asked Her Majesty's Government:When the establishment of the joint Metropolitan Police and City of London Fraud Squad was last reviewed; and what was its strength and the grade of officers in the squad on 1st November 1978, 1st November 1982, and 1st November 1985.

The total strength of the squad at the end of October for each of the years in question was as follows:

• October 1978–202
• October 1982–211
• October 1985–190

These figures are for officers engaged solely on company fraud work. They do not include the Cheque Fraud Unit of the City of London Police, nor Metropolitan police officers engaged on similar work. The Commissioner of Police for the City of London and the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis consider that to give a breakdown of the squad by rank might impair its operational effectiveness.My right honourable friend has set in hand urgent work to consider where there are specific needs for a further increase in establishment of the Metropolitan Police. The requirements of the Fraud Squad are being considered as part of this process.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are aware that lower road speed limits than those applicable in the United Kingdom are more rigidly enforced in other countries than the higher limits appear to be in this country.

Reliable international comparisons of the strength of enforcement action are difficult to make. In the United Kingdom the effort devoted to the enforcement of a particular law and the kind of enforcement action that is taken are matters for individual chief officers of police to determine in the light of other police commitments.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress has been made towards a settlement in Cyprus in accordance with the policies of the United Nations.

I refer the noble Baroness to the reply given by my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to my honourable friend the Member for Glandford and Scunthorpe in another place on 16th December.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the terms of reference for the forthcoming review of the machinery for regulating anti-competitive practices announced by the Minister of State on 2nd December 1985 (Col. 1060).

The Government regularly examine the effectiveness of their policies. As part of this ongoing scrutiny, my right honourable and learned friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry will next year commence a review of competition policy. Decisions on the precise scope of the review have not yet been made.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many monopoly references and how many other merger references have been made to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission under relevant provisions of the Fair Trading Act 1973 for each of the years 1980 to 1984 and in 1985 to date; andHow many anti-competitive practices references and how many competition references have been made to date to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission under relevant sections of the Competition Act 1980.

The information requested is as follows:

References to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission 1980/85
Fair Trading Act 1973	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985 to 12/12
Monopoly references	2	2	1	2	4	1
Merger references	5	8	9	8	5	5
Newspaper merger references	1	3	1	—	—	2
Competition Act 1980
Anti-competitive practices	—	2	1	—	1	1
Section 11	3	1	5	3	3	5

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the EC Commission's proposal to charge a co-responsibility levy to each farmer on that part of his production of cereals which is marketed or sent to intervention is likely either to reduce the cost to the budget of cereals or bring home to farmers the real situation on the market.

Discussion of the Commission's ideas for a co-responsibility levy on sales of cereals has only just begun, and the Commission has yet to produce detailed formal proposals. It is not possible, therefore, to assess accurately the effects of such a levy.

asked Her Majesty's Government:At what percentage of full capacity cheese factories, creameries and other milk processors in England and Wales are now operating.

My department does not require companies in the dairy sector to provide details of their current use of operating capacity. The information requested cannot therefore be supplied.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether any cheese factories, creameries and other milk processors have had to lay off workers or work a short week because of insufficient milk supplies resulting from milk quotas and leading to increased imports of milk products, and if so, what remedial action is being taken.

The availability of milk for particular manufacturing outlets is affected by a number of factors, and it is not possible to identify separately any effect quotas may have had on supplies to individual plants. The allocation of milk supplies is a matter for the Milk Marketing Boards in consultation with buyers of milk.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What arrangements are being made for the payment for heating allowances during the present winter, particularly in the event of severe weather conditions.

Our main help with fuel costs for the less well off is through the weekly rates of supplementary benefit. In addition there is an extensive range of weekly payments, known as heating additions, to give extra help to claimants whose circumstances may be expected to give rise to a need for extra expenditure on heating. For example, following the up-rating last month, supplementary pensioner householders over 65 qualify for a heating addition of at least £2.20 a week, and supplementary pensioner householders over 85 a heating addition of at least £5.45 a week. Under our plans for reform of social security outlined in the White Paper which we have just published, we intend that expenditure on heating additions should be included in the resources available for the proposed income support scheme, and the pattern of heating additions will be taken into account in setting the income support premiums for pensioners and other groups.Alongside these major provisions, the supplementary benefit regulations also provide for single payments to claimants who experience extra fuel costs arising from exceptionally severe weather. On 6th December the Chief Adjudication Officer issued guidance to adjudication officers on the operation of the regulation following a recent ruling by the Social Security Commissioners. We are continuing to consider the provision very carefully in the light of the commissioners' decision and the Chief Adjudication Officer's guidance. A copy of the guidance is in the Library.