asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they agree that:

These proposals have a number of practical and legal disadvantages and on the whole would not be advantageous to the police or to the criminal justice system generally.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What territories now comprise the British Empire.

The remaining British Dependent Territories are:

• Anguilla,
• Bermuda,
• British Antarctic Territory,
• British Indian Ocean Territory,
• British Virgin Islands,
• Cayman Islands,
• Falkland Islands and Dependencies,
• Gibraltar,
• Hong Kong,
• Montserrat,
• Pitcairn Group of Islands,
• St. Helena and Dependencies,
• Turks and Caicos Islands.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they support the dismissal of Mr. Theo van Boven, the Dutch director of the United Nations Human Rights Division, from his post.

This is a matter for the United Nations Secretary-General. He has appointed Mr. Kurt Herndl from Austria to succeed Mr. van Boven, who has been officially informed that his contract will not be renewed when it expires on 30th April. The Secretary-General is aware that we value Mr. van Boven's excellent work.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the tripartite talks between the USA, the USSR and the United Kingdom on a comprehensive test ban treaty will be continued in view of the opinion of the USA that it would not reduce the threat of nuclear weapons.

On 9th February the United States representative told the Committee on Disarmament that, while a comprehensive ban on nuclear testing remained an objective of his Government, the ban would not be of assistance in present circumstances in reducing the threat of nuclear weapons or in maintaining the stability of the nuclear balance. The United States representative did not refer to the resumption of the trilateral talks, the future of which is uncertain. A comprehensive test ban remains an objective of the British Government.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the Department of Education for Northern Ireland has sought to promote suitable consultations and/or negotiations with teacher representative bodies about redeployment procedures with a view to the alleviation of compulsory redundancies; if so, at what stage have these consultations or negotiations reached.

No formal consultations have taken place with teacher representative bodies about redeployment procedures. However, the General Committee of the Teachers Negotiating Machinery has established a sub-committee to consider, among other things, the problems associated with teacher redeployment. The sub-committee has teacher and management representatives. Its views will he passed to the Department of Education through the General Committee.The department also intends to discuss with teacher organisations implications of the document

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will provide an estimate of the additional employment which would be provided directly in Northern Ireland if half of the current number of university study awards granted for places outside the Province were retained in Northern Ireland and of the estimated savings accruing to the Government from the reduced travel allowances.

To restrict the number of university awards for study outside Northern Ireland to half the current number could affect some 1,700 students.Whether such students could gain a place in a Northern Ireland university would depend upon their choice of course and the admissions policy of the university having regard,

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will state the pupil-teacher ratios for (a) Northern Ireland and, (b) Scotland, in each of the following school types, (i) Primary, (ii) Secondary, (iii) Grammar, and the overall average; and the dates on which the respective figures are based.

The pupil-teacher ratios for the school types in Northern Ireland and Scotland at January and September 1981 respectively were:

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will indicate the number of temporary teaching vacancies in schools in Northern Ireland that have been filled by teachers over compulsory retirement age in each month during the past two years.

Details of temporary vacancies are not readily available. However, the number of teachers over compulsory retirement age employed in temporary posts during each month of 1980 and 1981 is shown below. The number of temporary vacancies may be slightly different because some teachers may have been in more than one post during any particular month.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why, at a time when teacher unemployment is on the increase, the Northern Ireland Teacher Unemployment Monitoring Group has not been convened since 16th February 1981; and whether the Department of Education for Northern Ireland has considered arranging a date for a meeting of the group.

The surveys of teacher unemployment which have been conducted biannually on behalf of the Teacher Unemployment Monitoring Group depend on the voluntary co-operation of persons registering as unemployed teachers. As a result of a refinement in the method of completing the November 1980 survey it was discovered that less than 48 per cent. of the persons registered on the relevant date had taken part in that survey. At the request of the monitoring group the Department of Education made special efforts to improve the participation rate in the March 1981 survey but this only succeeded in increasing the rate to 58 per cent. It was therefore decided to postpone a further meeting of the group until the November 1981 survey results were available. This survey has now been completed and it is intended that a meeting of the group should be arranged shortly.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What change in real terms there has been since 1979 in the value of the invalidity pension for single persons and married couples; and what action is proposed to ameliorate living standards for these pensioners.

Comparisons of benefit values can be misleading if they relate to other than uprating dates. Table 5.7 of the Abstract of Statistics for Index of Retail Prices, Average Earnings, Social Security Benefits and Contributions, a copy of which is in the Library of the House, shows the November 1981 equivalent of the benefit at earlier uprating dates.The value of invalidity benefit will be fully protected against rises in prices and, once the benefit comes into tax, the rate of invalidity pension will be put back in line with the rate of retirement pension. The rates of invalidity allowance have already been restored to the level of the increases paid with retirement pension.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress on nurses' pay has been made in the Nurses' Whitley Council.

Last December my right honourable friends the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Social Services had mettings with representatives of the Staff Side of the Whitley Council. At these meetings the Government's commitment to finding more satisfactory arrangements for nurses' pay was emphasised. We are now anxious to make good progress in developing these arrangements and my right honourable friend the Secretary of State has circulated a paper to both Sides of the Nurses and Midwives Whitley Council outlining possible approaches for settling long-term pay arrangements for nurses. I understand that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State hopes to discuss the paper with the Whitley Council as soon as possible. As for the current pay round, this is, of course, a matter for the Whitley Council which I understand is to begin negotiations tomorrow.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What will be the total cost of Carsington Reservoir at 1981 prices, how long it is expected that the reservoir will take to build, how many additional jobs (in terms of full-time jobs per year) will be created during the construction period, and how many people will be employed in maintaining, operating and in servicing the reservoir in other ways, and what will be the total cost of this at 1981 prices.

The total cost of Carsington Reservoir Scheme is estimated to be £37 million at 1981 prices and is expected to be completed by late 1985. The number of additional jobs created by the construction of these works is about 400. The average total cost of operating the scheme on completion will be £180,000 at 1981 prices and it will require 10 people to service it.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why school minibuses are not exempted from the tachograph regulation.

The tachograph regulation is a part of Community law which was enacted before the United Kingdom's accession; I cannot therefore say why school minibuses were not among the specific exemptions.However, many school minibuses benefit from the exemption for passenger vehicles with no more than 15 seats overall and used on journeys wholly within the United Kingdom, or from the exemption for passenger vehicles used on regular services. It is also strongly arguable that the tachograph regulation does not apply to any privately owned and driven vehicles including school-owned buses as normally used in this country. There is no likelihood of a privately owned and driven minibus being prosecuted in this country under this regulation.House adjourned at seventeen minutes past eight o'clock.