asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the review of the Fire Precautions Act 1971 has been completed.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right honourable friend the Home Secretary have today published a consultative document entitled, A Review of the Fire Precautions Act 1971. The document embodies proposals, formulated over several years within the machinery of the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Councils for England and Wales and for Scotland, for a modified system of fire precautions controls which would replace the fire certification arrangements of the current system with a statutory duty on the owners/occupiers of premises put to a designated use to achieve and maintain a reasonable standard of fire safety.We are most grateful to the organisations represented on the CFBACs for helping to bring this work to a successful conclusion in the publication of this document. We should however emphasise that the proposals in no sense represent final conclusions and my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right honourable friend the Home Secretary will want to consider them again in the light of comments which are made on them. We have, in particular, invited Mr. Justice Popplewell to consider the proposals in the context of his inquiry into the operation of the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 following the Bradford fire, so that any relevant conclusions can be taken into account.Copies of the consultative document, on which written comments are invited by 31st December 1985, are being sent to fire authorities and to other interested bodies and individuals, and copies have also been placed in the Library of the House. Further copies can be obtained on request in writing to the Home Office Fire and Emergency Planning Department, Room 916, Home Office, 50 Queen Anne's Gate, London SW1H 9AT.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What proportion of those sentenced to immediate custodial sentences (including partly suspended sentences) in the most recent year for which figures are available were convicted of offences involving violence, sex, robbery, arson or drug trafficking.What percentage of offenders of all ages sentenced for indictable offences in 1984 received immediate custodial sentences (including partly suspended sentences).What percentage of (

The available information is published annually in, Criminal Statistics, England and Wales (Table 7.15 of the latest issue for 1983, Cmnd. 9349, and in the Supplementary Tables—Vol. 1 Table S1.1(A) for magistrates' courts and Vol. 2 Table S2.1(A) for the Crown Court). The percentages requested are given in the following table. More detailed information on sentencing for offences of drug trafficking is published annually in a Home Office Statistical Bulletin, Statistics of the Misuse of Drugs in the United Kingdom (Issue 18/84 for 1983).PERSONS SENTENCED FOR INDICTABLE OFFENCES WHO RECEIVED AN IMMEDIATE CUSTODIAL SENTENCE AS A PERCENTAGE OF ALL THOSE SENTENCED, 1983:

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which committee advises on the denomination and ratio of paper and coin in the currency of the United Kingdom and whether they will give the names of the members of the committee.

There is no such committee.

asked Her Majestys' Government:What further progress has been made on combined heat and power schemes in those cities which have expressed interest in such schemes?

Consortia for Belfast and Edinburgh have signed a heads of agreement between their members, and the agreements with the department for grant aid towards the preparation of prospectuses are expected to be signed in the next few weeks. The consortium for Leicester is expected to be in a position to do so shortly. Each has appointed project managers, who are formulating detailed work programmes. The project managers have met to consider aspects of work which might be carried out jointly.Consortia for Newcastle and Sheffield are also proceeding with further development work. Sheffield will shortly complete the study for which it received some financial assistance from the European Community and has applied to the Community for assistance with implementation of a scheme.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What guidance they have recently issued to members of diplomatic missions on how they should behave.

In April this year my department prepared a memorandum for all new diplomats in London drawing attention to various matters of public concern and giving guidance about their behaviour. It is now being issued to all members of diplomatic missions on arrival. In addition, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs circulated it to all heads of diplomatic missions on 22nd April, asking them to ensure that it was seen by all members of their staff and their dependants who were entitled to diplomatic immunity.The text of the memorandum is as follows:"Memorandum For All New Diplomats In London Diplomatic ImmunityThis memorandum is intended to be of assistance to all persons entitled to diplomatic privileges and immunities and particularly to those newly appointed to London. It draws attention to a number of matters of public concern.It would be helpful if you could make sure that members of your family who are with you in London are aware of its contents, since they also apply to all those in a postion to claim immunity. Your co-operation and that of your family in maintaining the high standards of conduct expected of the Diplomatic Corps, and in ensuring friendly relations between the corps and the residents of London, will be greatly appreciated.Diplomats and their families are expected to respect the laws and regulations of the United Kingdom, in accordance with Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Diplomatic immunity in no way absolves diplomats from their duty to obey the law. All allegations of breach of the law which come to the attention of the police are thoroughly investigated and the results reported to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office draw these to the attention of the head of mission (or sometimes a senior official) in the expectation of disciplinary action.In serious cases additional action will be taken. Where a waiver of immunity is not granted to permit trial in this country, violent crime, incitement to or advocacy of violence, espionage and drug trafficking will, as a general rule, result in the offender being declared

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether Romania is complying with all its obligations under the international Helsinki Agreements; and if this is not so, what have been the principal breaches or shortcomings on the part of the Romanian authorities.

Regrettably, Romania is not complying with all its obligations under the Helsinki Final Act, despite public statements in support of the CSCE process. The principal shortcomings have been in the area of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The freedoms of speech, conscience and assembly are heavily circumscribed. Romanians wishing to travel abroad, emigrate or marry a foreigner face serious difficulties, though there has been some improvement in family reunification cases.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are now able to make a statement on the recommendations contained in Professor Bell's Report of a Study of the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service.

When my right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food announced (on 13th November) the report by the new Director General of the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service, he said that we endorsed the conclusion that in principle it was entirely appropriate that farmers and others in the industry who avail themselves of the services of ADAS should contribute to their costs. We have also made it clear that the Government plans to reduce the net cost of ADAS advisory and statutory services by about £16·5 million in the financial year 1987–88.In my right honourable friend's original statement on Professor Bell's Report, he said that we were proceeding to a detailed examination of what would be involved in the implementation of his recommendations. One of those recommendations was that consideration should be given to the possibilities of charging users for part or all of any service (including work under statutory schemes) where there is an identifiable benefit to the customer. Following detailed consideration of that recommendation we are now ready to initiate discussions with the industry about the overall scope for raising revenue for advisory and statutory work and the areas in which it might he raised.So far as advisory work is concerned, we envisaged a mixture of types of charge and types of advisory provision. These would include fees or subscriptions for specified ranges of advice, and specific charges for other services both to individuals and organisations and to groups of farmers acting in association. Statutory work makes up over one-third of the work of ADAS. In this context we wish to explore charging possibilities in areas within which ADAS undertakes work in pursuit of animal, plant and public health and standards objectives.In addition to revenue from charging, savings in ADAS manpower will also contribute to the reduction in the net cost of ADAS to which I refer above. But the extent of these savings and hence the resulting range of services which ADAS will be able to provide must depend on the response of the industry both to charging for advice and to the proposed extension of charging for statutory work. Moreover it is clear that services to be charged for should be carried out as efficiently and economically as possible. Taking into account the useful results of various studies of areas of ADAS activity that we have commissioned in recent years, we intend to see what additional savings and improvements in efficiency can be made.Consultations with industry are already in progress on the funding of research and development work undertaken within ADAS and by other research organisations. ADAS research and development resources will also be available for contract work. The quality of the work of ADAS research and development establishments will in future be subject to review by independent visiting groups.To help ADAS meet the new challenges that face it, we intend to constitute a management board, which, under the chairmanship of the director general, will consist of the four heads of services, the newly created director of ADAS administration, a representative from Wales and three outside members, who, I hope, will between them have experience in the areas of marketing, information technology, the farming industry and industrial research and development. In addition a marketing officer for ADAS will be appointed at a senior level and he will have access to outside expertise.