asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the housing investment programmes for the current financial year of the six largest metropolitan districts; what they were for the last financial year; and whether, if there are any shortfalls from that year, these can be carried over and transferred to the current programme.

The six largest (by population) metropolitan districts and their housing investment programme allocations for 1984–85 and 1985–86 are listed below:

	£000
	1984–85	1985–86
1. Birmingham	66,894	62,207
2. Leeds	29,016	24,826
3. Sheffield	25,655	21,643
4. Liverpool	38,499	31,000
5. Bradford	19,045	16,128
6. Manchester	40,499	36,050

If an authority underspends its total capital allocation for 1984–85 for all services, it may carry forward into 1985–86 up to 10 per cent. of its total capital allocation for 1985–86.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they expect to publish the findings of the interdepartmental committee considering the most viable use of the products of the Minestone Executive Division of the National Coal Board.

The interdepartmental committee on the use of waste material for roadfill is expected to submit its report this summer.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will state the current net comparative cost (ex works) of the materials required to supply foundation ingredients for building one mile of first-class motorway using:

The amounts of imported fill material required for a mile of motorway varies considerably from scheme to scheme. The cost of imported fill depends primarily on the cost of transporting it to the construction site rather than on the cost at source. Average costs per mile of different sources of fill could therefore be misleading, and I regret that they are not readily available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the establishment of the Social Services Inspectorate at the Department of Health and Social Security.

The establishment of the Social Services Inspectorate is 96 full-time and 3 part-time professional posts.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether pursuant to the Written Answer given to the Lord Harris of Greenwich by the Baroness Trumpington on 18th April 1985 (column 896), they will place in the Library the report of the Buckinghamshire Social Services Department and the Probation Service on a number of issues raised in the case of

We will arrange for any published report on this case to be placed in the Library.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether an inquiry followed the collision between two tankers in the Firth of Forth referred to in the article

The Department of Transport did inquire into a collision (on 10th May 1982) between two foreign registered tankers in the Firth of Forth, which may have been the incident referred to. The inquiry was completed on 27th July 1982 but since it was not a formal investigation under the Merchant Shipping Acts neither the report nor its conclusions were published. The Netherland and West German maritime authorities also carried out their own investigation into the incident and the Department of Transport co-operated with them.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether promoters of a Channel Fixed Link will be required, in their detailed analysis of their assumptions about traffic (paragraph 41.4 of the

It will be for promoters to decide how far they should support their traffic forecast for a Channel Fixed Link by forecasts of traffic levels remaining to the ferries. In evaluating proposals, the two Governments will take full account of all the implications of a link including those for defence and national security.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why Family Practitioner Committees may hold personal data about the husbands of women receiving dental treatment, but not about the wives of men receiving dental treatment.

The form which patients send to local offices of our department to claim a refund of dental charges on low income grounds, and which is passed to Family Practitioner Committees for them to make payment, asks for the name and age of a married woman's husband. This information is needed to facilitate the processing of the claim by the local office.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why Family Practitioner Committees, which may hold personal data relating to the marital status of women, do not hold it relating to men.

Family Practitioner Committees (FPCs) do not specifically seek information about the marital status of women. Various FPC forms ask for title, former or maiden names for the purposes of determining a person's preferred mode of address, and for the correct identification of previous records.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether drugs which are not listed in Schedules 3A and 3B of Statutory Instrument 1985/290 and which do not appear on the Limited List of Medicinal Products available in certain categories in the NHS may now be prescribed by NHS general practitioners on Form FP10.

Yes, except that prescriptions by generic formula which would require a pharmacist to dispense a drug listed in Schedule 3A are not allowed unless the formula is the recognised non-proprietary name for the drug. Also, Schedule 3A as set out in SI 1985 No. 290 has been amended by SI 1985 No. 540.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether Exercise Lean Look is now complete, and if so whether they will announce the results of the study.

Exercise Lean Look was launched with the aim of identifying 4,000 military manpower savings in the Army's support area, to allow enhancements to the front line. The exercise has been successfully concluded. Details are contained in Defence Open Government Document 85/03, which is published today and which has been placed in the Library.