asked Her Majesty's Government:What proportion of local authorities have replied to the consultation paper on compulsory privatisation of local authority services; what proportion were in support of the proposals; what proportion against, and whether all the replies will be available for inspection; andWhat responses they have received from the Association of District Councils and the Association of County Councils to the consultation paper on compulsory privatisation of local authority services; and whether they will specify which proposals have been supported by these bodies and which have been opposed.

The Government have made no proposals for compulsory privatisation of local authority services. A total of 226 individual authorities have responded directly to the proposals for increased competition in the provision of such services; others responded through the local authority associations. The subject matter of the consultation paper is too complex to lend itself to a simple response analysis of the sort requested. The Government does not intend to publish all the responses received, but copies of the responses from individual authorities or other bodies can no doubt be obtained from those bodies.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the latest figures for the average weekly earnings of: (

The most recent available information relating gross earnings to household composition and circumstances is that provided by the 1983 Family Expenditure Survey and is set out below:

Employees who are head of household	Average gross normal weekly wages and salaries(1)(£)
All men	170.3
All woman	93.8
One woman with children(3)	63.8
One man with children(3)	156.2(2)
One man, one woman and one, two or three children(3)	181.2
For employees who are the wives of the head of household
Working with dependent children(3)	55.8
Working without dependent	81.4
Source: Family Expenditure Survey 1983(4)

Notes(1) Covering both full-time and part-time employment. Earnings from self-employment and households where no wages or salaries were received because the individuals were unemployed or unoccupied are omitted from these calculations.(2) Based on relatively few households and subject to a substantial sampling margin of possible error.(3) Persons who are under 18 years of age and unmarried are regarded as children in the survey.(4) The figures relate to the calendar year and are based on a sample of about 7,000 households and will be subject to a margin of sampling and reporting uncertainty.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is (

The information is as follows:

	Total No. of payments	Amount paid from the fund(£'000)
1974	182,161	38,555
1975	340,215	94,131
1976	313,728	101,268
1977	267,233	87,903
1978	255,484	82,887
1979	254,627	101,072
1980	491,168	221,486
1981	809,639	415,671
1982	634,818	370,193
1983	608,490	397,628
1984	425,178	300,059