asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the total number of community policing schemes operating in the United Kingdom at the present time, and which police forces operate them.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many community policing schemes have been introduced since the summer of 1981 as a direct result of the Scarman Report, and how many were already in the planning stage before the riots in Brixton, Toxteth and Manchester Moss Side.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which forces have instigated schemes similar to that which is operating in Handsworth, West Midlands, involving co-operation between local community leaders, the social services and the education service, and how long these schemes have been in operation.

The police service generally has responded well to the Scarman Report, and many forces have introduced community policing schemes tailored to local conditions. I regret, however, that statistical information about them is not collated centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are aware that scientific assessment puts the nuclear war survival rate in London at approximately 1 per cent.

No such assessment derives from any realistic attack assumptions.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish a table showing the ratio between the number of staff and the number of patients treated in NHS hospitals per whole-time employee and the number of out-patient attendance per whole-time employee in 1950, 1960, 1970 and 1980.

I shall write to my noble friend.

asked Her Majesty's Government:By how much public expenditure on help with heating costs, including supplementary benefit heating additions and the electricity discount scheme and help through family income supplement, has risen between 1978–79 and the latest year for which figures are available both in current prices and at constant prices.

The available information is as follows:

asked Her Majesty's Government:What action has been taken to implement the recommendations of the Finer Report on one-parent families.

During the life of the present Government the following nine Finer recommendations have been implemented:

• 41,
• 54,
• 120,
• 127,
• 136,
• 138,
• 139,
• 154,
• 155.

Many of the other recommendations were originally implemented under previous Administrations. Some of these involve action of a continuing nature such as consultation and co-ordination of activities with bodies outside central Government. Other recommendations are still under consideration.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What conclusion they have reached as a result of their discussion document

We are still considering what conclusions should be drawn from the replies which we received to the discussion document and from the discussions that my honourable friend the Minister for Social Security and the Disabled and officials subsequently held with interested organisations. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State hopes to make an announcement shortly.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps are being considered to train National Health Service staff in the use of new technology.

Health authorities and relevant professions are regularly concerned with training, or arrangements for training necessary for the application in the National Health Service of new technological developments over a wide range of disciplines and activities.Departments, the National Training Council and National Staff Committees and the Common Services Agency for the Scottish Health Service have also promoted in the past few years, or have under consideration, a number of specific training initiatives in the field of information technology.These have included:A major nursing seminar on the "state of the art" of computer based nursing and health care systems, prediction of future trends and educational and training needs.Training courses and appreciation seminars for NHS managers and other staff at various higher education institutions and at the Hospital Estate Management and Engineering Centre.Developmental studies on new applications of technology, including the establishment in one health district of an "office of the future" which will maximise the use of electronic equipment and avoid unnecessary paper work.Inclusion of a Section on

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will consider the appointment of an arbitration panel or an arbitrator to resolve the dispute involving National Health Service nurses, ancillary staff and ambulance men.

No. It is for the Government to decide the overall level of resources available for pay in the National Health Service.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will intervene to resolve the problems afflicting Tadworth Court Hospital in Surrey and Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, to prevent the loss of Tadworth Court Hospital and reduction of beds in Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The Hospitals for Sick Children are seriously overspending on their allocation which has not been cut. The board of governors has a duty to control expenditure to within its cash limit and is therefore reviewing all the hospitals' activities. Should the board decide that Tadworth Court should be closed this proposal will be referred to Ministers for final decision. We shall obviously wish to consider very carefully all the representations we receive before coming to decisions on any proposals of the kind that may be put to us. The closure of beds at Great Ormond Street is a temporary measure pending the outcome of the review. Should the board propose to prolong the closure of these beds, this too will come to Ministers for final decision.

asked Her Majesty's Government:In how many cases that have come to their attention has constant attendance allowance been suspended because of a breakdown in the arrangements made by the Department of Health and Social Security on behalf of the Attendance Allowance Board for medical examinations to establish that the need for attendance still existed; and what action is being taken to ensure that this does not occur in the future.

The number of cases is not known but the Attendance Allowance Board has suggested that where the situation arises it will consider issuing a short-term certificate of attendance needs to enable payment to continue until a medical examination can be arranged.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps they are taking to ensure the continuing existence of the Centre for World Development Education.

The Centre for World Development Education is eligible for a grant from the Overseas Development Administration of up to £150,000 in 1982–83, and up to £100,000 in 1983–84. There is no commitment on the part of Her Majesty's Government to provide funds for the centre beyond 1983–84. The Government hope is that by that time the centre will have demonstrated an ability to generate sufficient income from other sources to be able to do without a subvention from the Government.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What form of aid they have given to relieve the suffering of the people of Beirut.

The United Kingdom is giving bilateral and multilateral emergency aid worth in excess of £3.386 million. This takes the form of cash, food, medical teams and equipment, vehicles, aircraft charter, tents and blankets to relieve suffering in Lebanon. A substantial part of this effort has been directed at Beirut.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are aware that Turkish mineworkers and others are now paralysed following torture by the military junta in Turkey and whether, having regard for their concern for human rights, they will protest.

We continue to make the Turkish authorities aware of our concern over alleged violations of human rights. The Turkish Government maintain that such allegations are investigated and, where appropriate, the culprits punished.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will print in the

We do not propose to do so. The declaration has no official status and we do not believe that its publication would serve a useful purpose.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many empty factories there are in the whole of the Special Development Area (SDA) which includes Hayle in Cornwall, and what area of factory space this represents; and how many vacant plots on existing industrial estates there are in this SDA, and what area of land these represent.

Her Majesty's Government do not keep any central records of vacant factories or of industrial sites available for development. However, I am informed by the Secretary of State for Industry, who is responsible for the activities of the English Industrial Estates Corporation, that the corporation has 30 factory units vacant in the area, comprising 16,000 square metres of factory floorspace, and owns one vacant plot comprising 11 acres of land suitable for further industrial development.EIEC reports that much of the vacant industrial space in the area is old, unserviced and totally unsuitable for modern business requirements, or too specialised for general industrial use. The level of inquiries from both small and larger businesses seeking good general purpose modern accommodation in the area has been encouraging in recent months and EIEC expects an upturn in the rate of occupations in the coming year.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they agree with the European Commission's recommendation of 21st May 1979, calling on the postal authorities of the nine member states to apply the inland postage rate to letters and postcards passing between those states and, if so, whether they will give appropriate advice to the Post Office in advance of the meeting between the Commission and the 10 postal authorities scheduled for early December 1982.

The European Commission Recommendation C(79)549 of 29th May 1979, which refers to the application of inland postage rates to Community countries has been noted. Her Majesty's Government recognises the objectives of the recommendation and has discussed these with the Post Office. However, postal tariffs are a matter for the Post Office, which has to take into account economic and other factors.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will now release the 536 acres of Kemble Airfield for industrial development.

No. The Royal Air Force's use of RAF Kemble will continue until 31st March 1983. Consideration is being given to its future use thereafter. If no defence need for it is identified, it will he transferred to the Property Services Agency for disposal in the usual manner.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are aware that the "cultural identity card", issued by the Council of Europe to give scholars free entrance to museums and other places of research, is no longer being issued and whether they will consult with other Ministers within the Council of Europe machinery with a view to establishing an improved scheme.

The Council for Cultural Co-operation of the Council of Europe decided in June 1981 to discontinue the use of the present cultural identity card by the end of this year and, in the meantime, to print no further stocks of it, though it also commissioned a study of possible alternative schemes. However, when the Council considered the report of this study during its last meeting in June this year, it concluded that, despite its earlier view, it would continue with the card substantially in its present form. It will consider detailed proposals for doing so at its next meeting in February.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the (

The available information is annual only and relates to imports directly into Northern Ireland from foreign countries. Information on deliveries into Northern Ireland from Britain of domestically produced or imported cement, if these take place, is not available.

IMPORTS OF CEMENT INTO NORTHERN IRELAND IN 1981
	Tonnes, thousands	£thousand, cif
Irish Republic ..	128·6	3,146
Belgium .. ..	—	—
West Germany ..	0·3	6
East Germany	—	—
Other countries	0·7	17

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they think it reasonable that husbands going abroad for work which is usually in the national interest should, because of income tax liability, be prevented from visiting their families if they are living in accommodation which the husband owns, and whether they realise how detrimental this situation may be to the family unity.

Section 50 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970 provides for an individual's residence status to be decided without regard to any place of abode maintained in the United Kingdom for his use, if he is working full time and all the duties of his office or employment are performed abroad, or any duties performed in the United Kingdom are incidental to his duties abroad. Husbands should not therefore be inhibited by income tax from visiting their families in the circumstances to which the noble Viscount refers. If he would care to let me have particulars of any case in which this has caused problems, I should be glad to look into it.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many and which local education authorities have been asked to pay VAT on adult education classes.

I regret that detailed information about individual authorities is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate expense.

asked Her Majesty's Government:(

The estimated annual cost at current prices of the present staff of the CPRS (at 1st October 1982) is £1,091,000. Comparable estimated cost on the same price basis for the first full year of the CPRS (1972) was £752,000. The CPRS produces advice to Ministers in a variety of formats varying from full-scale reports to written and oral contributions to ministerial (and official) discussions. It is therefore not possible to give figures for the number of subjects on which it has reported or the decisions reached following its advice.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will consider excluding tobacco and alcohol from their calculations of the retail price index in fairness to people who do not buy these items.

In compiling the retail price index the Department of Employment follows the principle that it should have a comprehensive rather than a restricted coverage. The purpose of the index is to cover all the goods and services purchased by households in general and to provide for these an overall measure of the changes from month to month in their prices. The weights given to the various items of goods and services are determined by the annual family expenditure survey and so reflect the fact that some people do not purchase tobacco and alcohol. The principle of comprehensive rather than restricted coverage has been affirmed by the RPI Advisory Committee and is broadly in line with the practice of other countries.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the present rate of rise in the official pensioners' price index compared with the general retail price index.

The information requested is as follows:—

	Percentage increase in 1982 (2nd Quarter) on year earlier
Index for one person pensioner household (excluding housing) ..	10·4
Index for two-person pensioner household (excluding housing) ..	10·0
General Index of Retail Prices (excluding housing) ..	8·6 (7·2–1982 3rd Quarter)

Comparative figures for the third quarter of 1982 will be published shortly in the October issue of the Department of Employment