asked Her Majesty's Government:What efforts are made to increase the number of people from the ethnic minorities appointed to the lay magistracy to represent the large numbers of people of Asian or Afro-Caribbean origin living in towns and cities throughout the United Kingdom.

The appointment of magistrates in England and Wales rests with the Lord Chancellor and the Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster. Advisory Committees for the various geographical areas make annual recommendations regarding new appointments to the magisterial benches within their respective areas. Speaking generally, the criteria in order of importance are (i) personal suitability for judicial work (ii) balance between the various components of the local community and (iii) experience in voluntary, community or public work. In areas where ethnic minorities exist to a significant extent ethnic organisations are approached by Secretaries and invited to submit names. A national press notice drawing attention to the procedure was published earlier this year in seven ethnic minority daily or weekly papers.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are prepared to provide matching funds to companies in possession of nitrate film stock in order that it may be preserved, whether in the form of grant-aid, tax concessions or a mixture of both; andWhether they will make a statement on any plans they have to ensure the preservation of nitrate film stock; andWhether they will consider imposing legal requirements to ensure that those in possession of nitrate film stock take adequate steps to ensure it is preserved; andWhether they are satisfied that the present arrangements and methods to ensure the preservation of nitrate film stock are adequate.

Since 1982 the BFI has allocated some £10 million to the archive from its grant-in-aid. In addition, as mentioned in my reply on Monday 15th July, Mr. J. Paul Getty II has donated nearly £10 million to three BFI projects, one of which is the renewal and rebuilding of their duplication laboratory. These sums are enabling the archive to carry out a 24-year programme for the duplication of its nitrate film stock on to safety film. I do not consider that legal requirements are necessary to safeguard nitrate stock in private possession.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether all the planned reductions in public expenditure on agriculture in the United Kingdom that have been announced since May 1979, including cuts in national and EEC-funded capital grants schemes and cuts in expenditure on the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service, are listed in their White Papers on agriculture (Cmnds. 7746, 7841, 8175, 8494, 8789, 9143 and 9428), and if not, whether they will list those cuts not so listed.

Each of these White Papers shows the net effects of the Government's decisions on agricultural expenditure compared with the previous year's estimates, but it is not always possible to derive from them the effects of individual decisions. Recent White Papers do in general contain an analysis of all significant changes in expenditure, but earlier ones sometimes do not, and provision of a detailed analysis for these years would incur an undue administrative cost.Parliament is of course advised of alterations in planned expenditure as they arise. The most recent decisions involving reductions in expenditure were announced on 12th November 1984 (capital grants and arterial drainage) and 22nd January 1985 (research, development and advisory services).

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many of those applying in 1984 for undergraduate Open University places in 1985 have been turned down and what are the current projections regarding applications in 1985 for places in 1986.

In 1985 17,600 Open University undergraduate applicants did not receive an offer of a place. For 1986 the university estimates that about 17,400 applicants will not be offered a place.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many of those applying in Scotland in 1985 for Open University places in 1986 had made previous applications, and how many were new applicants.

By 2nd July 1985 the Open University had received 5,215 applications in Scotland for places in 1986. Of these, 2,219 had made previous applications and 2,996 were new applicants.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many people have applied for undergraduate and associate places on computing courses for 1985 with the Open University and how many places are available.

The information requested is given below:

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will make a statement about the future of Holloway Prison.

The report of the Holloway project committee, which was set up last December under the chairmanship of the Director of the South-East Region, Prison Department, has now been submitted to the Director General of the Prison Service and copies have been placed in the Library and the Printed Paper Office.The project committee's report provides a valuable analysis of Holloway's difficulties. We very much welcome the committee's positive programme for an urgent increase in the prison's remand capacity, the development of its regimes, improvements in management structure, and ways of reviewing staff deployment to ensure that the prisoners get more time in association and more access to Holloway's extensive facilities. We want to see particular progress in the following areas.My right honourable friend the Home Secretary has asked for urgent consideration to be given to how Holloway's operating capacity can be increased to 400 as soon as possible, as the committee recommends. A manpower appraisal will be carried out and staff deployment at Holloway will be closely monitored, to ensure the most effective use of resources. The aim must be to provide as positive a regime as possible.The specialist functions consequent on Holloway's role as the major local prison for women in the southeast will remain. These include the capacity to accommodate unsentenced women who are highly disturbed, many of whom will come within the ambit of mental health legislation but for whom a period of assessment in secure conditions may be required. These prisoners are presently accommodated on C1 Unit. We accept the committee's view that C1 Unit is not currently meeting their needs as well as it should, despite the best efforts of the staff, which we also commend, and that urgent action is needed to rectify its deficiencies. Its physical state is wholly unsatisfactory and its management structure is not clear. We acknowledge the desirability of resiting C1 Unit in purpose-built accommodation in a different part of the establishment and have asked for an urgent assessment of whether this is feasible.But C1 cannot be rebuilt overnight. Immediate steps will be taken to improve conditions on the unit. Particular attention will be paid to improvements to the fabric, the replacement of potentially dangerous fittings, and the provision of more space for association. High priority will be given to improving the regime on C1 so that the prisoners there can take full advantage of the specialist training and therapeutic facilities available. The management structure and oversight of the unit will be reviewed. Particular attention will be paid to the need to improve liaison between the nursing and discipline officer staff, and the need to create an environment conducive to the assessment and treatment of disturbed inmates. For as long as the unit contains both remand prisoners for assessment and difficult sentenced prisoners for special care, its routines must recognise the different requirements of these groups.The rapid throughput of prisoners at Holloway has limited the extent to which the therapeutic unit for women prisoners with drug and other dependency problems has been able to fulfil its role. The unit will, as the committee recommends, be discontinued in its present form. Meanwhile, women with dependency problems who might benefit from a therapeutic regime will continue to be provided with specialist professional care on an individual basis.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have yet received a report by the Nature Conservancy Council on lead poisoning of swans; and what action they propose to take on it.

Yes. The Nature Conservancy Council have reported to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State on the problem of lead poisoning of swans. Their recent review concluded that, while there has been a small increase in total swan numbers since 1978, more than 3,000 swans continue to die each year by ingesting anglers' lead weights. Evidence suggests that it is recently discarded weights, not yet sunk into the mud, which do the most damage. This is despite the co-operation of anglers' associations in encouraging the use of non-toxic alternatives to lead.The NCC therefore confirm their recommendations to phase out the use of lead shot by anglers by December 1986. If the voluntary phasing out which they support proves to be ineffective, they recommend

that the sale and use of split lead weights (except the smallest weights) and ledger weights (up to 2 oz.) should be prohibited.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What information they have about the current state of minority rights in Romania, and in particular whether the culture and cultural heritage of the German, Hungarian and Ukrainian minorities are being respected.

The Romanian constitution guarantees a wide range of rights to members of the "cohabiting nationalities", including access to information, culture and education in their own languages. Political and administrative posts are filled in proportion to the size of the minority in the overall population.In practice it appears to be Romanian policy to reduce the national minorities through assimilation (Hungarians) and emigration (Germans). There are severe restrictions on minority cultural institutions. Hungarian theatres, for instance, may only perform translations of Romanian works. The number of Hungarian newspapers, magazines and schools has fallen fairly sharply in recent years.

asked Her Majesty's Government:By how much income over the year April 1984 to April 1985 fell below the level recommended by the Armed Forces Pay Review Body (Cmnd. 9255) on account of the staging of the award, in each of the ranks for which the review body is responsible.

The rates of pay which were in issue to servicemen during the period April 1984 to April 1985 are detailed in pages 26 and 27 of the AFPRB's 14th Report (Cmnd. 9526). The table below illustrates the amounts by which the take-home pay for each rank could have been less than that recommended by the AFPRB over the period. The actual amounts paid would have varied depending on personal tax liability and the type of accommodation being occupied:

asked Her Majesty's Government:What recent initiatives 'they have taken at the Geneva Conference on Disarmament over a comprehensive nuclear test ban.

On 11th July the British delegation to the conference tabled a working paper on Seismic Monitoring for a Comprehensive Test Ban. A copy will be placed in the Library. The paper describes techniques for detecting and identifying seismic signals emitted by nuclear explosions, and relates these issues to the verification of a total ban on such explosions. We trust this working paper will make a helpful contribution to discussion within the Conference on

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many officers were employed in the Ministry of Defence headquarters in each rank from Vice Admiral to Commander (and equivalent in the Army and RAF) on 1st June 1983, 1st June 1984 and 1st June 1985.

The information is as follows: