asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether in view of the Government's decision to abandon sanctions against employers who have allegedly broken the guidelines on pay, they would agree to reinstate the £3 million taken from the rate support grant settlement for 1979–80 as a result of the pay award to local government chief officers operative from 1st July 1978.

No. The Rate Support Grant (Increase) (No. 2) Order 1978, which took account of this abatement, was approved by Affirmative Resolution in another place on 14th December.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will estimate the loss of revenue resulting from the exclusion from taxation of the annual rental value of owner occupied housing.

If income tax were charged upon the net annual value of owner occupied housing, on the basis of the figures of imputed rent in the National Accounts for 1977–78, the maximum additional yield is estimated to be in the region of £1,500 million. However, expenditure on repairs, if allowable on the basis in force for Schedule A in the past, would be likely to exceed the allowance made in the National Account figures and would reduce the yield. An estimate for 1978–79 is not expected to differ significantly from that for 1977–78.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will list the loss of tax revenue in granting interest tax relief on 1. building society mortgages; 2. bank loans for the purchase or improvement of a residence or other property and 3. relief for bank loans other than for house purchase, for 1945, 1950, 1960, 1970, and each subsequent year and whether they will also present the loss of revenue as between standard rate and higher rate taxpayers for each of the years.

The available information relates to the total relief in respect of mortgage interest. I regret that a breakdown between the relief for building society mortgages and for bank loans could not be prepared without undue expenditure of time and resources; and that no information is available centrally with which to distinguish relief for qualifying interest on bank loans other than for house purchase.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will list the loss of revenue in granting tax relief for 1. exemption of interest from savings bank accounts; 2. exemption of interest or capital accretion of national savings certificates and 3. exemption of interest and capital accretion of SAYE scheme, for 1945, 1950, 1960, 1970 and all subsequent years and whether they will also present the loss in revenue as between standard and higher rate taxpayers for each of these years.

I regret that information is not available for the whole of the period specified and that there is no reliable information on which to apportion the estimates between basic and higher rate taxpayers. The available information, which is particularly tentative and subject to a wide margin of error, is as follows:

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will list the loss of revenue in granting tax relief for (1) the employee's contributions to approved pension schemes; (2) the employer's contributions to approved pension schemes; (3) the exemption of income and capital gains of approved pension schemes; (4) the relief for the provision of retirement annuities for the self-employed and (5) the payment of life assurance premiums, for 1945, 1950, 1960, 1970 and all subsequent years and whether they will also present the loss in revenue as between standard rate and higher rate taxpayers for each of these years.

I regret that information for 1945, 1950 and 1960 is not available nor has it been possible to estimate the loss of revenue from the exemption of the capital gains of approved pension schemes. The loss of revenue from granting income tax relief for such schemes has been calculated on the basis set out in the Inland Revenue's note of February 1978 to the General Sub-Committee of the Expenditure Committee of the House of Commons (Second Report 1977–78, Appendix 15) and used in Table 16 of the recently published Public Expenditure White Paper (The Government's Expenditure Plans 1979–80 to 1982–83, Cmnd. 7439). The figures, shown in the first column of the table below, include the cost of relief for employees' contributions and the cost of exempting the income of pension funds, but exclude the cost of the relief for employers' contributions, on the footing that this is in general a proper deduction from trading profits, as part of the employer's labour costs. If however these contributions were not deductible in calculating profits, the extra tax estimated to be payable by employers is shown in the second column. I regret that it has not been possible to allocate the revenue loss between basic rate and higher rate taxpayers. All the figures are subject to wide margins of error. The calculations assume that there would be no change in the existing level of pension provision, despite the large amounts of additional liability to tax:

asked Her Majesty's Government:Who is to be the next chairman of the Health Education Council.

The term of office of Mr. Leslie Baines, who is currently acting as chairman of the Health Education Council, is due to expire on 30th June 1979. The Government are now considering a long-term appointment to take effect from 1st July, and an announcement will be made as soon as a decision has been taken.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the present average cost per prescription and what is the average number of prescriptions per head of the population made out under the General Practitioner service in the most recent year for which the information is available.

In 1977, the latest year for which figures are available, the average total cost per prescription—that is the basic cost of the item prescribed plus the pharmacists' fees and allowances—dispensed by pharmacists and appliance contractors was £1–87; the average number of prescriptions issued per head of population was 6·47.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the top fifty branded medicines prescribed under the NHS in (a) quantity and (b) cost.

I would refer my noble friend to my reply on 22nd January.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How far Japanese seaweed (

Porphyra Tenera is an edible seaweed which, as far as is known, grows only in the Pacific. The Japanese seaweed which arrived on the South Coast of England at some time between 1971 and 1973 is Sargassum Muticum. Its greatest concentration is in the Solent, but isolated colonies have been found growing in places from the Yealm in the West to Brighton in the East. The DOE is investigating unconfirmed Press reports of an outbreak in Kent. Sargassum Muticum does not currently present a serious hazard to navigation or to fishing. It can, however, spoil amenity beaches and it can immobilise outboard motors and impede the passage of small sailing boats. Clearance is a local authority responsibility.Since 1973 the Natural Environment Research Council and the Department have been sponsoring studies of the growth and spread of the weed and the possibility of biological or chemical control. Towards the end of 1976 it became apparent that no effective biological or chemical means of control was going to be found in the near future and mechanical clearance seemed to offer the best possible hope for containment. Accordingly a research development contract was let to Portsmouth Polytechnic. Up to now the Department have provided over 70 per cent. of the cost and local authorities have contributed the rest. For 1979 it is hoped that the local authorities will increase their contribution to 50 per cent. The contract has resulted in the design and construction of an effective trawl suitable for use from any standard inshore fishing boat; and a purpose-built craft of somewhat higher efficiency will be ready early this year. Research on cutting and suction devices is well advanced.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress has been made with consulting manufacturers and others, as foreshadowed in a reply given on 2nd March last, about improving the facilities for testing speedometers.

Contrary to what was earlier understood, it now appears from inquiries made that most vehicle and speedometer manufacturers are not in fact currently providing facilities to the public for speedometer testing. However, there are a number of approved agencies set up by manufacturers for the purpose of checking tachographs, and particular agencies may be willing to check speedometers if application is made to them. I will send the noble Lord a list of the agencies. The main reason given by manufacturers and dealers for the absence of facilities is the lack of demand. The point is also made that, according to road tests, the accuracy of speedometers does not tend to deteriorate significantly in use.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What Community proposals concerned with heavy lorries are currently under discussion in the Council of Ministers; when they will next be discussed; to what extent special roads for heavy lorries have been successful throughout the EEC; and how much more can be achieved without major expense in the United Kingdom.

Community proposals concerned with heavy lorries currently under discussion in the Council of Ministers concern weights and dimensions; adjustment of national taxation systems; and the amendment of existing Directives on rear protection devices and on braking. Further discussion on all of these is expected in the near future.There are no special roads for heavy vehicles in EEC countries, although motorways, which are built to cope with traffic of all kinds, can usefully serve as routes for lorries. In the United Kingdom, one of the main priorities of the trunk road programme is to help the movement of industrial traffic. In the United Kingdom heavy lorries are routed along the most suitable roads available by local highway authorities, with powers under the Heavy Commercial Vehicles (Controls and Regulations) Act 1973. To date some 400 orders have been published. These orders, together with local road schemes and bypasses, continue to improve the situation as far as possible without unreasonable expense.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will state the approximate loss of revenue experienced by the Inland Revenue as the result of the existence of "ghost" workers in the newspaper industry in London; in how many newspaper offices have investigations taken place into this practice; and how many prosecutions have been instituted in each of the last five years.

The Inland Revenue is currently reviewing the tax arrangements on the wages paid to casual workers in the Fleet Street printing industry as a whole, but I regret that no reliable estimate of tax loss is possible. I can confirm that there have been no prosecutions in this area over the last five years.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will list the loss of revenue resulting from the granting of relief for the provision of medical insurance provided by firms for 1945, 1950, 1960, 1970 and all subsequent years.

The cost of medical insurance for employees, like expenditure on any other welfare benefit provided by an employer, is allowable for tax under the normal rules. Information on which to base a precise estimate of the cost of relief is not available, but if it is assumed that the subscriptions concerned were wholly set against profits chargeable mainly to corporation tax the loss of revenue in 1973–74 might have been of the order of £5 million, rising to perhaps £15 million in the current financial year. Information on which to base estimates for earlier years is not available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What proportion of GNP was absorbed by the expenditure of central and local government and the nationalised industries in 1950, 1960, 1970 and 1978 respectively.

Figures showing the proportion of the gross national product absorbed by the expenditure of central and local government and public corporations, including nationalised industries, are given below. The public sector component of the gross national product consists of general government final consumption and public sector investment. Grants, subsidies and other transfer payments by general government are excluded since they finance expenditure by other sectors of the economy. The operating expenditure of public sector trading bodies is also excluded since such expenditure is "intermediate", contributing to the production of goods and services purchased by all sectors of the economy. The latest available figures are for 1977.