asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the Judges' Rules in Northern Ireland have been published, and if so in what form, and if not, whether they will be published.

Since 1976 the Judges' Rules in Northern Ireland have been the same rules which operate in England and Wales. They are reproduced in Appendix A to Home Office Circular 89/1978 and are also set out, inter alia, in Appendix A to Appendix 12 of the Law and Procedure volume of the Report of the Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure (Cmnd. 8092–1).Both these publications are available in the Library of the House.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, in view of the fact that public funds are being used by the Health Education Council to combat the dangers of alcohol misuse, they will use advertisements comparable in impact to those which encouraged the wearing of seat belts, and so redress the ignorance concerning the dangers and problems resulting to the public from alcohol misuse.

The Health Education Council is now reviewing its experience of mass media campaigns in the North-East of England on alcohol misuse and intends to apply the knowledge gained in the campaign more generally. The health messages needed to combat alcohol misuse are less simple than for seat belts and careful consideration is being given to the most effective ways of impressing on different groups the need for sensible attitudes to drinking.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How and why Oldham health food shops have been found containing the toxic belladonna, and what steps have been taken and with what result.

Following reported cases of illness arising from the contamination by belladonna of a batch of imported comfrey herb leaves distributed by Cotswold Health Products Limited the Department of Health and Social Security issued a public warning. Medical practitioners were informed and local authorities invited to take suitable measures to secure the removal of the brand in question from shops and the home. I am not aware of any particular problem in Oldham. Investigations into the source of contamination are continuing.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What arrangements are made for changes in National Insurance pensions to British citizens who have retired abroad, in respect of up-rating or indexing.

The general position is that British pensioners abroad receive their pensions at the rate in force when they left this country or when they first qualified, if they were then already abroad. Subsequent up-rating increases are payable only where provided for under EC regulations or under a bilateral agreement on social security between the United Kingdom and another country.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the pension paid to a childless widow without private means of:

The pensions Her Majesty's Government would award come from two departments: the Ministery of Defence and the Department of Health and Social Security. Entitlements to the former depend on the conditions of service obtaining at the time of the husband's death, the type of commission he held, his length of reckonable service and whether he died before or after 1st April 1973, the date on which Attributable Forces Family Widows Pensions and other improvements were introduced into the Armed Forces Pensions Scheme. Awards are immediately index linked.All widows whose husband's deaths were held to be attributable to service are entitled to a war widows pension from the Department of Health and Social Security. Widows whose husbands were killed in the 1939–45 war receive £2,301 per annum. Widows whose husbands were killed on active service in Northern Ireland, or in the Falklands, or who died in an accident attributable to service receive £2,246 per annum if they are over 40 or £514.10 per annum if under 40. These awards are immediately index linked. (A lower rate of war widows pension is paid after 1st April 1973 because the rank related element previously paid by the Department of Health and Social Security is now paid as part of the Ministry of Defence attributable Widows Pension).Benefits administered by the Ministry of Defence are as follows:Where a husband was killed on active service in 1939–45 and he held a permanent commission and had sufficient service to qualify for the award of service retired pay, his widow was entitled to a Ministry of Defence forces family pension of a war widows pension from the Department of Health and Social Security. For Flight Lieutenants who would not have had long service the former was, generally speaking, lower than the latter. Therefore many of these widows are in receipt of this higher Department of Health and Social Security award. If the husband did not hold a permanent commission, or had insufficient service, his widow was awarded the war widows pension only. If the husband was killed on active service in Northern Ireland or in a Royal Air Force accident after 1st April 1973 or in the Falklands, irrespective of his length of service, the widow was eligible for the award of a forces family pension, which is rank related only (and currently stands at £4,794 per annum) and a war widows pension from the Department of Health and Social Security.Information on the corresponding pensions paid to German widows in comparable circumstances is not readily available. It is most unlikely that these pensions could be usefully compared to those paid to British war widows since the conditions under which they have been awarded may vary very considerably from those which apply to British war widows. To obtain a proper comparison, other welfare benefits would also need to be taken into consideration.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will give an assurance that local organisations will be fully consulted before there is any further increase in the use of RAF Northolt by non-military aircraft.

Civil movements at RAF Northolt are currently limited to a maximum of 28 a day. Local Members of Parliament and the local authorities concerned were informed of these arrangements in January 1981. There are at present no plans to increase this number.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, when farmers in Sussex want to grub out woodlands, they are giving them every encouragement to replant rather than to convert to grain growing arable.

In the majority of cases, where the Forestry Commission issues a licence for the clear felling of woodland, it requires that the land should be restocked with trees. Grant aid is available from the Forestry Commission for the restocking of woods of 0·25 hectares and above, and the Countryside Commission and local authorities can provide aid for smaller areas.When it is proposed to convert the land to agricultural use after felling, and this is supported by the appropriate agriculture department and there are no objections from the local authority on environmental grounds, the Forestry Commission will not normally insist on restocking.The area of land in Sussex which has been licensed for felling in these circumstances since 1st April 1981 has totalled less than 40 hectares.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When the new prison near Moira, Northern Ireland, will be ready to receive prisoners; what its capacity will be; and what effect they expect its opening to have upon the Northern Irish prison system as a whole.

The two new prisons at Maghaberry, one for men and one for women, are now expected to be ready to receive prisoners late this year or early in 1984. The men's prison will provide accommodation in single cells for about 450 prisoners and the women's for 56 in single cells.The men's prison will be used to deal with the overcrowding which still exists in other parts of the Northern Ireland prison system. The opening of the women's prison will enable the existing women's prison at Armagh, the main part of which was built in 1780, to be closed.