asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the maintenance award for a single student outside London other than at Oxford and Cambridge for each year since 1962; and what was the value of the award for each year in real terms as a percentage of the value in (a) 1962 and (b) 1978.

The information requested is as follows:

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many students would be affected were the £410 minimum grant award to be abolished.

It is estimated that some 35,000 students in Great Britain now receive the minimum grant.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What would be the cost of abolishing the parental means test on:

In 1979–80 in Great Britain the total amounts would have been £95 million for mandatory awards and £104 million for all student awards.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What percentage of students who receive mandatory awards are affected by the parental means test.

Sixty-one per cent. of students in Great Britain who receive full-value mandatory or discretionary awards have parents in respect of whom a parental contribution is assessed. Information is not available for mandatory awards separately.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the total cost to parents of the parental means test and what is the average payment made by parents.

The assessed contribution towards student maintenance from parents, students and spouses in Great Britain was £104 million in the academic year 1979–80. Information on the average payments actually made by parents, students and spouses in not available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:To what extent the Government attempt to assess student needs when calculating an increase in student maintenance awards.

It is usual for the calculation of mandatory student awards for maintenance to take account of movements in students' living costs. In recent years, however, Her Majesty's Government have also had regard to their overall policy of restraining public expenditure.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why they have not yet decided on the amount of funding for the Open University for the calendar year 1982; how they would advise the university to calculate fees to be charged to students for that year, and what percentage increase this would represent on 1981 and 1980 respectively.

Decisions on the Open University's grant must be taken in the context of public expenditure generally. The university has been informed that the 1982 grant will be assessed on the basis that tuition fees will be £120 per full credit course, an increase of 22.4 per cent. on the 1981 fees (£8) and 79.1 per cent. on those of 1980 (£67).

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their latest assessment of the desirability of import controls.

The United Kingdom is more economically dependent on overseas trade in terms of the proportion of total output we export than any other major industrial nation in the world. It would not be in the United Kingdom's interests therefore for the Government to put up general barriers against imports which would restrict consumer choice, deprive manufacturers of essential supplies of components and raw materials and above all invite retaliation from our trading partners. At the same time, however, the Government arc, and always have been, prepared to consider recourse to protective measures against imports in certain special circumstances, when such measures are consistent with our international obligations. The firm line the Government are taking in the current international discussions on the problem of low-cost textile imports is evidence of our pragmatic approach to this difficult area of trade policy.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

The Wimborne By-pass forms part of the Folkestone-Honiton trunk road. The contractor is Sir Alfred McAlpine & Son (Southern) Ltd., and the by-pass was opened to traffic on 25th September, some six months ahead of schedule. Some work is still outstanding and until it is completed the final cost will not be known. It is not, however, expected to exceed the tender price, suitably adjusted to allow for inflation.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will:

1. Tables 4.1 and 4.2 of the Interim Report of the Higher Education Review Group for Northern Ireland give projections of the likely school populations in various age groups and by school sector up to the year 1995. These projections were based on the Government Actuary's Department, January 1978 population projections.2. The most recent estimates are based on the Government Actuary's Department January 1980

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will make a statement on the measures employed or planned to encourage take-up of social security benefits, either generally or in respect of particular benefits or particular groups of beneficiaries; and whether they are satisfied with the results already achieved or anticipated as the result of planned improvements in information and advice.

I am glad to assure the noble Lord that the take-up of most of the very wide range of social security benefits for which the Department of Health and Social Security has responsibility is satisfactory. In so far as the take-up of any of the major contributory benefits, or child benefit, falls short of 100 per cent., it is likely that this is due more to deliberate choice than to ignorance. The significant problems of unsatisfactory population projections. Revised estimates of the data in Tables 4.1 and 4.2 of the Interim Report are set out in the tables below.3. The revised school population projections reach their nadir in the late 1980's, when they are about 6 per cent. above those shown in the Chilver Interim Report. Using the criteria in the Chilver Interim Report on pupil/teacher ratios the number of teaching posts would also be assumed to rise by about 6 per cent. on the levels set out in the report.take-up lie mainly with supplementary benefit, one parent benefit, family income supplement and, to a lesser extent, with attendance allowance and mobility allowance.The take-up of supplementary benefit runs at about three-quarters in terms of numbers of actual and potential claimants but at about five-sixths in terms of benefit. This reflects the fact that, while a large sum in total may be unclaimed (estimated at over £300 million), many of the individual amounts are small. Nevertheless, the Government regard the encouragement of take-up as important if need is to be adequately met. A number of measures have been in force for some time: posters are displayed at the department's local offices, unemployment benefit offices, post offices,