asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will give the time and date at which it is claimed Mr. Doug Wakefield was restored to normal association in January 1979, the time and date at which he was segregated again under Rule 43, and the times and dates at which he had association with other prisoners during the interval between these two points in time.

I am not aware of any claim that Mr. Wakefield was restored to normal association in January 1979. He spent two days in hospital during January 1979, that is, 19th and 20th January. During this period he was not segregated under the provisions of Prison Rule 43.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether prisoners are permitted to make written notes during adjudications at Wormwood Scrubs prison.

Yes.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will introduce legislation enabling a person on whom a deportation notice is served formally to renounce his rights of appeal in order to accelerate the procedures.

We have no present plans to introduce such legislation.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What consideration they have given to increasing the powers of the courts to impose conditions similar to bail conditions, in releasing persons who would otherwise be held in custody pending consideration of a recommendation for deportation by a court, or pending implementation of a decision to deport under Section 3(5) of the Immigration Act 1971.

The proposal in the first part of the Question raises a number of detailed issues and would have resource implications for the police. Subject to further consideration of these issues we would propose an amendment of the law to give courts such powers when there is a suitable legislative opportunity.The Secretary of State already has power to release a person subject to restrictions in the circumstances described in the second part of the Question, and we see no need for the change proposed.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many persons were allowed to enter the United Kingdom in 1980 as the domestic servants of passen- gers other than diplomats given limited leave to enter the United Kingdom.

The figures requested cannot be separately identified from the information collected centrally.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many licences were issued to take grey seal pups and how many grey seal pups were taken under licence (

The following is the information available:

	Orkney	Outer Hebrides
Number of licences issued	8	2
Number of pups authorised to be taken	1,200	600
Number of pups taken	1,195	Nil

The licences authorised the taking of not more than 1,200 pups in the Orkneys from Ruskholm, Wartholm, Faray and Faray Holm, Holms and Point of Spurness, Holm of Huip and Auskerry and not more than 600 pups in the Outer Hebrides from Gasker, Shillay, Coppay and the Monach Islands. The returns from the hunters indicate that the numbers taken from each island were Ruskholm 165, Faray and Faray Holm 500, Holms and Point of Spurness 316, Holm of Huip 169, and Auskerry 45. Bad weather prevented any hunting in the Outer Hebrides.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are now in a position to reply to the recommendations in the Report of the Select Committee on Science and Technology on the Scientific Aspects of Forestry which was published on 10th December 1980, one year ago today.

Consultations on the Select Committee's report are almost complete and we expect to be able to give the Government's response soon after the Christmas Recess.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they intend to ratify the " Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women " adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1979 and signed by the United Kingdom in July 1981.

We shall take a decision on ratification as soon as possible, but in view of the wide scope of the convention and the need to consult the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the dependent territories in detail, I cannot say when this will be.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the value in current money terms of orders for equipment including ships, platforms, drilling rigs and modules for use in exploring or developing the United Kingdom continental shelf which is known to the Offshore Supplies Office to have been placed in the United Kingdom in the years 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 and up to date in 1981; and what was the number of workers consequently employed in each of those years.

The United Kingdom share of orders for services and equipment supplied for the exploration and development of the United Kingdom Continental Shelf since 1975 is as follows:

Year	Orders placed £m	Revalued to 1980 prices £m
1975	613	1,187
1976	591	1,019
1977	806	1,257
1978	1,037	1,460
1979	2,111	2,566
1980	1,679	1,679

Statistics are not available of the numbers employed throughout the United Kingdom in activities related to the UKCS, but employment offshore in the years concerned was as follows:—

1975	6,000
1976	9,200
1977	12,100
1978	12,500
1979	10,500
1980	22,000

Figures for 1981 will be published in the Secretary of State for Energy's Report to Parliament on the

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will consider increasing the level of

The Select Committee on Education, Science and the Arts has recently made recommendations on the operation of the douceur in the transfer of ownership of works of art. The Government's conclusions on this, on which a statement will be made in due course, may affect the manner in which these arrangements apply to the disposal of land of scenic and scientific, or historic interest.

asked Her Majesty's Government:By what amount has the public sector borrowing requirement increased because of the need to provide local authority loans to tenants who bought their council houses (or flats) in 1979–80 and 1980–81 and since.

Sales of local authority dwellings help to reduce the public sector borrowing requirement. Where the authority itself supplies the mortgage loan to a sitting tenant it receives the sale price over time. Where the sale is made with the help of private finance, the authority receives the value immediately. In both cases, up to 50 per cent. of the capital receipt may be used to augment the authority's capital expenditure allocation; the remainder serves to reduce the authority's borrowing requirement.House adjourned at fourteen minutes past ten o'clock.