asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will give full support to the call of the 150-nation World Health Organisation assembly for the implementation of a programme of "Health For All By The Year 2000"; whether they will give wide publicity to the programme; and whether they will contribute to the cost of research for vaccines for untreated endemic diseases in the third world and provide expert assistance for this purpose.

The Government will continue to support the programme for Health For All By The Year 2000 and will take every opportunity to publicise this important initiative.Research into vaccines for third world endemic diseases is being undertaken already in the United Kingdom (at the National Institute for Medical Research, at Guy's Hospital, and elsewhere) using British expertise, and we intend that this shall continue. In addition, expert assistance is being given to the World Health Organisation's expanded programme of immunisation, to which in the current year we shall be contributing up to £50,000.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will report on the progress of the United Nations Commission on Transnational Corporations in preparing a code of conduct for such corporations; whether they are co-operating with the inter-Governmental Working Group; and what are the prospects for the realisation of such a code at an international level.

The Inter-Governmental Working Group which has been preparing a code of conduct was asked to complete a draft of the code in time for consideration at the seventh session of the commission in September this year. The Government were not able to fulfil this mandate in the time available, and further activity in the working group is now envisaged. Several difficult issues remain to be resolved, and it is not possible to say whether a code will be agreed in the course of this further work over the next year.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What conclusions were reached at the meeting of the interim committee of the International Monetary Fund at Gabon, particularly regarding its financial difficulties and the greater participation of OPEC countries, whether any conditions were laid down for such participation, whether the United Kingdom was represented, and, if so, what contribution was made to those decisions.

The interim committee (at which the United Kingdom was represented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer) noted the steps that the Fund had taken, or was in the process of taking, in order to be able to finance the enlarged access of member countries to its resources in current circumstances. It noted with satisfaction the steps taken since its last meeting in September 1980 including the completion of the Seventh Quota Review and the recent increase in Saudi Arabia's quota.It welcomed the major contribution that the Saudi Arabian authorities had made under the borrowing agreement of 7th May, 1981 between the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and the Fund. The committee also welcomed the recent arrangements with the monetary authorities of 13 industrial countries (including the United Kingdom) that will enable the fund to obtain short-term financing either directly or through the Bank of International Settlements. It endorsed the efforts currently under way to obtain the Fund additional medium-term loans from several other member countries whose balance of payments is strong, as well as shorter-term financing from the monetary authorities of other members.While recognising the need of the Fund to resort to borrowing in current circumstances, the committee reiterated its view that the Fund should continue to place reliance on subscriptions under members' quotas as the basic source of financing its operations. It was therefore pleased to note that preparatory work had begun on the Eighth Quota Review.The United Kingdom Government support the conclusions reached by the interim committee on the financing of the enlarged access policy.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What action they propose to take in response to evidence by the Society of Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment that 38 authorities are ignoring Government advice that corporal punishment be banned in community homes.

Although the Government are in favour of the discontinuance of corporal punishment in community homes, they believe that final discretion should rest with the local authorities who have the responsibility of running the homes. The recent report of the Working Party on Control and Discipline, with its valuable insight into the nature of good personal and professional relationships between staff and children, should play an important part in reassuring authorities and their staffs about the desirability, practicability and effectiveness of alternative methods. The Government prefer persuasion and professional advice of this kind to imposing their views by legislation.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they intend to state their response to the recommendations of the report on the inquiry into the activities of the Commonwealth Development Corporation presented earlier this year.

The review of the Commonwealth Development Corporation is under active consideration and the Government's conclusions will be made known as soon as possible.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will examine the arrangements already made and about to be made for motorway repairs with a view to reducing the mileage of any one section of repair work and so help to reduce the incidence of delay to all vehicles, particularly commercial ones.

Considerable care is taken when planning motorway repairs to ensure that delays are kept to an absolute minimum, and that the work is arranged in practical and economical packages for the contractor involved.The suggestion of reducing the lengths of individual repairs is an interesting one, but practical experience has shown that this would not, by itself, reduce disruption. I understand that computer programmes have been developed to model traffic delays at road-works. These and direct observations show that the layout details of the site—width of lanes, the gradient and the way streams of traffic are channelled—all affect flow; length is only one of the factors.My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport is continuing to examine possible ways of reducing the disruption to traffic, especially to commercial and industrial road-users. Particular emphasis is being placed on improving the information given to road-users, and on streamlining traffic management techniques, so that drivers know what to expect when they arrive at repairs, and are then channelled smoothly past them.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will give an assurance that in any transfer of ownership or leasehold of motorway service areas the interests of those travellers who wish to cater for themselves will be safeguarded and that provision for picnickers will be made.

Under their new leases, motorway service area operators are under a continuing obligation to provide lavatory and short-term parking facilities free of charge. The basic needs of self-catering travellers are thus fully taken care of. In addition, most service areas have take-away food counters and many of them have areas specially set aside for picnicking. Provision of these additional facilities is at the discretion of the operators and of course, in the case of picnic areas, depends on suitable space being available.House adjourned at two minutes past eleven o'clock.