asked Her Majesty's Government:When the Second Report of the Farrand Committee on Conveyancing will be published?

The Second, and final, Report of the Conveyancing Commitee under the chairmanship of Professor Julian Farrand was published today. The Government welcome the report and are grateful to the committee for completing their work with a minimum of delay. The report deals with a wide range of matters concerning the conveyancing process which will require careful consideration not only by the Government but also by the professions and lending institutions. The Government will announce decisions on those recommendations which fall within its responsibilities as soon as possible.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When will her Majesty's Government introduce new regulations to extend mandatory rating relief to empty warehouses as promised by Ministers during the passage of the Rates Act 1984.

My right honourable friend has today laid regulations before the House which will extend the mandatory full rating relief, which has applied to empty industrial property since 1st April 1984, to warehouses and other wholesale storage premises from 1st April 1985. Owners of such properties will therefore no longer be liable for rates on premises which they can neither dispose of nor use. I hope that this will free resources which they will be able to invest more productively.

asked Her Majesty's Government:To what extent the computerisation of letters bearing the post code is operative, and why in the London postal area first-class postage letters can take between two and four days to arrive.

The Post Office's plan for mechanised handling of letter mail is scheduled for completion by the end of 1985 and involves 81 mechanised letter offices. Of these 67 are now operational, handling mechanically 70 per cent, of all United Kingdom mail that can be handled in that way.Of first-class letters posted in the United Kingdom for delivery in Inner London the Post Office aims to deliver, on average, 92 per cent. on the first working day after collection. This aim makes allowance for some letters taking longer, for example because they need to travel long distances and have been posted late in the day, or because of transport failures or because of errors made by customers or postal staff.In 1984 an average of 85·2 per cent, of first-class letters posted in the United Kingdom for delivery in Inner London were delivered on the first working day after collection. In its report published in September 1984, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission stressed the importance of the Post Office's improving delivery performance in London. This is fully recognised by the Post Office, which is undertaking a wide range of measures, including a number recommended by the commission, to secure and maintain performance to target.

asked Her Majesty's Government:To what extent dairy farmers who supply farmhouse cheesemakers are liable to the super-levy and the co-responsibility levy.

Dairy farmers who supply milk to farmhouse cheesemakers under the Milk Marketing Board Farmhouse Cheesemakers' Scheme have been allocated wholesale quota for the purposes of the supplementary levy system.In the first year of the scheme arrangements agreed by the Agriculture Council on 27th February are likely to result in any levy liability for wholesale deliveries being extinguished.Producers supplying milk to farmhouse cheesemakers are liable for co-responsibility levy in the same way and at the same rates as producers delivering to any other purchaser on a wholesale basis.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they know how many areas of land in private ownership within the New Forest are banned to the New Forest Buckhounds, and if so whether they can give details of the location and area of such land.

Hunting over private land is entirely a matter between the New Forest Buckhounds and the owners and occupiers of the land.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many babies of non-United Kingdom citizens, illegal immigrants, foreign students and over-staying visitors were born in this country over the last five years and thereby became United Kingdom citizens, enabling the parents to claim excessive hardship if they are legally, under the conditions of entry, asked to leave this country.

I regret that information on the number of children born in the United Kingdom to persons subject to immigration control is not available. Since January 1983 a person born in the United Kingdom is a British citizen at birth only if one of his or her parents is a British citizen or is settled here. The existence of British born children is a factor taken into account when deciding whether to remove a person under the Immigration Act 1971, but the presence of children who are British citizens does not in itself afford parents who are subject to immigration control any right to remain in this country, nor is it considered a factor which should lead automatically to the exercise of discretion in their favour outside the Immigration Rules.

asked Her Majesty' s Government:Whether trade union officers or members of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament are being subjected to surveillance by MI5, and whether those organisations have been infiltrated on Her Majesty's Government's instructions.

The published directive of the security service makes it clear that it is concerned with the defence of the Realm from internal and external threats arising from attempts at espionage and sabotage, or from the actions of people or organisations which may be judged subversive of the state.It is not the practice to comment on the methods employed by the security service in carrying out their duties under their directive, irrespective of whether particular allegations about its operations are true or false. But my right honourable friend the Home Secretary has made it clear on a number of occasions that peaceful political campaigning to change the mind of the Government or of people generally about political issues such as nuclear disarmament cannot constitute subversion. Nor can membership of or the holding of office in a trade union in itself be regarded as subversive. On the other hand, it would not be right to prevent the security service from investigating subversive activities just because the person engaged in them happened to hold office in a trade union or to be a member of a particular pressure group.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will confirm that, under the provisions of Prison Standing Order 5B 30, prisoners are allowed to write to box number addresses when they do not know the addressee's private address; and whether any exceptions are made to this provision which are not to be found in that standing order.

Standing Order 5B 30 confers on the governor a discretion to allow a prisoner to write to a box number if he does not know the address of his correspondent, or if there are reasons for not sending the letter to the address, provided that security is not threatened. In exercising this discretion the governor would need to satisfy himself that the box number was not being used for an improper purpose, for example to circumvent the other restrictions set out in Standing Order 5B.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the strength of the special constables in all forces, at last date for which figures are available.

The number of special constables in each force in England and Wales on 31st December 1984 was as follows: