asked Her Majesty's Government:How many prisoners in England and Wales were segregated for reasons of good order and discipline in 1980 and in the first nine months of 1981.

Nine hundred and three in 1980; and 531 in the first seven months of 1981, the latest period for which figures are available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many prisoners were segregated under Rule 43 for the maintenance of good order and discipline in the calendar year 1980 and in the first six months of 1981 respectively, and how many of those so held had been kept on Rule 43 for between one and two years, between two and three years, and over three years respectively.

Nine hundred and three in 1980 and 470 in the first six months of 1981. Sixteen had been segregated continuously for between one and two years, four between two and three years, and none over three years.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish a list of prisons in England and Wales at which prisoners are not permitted to sit during adjudications by the Board of Visitors, and a list of prisons at which facilities are not granted to prisoners to take notes at such adjudications; and whether they will also publish a similar list for prisons in Scotland.

This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many deportation orders were made after recommendations by the courts in 1979, 1980 and 1981 to the latest convenient date respectively; and how many were made in each of these periods following a decision to deport made by the Home Secretary.

All decisions to make a deportation order are taken by the Home Secretary. The information requested is as follows:—

asked Her Majesty's Government:What would be its estimated effect on the present size of the prison population (

The Review of Parole in England and Wales took the view (paragraph 55) that the parole system in its present form could not be applied to those serving shorter sentences and an estimate of the effect on the prison population of (a) could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The review suggested (paragraph 56) that the middle third of a short sentence might be held in suspense while the offender was released under supervision and it was estimated that if such a provision were applied without exception to all sentences above six months and under three years the effect, on the most optimistic view of other factors, could be a reduction in the prison population of up to 7,000. It is estimated that the effect of altering the period of remission from one-third to one-half for those sentenced to up to and including two years could, in the longer term, reduce the prison population by about 3,000.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many civil servants were serving in the Home Office on 1st January 1981; and what is the present total.

The information is as follows:1st January 1981: 35,481 (including 25,826 in the prison department)1st November 1981: 34,905 (including 25,690 in the prison department)

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why the following passage was omitted from the Foreign Office summary of President Brezhnev's

The summary of President Brezhnev's Der Spiegel interview was not intended to be comprehensive. By request, it was made available to the House of Lords Library at a time when we did not have a full translation. While the passage quoted is of interest and the sentiment expressed therein is welcomed and shared by the West, it does not represent any refinement or expansion of known Soviet positions. I am arranging for a full translation of the interview, as it appeared in the BBC's Summary of World Broadcasts, to be placed in the House of Lords Library.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they accept that Yorkshire, Humberside and the South West should be excluded from the regions eligible for assistance from the European Regional Development Fund.

The Commission have proposed, in the context of a proposal for a regulation amending Regulation No. 724/75 (establishing a European Regional Development Fund) that these regions, along with all regions in Germany, Mainland France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg, should no longer be eligible for aid from the quota section of the fund. They would continue to be eligible for aid from the non-quota section, which the Commission proposed should be enlarged. The proposal for the exclusion of these English regions is nevertheless unwelcome, and the Government will wish to examine the justification for it carefully in the forthcoming Council discussion of the Commission's proposed regulation.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they accept the statistical basis of the first periodic report on the social and economic situation of the regions of the Community (CON)(80)(816 Final).

The periodic report, including its statistical basis, is the responsibility of the Commission after consultation with the Community's Regional Policy Committee, whose membership is drawn from the member states.There are inevitably considerable difficulties in producing comparable relevant statistics for the great variety of regions comprised in the Community. The Government are satisfied that, within these important constraints, the best generally available statistics have been used. We shall continue to work with other member states towards the improvement of the statistical basis for future periodic reports.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the total sums received in grants in aid from the EEC Regional and Social Fund have meant additional investment over and above those amounts Her Majesty's Government would in any case have spent; and whether Her Majesty's Government will indicate how these amounts are shown to be additional expenditure in departmental estimates; andWhether in view of the statement in paragraph 37 of the European Communities Select Committee's Report (14th Report 1980–81 H.L. 93) that "no evidence has come to hand during the Committee's enquiry which shows convincingly that the United Kingdom Government adheres to the principle of additionality" they will indicate what steps are being taken to ensure that amounts received from the EEC Regional and Social Fund provide additional investment to that which would in any case have taken place.

The Government's public expenditure plans are set taking account of expected receipts from the European Regional Development Fund and Social Fund. Receipts from these funds allow expenditure to be higher than would otherwise be possible given the Government's objectives for total public expenditure and for the PSBR. The receipts do thus allow additional expenditure over that which would otherwise have taken place.Receipts from the Regional Development Fund for projects supported by central Government are included in the Supply Estimates as Appropriations in Aid of the relevant Votes; the gross provision for these Votes is thus higher than the net provision by the amount of the RDF receipts (and any other appropriations in aid). Receipts for local authority projects are passed on to the local authority concerned; the payment to the local authority is recorded as an agency payment in the Supply Estimate and is matched against the RDF receipts to give a token net provision. Receipts from the Social Fund are treated similarly.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps they have taken to persuade Norway and the other countries which entered reservations against the introduction of a ban on the use of the cold harpoon to kill minke whales in 1982–83 to accept the decision in favour of a ban taken at this year's meeting of the International Whaling Commission, in view of the fact that this decision was strongly supported by the Government.

We have taken and will continue to take every suitable opportunity to persuade these countries to adopt the same view as the United Kingdom on the desirability of banning the use of the "cold" harpoon. Our views have been made clear, not only at this year's annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), but subsequently in bilateral discussions with other members of the IWC. I regret, however, that in the last few days the Governments of Iceland, Japan and Norway have formally objected to the ban on the use of the "cold" harpoon which was adopted at the 1981 annual meeting of the IWC.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What action the Manpower Services Commission is able to take when an approved scheme for training young unemployed cannot go forward for the lack of sufficient funds to pay for premises when such premises are not being provided by the local authority.

Under the Youth Opportunities Programme, the Manpower Services Commission provides funds for sponsors of schemes to meet a range of costs including those incurred in renting or leasing premises and for associated overheads such as rates, heating, lighting and insurance etc. In the Commission's experience these funds have generally proved sufficient to enable sponsors to pay for the premises required by schemes; where this is not the case, then the Commission would expect the sponsor of the scheme to find the additional finance for the scheme to go ahead.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, in view of the need to conserve fuel and energy, they will seek to advance the resumption of British Summer Time to the earliest possible date.

We have agreed with our European Community partners a common starting date for Summer Time in 1982. This will be the last weekend in March. The energy savings to be secured by an earlier start to British Summer Time are minimal.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why they have not yet issued a circular to accompany the Disabled Persons Act 1981 (which received the Royal Assent on 27th July) similar to that already issued by the Scottish Office to accompany the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1981 (which received the Royal Assent on 11th June).

Work on the circular has involved several departments. It should be ready very shortly.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will give an assurance that well before a decision is announced on any reorganisation of regional affairs of the DHSS they will consult the local authorities concerned.

In the vast majority of instances the only point of contact used by local authorities on social security matters is the appropriate local office of the department and these arrangements will not be affected in any way by the reorganisation of the social security regional structure which is now in progress. For the larger authorities which have occasional contacts at regional level, the only change of any significance that may occur is that the department's business could be conducted from a different location, but they will certainly be consulted in advance about any problems that seem likely to arise.House adjourned at twenty-nine minutes before nine o'clock.