asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether a prisoner in England and Wales may be given compulsory medical treatment, and, if so, under what circumstances.

Doctors working in prisons have no statutory authority to administer treatment against the wishes of their patients. It would thus be defensible to treat a prisoner against his wishes only if otherwise his life would be endangered, serious harm to him or others would be likely or there would be an irreversible deterioration in his condition. Such emergencies are in practice very rare.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many life sentence prisoners were informed, during the 12 months ending 31st May 1982, that the next consideration of their suitability for release on licence would take place after 18 months instead of the normal 12 months.

There are no fixed times at which the release of a life sentence prisoner must be formally considered. If at a particular review the Parole Board do not recommend the release of such a prisoner, they will recommend when the next formal review of the case should begin; and it is by no means unusual for the board to recommend a further review more than 12 months ahead. In the 12 months ending 31st May 1982, following such a recommendation by the Parole Board, 31 life sentence prisoners were informed that the next consideration of their cases would begin after 18 months or longer.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many cases of fraud in relation to the export from the United Kingdom of food manufactured in whole or part from raw materials subject to common agricultural policy refunds had been proven during the past three calendar years (1979, 1980, 1981).

None, in the strict terms of the Question. A considerable number of irregularities in connection with the export of common agricultural policy goods generally were, however, the subject of convictions or were compounded on payment of a penalty.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether each of the regional water authorities has undertaken to use the Conservation and Land Drainage Guidelines produced by the Water Space Amenity Commission in their river management work and general land drainage operations and to what extent the effectiveness of the guidelines is being monitored.

Section 22 of the Water Act 1973, as amended by Section 48 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, places certain obligations on the regional water authorities with regard to conservation. The responsibility for meeting those obligations rests with each of the authorities. I understand that many of the authorities have drawn up their own procedures based on the guidelines published by the Water Space Amenity Commission.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the standard mortality rates of men and women in the armed forces for cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, gastro-intestinal diseases and cirrhosis of the liver, and how their rates compare with those for other occupational groups.

The standardised mortality ratios (SMR) for males in the armed forces for the nearest equivalents of the categories requested are given below. The number of deaths of females in the armed forces is too small to be of statistical relevance.