asked Her Majesty's Government:

Rule 33(2) of the Prison Rules 1964 precludes communication by a prisoner with any outside person without the leave of the Secretary of State. This rule is the basis for the prison standing order under which a prisoner is not permitted facilities to initiate a private criminal prosecution. If a prisoner claims to have evidence of a criminal offence allegedly committed outside prison, he may write to the police about it; where the offence was allegedly committed in prison, it is for the governor to initiate appropriate action.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether in view of the increasing replacement of labour by micro- and electronic technology they will set up a commission of inquiry into the expansion of leisure industries.

In its report The Manpower Implications of Micro-Electronic Technology, published in December 1979, the Department of Employment concluded that although the long-term effects of the technology would be far reaching, the changes would be neither as sudden nor as disruptive as was once feared.The Government do not propose to set up a commission of inquiry into the expansion of the leisure industries; but it is understood that the Select Committee on Unemployment is likely to comment on this whole area.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will make a statement in connection with the proposals for changes in air fares to and from Western Europe, which are to come into effect from 29th March 1981.

Her Majesty's Government and the Civil Aviation Authority have agreed to the fare changes proposed, except in the case of services to the Republic of Ireland, where we have recently received proposals which are under consideration. We took into account the fact that the proposals include agreement on the extension by British Airways of the new Club and Eurobudget fares to all major routes in Europe, and that the Eurobudget fares offer to the travellers a significant saving over present normal economy fares. In future we shall scrutinise particularly closely proposals for fare increases on routes to countries which are blocking the introduction of lower fares proposed by our airlines. For example, in negotiations earlier this year the Austrian Government, to our great regret, was not prepared to accept a new Gatwick to Vienna service by British Caledonian with lower Miniprix fares. Meanwhile we have not accepted the proposed 2 per cent. increase in European fares based on fuel price rises, which in the light of advice from the Civil Aviation Authority on the information presented we do not think justified.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many children of school age are known to be suffering from epilepsy; how many are at ordinary schools and how many at special schools.

This information is not available in the form requested. For England and Wales, a collaborative study of morbidity in general practice was carried out in 1970–72 by the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys and the Department of Health and Social Security. This study involved volunteer general practitioners with a total registered population of over 290,000. If the published results from the study were applied to the total population of England and Wales it is estimated that in the course of a year about 20,000 children aged 5–14 consult their general practitioner about an illness which is labelled epilepsy. It is not known how many children suffering from epilepsy are at ordinary schools or how many are at special schools where the main handicap is one other than epilepsy. Some statistics are collected and published annually by the education departments but they are not comprehensive and are not collected on a uniform basis. In January 1980 there were about 600 children at schools specially for epileptic pupils.House adjourned at one minute before two o'clock.