asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will issue a prison circular instruction requiring that prisoners be informed immediately when their letters are sent to prison department for censorship.

Prison Department Standing Order 5B, which is published and available to prisoners, makes it clear that although letters will be examined or read as quickly as possible those which appear to contain prohibited material are liable to some delay. The prisoner is informed if a decision is taken to stop a letter.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether it would be possible for the armed forces in the Falkland Islands to drive sheep across areas suspected of containing minefields, thereby reducing the risk of human casualties.

Unfortunately, the use of livestock in this way is not a sufficiently reliable way of identifying or clearing areas of mines. More reliable means of detecting and clearing mines, particularly those with very low metal content, are being urgently pursued and any worthwhile methods will be made available to the Royal Engineers in the Falkland Islands as quickly as possible.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether their failure to respond quickly and positively to requests that Scio House, Putney, be listed has resulted in this interesting old house being demolished by a commercial developer and whether they will investigate the reasons for the failure of the Wandsworth, Borough Council to serve a building preservation notice on the property.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Environment has several times been asked to consider listing of Scio House. However, buildings are listed as being of special architectural or historic interest only if they satisfy the criteria drawn up by the Historic Buildings Council and are accepted by the Secretary of State. Against these criteria, Scio House was judged not to warrant inclusion in the statutory list. Whether or not to serve a building preservation notice is a matter entirely for a local planning authority to decide. In this case, however, the London Borough of Wandsworth would have had to bear in mind that such a notice would be unlikely to be followed by listing, in which case they would themselves have been liable to pay compensation for any loss or damage suffered directly as a result of the notice.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have decided to authorise another slaughter of grey seal pups in the Orkneys and Western Isles in October/November and, if so, for what purpose.

I am still considering representations on the part of conservation and fisheries interests on what, if any, licences for the killing of grey seals should be issued in 1982. Any hunting of grey seal pups—as opposed to any management action to control the grey seal population in Scottish waters—would be licensed in terms of Section 10(c)(iii) of the Conservation of Seals Act 1970; that is, the use of a population surplus as a resourse.

asked Her Majesty's Government:On what grounds they fail to supply the United Nations with data on their military budgets on the standard form approved by the General Assembly and what is their attitude towards the proposal by the United States of America for an agreed reporting and accounting system.

The Government have long published details of military expenditure. Earlier this year we decided that we should report the expenditure to the United Nations experts in the format which they have devised. We welcome the recent proposal by the United States to hold a conference to review progress on this issue.House adjourned at nine minutes before five o'clock.