asked Her Majesty's Government:Why a Lords Paper of three paragraphs, on one side of one sheet of paper, is priced at 35p (No. 200 of 1981–82); why a Treasury Minute of 19 paragraphs printed for the Stationery Office by an outside printer on four sides out of a total of eight (i.e. four sheets) is priced at £1·25 (Cmnd. 8620); and whether Her Majesty's Government will put in hand a thorough investigation into the printing costs of all Parliamentary and Government publications, on the lines of the recent inquiry by the European Parliament into the printing costs of Community Institutions (Working Document 1-452/82), as a result of which remarkable economies are proposed.

The pricing policy for Her Majesty's Stationery Office publications was in fact thoroughly reviewed last year when the following statement was made in another place by the then Minister of State at the Civil Service Department on 29th April:

"A review has recently been completed. It has endorsed Her Majesty's Stationery Office's present policy of pricing their publications so as to recover—apart from Hansard, for which there is a special Government grant—all the costs of producing, publishing and selling them, and to achieve the financial target set for Her Majesty's Stationery Office trading fund. The alternative would be for the taxpayer to meet the costs of underpricing. Recent steep increases in some areas are the consequence primarily of recovery from past underpricing and the identification for the first time of full costs. Within this overall policy, however, the prices now being charged by Her Majesty's Stationery Office for most one or two page publications will be held at their present level for at least 18 months and more flexible arrangements will be introduced for settling the prices of important publications."

The procedures criticised in the report by the European Parliament have little relevance to the position in the United Kingdom, where Her Majesty's Stationery Office has now been set up as a Government Trading Fund with a modern management accounting system and a clear commercial remit. About 70 per cent. of its printing requirements are already contracted out to the trade, which is more than the figure for the European Communities.Both the House of Lords Paper (No. 200 of 1981–82) and Cmnd. 8620 were priced against a series of standard pricing scales that relate price to page content and format. In accordance with Her Majesty's Stationery Office's remit as a Trading Fund, these scales are designed to recover not only the cost of printing and paper, but also the costs involved in publishing, stocking, distribution and selling, which are usually several times greater than the cost of production alone, especially for items containing very few pages.In the case of Cmnd. 8620, the title page and contents could not be accommodated within 4 pages. The use of 8 pages instead of 6 is more economical in that the potential saving in paper costs is more than offset by the extra cost of producing a 6-page publication with a trimmed and inserted leaf.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they will publish the findings of the Rayner Scrutiny on customs attendance and whether they propose also to make known their own reactions to these findings.

The principal findings of this Rayner Scrutiny are under active consideration by Ministers. Decisions about publication and the reaction of Her Majesty's Government to those findings are likely to be made within the next few months.

asked her Majesty's Government:Whether, if annual wage and salary increases in the public sector are to continue as a permanent feature in our society, it is not both sensible and possible to have one date for all such increases to take place.

There is of course no automatic entitlement to annual pay increases. The timing of pay settlements in the public sector as elsewhere is for employers and employees to settle as appropriate in their particular circumstances. The Government have no plans to seek a general alignment of settlement dates.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they intend to comply within five years with EC Directive 80/778/EEC of 15th July 1980 on water; and, if not, for what geographically defined population groups and in what exceptional circumstances the intend to seek exemption.

The United Kingdom intends to comply with EC Directive 80/778/EEC concerning the quality of water for human consumption within the 5-year period permitted. However, under Article 9, the directive allows derogations when situations arise from the nature and structure of the ground; and under Article 20, a request may be submitted for a longer period to meet the directive's values for exceptional cases and for geographically defined population groups.Some acidic and highly coloured waters and some groundwaters contain iron, manganese and other substances at concentrations above the directive's values; these substances are not considered dangerous to health and the United Kingdom will make applications for a limited number of derogations or delays. There may also be a limited number of other requests for delays, mainly in the application of the directive to small private water supplies. The geographical definition of the groups and extent or scope of the delays have not yet been determined. Relevant studies are in hand.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What were the conclusions of the conference of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) at Nairobi; whether they will co-operate in its plans to aid the poorest populations in urban areas in the third world, and whether they will raise in the United Nations Security Council the need for Governments to contribute an additional £5 million to enable the work of the centre to continue.

The Fifth Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Settlements was held in Nairobi in May. This is one of a series of annual meetings which are concerned with the planned growth and management of human settlements, both urban and rural. Two subjects were given special attention at the Fifth Session and these were planning for human settlements in disaster prone areas and transportation for urban and rural areas with emphasis on groups with limited resources. No conclusions as such were drawn at the session though a series of wide-ranging resolutions were adopted, mostly related to the work of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (HABITAT) in Nairobi.The United Kingdom is not a member of the Commission on Human Settlements and does not contribute directly to the work of the Centre for Human Settlements, though we are a major contributor to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which is able to provide assistance in a wide variety of sectors in accordance with the priorities of recipient countries. We are also active, through our bilateral aid programme, in providing assistance, particularly to the poorest, in the field of human settlements.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their response to the Manifesto of the British Deaf Association.

I set out below our response to the important points raised in this manifesto.1. We recognise the importance of British sign language to deaf people and appreciate its significance as an aid to communication for many of them. Nevertheless, there are several other means of communication which are important to people with a hearing impairment and others with speech disorders. The Government will continue to encourage, and support where possible, schemes to improve communication for all hearing impaired people so as to promote their integration into the community.2. Sign language is not banned in schools but nor is it used in all schools for the hearing impaired. Over 90 per cent. of deaf children come from hearing homes and all live in a hearing world. We agree that they are best helped by a flexible approach based on their individual needs.3. In making appointments to teaching posts education authorities and others need to satisfy themselves as to the medical fitness of candidates among other factors. This will normally have been determined when the candidate is accepted for teacher training. After qualifying, and provided that there has been no deterioration, any teacher, including the hearing impaired, may apply for any advertised post.4. It is not expected that the 1981 Education Act will result in the closure of many special schools. There will always be a need for some special schools for the hearing impaired, although fewer will be necessary as the numbers of those children decline and schools become non-viable. The potential role of special schools as resource centres is recognised.5. The British Deaf Association's recent application for finance to implement a national programme to train British sign language interpreters is at present under consideration.6. (a) There has in fact been increasing provision for hard of hearing people over the past few years and this policy will continue. Also the broadcasting authorities are committed to continuing the extension of the Teletext facility which is of great benefit to deaf people.(b) The expansion of cable systems is currently under consideration by the Government in the light of the Hunt Report. Cable has certainly the potential for providing the sort of specialist services which can benefit deaf people.7. The Fit for Work Campaign, which was launched in 1979 by the Manpower Services Commission and has the full support of the Government, the Confederation of British Industry and the Trades Union Congress, continues to seek to promote the employment interests of all disabled people including those with a hearing impairment. Use by disabled people of the services available at Jobcentres, including the specialist services, is also encouraged.8. Charges made to telephone subscribers are a responsibility of British Telecom but the special problems of some deaf people are recognised and the Minister for the Disabled is getting in touch with British Telecom about the charges made to those who use special equipment.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the National Association for Mental Health (MIND) has any regular medical adviser.

The National Association for Mental Health is an independent body. The Department of Health and Social Security has not been notified of a successor to the medical adviser who resigned earlier this year but is aware that several consultant psychiatrists are associated with the body as members of the Council of Management.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the number of awards by types given to serving Special Constables in Scotland over the last 20 years.

The information which is readily available is set out below:—

Award	Number
British Empire Medal	8
The Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct	1
Commendation by the Secretary of State	1
The Special Constabulary Long Service Medal and Bar (from 1st April 1975 to 30th June 1982)	1,652

In addition commendations may be made by Chief Constables but these are not recorded centrally.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many Special Constables have attended appropriate Police Home Defence Courses at Tulliallan over the last convenient year.

None. Courses held at the Scottish Police College on home defence matters are attended only by regular police instructors.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why there is no reference to Special Constables in the Report for 1980 by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector for Scotland, and what is the nature of training courses and the amount of duty currently carried out.

Both the Report for 1980 and that for 1981 contain passages on the Special Constabulary: they will be found on page 14 and page 19 respectively.The arrangements for training Special Constables and the amount of duty undertaken by them are matters for determination by individual Chief Constables according to local needs and circumstances.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the number of serving Special Constables in Scotland at the last convenient date and how this number compares with the numbers serving in 1960, 1965, 1970 and 1975.

The information requested is set out in the following table:

Year	Total strength of special constabulary
1960	7315
1965	7136
1970	4476
1975	3724
1982	2791

The figures for 1960–1975 are as at 31st December: the figure for 1982 is as at 30th September.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What acreage of woodland has been sold by the Forestry Commission since August 1981 and what was the price received: and how many acres of new planting have been carried out (a) by the Forestry Commission and (b) by private forestry since August 1981.

From the beginning of August 1981 until 21st September 1982, 10,560 acres (4,273 hectares) of forestry land and plantations were sold by the Forestry Commission for the sum of £3.2 million.The latest available statistics for new planting are for the year ended 31st March 1982. During that year the Forestry Commission planted 27,127 acres (10,978 hectares). In the same period, grants were paid for 30,794 acres (12,462 hectares) of new planting by the private sector, and it is estimated that some 490 acres (200 hectares) were planted without grants.