asked Her Majesty's Government:On what occasions the Home Office Prison Department records show that watches have been used to assault prison staff; what criteria are applied in deciding whether a person who is segregated for reasons of good order and discipline may keep his watch; and how many of the prisoners so segregated in 1980 were not allowed to keep their watches.

Prison governors have discretion to refuse permission for an inmate to have in his possession a watch which is considered unsuitable for wear in prison, but otherwise a person who is segregated would not normally be deprived of his watch. The other information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have prepared a revision of the rules governing censorship of prisoners' letters following the critical judgment of the European Commission of Human Rights, and, if so, whether the new rules will be published.

The review of the restrictions on the correspondence of inmates of Prison Department establishments (in England and Wales) has now been completed and new arrangements have been made with effect from today. These are set out in Prison Department Standing Order 5, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.Inmates will be allowed much greater freedom in their choice of correspondents. Inmates were formerly entitled to write only to relatives, persons whom they knew before they came into custody, Members of Parliament and other specified persons. The new standing order provides that prisoners may correspond with anyone, subject to certain specified exceptions. The main exception is that governors will have discretion to stop correspondence with a person or organisation which he has reason to believe is planning or engaged in activities which present a real and serious threat to the security or good order of any prison department establishment.The restrictions on the contents of inmates' correspondence have also been relaxed. The prohibitions on improper language, begging letters, objectionable references to people in public life, attempts to stimulate public agitation and petition, and complaints which hold the criminal justice authorities up to contempt have been abolished. Unconvicted inmates will now be allowed to correspond about all business matters and all inmates will be allowed to send out material for publication, subject to some important conditions. Inmates who wish to make a complaint about treatment in prison will not now have to wait for the outcome of the internal investigation of the complaint before mentioning it in correspondence but they will still be expected to raise the complaint through the appropriate internal procedure. The only restriction on correspondence between inmates and Members of Parliament is that this may not contain a complaint about prison treatment or prison staff which has not also been raised internally.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will make a statement concerning the accident at Holy Loch on 2nd November involving the USS "Holland" and the transference of a nuclear weapon which it is claimed was armed and could have exploded, as reported in a BBC programme on 19th November.

On 2nd November this year there was a minor incident at the Holy Loch submarine base in which an American missile being handled by a crane within its storage facility aboard the submarine tender USS "Holland" began to descend at a faster than normal rate due to a mechanical malfunction in the crane. Standard procedures were successfully carried out and the missile's descent was halted. At no time did the missile "free fall". No one was injured, nor was anyone in danger. There was never my possibility of explosion.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps they have taken to ensure that EEC regulation 543/69 is amended so that the Lorry Driver of the Year Competition can continue to be held.

We have considered the application of the relevant EC regulations to drivers participating n good driving competitions such as the Lorry Driver of the Year Competition. We have concluded that such driving will not be taken into account for any purpose in relation to those regulations. Furthermore we will support moves, in any review of the EC regulations to ensure that this matter is put beyond doubt.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the total amount to be paid to the 15 firms for the design work on road schemes amounting to over £2,000 million which is being transferred to them from the 16 Road Construction Sub-units of the Department of Transport.

It is not possible to make any precise calculation as the design work on many of the transferred schemes will not begin until some time in the future and the final fees on all schemes will be calculated on the final cost of the works.We can only make a very rough estimate that the total amount to be paid by way of fees and reimbursable expenses will be of the order of £80 million to £90 million, at December 1980 prices, spread over many years.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are aware of any plans for a South African rugby team or provincial rugby team to visit this country during the current season.

No. The Government know of no such plans.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they propose to issue to the local authority associations a consultation paper on housing subsidy for 1982–83.

My right honourable friends the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Secretary of State for Wales have issued a consultation paper today. It concerns the Government's proposals for calculating the increase which local authorities will be expected to find from local sources in arriving at their entitlement to housing subsidy for 1982–83. Copies of the paper have been placed in the Printed Paper Office and in the Libraries of both Houses.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will make a statement about the 1981 rate support grant settlement.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Environment has today sent the local authority associations his proposals for some of the main elements of the rate support grant settlement for England for 1982–83, and some proposed adjustments to the grants for 1980–81 and 1981–82.For 1982–83 he is proposing a figure of £18 billion for local authorities current expenditure. This is 2 per cent. more in cash than the local authorities budgeted to spend in 1981–82. The Government have already announced cash factors of 4 per cent. and 9 per cent. for pay and prices respectively in the public sector. It implies a continuing need for significant reductions in their plans for current expenditure. He is proposing a number of specific measures to that end.The proposed allocation of the £18 billion between services is as follows:

	£m cash
Education	8,865
School Meals and Milk	325
Libraries, Museums and Art Galleries	302
Personal Social Services	1,857
Port Health	3
Police	2,031
Fire	449
Other Home Office Services	278
Local Transport	1,423
Consumer Protection	48
Local Environmental Services	2,262
Employment	64
Other Housing	93
Total current expenditure	18,000

With the addition of revenue contributions to capital outlay, loan charges, rate fund contributions to housing revenue accounts and interest receipts, the total of relevant expenditure would be some £20·4 billion. The Government propose to reduce the rate of Exchequer grant from 59·1 per cent. to 56 per cent. Aggregate Exchequer grant for 1982–83 would thus be some £11.4 billion.I envisage giving each authority individual expenditure guidance for 1982–83, in the form of a target figure for the total expenditure falling on the rates. Targets would be calculated as follows. Each authority's expenditure in 1981–82, starting from its original or revised budget whichever is the lower, would be scaled up to 1982–83 levels, using an appropriate factor for each class of authority, and then adjusted according to performance in 1981–82. For each 1 per cent. by which an authority's resealed 1981–82 expenditure figure is below its 1982–83 GRE, that figure would be increased (or reduced) by 0·2 percentage points. For each 1 per cent. by which its 1981–82 current expenditure figure is below (or exceeds) its volume target for 1981–82, that figure will again be increased (or reduced) by 0·2 percentage points. The resulting targets would, however, be subject to a ceiling and a floor: no authority would be asked for more than a 7 per cent. real terms reduction; the average real terms reduction would be 4 per cent. and no authority would be expected to increase real terms expenditure from the 1981–82 level.I propose that in addition to the normal operation of the block grant system, there should be a scheme of grant abatement for authorities above GRE whose expenditure exceeds their targets, (as defined in the paragraph above). Such authorities would be subject to a progressive reduction of grant up to a maximum reduction; that maximum would be a loss of grant equivalent to a 15p rate divided between tiers for those spending 5 per cent. or more above target (or above GREs, whichever is the higher).My right honourable friend is proposing that GREs should in general be calculated in accordance with the methodology already discussed with local authority associations. Housing expenditure, however, would be treated differently. The calculations are based provisionally on an average rent increase of £2·50 per dwelling per week, but where the resulting increase contributes to an assessed surplus on the housing revenue account, the GRE component for housing would be set at zero. There would therefore be no negative housing GREs in 1982–83, and no authority would have its overall GRE reduced because of an assessed surplus on its housing revenue account. My right honourable friend shall, however, explore with the local authority associations how to secure that any potential surplus is so applied for housing purposes as to meet our public expenditure objectives.For 1981–82, he is proposing to make a number of changes in a supplementary report. Relevant expenditure for 1981–82 would be increased by £45 million to take account of the pay settlement for the police; the effect of this would be to increase Exchequer grant by £27 million. A further increase in grant of £122 million would be made to take account of cost variations that are outside the cash limit. My right honourable friend is also proposing some minor modifications to the distribution of block grant, which have been discussed with the local authority associations.For 1980–81, my right honourable friend is proposing a second increase order to make two changes for authorities in England and Wales. £85 million grant would be paid outside the cash limit to take account of variable items. A deduction of £1 million would be made in respect of payments in 1980–81 under the special scheme to compensate authorities affected by sharp losses of rate income as a result of steel plant closures. In September 1980 my right honourable friend announced a proposal to withhold £200 million grant until outturn figures for 1980–81 became available. Returns from most authorities now indicate that the volume of current expenditure in 1980–81 was some 2½ per cent. above the settlement provision. On that basis he now proposes not to pay any of the £200 million.In making these proposals my right honourable friend recognises that many local authorities have made a start in reducing current expenditure in line with Government policy. But further reductions are still required, and the proposals will continue to give local authorities an incentive to restrain spending. My right honourable friend is arranging for next week a meeting of the Consultative Council on Local Government Finance to discuss them. He envisages publishing before Christmas more detailed proposals for individual authorities' GREs and targets, and an indication of the proposed poundage schedules for the calculation of grant.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What action they have taken to reduce the incidence of the costs of Concorde to public funds, as recommended in the report of the Select Committee on Industry and Trade; when the results of the review of the relative costs to public funds of continuation and of cancellation of Government financial support for Concorde, referred to in the Government's reply, will be made available to Parliament, and what options are being considered in the joint studies on the future of Concorde commissioned by the British and French Governments on the occasion of the September Anglo-French Summit.

In conjunction with the manufacturers, the Procurement Executive of the Ministry of Defence, who act as the Department of Industry's agents in the day-to-day technical and financial control related to the project, have undertaken a comprehensive examination of the support required for Concorde in present circumstances, and of project expenditures and receipts. The results of that examination, and of the review of the relative costs of continuation and of mutually agreed early cancellation, are set out in a memorandum by the Department of Industry which, in accordance with the Government's undertaking of last July, has today been placed in the Library of the House. Copies have also been sent to the Select Committee.In a report to the ministerial meeting between my honourable friend the Minister of State for Industry (Mr. Lamont), and the French Minister of Transport on 29th October British and French officials proposed that they should study three options on the future of Concorde, namely, early cancellation (that is, from 1st April 1982) mutually agreed, a phased rundown, and indefinite continuation. The Ministers agreed that the first option need not be the subject of further joint study. The officials will therefore now consider the two remaining options, with a view to presenting a report on them to the two Governments early in 1982. As recorded in the Communiqué, of which a copy has been placed in the Library of the House, the Ministers have agreed to meet again in the first quarter of 1982 to reach conclusions on them.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What inquiries they have made about the needs of industry for graduates in computer science and related subjects like computer systems engineering over the next five years, and what will be the output of the universities in these faculties over the same period.

The Government are in constant touch with industry about current and future needs for highly qualified manpower, but neither the Government nor industry produce detailed manpower forecasts. The number of university graduates in computer science in 1981, 1982 and 1983 is expected to be about 1,200, 1,400 and 1,600 respectively. No information is available on the number of graduates in computer systems engineering. The output of graduates in computer science from 1984 onwards will depend on entry from 1981 onwards, of which no projections by subject are yet available.House adjourned at thirteen minutes past eight o'clock.