asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will estimate the number and percentage of taxpayers paying at the following marginal rates of tax on earned income:

Counting married couples as one, the estimates at 1978–79 income levels are as follows:

Marginal rate (on earned income)	Estimated No. of tax units ('000s)	Percentage of all tax units
(1) (a) Lower rate	2,900	13·8
(b) Basic rate	16,940	80·5
(2) 40 per cent.	155	0·7
(3) 45 per cent	105	0·5
(4) 50 per cent.	45	0·2
(5) 55 per cent.	50	0·2
(6) 60 per cent.	35	0·2
(7) 65 per cent.	25	0·1
(8) 70 per cent.	20	0·1
(9) 75 per cent.	20	0·1
(10) 83 per cent.	20	0·1
Total	20,315	96·5

It has been assumed that married couples would make an election for separate taxation of the wife's earnings when to their advantage, and the marginal rate shown is that payable by the higher earner. Since income tax is levied on income regardless of source, there are difficulties in allocating tax liabilities to earned or investment income. The Answer relates to the marginal rate on earned income treating any investment income as the top slice of total income.The numbers given as having the lower rate of income tax as their marginal rate are single persons liable at the lower rate only and married couples where the husband's income is liable at the lower rate only. The figures account for 96·5 per cent. of all tax units. The remainder are persons who are liable to tax only on investment income. The total of 25,600,000 taxpayers includes a further 4,500,000 earning wives, but there are difficulties in breaking these down by reference to their marginal rates since, except where there is an option for separate assessment or an election for separate taxation of wife's earnings, the wife's income is included with her husband's for the purpose of assessment to income tax.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will estimate the number and percentage of taxpayers paying at

the following marginal rates of tax on combined earned and unearned income.

Counting married couples as one, the estimates at 1978–79 income levels are as follows:

Marginal rate (on earned or investment income, excluding investment income surcharge)	Estimated No. of tax units ('000s)	Percentage of all tax units
(1) (a) Lower rate	2,940	14·0
(b) Basic rate	17,440	82·9
(2) 40 per cent.	185	0·9
(3) 45 per cent.	125	0·6
(4) 50 per cent.	70	0·3
(5) 55 per cent.	70	0·3
(6) 60 per cent.	50	0·2
(7) 65 per cent.	40	0·2
(8) 70 per cent.	35	0·2
(9) 75 per cent.	40	0·2
(10) 83 per cent.	45	0·2
Total tax units	21,040	100·0

Some 30,000 of the 45,000 who pay income tax at a marginal rate of 83 per cent. are also liable to investment income surcharge at 15 per cent., making their total marginal rate on investment income 98 per cent. (including the surcharge). These represent 0·1 per cent. of tax units. The total marginal rates of a further 560,000 tax units also include liability to the investment income surcharge at 10 per cent. or 15 per cent. It has been assumed that married couples would make an election for separate taxation of the wife's earnings when to their advantage, and the marginal rate shown is the higher of that on the wife's earnings or that on the remaining income.The numbers given as having the lower rate of income tax as their marginal rate are single persons liable at the lower rate only and married couples where the husband's income is liable at the lower rate only. The total of 25,600,000 taxpayers includes a further 4,500,000 earning wives, but there are difficulties in breaking these down by reference to their marginal rates since, except where there is an option for separate assessment or an election for separate taxation of wife's earnings, the wife's income is included with her husband's for the purpose of assessment to income tax.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

NATIONALISED INDUSTRIES
	£ million
	Government loans net of repayments and sums written-off as at: (a) March 1978 (b) December 1977		Subsidies, compensation and other payments made in the period to March 1978	Capital debt and revenue deficits written-off to date (July 1977)
National Coal Board	(a)	581	758	864·6(6)
Electricity Industry (England and Wales)	(a)	3,286	655	—
Electricity Industry (Scotland)	(a)	722	121	—
British Gas Corporation	(a)	835	107	—
British National Oil Corporation	(b)	—	—	—
British Steel Corporation	(a)	2,753(2)	—	350·7(7)
Post Office	(a)	3,318(2)	449	207·1(8)
British Airways Board	(a)	331(2)	48	135·0(9)
British Airports Authority	(a)	63	23(3)	—
British Transport Commission(1)		—	260	487·4
British Railways Board	(b)	331	3,336(4)	1,451·1(10)
London Transport Board(1)		—	41	269·8
British Transport Docks Board	(b)	111	—	—
British Waterways Board	(b)	11	71	15·5
National Freight Corporation	(b)	153	111	—(11)
National Bus Company	(b)	133	81(5)	—
Scottish Transport Group	(b)	15	31(5)	—
British Aerospace	(b)	44(2)	—	—
British Shipbuilders	(a)	—	29	—
(1) The BTC ceased to exist from 1st January 1963. The LTB ceased to be a nationalised industry on 1st January 1970.
(2) Includes issues of public dividend capital and, in the case of BSC, other issues under Section 18 of the Iron and Steel Act 1975.
(3) Grants for airport development.
(4) Payments to Passenger Transport Executives in respect of their payments for BR services are included.
(5) Grants towards bus fuel duty are excluded. Since this table covers specific Central Government grants only, local authority subsidies to bus services are also excluded, except for the Central Government contribution to local authority subsidies to rural bus services. Certain grants included in the totals are also available to other operators in the industry.
(6) Includes £90·8 million in respect of accumulated revenue losses at March 1965, £24·8 million provision for revenue losses in the year ended March 1966 and £174·6 million in respect of accumulated revenue losses to March 1973.
(7) This amount was transferred to reserves under the Iron and Steel Act 1972; against this £236 million had been written off by 1st April 1978.
(8) Including £13 million in respect of PO Banking Services recreated into the form of public dividend capital.
(9) Including £30 million reconstituted as a reserve, which has since been capitalised as public dividend capital.
(10) Including £705 million debt suspended under the Transport Act 1962 and finally written-off under the Transport Act 1968.
(11) A Bill is before the House providing for the write-off of £53·1 million of NFC's capital debt.

Following is the information. Amounts included in the second column for the year ended 31st March 1978 are provisional.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they expect to receive the report of the Data Protection Committee and how soon thereafter they will publish it.

My right honourable friend the Home Secretary has today received the report, for which he is most grateful to Sir Norman Lindop and the other members of the Committee. He is arranging for it to be published during the Recess.Rates of family allowances, or equivalent cash benefits, expressed in pounds sterling, payable monthly in each of the EEC Member States at 1st January 1978 (see Note 1).

	Belgium (See Note 2) £	Denmark (See Note 3) £	France (See Note 4) £	Germany £	Republic of Ireland £	Italy £	Luxembourg (See Note 5) £	Netherlands (See Note 6) £	UK (See Note 7) £
1st child	22·46	13·36	—	12·42	2·30	5·92	17·99	12·60	4·33
2nd child	35·64	13·36	20·94	19·88	4·10	5·92	17·99	25·61	6·50
3rd child	48·81	13·36	34·60	37·27	4·85	5·92	46·48	25·61	6·50
4th child	49·78	13·36	33·69	37·27	4·85	5·92	46·48	34·21	6·50
5th child	50·14	13·36	31·86	37·27	4·85	5·92	46·48	34·21	6·50
6th child	50·14	13·36	31·86	37·27	4·85	5·92	46·48	37·85	6·50
7th child	50·14	13·36	31·86	37·27	4·85	5·92	46·48	37·85	6·50
8th child and each other	50·14	13·36	31·86	37·27	4·85	5·92	46·48	41·85	6·50
Notes:
1. The sterling equivalents have been obtained by applying the exchange rates on 1st January 1978. A meaningful comparison of allowances cannot be made without taking into account the local cost of living (especially that affecting the maintenance of children) and other factors which vary from country to country, such as general wage levels, taxation, and the extent to which other provision is made through post-natal welfare and advice services. Fluctuating exchange rates also distort comparisons.
2. Additional allowances of up to £12·00 are payable for each child aged 6 or more according to age.
3. Higher rates are payable for children of pensioners or of single parents.
4. Additional allowances of up to £14·57 are payable for each child other than the first, if there are children aged 10 or over, according to age. Also additional allowances are payable for families with 3 or more children, or with one child under age 3.
5. Additional allowances are payable for each child over 6 years of age.
6. Double or treble allowances can be paid if a student, an apprentice or a disabled person is substantially maintained by his parents.
7. An additional allowance of £2·17 is payable for the first child of a lone parent.

It is understood that the following increases had occurred in other Member States by April 1978:

Denmark:	To £13·62 monthly for each child.
Luxembourg:	To £18·44 for each of the first two children and to £47·48 for each other child.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish a table showing the rates of family allowances in each Member State of the EEC expressed in £ sterling in April 1978 and what these rates will be in November 1978.

The latest date for which authoritative information is available about the rates of family allowances in each Member State of the EEC is 1st January 1978. The following table expresses the monthly amounts payable at that date in pounds sterling:

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the details of the recent sale of British warships to Egypt,

It is not our practice to give details of defence sales contracts. British non-resident blocked bank accounts in Egypt are at present being dealt with under the terms of the UK/Egypt 1973 Exchange of Notes (Cmnd. 5290).

asked Her Majesty's Government:What assistance they give to the British hovercraft industry; how this assistance compares with that granted to their own hovercraft industries by the Governments of other Member States of the EEC; whether the differences in State aid distort the terms of trade between Member States of the EEC; and what representations Her Majesty's Government have made to the Commission of the EEC in order to ensure that the British hovercraft industry is not subjected to unfair competition.

The normal range of Government assistance is available to the hovercraft industry. If we had good reason for believing that other Community States were gaining an unfair competitive advantage we would certainly be prepared to make representations to the Commission, and expect them to take appropriate action under the provisions of the Treaty of Rome.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will institute a ministerial inquiry into "the Paul Brown affair" in view of the great public concern arising out of the death of a small boy while in the care of foster parents and under the supervision of Wirral Borough Council Social Services Department; and in view of the nature of the evidence so far produced, the apparent loss of vital documents, and the actions of certain officers of the local authority and trade unions, whether they will arrange for such an inquiry to be held immediately after the non-judicial inquiry at present taking place.

I understand that Mr. Mervyn Heald, QC, has been appointed by the Wirral Borough Council to conduct an inquiry whose terms of reference are:

(a) To inquire into a claim that the material document which was not put in evidence before the panel of inquiry investigating the Paul and Liam Brown case existed at the time of the inquiry.

(b) To report his findings and to make such recommendations as he considers appropriate to the Council.

Mr. Heald's report is expected shortly and the Council have been asked to send a copy to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Social Services when it is available. My right honourable friend will consider in the light of Mr. Heald's report, and any comments the Council may make, whether there is any action he should take.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps they intend to take to re-examine the financial regulations governing the Clothing and Allied Products Training Board, particularly with a view to increasing the levy of 0.08 per cent. on firms and companies which do not set up training schools, thereby avoiding both the responsibility and real cost of training new entrants to the industry.

I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the financial arrangements for the funding of the activities of the Clothing and Allied Products Training Board are under regular review. The rate of levy (currently 0·08 per cent.) is under consideration by the Board as part of its review of training needs in connection with the programme of action put forward in the Manpower Services Commission report Training for Skills. The training of new entrants is accorded a high priority, but as most of the establishments in the clothing industry are small, their training needs may not warrant an in-company training school.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have ratified the Convention initiated by the Inter-governmental Maritime Consultative Organisation governing compensation for damage by pollution; and whether the eight Governments necessary for enforcement have now ratified it.

Her Majesty's Government ratified the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage 1971, on 2nd April 1976. The Convention's entry into force requirements were recently met. It will enter into force on 16th October next and the new compensation will be payable for incidents occurring after a further 120 days.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are aware of the case of the Irishman who arrived in Rugby from Ireland with a wife and thirteen dependants; whether they are aware that the local authority has been required to provide them with a house, and that social security is being provided at an annual rate of approximately £5,000 a year; and whether they are taking any steps to prevent the arrival of further workless and philoprogenitive persons imposing further burdens on the British taxpayer.

The Government are aware of the case and are not in favour of anyone who is not a national of this country coming here to live off public funds. But an occasional case is not sufficient grounds to overturn the principle that, within the reciprocal arrangements which exist with the Republic of Ireland, someone lawfully resident here should be entitled, broadly speaking, to the normal social welfare provisions.

asked Her Majesty's Government:With regard to the report made by the Joint Working Party composed of officials of the British Wool Confederation and the related Workers' Union—General and Municipal Workers' Union—set up to examine the effect of the Water Act 1973 which reported that British Industry is burdened with much higher treatment charges than any other country, thereby seriously jeopardising competitiveness and employment, what assistance they now propose to correct this serious disadvantage.

I assume that the report to which the noble Lord refers is the one made by a joint working party composed of representatives of the Yorkshire Water Authority and the Wool Textile Delegation, on water and trade effluent charges in Yorkshire. This report was presented jointly to my Department and to the Department of Industry at the end of May, and its findings and recommendations are now being considered.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will explain the manner in which they are implementing Directives 72/271/EEC and 75/268/EEC; which parts of the Less Favoured Area Directives are not being implemented and why; whether other Member States have interpreted these Directives in a more comprehensive manner; and what plans Her Majesty's Government have prepared to modify their attitude to these directives in order to prevent loss of benefits to British taxpayers and farmers.

Directive 75/268/EEC on mountain and hill farming and farming in certain less-favoured areas is implemented through the following schemes of assistance to upland and hill farmers:

(a) Annual compensatory allowances for hill livestock (Articles 5–7);

(b) Additional grant in respect of investment under the EEC-backed Farm and Horticulture Development Scheme (Articles 8–10) and under the national Farm Capital Grant Scheme (Article 12); and

(c) Grants to forage, groups under the Agriculture and Horticulture Co-operation Scheme (Article 11) for fodder production equipment and tractors.

Twenty five per cent. of eligible United Kingdom expenditure is reimbursed from FEOGA. A secondary provision of the Directive would allow aid to be given for investment on farms for tourist or craft industry purposes but is not adopted since the Tourist Boards exist as designated bodies for supporting the tourist industry, and the Development Commission and COSIRA for rural industry. The criteria of the Directive for determining less-favoured farming areas and the maximum limits to aid are common to all Members of the EEC, and the United Kingdom makes extensive use of the provisions. Our area of land declared as less favoured areas is 7.6 million hectares, or some 41 per cent. of our total land. France has a larger area of less favoured area land (as contained in Directive 75/271/EEC—which I think is the other Directive to which the noble Lord meant to refer), but this constitutes some 35 per cent. of their total land. The United Kingdom's claim for FEOGA reimbursement in 1977 amounted to £12.8 million, representing over 47 per cent. of the total claim by member states under the Directive, compared with the next highest (France) of 24 per cent. The Government wish to make continued effective use of Directive 75/268/EEC and are seeking some changes of detail in its provisions in the course of the present review proceeding in Brussels of the structure Directives as a whole.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which Department, the Home Office, the DHSS, or the Treasury, is responsible for appointing trustees to administer 50 per cent. of the Licensing Compensation Fund for charities directly connected with education and alcohol abuses; whether any other trustees will be appointed who are connected with the liquor industry specifically in the field of alcoholism; and, in view of the extreme gravity of the ever-increasing alcoholism in the United Kingdom, when they will announce the appointment of these trustees.

As my noble friend indicated in answering the noble Earl's Question on 20th July, the Government have not yet decided what proposals to recommend to Parliament for the distribution of the money now held in these funds. The Home Office is the Department principally concerned, but the other Departments mentioned by the noble Earl are also involved.

asked Her Majesty's Government:To what extent, if any, they have sought assurances from the Government of Indonesia that the Hawk trainer/ ground attack aircraft about to be supplied to that Government by British Aerospace will not be used in further external aggression against the people of East Timor.

As my honourable friend stated in another place on the 19th July, we took account of all likely circumstances before agreeing to the sale. These are trainer aircraft which are neither equipped nor suitable for offensive use.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether their attention has been drawn to the opinions expressed on behalf of the Appellate Committee in the case of

The Government are aware of the opinions expressed in this case. The Criminal Law Revision Committee has already considered the proviso to the restrictions on cross-examination of an accused contained in Section 1(f)(iii) of the Criminal Evidence Act 1898. In its Eleventh Report (Evidence (General), Cmnd. 4991, 1972) the Committee recommended that the proviso should apply whenever two accused are jointly tried, even though they are not, as the 1898 Act requires, charged with the same offence. I cannot at the present time say when legislation on the law of criminal evidence will be possible, but the Government will keep this recommendation well in mind.House adjourned at twenty-three minutes past six o'clock.