asked Her Majesty's Government:Which London borough councils have so far not made payments to the Receiver of the Metropolitan Police District in the present financial year; and what is the cost to public funds of their failure to do so by the due date.

The second instalment of the precepts levied by the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District fell due on 10th May. He tells me that, by that date, all 40 borough and district councils had paid the first two instalments. It is estimated that the delay by three boroughs in paying the first instalment resulted in a loss of investment income to the Metropolitan Police Fund of some £26,000.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What has been their attitude at the Executive Committee of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to the Nicaraguan request for it to consider urgently the United States embargo on trade with Nicaragua as a violation of Article I of the agreement, which states that contracting parties cannot obstruct commerce between one another.

There has so far been no discussion of this issue in GATT. The European Community is preparing its position for the discussion expected in the GATT Council on 29th May. Article XXI of the GATT permits any Contracting Party to take action it considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What consultations they have sought with the United States Government about the situation in Nicaragua.

We regularly discuss the situation in Central America with the United States Administration. My right honourable and learned friend discussed the subject with Mr. Shultz in Washington in February and with his colleagues at the Bonn Economic Summit earlier this month.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether 300 Centaur vehicles made by Laird (Anglesey) Ltd. are intended to be sold to Chile and if so whether they will oppose the sale in view of the position of the Chilean Government on human rights.

We have not received an application from Laird (Anglesey) Ltd. for an export licence for Centaur vehicles to Chile. A temporary export licence for demonstration purposes was granted for a single Centaur in January 1984. Any other application would be considered carefully, taking into account all prevailing circumstances.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What provisions for compensation exist in respect of damage done to a vehicle in the course of Customs and Excise examination and, if there are none, why not.

There are no specific provisions, but HM Customs and Excise would meet a reasonable claim for compensation for any damage which occurred. There is also nothing to debar an aggrieved person from pursuing a claim for compensation under common law.

asked Her Majesty Government:Whether when Customs and Excise strip a vehicle for examination and find nothing, they have a duty to replace the stripped parts.

Under Section 159(4) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979, the responsibility for providing facilities for Customs examination of imported goods rests with the owner. Where, exceptionally, the owner was not able to provide such facilities and the Customs carried out the examination, they would ensure that the stripped parts were subsequently reassembled.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their assessment of the relative contributions of public sector borrowing, bank lending to the personal sector for purposes of financing consumer expenditure, bank lending for housing finance, "round tripping" by the corporate sector, and other factors, respectively, to the growth of sterling M3 in the latest banking month; and what measures they intend to introduce to bring the growth of broad money into line with the target range for the current financial year.

The relative contributions of the public sector, sterling lending to the private sector and other factors—namely, net non-deposit liabilities and external counterparts—to the growth of sterling M3 I n banking April, seasonally adjusted, were as follows:—

Public sector contribution	£m	% of rise in£M3
Central Government borrowing requirement	+823
Other public sector borrowing less debt sales to UK non-bank private sector (NBPS)	+147
Central Government debt sales to UK NBPS	-1,233
Total public sector contribution	-263	-8
Sterling lending to UK private sector	+2,627	83
Other factors:
External counterparts	+1,419	45
Net non-deposit liabilities	-610	-19
Total change in £M3	+3,173	100

Sterling lending was substantially increased during banking April by borrowing to finance payments for investment brought forward to take advantage of the higher investment allowances prevailing up to the end of 1984–85.Figures for the breakdown of bank lending to the personal sector are not yet available. There are no statistics for "round-tripping", but there is no reason to think that net round-tripping made a significant contribution to monetary growth in banking April.The Government are committed to maintaining monetary conditions that will bring down inflation. The two target aggregates, MO and £M3, are given equal weight and other available evidence, including the exchange rate, is taken into account. The Government will take whatever action is necessary to maintain appropriate monetary conditions. But it would be wrong to read too much into one month's figures: the April figure for growth in £M3 was clearly erratic.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they can yet make a statement about the amount of expenditure and the activities to be supported through education support grants in the financial year 1986–87 in England.

The Education (Grants and Awards) Act 1984 empowers my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science to pay education support grant to local education authorities in England. Education support grants were first available in the 1985–86 financial year, when a total of £30 million of expenditure was planned for. Of the planned £30 million, expenditure of £29·5 million has been approved for support.It is intended that education support grant will again be available in 1986–87. Expenditure so supported will amount to some £40 million in that year. It is proposed that £18·8 million of this total of planned expenditure will be accounted for by continuing expenditure arising from projects first approved in 1985–86. Roughly £21·5 million will be available to support expenditure on new activities and on the extension of existing ones. Grant will be paid at the rate of 70 per cent. of the amount of expenditure approved for support through education support grants.