asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their best estimate, or if they have none, what estimates have been made by public bodies, of the total costs, including all training supervision, labour, materials and all other capital costs, at 1980 prices, of completely repairing or where necessary replacing the sewerage system in Great Britain, how many years it is estimated such a programme might take to complete, and how many jobs (in terms of full-time jobs per year) would be created while this work was being done.

In 1977, the Standing Committee on Sewers and Water Mains estimated that it would cost in the region of £19,000 million to replace the existing public sewers in the United Kingdom. At 1980 prices the estimated cost would be about £36,000 million. The underground assets of the water authorities are normally assumed to last for 80 to 125 years, and, although more information is needed on the age and condition of sewers and water mains, it is not, of course, necessary to repair or replace them all at once. The Water Research Centre are at present undertaking surveys and these will give them a clearer picture of what will be required to be done and the rate of progress necessary. I am afraid that it is not possible to foresee what will be the consequences for employment.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the average cost per mile of new motorway completed in the latest year for which figures are available at 1981 prices, what was the average time taken to complete each mile (from the time when construction work started), and whether they know of any estimate of the number of people (in terms of full-time jobs per year) employed in building each mile of motorway.

The construction cost per mile (at December 1981 prices) of inter-urban motorways for which contracts have been let since 1976 was in the range of £1.8 million to £7.6 million for dual two lane motorways, with a mean of £2.9 million, and in the range of £2.2 million to £17.9 million per mile for dual three lane motorways, with a mean of £4.4 million. The time specified in a typical contract is 24 months and this would, in most cases, be for a length of road of between two and five miles. The cost and size of schemes varies widely depending on numerous factors, including the terrain and the location of the new road. The number of people employed similarly varies in the building of each mile of motorway and during the period of construction.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What action they intend to take to simplify administrative forms and reduce their number.

I am publishing tomorrow a White Paper reporting on a review of administrative forms in Government co-ordinated by Sir Derek Rayner with assistance from the Management and Personnel Office, and setting out the Government's programme of action to reduce the number of forms wherever possible and to simplify those that are essential.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What incentives are being considered to aid small businesses, and assist in the launching of them.

This Government have already introduced many measures to aid small businesses, and intend to build on this foundation, but I cannot anticipate my right honourable friend's Budget Statement. A number of schemes are still at the pilot stage, for example the Loan Guarantee Scheme and the Enterprise Allowance, and we will be monitoring these carefully. The counselling provided by the Small Firms Service has been a very effective way of helping small businesses and we are considering how to make it even more responsive to larger and growing firms in the small firms sector. We are also looking at a number of new initiatives which will be announced in due course.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How much public dividend capital has been issued each year since its introduction and what dividends have been received by the Treasury.

The information sought is as follows: