asked Her Majesty's Government:With reference to the Seveso disaster:

In March 1977 the Commission of the EEC agreed to contribute 160,500 units of account to the costs of research and assistance into the effects of dioxin poisoning. This represented 26 per cent. of the total cost of a programme of 15 research studies, of which about two-thirds have been completed. Subsequently the Commission authorised an additional contribution of 40,000 units of account, 27 per cent. of the total costs, for the continuance of one of these studies related to contamination mapping. The United Kingdom contributes to the Community Budget as a whole rather than to individual parts. One share of the 1977 Community Budget was 19.24 per cent.Her Majesty's Government have received no report, as yet, of the screening panel to which my noble friend refers. It is understood that the programme of screening tests approval by the panel is being carried out under contract by an Italian specialist. We are told that work is proceeding, that a report is expected shortly and that the panel will than be reconvened to study the results. We understand that construction of the special incinerator has not been completed. Two of the seven sub-areas into which Zone A was divided are understood to have been detoxicated.It appears that little progress has been made on the pilot project for burning

material and it is impossible to give precise figures of the amount of material to be burned. Her Majesty's Government have no detailed information which would enable us to confirm the facts and figures given in

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will list the national voluntary organisations grant-aided by central Government in the current financial year, showing the amounts of grant and the sponsoring Department in each case; whether they will show the total grant aid made available by each central Government Department direct to local voluntary bodies; and whether they will give comparative figures for the previous two financial years.

The total grants approved by central Government Departments (other than the Department of Education and Science, for which information could be provided only at disproportionate cost) are shown below.

	1976–77	1977–78	1978–79
National voluntary organisations	19,587,471	25,423,909	27,090,076
Local voluntary bodies	3,467,451	4,138,108	4,094,855

The figures for 1978–79 are not final since in many cases grants are still under consideration.The figures do not include grants made under the Job Creation Programme, nor those made to housing associations or through other centrally administered services such as the Supplementary Benefits Commission.I will write to the noble Lord with fuller details.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

As forecast in paragraph 154 of the report, a uniform basis for the analysis of net losses was instituted from the 1972–73 financial year. The table below is derived from that revised form of analysis and also includes benefits which have been introduced subsequently. It cannot therefore be compared with the figures which were originally given for 1971–72.

	1976–77 Irrecoverable overpayments of benefits recorded during the year
	Total £	Fraud on the part of the claimant or other person not being a servant of the Department £
Family benefits	415,967	52,518
Unemployment benefit	2,133,726	432,521
Sickness and invalidity benefit	2,137,618	361,396
Maternity benefit	46,628	6,718
Widow's benefit	266,274	108,726
Retirement pension	550,643	50,934
Industrial injury	201,836	16.981
Others	169,297	4,682
Supplementary benefit	8,031,782	2,170,907
Total	13,953,771	3,205,383

It should be noted that these are net losses (that is gross losses less any amounts which have been repaid) and that figures of the sums which were initially found to have been obtained by fraud are not available from central records.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How much money has been given to the International Planned Parenthood Federation since its incorporation in this country; for what purposes these grants have been authorised; and how such expenditure is monitored.

£1·5 million has been paid from aid funds to the International Planned Parenthood Federation since its incorporation in July 1977. The purpose is to provide general support for the Federation's activities in promoting family planning in developing countries, mainly through local family planning associations.