asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will give an assurance that, in spite of diplomatic protests, the "clamping" of illegally parked embassy cars will continue even if exemptions from financial penalties have to be given.

Operational control of the experimental wheel-clamping scheme in force in parts of central London is the responsibility of the Metropolitan Police. I understand that the Commissioner has obtained legal advice which suggests that wheel-clamping contravenes the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations; and wheel-clamping of identifiable diplomatic vehicles has accordingly been discontinued. We are however, examining the situation further.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the average daily population of females in prison department establishments in England and Wales and in penal institutions in Scotland in 1981 and 1982 respectively.

The information is given in the following table.Average population of females in prison department establishments in England and Wales and in penal institutions in Scotland:

	Number
	England and Wales	Scotland
1981	1,4071	135
1982	1,3261	136
(1) There were no females in prison department establishments in Wales.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why the Divis Education Project in Belfast has been closed; what education is now being offered to the pupils of the project; why one boy formerly attending the project was prosecuted for absence from school; and what is the future policy in respect of pupils absent from school who are sometimes not acceptable to conventional schools and are to a degree unschoolable.

The Divis Education Project is a private undertaking; it is not a recognised educational establishment, and it has not sought to register as an independent school. I understand that it has not closed.The parent of a child attending the project was recently fined because the Belfast Juvenile Court was not satisfied the child was receiving suitable and efficient full-time education; it is expected that children of compulsory school age who formerly attended the project will enrol in a grant-aided school next term.The Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 requires Education and Library Boards to ensure there are sufficient schools and that special educational treatment is available for pupils whose physical, intellectual, emotional or social development needs it. Among the options available for persistent truants are "time out" sessions within ordinary schools, attendance at Educational Guidance Units, referral to a psychiatric unit and, in extreme cases, placement in a special school for the maladjusted.

asked Her Majesty's Government:On what basis of calculation the age allowance for elderly service widows has been increased by 15p a week for those aged 65–69 and by 30p for those aged 70 and over; and whether Her Majesty's Government will review the question of pensions and allowances for widows of the two World Wars.

War widows' pensions and allowances, all of which are tax-free, have recently been reviewed and an announcement has been made of an increase in most of them, including age allowances, of 3.7 per cent. in November. This means that the age allowance for war widows aged 65–69 will increase to £4.30 and for those aged 70 and over to £8.60 a week. These allowances are payable in addition to the standard rate war widow's pension, which will rise to £44.25 a week.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

(a) Whether it remains Government policy to close 30 psychiatric hospitals as soon as possible, as announced by the Secretary of State for Social Services on 20th October 1980;

(b) If so, how many patients would be affected, and what alternative in-patient provision is envisaged for the chronically ill, for whom this is essential on a long-term basis; and

Whether, when closing psychiatric hospitals, if disposal of hospital land is envisaged, the sites will be offered for alternative psychiatric provision.

It has never been a matter of policy that any specified number of psychiatric hospitals should be closed. However, changes in professional practice have resulted in falling numbers of in-patients for nearly 30 years, and it still seems likely that within the next 10 to 15 years many large isolated psychiatric hospitals will prove redundant.It remains Government policy to encourage a shift towards more community-based services, because this is considered to be in the best interest of patients who do not need long-term in-patient care. Any proposals to close or change the use of hospital premises are matters for individual health authorities and are subject to laid-down consultation procedures. Final decisions will always have full regard to the needs of patients and to all relevant circumstances. In-patients will not he discharged merely because a hospital is closed. The hospital's services would be moved to more suitable and more convenient premises, and there will be adequate alternative provision both for long-stay in-patients and for short-stay in-patients. Our aim is for every patient to be cared for according to his or her individual needs, either in the community or in hospital.As regards the disposal of sites, the Government's general policy is to allow the proceeds from the sale of hospital land and property to accrue to the hospital concerned or to the relevant District Health Authority.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the DHSS norms for:

There are no norms and we see no practical value in minimum standards set centrally.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will condidr increasing to a sum equivalent to the wage of a domestic work the sum paid to women who give up lucrative employment to care for aged, decrepit and sometimes senile relations at home, thereby saving the Government the much greater expense of caring for them in geriatric homes.

The rate of invalid care allowance is the same as that of various other non-contributory benefits. While we fully recognize the valuable contribution made by people who look after elderly relatives at home, there are many competing demands on resources, and we have no plans fro treating the rate of invalid care allowance differently from that of other non-contributory benfits.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they propose to publish the Report of the Interdepartment Committee on conciliation.

The report will be published on 15the July 1983.

to ask Her Majesty's Government:What was the outcome of the Council of Ministers of social Affairs on 2nd June 1983 with regard to the method of deciding allocations to individuals projects (apart from those with automatic priority in the poorest regions) and whether any decision for allocating extra Social Fund aid to employment "blackspots" in otherwise prosperous regions.

The Council decided that 40% of the main part of the fund should be available for projects in the "super priority regions" (i.e., Northern Ireland, Ireland, Greece, the Mezzogiorno, Greenland and the French Overseas Departments), It was decided further that the rest of the main part of the fund should be concentrated on other areas of high unemployment and industrial restructuring. The detailed application of these basic regional priorities will be determined by the European Commission by way of the fund guidelines. The Commission is to continue its inquiries into a statistical method for determining the fund's geographical priorities.

On the subject of unemployment blackspots, it was agreed in addition that in drawing up the guidelines the Commission should pay special attention to localities with exceptionally high unemployment rates compared with the relevant national average.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they agree with the conclusions in the 9th Report (Session 1982–83) of the European Communities Committee on the Beef Regime (H.L. 108); and, in particular, whether they will:

The Government congratulate the committee on its excellent report and note its endorsement of the main lines of the Government's policy on beef.All forms of aid to beef producers in the Community are being reviewed by the Commission, which is due to make a report to the Council relatively soon. The support arrangements for beef will no doubt also be considered in the review of the common agricultural policy following the Stuttgart Council. In these contexts, we will ensure that the committee's findings are drawn to the Commission's attention.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

(a) Whether any of the Ministry of Defence holdings in Kent listed in Part II of the Report of the Defence Lands Committee 1971–73 have been released by the Ministry, and, if so, which; and

(b) If the Ministry have acquired any further holdings in Kent since the publication of that report, and, if so, whether they will give details of these.

(a) Land has been released by the Ministry of Defence in the case of the following eight sites mentioned in Part II of the report of the Defence Lands Committee:

(i) Chatham (Beacon Hill): 6.65acres

(ii) Conyer Teynham: 190 acres

(iii) Dover boat pens: lease surrendered RN oil fuel depot/mooring and salvage depot: lease surrendered Oil fuel installations: lease surrendered

(iv) Dover/Folkestone (Lydden Spout): l.6m of coastline

(v) Dover/Folkstone (Hythe, Shorncliffe): 17acres

(vi) Gillingham: 77 acres

(vii) Gravesend (Milton Ranges): 70 acres

(vii) Maidstone (Sandling Wood): 40 acres.

(b) Since the publication of the report of the Defence Lands Committee there have been three purchases of land in Kent:

(i) Great Watersend Farm, near Dover: 735 acres

(ii) Court and Brookers Farm, Luddesdown: 631 acres

(iii) Ash: 19 acres

A further property, Lydden Court Farm, Lydden, 174 acres, is in course of acquisition.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What area of land is currently held by the Ministry of Defence in the county of Kent, expressed both as a total acreage and as a percentage of the total area of that county.

The information requested is as follows:

Total Area Column	MOD Land Holdings (Freehold and Leasehold) as at 1st April 1983	Column (B) as a percentage of Column (A)
(A)	(B)	(C)
921,784 acres	15,431 acres	1.67 per cent.

Inland waters are included in the above figures, but tidal waters and foreshore are excluded.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What area of land is currently held by the Ministry of Defence in the United Kingdom expressed both as a total acreage and as a percentage of the total land area of the united Kingdom.

The information requested is as follows:

Total Area Column	MOD Land Holdings (Freehold and Leasehold) as at 1st April 1983	Column (B) as a percentage of Column (A)
(A)	(B)	(C)
60,317,100 acres	562,757 acres	0.93 per cent.

Inland waters are included in the above figures but tidal waters and foreshore are excluded.

asked Her Majesty's Government:In respect of aid to developing countries, what are the targets recommended by UNCTAD and/or the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD or other international bodies concerning: (

The recommended targets relating to the transfer of resources from developed to developing countries fall into two categories: volume and terms of aid. Taking these in turn: Volume

(a) The Strategy for the Second UN Development Decade, adopted in 1970 by the UN General Assembly, called upon economically advanced countries to attain by 1972, or 1975 at the latest, an annual net flow of resources to developing countries (which includes net official development assistance, net other official flows and net private flows) of 1 per cent. of gross national product at market prices. Britain accepted this target, and has exceeded it in recent years. In 1982 the net flow was estimated to be 1.24 per cent. of GNP.

(b) The International Development Strategy (IDS) for the Second UN Development Decade also called upon economically advanced countries to exert their best efforts to reach a minimum of 0.7 per cent. of GNP as official development assistance by the middle of the 1970s. The IDS for the Third UN Development Decade reaffirmed the target, calling on all developed countries to exert their best efforts to reach it by 1985, or not later than the second half of the Decade. A target of 1 per cent. of GNP as official development assistance should be reached as soon as possible thereafter. The recent UNCTAD VI meeting in Belgrade called for all developed countries to redouble their efforts towards these targets.

A statement of interpretation by the Group B countries—that is, the developed countries—made it clear however, that this was without prejudice to the statements of reservation made by some countries (which included Britain) to the IDS targets and the time frames for their achievement.Britain has accepted the 0.7 per cent. target in principle but without commitment to a date for its achievement. It has not accepted the 1 per cent, target for official development assistance.0.38 per cent. of GNP was spent as net official development assistance in 1982. Future progress towards the 0.7 per cent. target depends on a number of factors, including the future performance of the British economy and the need to maintain control over the level of public expenditure.(