asked Her Majesty's Government:On what grounds they dissuaded the Pope from including Northern Ireland in his pastoral visit to the United Kingdom in May.

The Pope was invited to pay a pastoral visit to the Roman Catholic community in Britain by the Roman Catholic hierarchies in England and Wales, and in Scotland. Her Majesty's Government were not involved in these arrangements. I understand that the hierarchies did not suggest to the Pope that he should also visit Northern Ireland.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether it is true that the EEC are insisting on the "Berlin Clause" in the Lomé Convention in relation to Mozambique, and if so why; and whether they have made or will make representations to the EEC on this point.

The Community would welcome Mozambique's accession to the Lomé Convention. But in order to enjoy the substantial benefits of Lomé membership Mozambique would need to accept the convention as it stands, including its territorial applicability clause which serves inter alia to extend the application of the convention to West Berlin, to which all European Community treaties are extended. All the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries who have joined Lomé have accepted this clause.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What information they have concerning (

Her Majesty's Government are aware of various reports and allegations. In our view, violence, no matter where or by whom, runs counter to the search for peaceful solutions to the problems of the region.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will raise the question of East Timor with the inter-governmental group on Indonesia and with ASEAN.

No. We regard East Timor as an issue between the Portuguese and Indonesian Governments in the first instance, and the Indonesian Government are already aware of our views on the human rights aspects of the question.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the convention now being drafted on liability and compensation, in connection with the carriage of noxious and hazardous substances by sea, covers such substances when they are carried in packages as well as in bulk, so as to include dangerous substances carried in packages lashed to freighters' decks which are easily washed overboard.

The convention has been drafted to deal with bulk carriage only; the main risk of catastrophic damage by the substances concerned arises from such carriage. Extension later to cover such substances when packaged has not been ruled out, but the necessary work could not be completed before consideration of the draft convention by a diplomatic conference planned for 1983 or 1984.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether gas tankers permanently moored in British inshore waters count as ships, in which case the shipowners' liability for compensation in the event of accidents would bear no relationship to the actual damage done but only to the tonnage of the vessel.

Whether such a vessel would count as a ship would depend on whether it was at the material time considered to be "used in navigation". If it did, the maximum liability of the owner for damage would depend on tonnage unless the damage resulted from the owner's or operator's fault or privity, in which case the liability would be unlimited.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they expect to interview priority applicants for special quota vouchers in India who originally applied between July and September 1976.

These applicants were invited in January this year for interview in April.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What consideration they are giving to allowing income tax relief in respect of tuition fees paid by part-time students following approved courses to degree standard or equivalent; and what would be the estimated cost of such a concession.

In general the income tax does not provide for relief in respect of personal expenditure. I am afraid therefore that it would not be right to extend tax relief to tuition fees paid by part-time students following approved courses to degree standard or equivalent. The estimated cost would be about £5 million a year. The issue involved, however, is not so much one of cost but of the general principles underlying the tax.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will take steps to enable the Public Trustee to change the present rule that each trust must be separately invested, in order to reduce management costs and improve performance by enabling trusts to be combined for investment purposes; and whether the Public Trustee will use the planned computer installation to monitor the performance of investments under his management using commercially practised techniques.

The Administration of Justice Bill now before this House contains provisions to achieve the first object. As to the second, the Public Trustee already has a computer facility which provides him with a full valuation service and enables him to evaluate investment performance in accordance with the requirements of the fund concerned.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the chief supplementary benefits officer, before issuing guidance to local offices on the 21-hour rule, saying that the 21 hours should include lunch breaks and private study, consulted the Department of Education and Science; and if not; why not.

It is for the chief supplementary benefits officer, who is independent of Ministers, to decide whom to consult in formulating his advice. In the absence of case law established by decisions of the Social Security Commissioners, he is concerned with the interpretation of the supplementary benefit legislation and would need to consult only if he required further factual information to enable him to determine what a particular regulation meant. I understand that on this occasion he did not consult the Department of Education and Science.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they agree with the conclusion of four Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food research workers, Dr. Christopher Cheeseman, Mr. Peter Mallinson, Mr. John Gallagher and Mr. Gareth Jones, that there is an unexplained causative factor affecting the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in different badger populations; and what further research they are undertaking to discover what this causative factor might be.

The officials did not reach this conclusion nor is there anything in their paper which casts doubt upon the established link between tuberculosis in badgers and tuberculosis in cattle.The Government support an extensive programme of research on bovine tuberculosis in badgers which covers, among other things, the numerous interacting factors which may influence the prevalence of tuberculosis in wild badger populations and how such populations may relate to disease in cattle.House adjourned at eleven minutes before eleven o'clock.