asked Her Majesty's Government:How much grant aid has been paid from public funds to internal drainage boards in each year since 1976, under what legislative provisions are such payments made, and for what purposes has such public money been spent.

Section 91 of the Land Drainage Act 1976 provides for the payments of grant on expenditure incurred by internal drainage boards in carrying out drainage schemes. The amount of grant paid to all boards since 1976 has been as follows:

	£
1976–77	1,339,241
1977–78	1,715,725
1978–79	2,193,016
1979–80	2,464,566
1980–81	2,826,936

Each drainage scheme on which grant has been paid will have been designed either to alleviate or to prevent flooding of urban property or agricultural land, or to improve the drainage of agricultural land.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many drainage schemes that would require grant aid from public funds of £250,000 or more have been proposed in each year since 1976, which internal drainage board districts have such proposals affected, and how many such schemes have been approved by the Government in each year since 1976.

Four schemes attracting grant of £250,000 or more have been proposed and approved since 1976 as follows:

• 1977—Selby Internal Drainage Board
• 1978—Middle Level Commission
• 1979—Everton Internal Drainage Board
• 1980—South Gloucestershire Internal Drainage Board.

A proposal which has been submitted by the Lower Bure, Halvergate Fleet and Acle Marshes Internal Drainage Board is currently under consideration.

asked Her Majesty's Government:By what criteria they decide whether or not to provide grant aid to a drainage scheme proposed by an internal drainage board, and in particular in what proportion of such schemes do they have access to a cost-benefit analysis on the scheme concerned.

In order to qualify for grant aid, schemes must be technically sound and of reasonable cost, and must generate sufficient benefit, either by the avoidance of flood damage or by increased agricultural output to justify the gross cost. Each application for grant must be supported by a full report including a cost/benefit analysis.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they agree with the advice given by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in a recently published advisory leaflet,

The departmental advisory leaflet was issued at my personal instigation and was not intended to imply that drift from these weedkillers necessarily poses a major threat to the broad bean (vicia faba) or to any other crop. Its purpose was to draw attention to those non-target crops which, at certain stages of growth and in particular weather conditions, could be at risk from nearby herbicide spraying operations, and to highlight the kind of simple precautions which farmers need to follow in order to prevent damage to such crops. Of the other vicia species to which the noble Lord refers, bithynian vetch occurs mainly in bushy areas near coastal cliffs, where it is seldom likely to be exposed to herbicide drift. There is no evidence to suggest that tufted vetch or hairy tare are as susceptible to such drift as are the agricultural crops which are listed in the department's advisory leaflet.

asked Her Majesty's Government:In view of the widespread concern about the effects of spray and vapour drift of herbicides, what they are doing to encourage the development and adoption by farmers of techniques for pesticide application which are designed to reduce the risk of spray drift.

I have personally been concerned with an extensive and continuing campaign during the past nine months to alert farmers to the potential risks of damage which may result from any form of herbicide drift, and to ways of avoiding it. On 19th March I met senior representatives of the Agricultural Research Council, the Agricultural Training Board, the British Agrochemicals Association, the British Crop Protection Council, the National Association of Agricultural Contractors, the Agricultural Engineers Association and the National Farmers' Union in order to consider how best to overcome the problem of damage which can be caused by herbicide spray drift. As a result, my department gave widespread circulation within the farming community to an explanatory leaflet.In addition, my department's advisory initiatives and publicity lay special emphasis on the method of avoiding risks, for example, by the adoption of sensible management techniques and the effective use of applicators, as well as on the careful selection and use of the most appropriate herbicides taking into account the time of the year, prevailing weather conditions and the stage of growth of potentially susceptible crops in the vicinity of spraying operations. Current research and development programmes include the development of improved application techniques and associated investigations into the scope for reducing the amount of herbicide which is applied and for increasing the proportion which is deposited onto the crop for which it is intended.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, in view of the fact that herbicides based upon ester hormone compounds are now recognised as sufficiently volatile and potent that they may vapourise from target crop leaf surfaces and this vapour causes damage to nearby broadleaved crops, they will ensure that standards for an acceptable level of volatility of pesticide compounds are introduced under the Pesticide Safety Precaution Scheme and that any compound found to be too volatile is withdrawn from the list of Approved Products for Farmers and Growers.

A combination of circumstances must occur before there can be any risk of damage of the kind to which the noble Lord refers. First, certain ester formulations need to have been used in the vicinity of susceptible crops; and thereafter weather conditions need to be such both that vapourisation occurs and is then borne in the direction of the non-target crop concerned. Recent publicity, which has been issued by my department, has highlighted the need for farmers to take commonsense precautions in such circumstances. In prescribing safeguards under the Agricultural Chemicals Approval Scheme and the Pesticides Safety Precautions Scheme, the advisory committees concerned already have regard to any husbandry or other risks which could arise from drift. It would be premature to consider withdrawal of the relevant products from the "Approved" list at the present time. However, with the objective of minimising risks to nearby susceptible crops, field and laboratory measurements of the volatility of such products are being made, and their label recommendations are being reviewed.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether New Zealand mutton and lamb imported into Great Britain is slaughtered by the pre-stunning methods prescribed for use by the Slaughterhouses Acts.

All such meat from New Zealand originates from animals which have been stunned before slaughter.

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.

I would refer the noble Lord to the reply I gave him on 8th June (Volume 421, col. 112).

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will clarify the phrase "on these terms" which was used by Lord Bellwin in his reply to the Unstarred Question on leasehold reform printed (

In the phrase "on these terms" I was referring to the terms of a special kind of lease, which became common in certain areas of England and Wales in the second half of the last century. This was known as the building lease. Instead of selling freeholds, owners granted 99-year leases of plots of building land for substantial premiums on condition that the lessees put on to the land a house of a specified kind, or alternatively sold the land with a new house on it on such a lease.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What reply they have made to the several recommendations of the Christian Concern for Southern Africa, submitted by the British Council of Churches, for a Parliamentary Committee to investigate Britain's alleged military collaboration with South Africa, including the proposal that all licences for the manufacture in South Africa of British designed equipment with military application be withdrawn.

We have informed Christian Concern for Southern Africa that we are considering carefully both their report, entitled Arms for Apartheid and those of their recommendations which are addressed to the Government.House adjourned at nineteen minutes before nine o'clock.