asked Her Majesty's Government:Why they transferred Fr. Patrick Fell from Parkhurst to Canterbury Prison on 26th March, thus ensuring that in the last four months of his sentence his course at the Open University was terminated, and the medical treatment he was receiving was interrupted.

Father Fell was transferred to Canterbury on downgrading from Security Category "A for operational reasons. The Open University has now decided that Father Fell may be allowed, exceptionally, to continue his studies at Canterbury prison although it is not one of the designated Open University establishments, and support will be provided by the Education Department at Canterbury within the limitation of available resources. The consultant physician advised in January that Father Fell's treatment should be terminated. Arrangements are, however, being made for Father Fell to be seen by a consultant physician prior to his release in July.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they will publish guidance on local consultation arrangements between the community and the police; and whether they will make a Statement.

Guidance about local consultation arrangements between the community and the police is being issued today to chief officers of police and police authorities in England and Wales, and separately in the Metropolis, to the Commissioner of Police and to the chief executive of each borough and district in the Metropolitan Police District. The guidance covers the purpose and aims of local consultation and the machinery that might be appropriate to support it within the existing statutory framework for policing. It has been prepared after discussion with a wide range of bodies. My right honourable friend has placed copes of the guidance in the Library.The development of better understanding and mutual support between the community and the police is a crucial element in enhancing police effectiveness. A regular means of consultation can enable local views to be taken into account by chief officers and police authorities in carrying out their respective statutory responsibilities and, at the same time, provide opportunities for the community to gain a better understanding of the police. We firmly believe that there is a need in all areas for an agreed means of consultation, and we hope that this two-way flow of information will, in its focus on local problems, encourage an agreed and constructive response by the local community in joint efforts to discourage and prevent crime.Because the needs and problems of different areas vary, a uniform pattern of consultation would, in our view, be neither necessary nor constructive. The guidance to chief constables and police authorities offers, therefore, illustrative examples of possible arrangements. As Police Authority for the Metropolis, my right honourable friend has concluded that the arrangements most likely to be effective in the Metropolitan Police District would be based on the boroughs and districts, but this would not preclude more informal arrangements for consultation being made within these areas. We hope borough and district councils in the Metropolitan Police District will play their full part in the develpoment of consultation arrangements.The success of consultation arrangements depends on the full support and active participation of the community. Those who become involved will need to understand the purposes of, and the limits to, consultative arrangements, and those to whom the guidance is addressed will, of course, make it available to all those involved in consultation groups. It is also being distributed, with the assistance of the CRE and NCVO, to community relations councils and ethnic minority organisations, and to councils for voluntary service. Because of the general public interest in consultation, copies of the guidance will be available on request from the Home Office. The guidance is also being circulated to chief probation officers, chief education officers, and directors of social services. My right honourable friends, the Secretaries of State for Education, the Environment and Social Services share our wish that local representatives of the services for which they have statutory responsibilities should play a full part in helping to prevent crime.The issue of this guidance fulfils the commitment my right honourable friend made after the publication of Lord Scarman's report. My right honourable friend is still considering the wide range of views that have been put to him on the question of statutory provision to govern consultation arrangements, and will make his views known as soon as possible.Much good work has already been done in many areas. My right honourable friend is sure that chief officers and police authorities, and the commissioner and the boroughs and districts in the Metropolis, will seek to build on this work in the light of the guidance and develop consultative arrangements best suited for their own areas. For my right honourable friend's part, he accepts that it is his responsibility to review the arrangements made on a regular basis.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will update the information about Northern Ireland's share of the United Kingdom's taxes, as stated in the Written Answer on 28th July 1981 (H.L. Debates, Vol. 423, No. 127, cols. 747-748).

There has been no change in these arrangements since the Written Answer given on 28th July 1981.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What efforts have been and are being made to encourage student exchange under the auspices of IAESTE, since the use of the scheme by the United Kingdom has dropped from receiving 909 students and sending 883 students in 1960 to 88 "in" and 125 "out" in 1981 and comparing the Federal Republic of Germany's 1981 figures of 916 "in" and 726 "out".

To halt the decline in IAESTE's activities in this country the Government encouraged the Central Bureau for Educational Visits and Exchanges in 1980 to assume responsibility for the day-to-day administration of the scheme in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom national committee now has a permanent headquarters for the first time in its history, together with a full-time secretariat with support services. This has enabled it to canvass more than 2,000 firms in the past year seeking sponsorships. It has also introduced a new scheme of sponsorship. These initiatives are modestly encouraging. Movements into and out of the United Kingdom this year are expected to grow to at least 100 and 130 respectively, with further expansion expected in the future.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When it is proposed to lay the necessary order relating to Schedule 10 to the Transport Act 1981 to make possible the construction of road humps.

The necessary order will be laid before Parliament when the regulations prescribing the requirements for road humps, which will be laid at the same time, are ready. Following the drafting of these regulations, there will be consultations with representative organisations before the regulations are laid.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will list the medical certificates which a general practitioner is required to provide free of charge to his or her National Health Service patients.

A doctor shall issue to his patients free of charge the certificates listed below, when reasonably required by them under or for the purposes of the specified enactments:—

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will make a statement regarding their intentions for the future of each of the Royal Ordance Factories.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence set out our policy on the future of the Royal Ordnance Factories in a Written Answer in another place on 20th May (Hansard, Vol. 24, col. 151). It will be some time yet before the new policy is implemented. Individual factories are and will be most affected by the level of demand at home and abroad for their products.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether Devon and Cornwall will be excluded from benefits of the European Regional Development Fund.

The Commission have proposed, in the context of a proposal for a regulation amending Regulation No. 724/75 (establishing a European Regional Development Fund), that the South-West together with Yorkshire and Humberside, the East Midlands and all regions in Germany, mainland France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg, should no longer be eligible for aid from the quota section of the fund. They would continue to be eligible for aid from the non-quota section which the Commission proposed should be enlarged. The proposal for the exclusion of the English regions is nevertheless unwelcome, and we are resisting it firmly.House adjourned at twenty-eight minutes past seven o'clock.