asked Her Majesty's Government:What regulations there are to ensure adequate bunds or other protection for the storage of oil products other than petroleum; who is responsible for the inspection of such installations and what obligation there is to consult with the appropriate Fire Service and Water Authority before constructing such oil storage facilities.

I am informed by the chairman of the Health and Safety Commission that installations for the storage of oil products are subject to the general provisions of Sections 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974 which requires such undertakings to be carried on with due regard to the safety of not only employed persons but also members of the general public who may be affected thereby. In premises subject to the Factories Act 1961 highly flammable oil products are subject to the Highly Flammable Liquids and Liquefied Petroleum Gases Regulations 1972 which contain detailed requirements for the siting and protection of tanks and vessels containing highly flammable liquids. Guidance is published on these requirements and includes information on bunding and other protection. Inspection of the majority of these installations is carried out by inspectors of health and safety of the Health and Safety Executive. There will however be some installations, mainly of a small size, connected with retail premises which will be inspected by officers employed by the local authorities. Although there are no statutory obligations to consult with the appropriate Fire Service and Water Authority before constructing such oil storage facilities, it is the practice to consult these organisations during consideration of planning applications.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What action they are taking to give opportunities to the citizens of the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar to vote in the forthcoming election for the European Parliament.

The Decision of the Council of the European Communities regarding the direct election of representatives to the European Assembly does not apply to the Dependencies. Persons from the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands or Gibraltar may vote in the election only if resident in the United Kingdom on the qualifying date for the electoral register.

asked Her Majesty's Government:To what extent control over heavy lorries has passed to the EEC: and what decisions in this field are likely to come before the Council of Ministers in the next three months.

EEC measures in several fields impinge on heavy lorries. Those which have already been adopted include provisions on such matters as smoke, noise, lighting, braking, rear-view mirrors, rear protection devices, speedometers, radio-interference, roadworthiness testing and lorry drivers' hours. Measures now under discussion would provide not only for the control of lorry weights and dimensions but also for the adjustment of national lorry taxation systems and for the amendment of the existing Directives on rear protection devices and on braking. Some of these may come before the Council of Ministers in the next three months. Measures not agreed by the Council of Ministers remain within the sole jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will now arrange for the message about death and kidney donorship to be sent to members of the public, not with the first provisional licence, but at the time when their first provisional driving licences are transferred into driving licences, after passing the driving test, or when a provisional licence is renewed, in view of the replies given in the House on 22nd November last.

The Government will consider this possibility in the light of the results of the research being undertaken by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Security into public attitudes to organ donation.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, as a contribution to improving the environment, they will now announce their plans for the removal of the obsolete building, formerly a post office, which still obstructs the view of Bradford Cathedral.

I assume the question is concerned with the Post Office building in Forster Square, Bradford. This is a listed building and any proposal for its demolition would have to be referred to the Secretary of State for the Environment. The building is owned by the Post Office and is currently used as a delivery office and for administration accommodation. I understand that the Post Office intends to vacate the building when it has completed arrangements for the building of a new head office in Bradford.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the United Kingdom representative at the United Nations has insisted that only troops from countries with effective constitutional and parliamentary government should be used by the United Nations in the policing of the election to be held in South West Africa.

No. It is for the Secretary-General, acting with the authority of the Security Council, to determine the composition of the group after consultation with the Council and with the parties concerned.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why the national orange badge scheme does not apply within the City of Westminster, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and that part of the London Borough of Camden South of and including the Euston Road; and whether they realise that this causes great problems to severely disabled drivers who come to work but are not necessarily permanent residents in these areas.

The areas in question are outside the national scheme because of the pressure on parking space in central London; but the authorities concerned recognise the special needs of disabled people and each operates its own scheme for people living or working in their areas.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is now their policy regarding the inclusion in the definition of illegal entry of entry by deception; whether they stand by the statement made by Mr. J. A. Chilcot in a speech to the Standing Conference of Asian Organisations of 18th February 1978; and, if so, whether they will refrain from seeking to detain as illegal entrants persons who enter as visitors and subsequently attempt to remain as students or employed persons, but rather will proceed against such persons as being in breach of their conditions or as overstayers.

The interpretation of the law is ultimately a matter for the courts. A series of court judgments in 1976 and 1977 established that people who gained entry by deceiving the immigration authorities about their identity or entitlement are illegal entrants. The speech referred to correctly reflected one aspect of my right honourable friend's understanding of the broad effects of these judgments in stating that merely saying that one was coming for a visit, when really one wanted to find a place to study, would not be deception of a kind that would make one an illegal entrant. Accordingly, in the absence of any other considerations, such a person would not be regarded by my right honourable friend as an illegal entrant.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What remedies are available to a person who is detained as an illegal entrant, and who is subsequently released by the Secretary of State for the Home Department on legal advice that he was not an illegal entrant.

The Immigration Act 1971 makes no provision for a remedy in such circumstances. It is open to such a person to seek redress by a civil action in the courts.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many convention travel documents were issued in each of the years 1968–77 inclusive, and how many of these were new issues and renewals respectively.

The figures for new issues were as follows:

1968	…	…	…	2,048
1969	…	…	…	2,269
1970	…	…	…	2,062
1971	…	…	…	2,636
1972	…	…	…	2,173
1973	…	…	…	1,876
1974	…	…	…	1,196
1975	…	…	…	1,831
1976	…	…	…	1,678
1977	…	…	…	1,517

I regret that figures distinguishing the renewal of convention travel documents from the renewal of other Home Office travel documents are not available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether Dr. Beckman and Dr. Swan who appeared in the recent Horizon programme (BBC2) called "The Big Sleep" were conducting experiments filmed in this country and, if so, what were the relevant licences or certificates which permitted them to do so.

I understand that these experiments were filmed in the United States.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What tests have been carried out to ensure that the veal calves bred under intensive unit conditions and which may have been injected, inoculated, and unnaturally fed, are fit for human consumption.

The health of consumers of meat is safeguarded by statutory controls on the composition and sale of animal feedingstuffs and veterinary medicines used in the rearing of livestock, including veal calves. All veal is inspected before it is certified fit for human consumption. The Food and Drugs Acts impose an obligation upon anyone selling food to ensure that it is of the nature, substance and quality demanded by the purchasers and that it is fit to eat. Local authorities have a duty to enforce these laws and have ample powers to take action to prevent any food, including veal, that is unfit to eat, from being sold for human consumption. Tests have been carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on the nutritional value of intensively reared calves and I am advised that no nutritional problems arise.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why the British Aerospace X-11 was cancelled when airlines were on the point of placing orders.

This is a matter for British Aerospace. But I understand the facts were not quite as indicated by the noble Earl.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why they gave the go-ahead for the British Aerospace 146 when there are as yet no orders for this aircraft.

British Aerospace see a sizeable market for this type of aircraft which as a feeder airliner is not expected to sell in large numbers to any one airline but to sell in small numbers to many airlines around the world. British Aerospace did not therefore consider it necessary to require pre-launching orders and an intensive marketing effort is now under way.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why they expect foreign airlines to buy or to lease Concorde when by removing the jigs from the factories where the aircraft are built, they imply that they themselves have no confidence in the future of the aircraft.

The allocation of factory space to more immediate requirements denotes no lack of confidence in the future of Concorde.House adjourned at six minutes before nine o'clock.