asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the average length of time for which a person granted citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies in March, June, September and December 1981 and March 1982 respectively had waited since the date of his or her application, distinguishing between those naturalised and registered, and among those registered between those with and without entitlement; how many applications for citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies were made, and how many granted in 1981; and what was the number of Home Office staff engaged in processing these applications on 30th June and 31st December 1981 respectively.

The average waiting times for an applicant for citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies are as follows:

	Naturalisation months	Registration (discretionary) months	Registration (entitlement) months
March 1981	24	26	13
June 1981	20	27	12
September 1981	21	28	10
December 1981	23	27	10
March 1982	24	28	10

In 1981, 60,378 applications for registration and 9,714 applications for naturalisation were received. 42,556 persons, including minors, were registered as citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies and 6,432 adults were granted naturalisation. The number of staff in post in the Nationality Division in 30th June and 31st December 1981 was 231 and 221 respectively.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which bodies working in the field of abortion counselling receive public money either directly or through district health authorities and what are the allocations for the individual bodies involved in the current year.

No grants are made from central funds to any body primarily engaged in abortion counselling. I regret that information is not held centrally about the funding of local bodies by district health authorities.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the relative costs to public funds of identical prescriptions dispensed by hospital pharmacists and by pharmacists under contract to family practitioner committees.

I regret that the information needed to compare directly the costs of dispensing an individual prescription in a hospital and in a retail pharmacy is not available centrally. It could be obtained only by special inquiry and at disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many additional secure places are required to accommodate in community homes the 15-year-olds at present remanded to prison department establishments, and what the provision of these additional places cost.

About 30 such boys are on remand in prison department establishments on an average day and there are probably sufficient secure places available in community homes to accommodate them.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many additional secure places are required to accommodate in community homes all the juveniles at present remanded in prison department establishments, and what would the provision of these additional places cost.

When the secure places now under construction become available, the total number of secure places in community homes would be about adequate for the number of juveniles in need of security who are at present being remanded to prison department establishments. Locally, however, there would be some under-provision, and a few more places might be needed at a capital cost of some £26,000 per place.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have yet completed their review of the "21-hour rule", given effect by Regulation 7(2) of the Supplementary Benefit (Conditions of Entitlement) Regulation 1981, and whether they will make a statement.

The Government have been reviewing the terms of the "21-hour rule", against the background of the advice recently promulgated by the Chief Supplementary Benefit Officer to the effect that under the present regulation the time spent in private study and lunch breaks, as well as actual tuition time, should be taken into account in determining whether a course falls within the 21 hour limit.The question of what elements in a course should count towards the 21 hours under the present regulation should be clarified by the decision of the Social Security Commissioners on an appeal case which is at present under consideration. We have decided that, whatever the decision on that appeal may be, the regulation needs to be recast to reflect more accurately the Government's continuing objective of providing the maximum scope for unemployed people to occupy their time usefully while seeking work, but at the same time excluding from benefit people who have withdrawn from the employment field to devote themselves primarily to study.We believe it is right to ensure that the regulation should make it clear that, as previously generally understood, the 21 hours should be interpreted as including only hours of actual classroom instruction, and not lunch breaks or private study. This in itself however would make it possible in some cases for, for example, young people staying on at school to take two or three A levels (or their Scottish equivalent) with a view to going on to higher education to be entitled to supplementary benefit. This would not be a proper use of the supplementary benefit scheme.We have therefore decided to introduce a modified form of the additional qualifying condition which already applies to people over 21, who are at present only eligible for the concession after 12 months' unemployment and in receipt of benefit. This qualifying period will be reduced to three months, and applied equally to people of all ages.I should stress that during the three months qualifying period—or, indeed, at any time—it is, and will remain, open to any unemployed person, under the general rules governing unemployed people's entitlement to benefit, to undertake a certain amount of part-time study provided he is able to demonstrate that he remains available for work.It is our intention to introduce these new arrangements with effect from the next academic year. We are sending today draft regulations to the Social Security Advisory Committee, who in turn will be consulting a wide range of interested bodies.Meanwhile, claims for benefit which have been disallowed in the light of the Chief Supplementary Benefit Officer's recent interpretation of the 21-hour limit will be looked at again when the outcome of the appeal to the Social Security Commissioners is known. If it proves necessary in the light of the decision on the appeal, payments will be considered in these cases to anticipate the effect of the new regulations, except that under these transitional arrangements the requirement for a three-month qualifying period will be waived.House adjourned at five minutes past ten o'clock.