is not available. Changes which are being introduced to the system for the collection of the annual statistics of scientific procedures will make it possible from 1995 onwards to distinguish between different types of birds used in experiments.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what circumstances those convicted of rape and other serious crimes are permitted to enjoy periods of absence from prison for social reasons.

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he has issued as to the appropriate level of street lighting for inner-city areas for the purposes of combatting crime.

Guidance has been published by the British Standards Institution, in BS5489 part 3: 1994: "Code of practice for lighting for subsidiary roads and associated pedestrian areas". A copy is in the Library. This standard classifies the lighting requirements for three categories of crime risk. The responsibility for lighting is with the appropriate local authority.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the value in sterling of overseas aid forecast to be made in the current financial year for (a) famine relief, (b) other aid to improve immediate human conditions, (c) technical aid and assistance, (d) infrastructural projects, (e) debt relief, or assistance with prior contractual commitments and (f) consultancy; and if he will list figures within these categories by countries or regions of the world.

It is estimated that in financial year 1993–94 bilateral expenditure on overseas aid will be as follows:

	Africa	Asia, Latin America and the oceans	Other
	£ million	£ million	£ million
Food aid	19	—	—
Emergency and refugee relief	44	35	48
Debt relief	15	28	—
Country programmes, including aid and trade provisions	306	378	—

Provision for technical co-operation, infrastructure projects and consultancy is included in the country programmes.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the value in pound sterling of overseas aid forecast to be made in the calendar year 1993 by the European Commission for (a) famine relief, (b) other aid to improve immediate human conditions, (c) technical and financial assistance, (d) infrastructural projects, (e) debt relief or assistance with prior contractual commitments and (f) consultancy; and if he will list figures within these categories by countries or regions of the world.

The European Community budget for 1993 includes provision for payments of up to the sums shown in the following table, at current exchange rates:

	Total £ million	UK Share £ million
Food Aid	444	73
Humanitarian Aid	118	19
Aid to Asia and Latin America	276	46
Aid to Mediterranean Countries	265	44
Other Aid Programmes (inc non-Governmental Organisations)	292	48
Aid to Eastern Europe/former Soviet Union	539	89
Emergency Aid Reserve	163	27
Aid for Scientific/Technological Research for Developing Countries	23	4

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what records the Government have of payments of aid made by United Kingdom-based charitable organisations to third world countries and the sources of funds for these aid payments;(2) what is the value in pound sterling of overseas aid forecast to be made either in the current financial year or in the calendar year 1993 by United Kingdom-domiciled charitable organisations for

The Government do not keep records of the overall expenditure by United Kingdom-based charitable organisations on overseas aid. Our records reflect only the grants which the Overseas Development Administration has made available to these organisations.In 1992–93, the latest year for which figures are available, the Government provided over £147 million to non-governmental organisations of which £79 million was for development work and £68 million for humanitarian relief. A further breakdown of this expenditure into the categories requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.Charitable organisations receive funds from a variety of sources including Government donors, the private sector and the general public.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what steps he has taken or proposes to take to ensure payment of Zimbabwe public service pensions to those eligible in this country;(2) if he will make representations to the Government of Zimbabwe regarding the payment of Zimbabwe public service pensions to those eligible in this country.

I am not aware of any current problems with payment. However, our high commission in Harare follows up any examples that come to light.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list, by value for contracts with a value of over £100,000, contracts made by the Overseas Development Administration with firms of consultants over the last year, giving (a) the value of the contract, (b) the nature of the consultancy and (c) the domicile of the contractor.

All consultancies let by the Overseas Development Administration in this financial year with a value of over £100,000 have been made with contractors with a business domicile in the United Kingdom. A list of such contracts has been placed in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) when he expects to publish final guidance relating to the proposed circular on sex education in schools;(2) what guidance will be given in the new sex education circular to ensure that homosexuality as the norm is not promoted in schools;(3) what guidance will be given in the new circular on sex education to protect the young from homosexual proselytism;(4) what guidance will be given in the new sex education circular to ensure that schools teach their pupils the basic facts of the law as it relates to sexual activity.

My right hon. Friend hopes to issue the final version of the circular on sex education in schools in April. He is carefully considering the views expressed in the consultations on the draft circular, including those on the matters mentioned by my hon. Friend. The draft circular suggested that schools should be aware of the requirements of the law, and that pupils should be taught about the values and knowledge needed to enable them to behave responsibly and morally.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement on the value of and the contribution his Department makes to promote (a) nursery education and (b) pre-school play groups.

Good nursery education and playgroup provision both contribute to the Government's policy of promoting choice, diversity, quality and cost-effectiveness of pre-school provision in the public and private sectors. One half of three and four-year-olds attend maintained nursery and primary schools, and two fifths attend playgroups. In addition to the funding by local education authorities of pre-school provision, my Department makes grants to a number of national bodies concerned with developing such provision, including the Pre-School Playgroups Association, the British Association for Early Childhood Education, and the National Children's Bureau.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list those schools in Gloucestershire whose status has changed from a grammar school to a comprehensive school in the last 20 years, together with the date of the change.

The information is not available in the form requested. The Department's records indicate that in 1975 there were 11 grammar schools in Gloucestershire; now there are seven.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement on what form performance league tables will take this year and the probable date of publication.

On 21 February my right hon. Friend launched the consultation on the content, format and distribution of the 1994 school and college performance tables. He proposed that two sets of tables should again be published, covering secondary schools and institutions catering for students in the 16 to 18 age group. The secondary tables would include data on authorised absence, together with data on unauthorised absence published for the first time in 1993, and information on the length of the taught week. The tables would also contain extra information on vocational qualifications. As in previous years, they would be published in November.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement on the use of freephone and freepost facilities currently being operated by his Department; how much these facilities are costing; for what purposes these facilities are being used; and how much his Department has spent on operating freephone and freepost facilities in each financial year since 1979.

Freephone and freepost facilities are currently being operated by the Department for the following activities:

• A self-governing—GM—schools information line which offers an information pack about GM schools. Estimated cost £20,830;
• Requests for copies of the further and higher education charters. Estimated cost £38,123; and
• Requests for copies of the leaflet "National School Tests in 1994". Costs are unavailable as the campaign has not yet finished.

In 1993, a freephone was available to answer inquiries about GM schools and freephone and freepost were available to request copies of the leaflet on national curriculum testing "How is Your Child Doing at Schoool?" Costs amount to some £29,963.In earlier years the Department has not directly arranged freephone and freepost facilities. The Central Office of Information has managed campaigns which have included freepost and freepost facilities on behalf of the Department. Figures for these costs are not available from the COI as they would incur disproportionate costs.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the salary of the chairman of the Grant Maintained Schools Mutual.

This is a matter for the Grant Maintained Schools Mutual.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what is the total cost of insurance for grant-maintained schools;(2) how many grant-maintained schools are insured by

This information is not held centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what advice is given to grant-maintained schools on insurance by the Grant Maintained Schools Mutual and the Funding Agency for Schools.

The advice given to grant maintained schools on insurance by Grant Maintained Schools Mutual is a matter for the mutual. No advice has been given by the Funding Agency for Schools as it does not become operational until 1 April 1994.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the total budget for each grant-maintained junior, infant and secondary school for Sunderland City education authority and Wandsworth education authority.

The total budgets for the 1993–94 financial year are as follows:

Wandsworth education authority
	£
Primary schools
Ethelburga Primary School	439,828
Hillbrook Primary School	925,909
Secondary schools
Burntwood School	4,487,358
Elliott School	3,870,951
Graveney School	5,244,434
John Paul II Roman Catholic School	1,633,050
Salesian College	1,653,473
Southfields School	3,645,574

The amounts shown for total budget include annual maintenance grant, special purpose grants for restructuring, development, premises, VAT, transitional grant, section 11 grant and capital grants payable to the schools in 1993–94.There are currently no grant-maintained schools in the Sunderland metropolitan borough education authority area.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the unit cost per pupil in each local education authority for 1992–93 for (a) nursery-primary and (b) secondary pupils.

The provisional figures for recurrent spending per pupil in local education authority maintained schools in 1992–93, for those LEAs who have submitted returns of their expenditure, are as shown in the following table.

Unit Cost Net Institutional Expenditure Per Pupil 1992–93
	Nursery/Primary £	Secondary£
Corporation of London	3,058	0
Camden	1,873	2,558
Greenwich	n/a	n/a
Hackney	n/a	n/a
Hammersmith and Fulham	2,153	2,926
Islington	n/a	n/a
Kensington and Chelsea	2,018	2,900
Lambeth	n/a	n/a
Lewisham	1,727	2,311
Southwark	1,765	2,353
Tower Hamlets	n/a	n/a
Wandsworth	2,078	3,133
City of Westminster	n/a	n/a
Barking	1,630	2,303
Barnet	1,813	2,615
Bexley	1,395	2,122
Brent	1,461	2,258
Bromley	1,471	2,311
Croydon	1,586	2,265
Ealing	n/a	n/a
Enfield	1,564	2,249

	Nursery/Primary £	Secondary£
Haringey	n/a	n/a
Harrow	n/a	n/a
Havering	1,472	2,254
Hillingdon	1,622	2,734
Hounslow	n/a	n/a
Kingston-upon-Thames	n/a	n/a
Merton	n/a	n/a
Newham	n/a	n/a
Redbridge	1,553	2,220
Richmond-upon-Thames	1,683	2,222
Sutton	1,509	2,079
Waltham Forest	1,511	2,388
Birmingham	1,440	2,417
Coventry	n/a	n/a
Dudley	1,489	2,072
Sandwell	1,467	2,307
Solihull	1,475	2,066
Walsall	1,384	2,189
Wolverhampton	1,476	2,309
Knowsley	1,412	2,271
Liverpool	1.521	2,469
St. Helens	1,314	2,160
Sefton	1,363	2,074
Wirral	1,387	2,340
Bolton	n/a	n/a
Bury	n/a	n/a
Manchester	1,451	2,358
Oldham	1,721	2,401
Rochdale	1,352	2,162
Salford	1,339	2,113
Stockport	1,419	2,195
Tameside	1,443	2,213
Trafford	n/a	n/a
Wigan	1,338	2,179
Barnsley	1,427	2,096
Doncaster	1,318	1,978
Rotherham	1,561	2,220
Sheffield	1,594	2,176
Bradford	1,651	1,822
Calderdale	1,469	2,061
Kirklees	1,392	2,097
Leeds	n/a	n/a
Wakefield	n/a	n/a
Gateshead	1,627	2,222
Newcastle-upon-Tyne	1,635	2,051
North Tyneside	n/a	n/a
South Tyneside	1,386	2,104
Sunderland	1,427	2,094
Avon	1,430	2,186
Bedfordshire	1,491	2,103
Berkshire	1,482	2,158
Buckinghamshire	1,509	2,184
Cambridgeshire	1,496	2,170
Cheshire	1,321	2,072
Cleveland	n/a	n/a
Cornwall	1,421	2,035
Cumbria	1,558	2,286
Derbyshire	1,463	2,224
Devon	1,455	2,099
Dorset	1,392	2,037
Durham	1,519	2,083
East Sussex	1,485	2,187
Essex	n/a	n/a
Gloucestershire	1,555	2,144
Hampshire	1,427	2,143
Hereford and Worcester	1,448	1,977
Hertfordshire	1,497	2,110
Humberside	1,449	2,145
Isle of Wight	1,462	2,009
Kent	1,300	1,909
Lancashire	n/a	n/a
Leicestershire	1,453	2,258
Lincolnshire	1,348	2,049
Norfolk	1,450	2,100
North Yorkshire	1,479	2,146
Northamptonshire	1,343	2,039

	Nursery/Primary £	Secondary £
Northumberland	1,461	1,918
Nottinghamshire	1,479	2,271
Oxfordshire	1,574	2,039
Shropshire	1,513	2,443
Somerset	1,435	2,133
Staffordshire	1,430	2,040
Suffolk	n/a	n/a
Surrey	1,532	2,274
Warwickshire	1,395	2,126
West Sussex	1,433	2,157
Wiltshire	1,549	2,140

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what changes he plans to improve the accuracy of employment statistics.

We are satisfied with the accuracy of the unemployment claimant count. Nevertheless, we have introduced a number of major improvements over the last two years, including bringing out the labour force survey quarterly as opposed to annually, and the first full census of employers for 12 years. Work is in hand to deliver more timely employment statistics on completion of the interdepartmental business register in 1995. The Department will continue to assess the need for further improvements.