asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether it is the case that a platform intended for the Frigg oilfield in the North Sea, but wrecked in 1974 before installation, has not yet been removed; whether it is incumbent on the company concerned, under the terms of their licence, to remove it; and if so, by when.

The steel jacket for Drilling Platform 1 sank in Norwegian waters in October 1974 and is a matter for the Norwegian Government. The jacket was salvaged and made safe in situ in 1975.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why, in the light of the very much improved economic situation in Chile, and the activities of competitors, medium-term ECGD cover is not available.

ECGD cover for medium-term credit was withdrawn in 1972 following default by Chile on her commercial debts. A large proportion of the rescheduled debt remains outstanding. Nevertheless, the possibility of a restoration of ECGD cover is under regular review.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What proportion of the total vote was won by each of the political Parties which fought the last general election in the island of Dominica.

The popular vote was distributed as follows:

asked Her Majesty's Government:

The basic airfield requirements are a runway length of 10,000 ft. with a 1,000 ft. over-run, and taxiways, manoeuvring space and hangar-age that are stressed to and large enough to accept an aircraft of this size and weight. The airfield should be on the pipeline system for fuel supply. There are no overriding strategic or tactical factors which dictate the airfield's geographical location in this country, but the cost and timescale of availability and of any improvements needed to reach the minimum operational standard required have to be considered. Due weight is also given to environmental factors.All possible airfields, including those in Lincolnshire, are being considered, but no decision on a base for these aircraft has yet been made, and I cannot at this stage exclude Fairford or Brize Norton as possible bases for this purpose.Environmental factors vary from one airfield to another and the situation at Fairford and Brize Norton is not the same as that at RAF Greenham Common which was excluded from the Government's considerations for the reasons announced by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Royal Air Force on 26th May.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Under which section of the Statistics of Trade Act 1947 the Department of Employment has been notifying firms of the need to provide information for the EEC Survey of Labour Costs 1978; why this was not stated in letters to firms from that Department; and how such a request can be made under the provisions of that Act before the making of the appropriate regulation by the Council of Ministers.

The Government propose to conduct the survey of 1978 labour costs in Great Britain under Section 1 of the Statistics of Trade Act 1947. An appropriate statutory notice under that section will be served on firms in the selected sample when the survey documents are formally issued towards the end of 1978.Following normal practice, advance informal notice was given to the selected firms in Great Britain at the beginning of 1978 by the Department of Employment, so that they could make appropriate preparatory arrangements to provide the information to be sought early in 1979, relating to either the calendar year 1978 or a 1978–9 accounting year.It was then explained that, under a Regulation to be made by the Council of the European Communities, the Commission would be required to carry out a survey of 1978 labour costs; that the Department of Employment would collect the information needed by the Commission from firms in Great Britain; and that, in Great Britain, the survey would be conducted under the Statistics of Trade Act 1947.These advance informal notifications were not made under either the 1947 Act or the Council Regulation. Their value to the firms involved would have been reduced if they had been delayed until after Regulation 494 was made by the Council of Ministers on 6th March 1978.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the Advisory Committee on the Statistics of Trade was consulted on the preparation of the forms sent to firms as part of the EEC Survey of Labour Costs 1978, what advice it gave and whether any estimate of the likely costs to firms of furnishing information for this survey was included in that advice.

There is no Advisory Committee on the Statistics of Trade. The Confederation of British Industry and other British employers' associations were represented in the relevant Working Party of the Statistical Office of the European Communities. The Confederation was subsequently consulted by the Department of Employment on the draft questionnaire for the survey of 1978 labour costs, following normal practice. The draft is still subject to revision before formal issue later in the year.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What economies are obtained from having net curtains in many Government offices (of which Romney Street East and Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court are two examples) much too long for the size of the windows.

Special net curtains designed to stop flying glass and debris have been installed in a number of buildings as a protection against bomb blasts. They work by enveloping the flying matter. To do this effectively the curtains need to be considerably longer than the window itself.House adjourned at quarter past eleven o'clock.