asked Her Majesty's Government:If they will publish in the

The usual written forecast was deposited in the House earlier today. At present nine meetings of the Council are scheduled for November.The Fisheries Council is expected to meet on 4th November to consider Norway pout; monkfish and megrim quotas; increase in plaice TAC (total allowable catch) quotas in zone 7F and G; marketing standards for shrimps and certain fresh and chilled fish; relations with certain third world countries and international organisations; flat rate quotas for hake, horse mackerel and blue whiting for Spain in 1986; and, possibly, proposals on improving fishing control measures and on technical measures in the Baltic and the Belts.The Development Council is scheduled to meet on 11th November to discuss the famine in Africa; co-ordination of member states' aid policies; women in development, and trade promotion.The Energy Council is also scheduled to meet on 11th November to consider the investment proposal for solid fuels; coal aid social measures; state aids for coal; subsidised coking coal; demonstration projects and projects in the hydrocarbons sector; energy objectives; the oxygenate directive and oil refining and oil product prices.The Transport Council is expected to meet on 14th-15th November. Shipping matters to be discussed are unfair practices, the freedom to provide services, cargo sharing and competition rules. Aviation tariffs, capacity and competition rules will also be on the agenda. The Council will additionally discuss drivers' hours, and haulage capacity, lorry weights, drive axle, the Italian "masterplan" initiative and relations with Austria. It is hoped that the Council will be able to start finalising plans for the European Road Safety Year in 1986. Road quotas for Spain and Portugal and the plating directive are possible agenda items.The Economic and Finance Council is expected to meet on 18th November to continue discussion on the annual report on the economic situation in the Community, and on the recent economic measures in Greece. The Council is also likely to consider proposals for amendments to the Treaty of Rome in respect of the European monetary system; indirect tax approximation in the context of the internal market; and the calculation of commercial interest reference rates which apply to export finance. The Council will probably give final agreement to the unit trusts and associated capital movements directives.The Agriculture Council is scheduled to meet on 18th-19th November to resume its discussion on cereal and rapeseed prices for 1985–86 and the Commission's Green Paper on perspectives for the CAP. It is also expected to consider the review of the sugar regime; ACP (African, Carribean and Pacific states) sugar; sugar for the chemical industry; starch production refunds; olive oil consumption aid; hormones; and pesticide residues in cereals and foodstuffs of animal origin.The Foreign Affairs Council is expected to meet on 25th-26th November to discuss a negotiating mandate for adaptation protocols to amend the trade regimes under the Community's agreements with Mediterranean countries to take account of enlargement; the Community's trade relations with the United States and Japan, and proposals for special measures to be adopted under ERDF regulation to support regions of the community affected by the difficulties facing the textiles, shipbuilding and fisheries industries, and certain problems faced by border areas.The Budget Council is expected to meet on 26th November to consider the European Parliament's amendments and modifications to the 1986 draft budget of the European Communities.The Environment Council is due to meet on 28th November to discuss a directive on agreed limits on vehicle exhaust emissions, a directive on the reduction in emissions of sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and dust from all existing large combustion plants, the new water directive, the regeneration of waste oils, the harmonisation of member states' programmes for the reduction and eventual elimination of pollution by wastes from industrial establishments, safeguarding against possible harmful effects from the spreading of sewage sludge on agricultural land, a proposed directive to reduce the maximum permitted sulphur content of gas oil, and the marine pollution information system.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether it is their intention to require a repudiation of violence from all future interlocutors, and if not, why not.

We look to all our interlocutors to respect the provisions of the United Nations Charter and refrain from the use of force in international relations.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish in the

The figures in the table below give a comparison of (a) income tax and social security contributions; (b) indirect tax payments as a percentage of gross earnings of an average production worker (APW) using the OECD's definition. The tax figures are calculated for a married man with a non-earning wife and two children who earns the APW average. Indirect tax payments (excluding LA rates) are given only for the United Kingdom APW. These are based on a typical expenditure pattern for this earnings level, derived from the Family Expenditure Survey. Equivalent information for the United States is not readily available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:(

At the end of June 1985 the employment of 184,869 women and 18,067 young persons was covered by 4,028 special exemption orders granted by the Health and Safety Executive under Section 117 of the Factories Act. Figures which would enable a detailed analysis to be undertaken are no longer readily available. The production of such information would involve a disproportionate cost.The Executive has no plans to resume quarterly publication of a detailed analysis of orders issued. Applications for such orders are investigated by the Executive.

asked Her Majesty's Government:The number of payments and amount of money paid directly from the Redundancy Fund to employees affected by insolvency of an employer in each of the years 1978 to 1984, and as far as figures are available in 1985; and the number of similar payments made out of the Maternity Pay Fund.

Employees of insolvent employers may receive payments direct from the Redundancy Fund both under Section 122 of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 which deals with certain debts owed to them such as arrears of pay and holiday pay, and under Section 106 of that Act which deals with redundancy payments.Payments under Section 122 were as follows:

Financial year ended	No. of employees	Amount paid £m
31.3.78	Not available	9·9
31.3.79	40,439	9·1
31.3.80	38,365	11·0
31.3.81	73,286	25·2
31.3.82	74,928	30·9
31.3.83	109,317	46·1
31.3.84	106,338	48·1
31.3.85	86,431	44·1

Redundancy payments under Section 106 are also made to employees whose employers cannot pay because of financial difficulty short of formal insolvency, or other reasons. The figures below include all Section 106 payments. Insolvency and financial difficulty cases are not recorded separately, but the department estimates that about 80 per cent. of these are made to employees of insolvent employers.

Financial year ended	No. of employees	Amount paid £m
31.3.78	29,247	14·6
31.3.79	22,275	12·4
31.3.80	26,256	19·3
31.3.81	50,068	42·2
31.3.82	58,274	53·0
31.3.83	74,980	72·3
31.3.84	66,661	69·1
31.3.85	51,706	57·2

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether any new procedures are to be introduced to improve the administration and readiness of the Royal Navy's reserve forces.

The Royal Navy intends to introduce a system of annual reporting for most members of the Royal Fleet Reserve with effect from 1st April 1986. The arrangements will be similar to those for Army reservists which were introduced in 1981. Once a year, the RN reservists will be summoned individually, by letter, to report for one day to an annual reporting centre within 50 miles of their home. The aim is to maintain regular contact with the reservists, to verify personal details, determine current state of health and welfare, check and update documentation, and ensure that kit is complete and serviceable. Each individual will receive a payment for attendance. Annual reporting will enable the Navy to make better use of the skills of members of the Royal Navy Fleet Reserve should the need arise, and it will help to ensure that they are ready to play their part in meeting their mobilisation commitments. I hope that employers will do all they can to help in releasing the reservists they employ so that they can meet this important commitment.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the current state of negotiations regarding the special export certification for ewes, and in particular whether:

Discussions are continuing. The EC Commission is committed to bringing the SEC arrangements as such to an end, but has undertaken to make every effort to secure agreement between the member states concerned on the arrangements to apply thereafter. Various United Kingdom interests have expressed concern over the possible adverse effects on the United Kingdom industry. We are seeking to ensure that these effects are as far as possible minimised.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the District Auditor and the Audit Commission are investigating expenditure by the Greater London Enterprise Board alleged to have been made in the

The Greater London Enterprise Board is not one of the bodies to which Section 12 of the Local Government Finance Act 1982 applies. Neither the District Auditor nor the Audit Commission has a locus to investigate the board's expenditure.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they can confirm that a large drain has been dug 200 metres into an area of the Duich Moss site of special scientific interest on Islay in breach of the planning consent granted to Scottish Malt Distillers allowing them to cut peat from part of this site, and whether they will confirm that this drain lies in an area designated for Phase 2 of the development, and that the planning consent states that no work on the Phase 2 area should take place until at least 12 years after Phase 1 has started, and then not until after a full review has been carried out by the Scottish Office, the Nature Conservancy Council and Scottish Malt Distillers.

I can confirm that a drainage ditch appears to have been excavated in that part of Duich Moss which corresponds with the area described as Phase 2 in the conditions attached to the planning permission for peat extraction granted to Scottish Malt Distillers Limited by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Scotland. I can also confirm that one of the other conditions attached to the grant of planning permission stipulates that no drainage of Phase 2 shall be carried out until at least 12 years after peat cutting operations in Phase 1 have begun and drainage is required in anticipation of the commencement of cutting on Phase 2. A further condition stipulates that, before any drainage for Phase 2 is begun, certain of the other conditions shall be reviewed by the planning authority (not by the Scottish Office) in consultation with Scottish Malt Distillers Limited and the Nature Conservancy Council.Scottish Malt Distillers Limited have now responded to a request from the Scottish Development Department for comments on the apparent breach of the conditions, and the department is awaiting comments on this response from Argyll and Bute District Council, the Nature Conservancy Council and the Greenland White-Fronted Goose Study.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they can confirm that neither the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds nor the Greenland White-Fronted Goose Study were invited to the site meeting on 4th October with Dr. Kramer from the European Commission at Duich Moss on Islay; whether the Nature Conservancy Council were invited; and whether they will list the people, and organisations they represented, that were present at the meeting.

Dr. Kramer made an informal visit to Duich Moss on 4th October to assist the European Commission in its consideration of complaints which have been lodged with the Commission. I have no direct information about the parties invited to be present since the arrangements for informing interested organisations that the visit was to take place were made by the commission. I understand, however, that representatives of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and of the Greenland White-Fronted Goose Study were present. In response to a request from the Commission, two officials of the Scottish Development Department accompanied Dr. Kramer on the visit, and that department made arrangements, at the Commission's request, for representatives of Scottish Malt Distillers Limited to be present to demonstrate the operations which the company have undertaken and propose to undertake. Representatives of the owners of Duich Moss—Laggan Estates Limited—were also in attendance.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will raise the issue of book piracy at the United Nations at an early opportunity.

The Government will participate fully ir the work of the specialised agencies of the United Nations which administer the international copyright conventions, particularly the World Intellectual Property Organisation. We will also pursue other available opportunites to combat international copyright piracy.

asked Her Majesty's Govermment:What assessment they have made of the effects o the restrictions on DHSS payments to single unemployed young people living in hotels o boarding houses, to elderly and disabled people in residential accommodation, and to refugees; and; what steps are being taken to ensure that no displacements or hardships have resulted for those in need.

The analysis of statistical returns on boarders from DHSS local offices is not yet complete These returns were among the arrangements made by the department to monitor the effects of the changes in supplementary benefit board and lodging payment which were introduced in April. In addition, special surveys of younger boarders have been carried out in Scotland and the South-East, local DHSS staff from all regions were asked during September about their experience of the operation of the regulations, and; study by the Social Security Policy Inspectorate is in progress. Other monitoring information from local offices and from voluntary organisations, including the British Refugee Council, is also being studied.Full information on the results of monitoring will be made available as soon as possible. Preliminary information is as follows. Between April and July 1985, 126,000 supplementary benefit claims were made by boarders in ordinary board and lodging. Hal these claimants were 25 or under. In addition, 6,000 people aged 25 or under were living in hostels and claiming as boarders. Overall, 28 per cent. of those aged 16–25 were exempt from the application of time limits on benefit at the boarder rate. Half the ordinary boarders aged 25 or under were paying amount; within the new financial limits.Indications from DHSS local offices are that apart from resort areas, where people apparently returned home, most of those affected by time limits stayed in the same area and received benefit at the householder or non-householder rate. Local offices also report in general a continuing supply of accommodation within the new financial limits—in some cases at reduced prices.A survey of 2,350 claimants under 26 in the South-East showed 20 per cent. were exempt from time limits. A further 35 per cent. remained in the same accommodation, mainly at the non-householder rate of benefit. Fifteen per cent. moved to other accommodation (less than 2 per cent. of these as boarders).Twenty-five per cent. ceased to claim supplementary benefit altogether (some of then because their entitlement to unemployment benefit exceeded their entitlement to supplementary benefit). A smaller Scottish survey showed a roughly comparable picture and there are similar indications from other areas. Monitoring results so far do not appear to substantiate suggestions of significant movement between board and lodging areas or of increased homelessness.We are also continuing to monitor closely the operation of the regulations in respect of residential care and nursing homes, and have already announced our. intention to raise the residential care home limits by £ 10 a week and the nursing home limits by £31 40 a week from this November.We have commissioned a study by a firm of management consultants, Ernst and Whinney, under the following terms of reference:

asked Her Majesty's Government:What assistance is given by the Department of Health and Social Security to unemployed people threatened with losing their homes because of mortgage default.

There are special arrangements to help borrowers who are in receipt of supplementary benefit and who are finding it difficult to pay their mortgage interest. An amount is allowed for mortgage interest in the calculation of supplementary benefit for claimants responsible for paying mortgages. Building societies are normally willing to accept payment of interest only from claimants. But if a claimant falls into arrears with mortgage payments the sum allowed for mortgage interest in his benefit and £1·45 towards the arrears may be deducted and paid on his behalf to the mortgagee if:the claimant is in arrears because, in the opinion of the adjudication officer, he has failed to budget, andhe was not paid two of the mortgage payments due in the preceding twelve weeks, andin the opinion of the adjudication officer, it is in the claimant's interests to institute direct payment.The adjudication officer may also institute direct payment even if these criteria are not satisfied if in his opinion it is in the overriding interests of the claimant or his family to do so.

asked Her Majesty's Government:(1) What information they have as to how many people do not receive a proportionate pension for service on retirement, due to a change of employment during their career; and list changes for the years 1979–85; (2) What information they have as to the percentage of the pensionable population who do not receive a proportionate pension for service on retirement owing to a change in employment during their career and list changes for the years 1979–81.

In his 1979 Survey of Occupational Pensions Schemes the Government Actuary estimated an annual turnover of some 1 million scheme members, which is equivalent to about 10 per cent.The effect on eventual pension of people who change employment depends on the rules of the individual pension scheme. However, we accept that people who change jobs often lose in terms of their pension. That is why we have taken steps in the Social Security Act 1985 to require schemes to revalue preserved pensions for future early leavers in line with prices up to 5 per cent. a year compound. We are also giving future early leavers the right to take a transfer if they prefer that to a preserved pension.Details of the number of people concerned are not available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What effect the recent ruling that "the act of walking only constitutes the ability to put one foot in front of another" has had on the claims for mobility allowance from deaf-blind people.

As with all mobility allowance claimants, a deaf-blind person can qualify if he is unable to walk, or virtually unable to walk having regard to the distance he can walk and the speed, length of time and manner in which he can make progress without severe discomfort. The recent House of Lords judgment has confirmed that satisfaction of these criteria is related to the ability to perform the physical act of walking rather than the ability to make purposeful use of that ability, but its application in individual cases is a matter for the independent adjudicating authorities.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What decision they have reached about the future of the state earnings related pension scheme.

The Government's conclusions about the future of the state earnings related pension scheme will be announced in the proposed White Paper.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, in view of the now proven danger of the transmission of the AIDS and Hepatitis B viruses by injections, they will permit the prescription of disposable needles and syringes for diabetic patients on forms FPC 10.

If it is clinically necessary for a particular patient to use disposable (single-use) syringes and needles they may be supplied on the National Health Service through the hospital service. The re-usable syringes and needles which general practitioners may prescribe meet the medical needs of most diabetics. There should be no risk of cross-infection as each has a personal set of hypodermic equipment.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What advice or guidance is being given to local education authorities until such time as the Government introduces a new Education (Corporal Punishment) Bill.

The Government do not feel that guidance to local education authorities on the matter of corporal punishment is necessary at present. Discipline in a school is primarily a matter for head teachers and governing bodies, subject to the provisions of the school's articles of government.

of Rednal asked Her Majesty's Government:When they expect the consultative document on the national plan for education of deaf-blind children to be available.

Her Majesty's Government are not at present engaged in preparing a national plan on this topic. The Department of Education and Science has initiated consultations with interested bodies with a view to producing a discussion document on the problems involved in this difficult field, the provision at present available, and the ways in which, subject to the views of the local authorities and providing bodies, such provision might be developed. It is hoped that a discussion document will be ready in the new year.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What percentage of the projected number of students entering further education for 1984–85 and 1985–86 were women.

I shall write to the noble Lord.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many retirement pensioners are currently receiving television licence concessions in the United Kingdom and for the last five years.

On 31st August 1985 about 615,000 persons in the United Kingdom benefited from the residential care concessionary television licence. While the great majority are retirement pensioners, a small proportion are physically disabled or mentally disordered persons, to whom the concessionary scheme was in certain circumstances extended in September 1984; but it is not possible from available records to identify the respective groups. The approximate number of persons who benefited from the old person's home licence, as the concessionary licence was then known, on 31 st August in the five previous years is as follows:

1980	437,000
1981	469,000
1982	493,000
1983	537,000
1984	568,000