asked Her Majesty's Government:How much was spent last year on purchasing books for county court libraries.

£256,000 during the financial year 1984–85.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many county courts have the latest edition of (i) the Green Book (ii) the White Book (iii)

The information requested is given below:

• Basic: all courts with an office always open.
• Regular: courts with at least 100 judge/registrar sitting days per year.
• Principal: courts with at least 250 judge/registrar sitting days per year.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many county courts have a complete set of statutes and Law Reports.

Halsbury's Statutes of England are supplied to 94 county courts. In addition, many courts have extensive collections of Public General Acts.There are 72 county courts currently subscribing to the Law Reports. Although records are incomplete, it is estimated that at least 40 hold a complete set.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many county courts have up-to-date editions of standard works on: (i) tort (ii) contract (iii) divorce (iv) landlord and tenant (v) health and safety (vi) damages.

The information requested is given below:

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many county courts subscribe to

This publication is supplied on request to all regular and principal county courts. The number of county courts actively subscribing is 85.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What representations they have received from Age Concern and others about the proposed ending of urban gas supplies in Northern Ireland; what has been their response; whether "least cost conversion" is adequate and what steps they are taking to prevent hardship to handicapped, elderly and unemployed consumers.

A number of statutory bodies and voluntary organisations, including Age Concern, the Right to Fuel (Northern Ireland) Group and the Retirement Association of Northern Ireland, have contacted the Department of Economic Development as part of the consultative process on the Draft Gas (Northern Ireland) Order following its publication for comment on 7th March.These representations have concentrated on the Government's proposals for a Gas Conversion Assistance Scheme and, in particular, have sought to direct Government attention to the needs of the elderly and handicapped. Attention has been focused on the desirability of adequate advice and information for consumers in those categories and on the need for grant levels to take account of the suitability or otherwise of certain fuels for the less able consumers.The Government have made clear their willingness to examine these matters in discussion with organisations such as Age Concern. In announcing their proposals for the Gas Conversion Assistance Scheme, the Government have emphasised that while the principle of "least cost conversion" will apply, the scheme is intended to be sufficiently flexible to cope with any particular needs or difficulties which may arise.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will hold a public inquiry under Section 14 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to establish the extent to which failures by Bexley London Borough, Bexley Health Authority, the South East Thames Regional Health Authority and employees thereof were responsible for the death on 6th July 1984 at Bexley Hospital of Isabel Schwarz, a social worker employed at the hospital.

I understand that the London Borough of Bexley Social Services Department is in the final stages of an internal inquiry on the circumstances leading to the death of Isabel Schwarz. It will be the responsibility of the London Borough of Bexley to consider the findings of that inquiry. Bexley Health Authority is responsible for security in Bexley Hospital and has made a number of improvements following an internal review.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, further to their Answer of 15th July (col. 600), they will detail all the successive operations involving any public expenditure which lead to the production of a phrase in an Act of Parliament.

The precise details will vary from one piece of legislation to another, but there are usually three main stages. In the first, the requirement for a particular provision emerges during interdepartmental consultation either at the formative stage of new legislative proposals or at the stage when the sponsoring department circulates draft instructions for the draftsmen. In the second, the parliamentary counsel inserts the appropriate wording in the draft Bill which, in the final stage, proceeds through Parliament to become an Act.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many United States defence contractors involved in the production of Trident missiles etc. are being investigated by the Inspector-General's office of the United States Defence Department.

The total number of U.S. defence contractors under investigation by the U.S. Inspector-General's office is not known, and is essentially a matter for the U.S. Government. Trident missiles will be procured through U.S. Government mechanisms, and the Ministry of Defence maintains a close liaison with the relevant U.S. Government agencies to ensure that British interests in these and other appropriate contracts are safeguarded.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How they reconcile the statement made by the Secretary of State for Defence to the Commons Select Committee that the use of nuclear weapons cannot be rationally contemplated with the statement in the Defence Estimates that the main purpose of Trident is to "pose a credible threat to key aspects of Soviet state power".

The British strategic nuclear force is a weapon of deterrence. Its purpose is to ensure that aggression against us can never be a rational option, by posing a credible threat of an unacceptable level of damage to an aggressor.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many (

Between 1st and 26th July there were a total of 121 calls by Soviet vessels at British ports. The information requested on the numbers of seamen ashore in the United Kingdom during this period is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How they reconcile their aim of "security with reduced levels of offensive systems on both sides" with their decision to deploy Trident D5.

The British Government fully supports the United States' aim in the Geneva negotiations of limiting and reducing nuclear arms and of strengthening strategic stability. There is no contradiction between this and the continued deployment by the United Kindgom of a strategic nuclear deterrent force of the minimum effective size. The British strategic nuclear deterrent is and will remain a very small proportion of US and Soviet forces.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How they reconcile the statement in the Defence White Paper that first strike "plays no part in the thinking of NATO, the United States or the United Kingdom" with the statement by the United States Under Secretary for Defence that Trident D5 has "a counterforce—even pre-emptive—capability".

The Government have acknowledged that Trident D5 is a more capable weapon system than Polaris. This does not however mean that it is intended to be used as part of a first strike attack by NATO. Indeed such an option forms no part of NATO strategy and the US Government has not suggested otherwise.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What further steps they propose to take in the light of the Soviet Union's rejection of British requests to carry out marine research in the water column in the Soviet Exclusive Economic Zone in the course of tracing the route of caesium escaped from Sellafield and whether they have approached the International Atomic Energy Agency about it.

We intend to take the matter up within the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, which is a more appropriate channel than the International Atomic Energy Agency. Her Majesty's Embassy at Moscow is also being asked to raise the matter with the Soviet authorities when a suitable opportunity arises.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have read Mr. Gorbachev's speech of 8th May 1985 and what is their response to it.

Her Majesty's Ambassador at Moscow was present at the Kremlin meeting marking the 40th Anniversary of VE Day when the speech in question was delivered. Its contents were reported, and noted by the Government. During a call by the Soviet Ambassador on my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the latter drew Mr. Popov's attention to a number of points in the speech which distorted the historical facts and misrepresented the present Western approach to relations with the Soviet Union.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What decision has been made on the Sri Lankan Government's request for British aid for the Samanala Wewa hydro-electric project?

My right honourable friend the Prime Minister has informed President Jayawardene that, subject to our international reporting obligations, we are prepared to make a grant of £14.4 million from the Aid and Trade Provision to be used in association with commercial credit. This is to support the British share of a bid by a consortium of British, French and Japanese firms to design and construct the project on the assumption that the governments of France and Japan will give similar support.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What promises of aid did the United Kingdom make to Zambia at the meeting of the World Bank consultative group held on 25th-26th June?

We offered grants of £4 million programme aid, tied to British goods, and £10 million as the first pledge from the £75 million special joint financing we are giving to support the World Bank's African facility. This £10 million will be untied and will be committed in conjunction with a parallel commitment from the facility itself.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will give an explicit assurance that local authorities jointly exercising their functions under Section 48 of the Local Government Act 1985 will be subject to the duty laid upon every local authority individually under Section 71 of the Race Relations Act 1976.

Yes. The provisions of Section 71 of the Race Relations Act 1976 will apply to local authorities exercising their functions under Section 48 of the Local Government Act 1985.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What procedures exist for the regular inspection of all reservoirs in the United Kingdom, how often inspections take place, who conducts them and to whom are the resulting reports submitted.

The Reservoirs (Safety Provisions) Act 1930 provides for inspections of large raised reservoirs (of 5 million gallons capacity or over) at intervals not exceeding 10 years, and for the supervision of their design and construction. Inspections are carried out by panels of qualified engineers appointed by the Secretary of State on the advice of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Reports of the inspections are made to reservoir owners and provided to the local authorities and residents in the area.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many, if any, United Kingdom producers will qualify for payment within 60 days for grain delivered into intervention; whether all other United Kingdom producers will be paid within 90–120 days of delivering grain into intervention; and whether both these arrangements will be in force for the commencement of the 1985 harvest and will continue unchanged until July 1986.

Under Community legislation rules concerning payment for deliveries of cereals into intervention are a matter for regulations made by the European Commission, after first seeking the opinion of member states within the Cereals Management Committee. It is open to the commission at any time to propose changes in the rules. The commission have made a regulation providing for payment for deliveries during the 1985–86 marketing year to be made between 90 and 120 days following delivery, and this requirement will be applied in the United Kingdom. They have also announced their intention of allowing member states, at their discretion, to make earlier payments for deliveries of cereals from small producers but have not yet put forward a specific proposal. I do not envisage that the Government would make use of such a facility in the United Kingdom.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish the assurances reportedly given to the EEC Commission that onshore and offshore licence offers do not discriminate against non-British suppliers.

In connection with a recent complaint to the Commission, it was made clear that United Kingdom policies for petroleum production licensing are interpreted and applied in a manner consistent with the provisions of Community law and will continue to be operated in a way that respects our EC treaty and other international obligations.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will list the market value of plutonium per kilogram of metal and state whether the value differs for different isotopic compositions of the metal.

There are very few transactions involving plutonium and no standard market prices.