asked Her Majesty's Government:How many vetoes have been used by each Member of the United Nations Security Council to date.

The number of vetoes cast by each of the Permanent Members of the Security Council, excluding vetoes cast on Amendments, is as follows:

asked Her Majesty's Government:What assurances they have had from President Kaunda regarding the use of Zambian territory for attacks on Rhodesia designed to prevent a peaceful internal settlement based on the principles laid down by Her Majesty's Government and whether they will tie the provision of financial aid to the fulfilment of those principles.

Our programme of aid to Zambia takes account of her difficulties arising out of the Rhodesia situation. However, it is planned in accordance with strictly developmental criteria, and is not subject to political conditions. No assurances of the kind mentioned by the noble Lord were given, nor indeed sought. We have offered the Zambians £15 million as a contribution to the international assistance to be arranged by the World Bank.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will summarise the reasons why they do not wish to see the Council of Ministers approve the European Community Commission's draft Resolution on Guidelines for a common Science and Technology Policy (R/1659/77).

The Government do not consider that Community R & D should facilitate the extension of Community involvement into new policy areas while the guidelines clearly envisage an extension and broadening of Community action. They include an extended list of research sectors and a set of "criteria", the satisfaction of any one of which is envisaged as a reason for activity at Community level. If these were put into practice, they could tend, in the Government's view, to lead either towards a significant increase in overall expenditure which would have only a tenuous relationship with agreed Community policies, or toward a proliferation of small and possibly ineffectual projects. The Government do not consider it appropriate to promote formal Council "approval" of the guidelines, though they recognise that they contain valuable material. The Government therefore consider that the appropriate course of action is to take note of the Commission's work.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether following the recent adverse comments of the Local Government Ombudsman in the case of the Royal Borough of Westminster, they are satisfied that all housing authorities are expeditiously and thoroughly carrying out their statutory duties concerning "unfit" dwellings.

Housing authorities generally have effected a welcome reduction in the number of unfit houses, which in England fell by 30 per cent. from 1,147,000 in 1971 to 794,000 in 1976. But vigorous action is still needed to deal with the remaining slums which are now less concentrated in potential clearance areas, for which the Government's declared policy is rehabilitation wherever possible rather than demolition.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What degree of importance they attach to the signature and ratification by States applying to join the EEC of the European Convention on Human Rights; and whether they consider it desirable that applicant countries should be encouraged to make a declaration under Article 25 of the Convention.

All Members of the Council of Europe, and hence all likely candidates for membership of the Community, adhere to the European Convention on Human Rights. Her Majesty's Government would like all Council members to accept Article 25; but the Convention itself makes this optional.

asked Her Majesty's Government:(1) what was the total square footage of the seven office buildings acquired for offices for the administration of the wealth tax;(2) how much of this has been relet to other Government or quasi-government offices; and(3) how much has been let to private concerns.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they agree that an article in the

The article which my noble friend appears to have in mind relates to the conduct and circumstances of an individual prisoner and does not appear to the Government to be a commentary on prison staff or prison régimes. Long-term prisoners have certain additional privileges in prison, but no individual prisoner is given greater privileges than those available to others.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps they propose to take to ensure that the Camden and Islington Area Health Authority (Teaching) immediately discontinues its discriminatory practice of consulting with TUC-affiliated organisations and excluding the Royal College of Nursing, a certificated union and recognised NHS staff association, from these consultations.

The Camden and Islington Area Health Authority (Teaching) is prepared to consult all nationally recognised staff organisations on appropriate matters and does not discriminate against any individual staff association.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What account will be taken of the danger to seabirds from oil pollution before any new offshore oil exploration rights or production licences are granted in areas close to major seabird concentrations, such as the West Shetland and inner Moray Firth basins.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Energy considers nature conservation aspects in all his decisions on offshore oilfield development. It was largely because he was not satisfied as to its possible impact upon the environment that the initial offshore loading plan for the Beatrice field was turned down by his Department. Any approved development will include arrangements to guard against the risk of pollution and my right honourable friend will require an effective oil spill plan to cope with any spills that may nevertheless occur. As to future licensing, there are of course a number of factors which he takes into account before deciding which blocks to offer. The final decision would reflect where the balance of advantage lay in the national interest.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What proportion of the employed population are in the public service, including the National Health Service, local authorities and nationalised industries.

In June 1976, the latest year for which information is available, 29·5 per cent. of the United Kingdom employed labour force were in the public service.