§ Mr. Paul Deanasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many applications have been made for 714 certificates; and how many applications have been refused at the latest date for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 25th July 1978], gave the following information
I presume that the hon. Member is referring to applications under the provisions of the 1975 Act.
At 8th June 1978, approximately 426,000 applications had been received. This includes 33,000 renewal applications, virtually all of which had been approved. Of the 393,000 original applications, 328,000 had been approved and 38,000 refused. The remaining 27,000 included some 22,000 which had not been pursued, and the balance had only recently been 879W received or were awaiting action by the applicants to put their affairs in order.