asked the President of the Board of Education whether any negotiations or consultations are proceeding between his Department and the public schools, concerning making these schools more accessible to the public?

No, Sir.

asked the President of the Board of Education what decision has been reached about the provision of air-raid shelter for the elementary schools of Worthing?

The Worthing local education authority have under consideration the provision of shelter accommodation at the public elementary schools, but no definite decision has yet been reached. The hon. Member, however, will be aware that the delay in reaching a decision has not affected the opening of the schools.

Will the right hon. Gentleman, in view of the long delay that has taken place, urge the authorities to come to a constructive decision in this matter?

There is no educational problem involved. The matter is one for the discretion of the local education authority in consultation with the local A.R.P. authority.

Would it not help if the dispute between the education authorities and the Home Office was resolved?

That is a hypothetical question.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what is the amount of tax remission on gifts to charities that can be obtained by a person with a charity trust who himself pays Surtax on the highest scale;

(2) whether he will state the amount of tax remission on gifts to charities that can be obtained by a person with a charity trust who does not pay Surtax?

I assume the hon. Member has in mind a case where a person undertakes by deed to make an annual payment to charitable trustees for a period exceeding six years. Under the general provisions of the Income Tax Acts, such an annual payment is admissible as a deduction in computing the payer's total income. It is upon the income as so computed that Surtax, if he is liable to Surtax, is chargeable. If the total income is of such an amount that part of the income falls within the highest scale of Surtax, the rate chargeable on that part is 9s. 6d. in the £. So far as Income Tax is concerned, the person making the payment, whether or not he is liable to Surtax, can deduct Income Tax at the time of making the payment, but in so doing he is merely passing on to the recipient of the payment the tax which he himself has already borne by deduction or direct assessment.

Is it not a fact that many of these people in the higher scale are being subsidised to the extent of 17s. 6d. in the £ at the present time and that to induce them to give £1 you are giving them 17s. 6d.?

The position of the law is as I have stated, and I am sure the hon. Gentleman follows it. If you add together the Surtax charge and the full standard rate it is a fact that persons of great wealth are burdened with a tax of 17s. in the £.

Am I not right in assuming that when people in this scale give donations to charities, under trust deeds, they are entitled to receive back 17s. 6d. from every £1 they give, and that the State does, in fact, subsidise them to that extent?

I do not think it can be called subsidising, but it is the fact that with regard to endowments entered into for over six years in the case of persons with larger incomes, they are making a contribution to public funds so much larger than that made by persons in the lower income ranges that the endowments have a correspondingly greater effect on the Revenue.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the total amount of civil, judicial and hereditary pensions for the years 1936 and 1939, respectively?

As the answer contains a number of figures, I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the Official Report.

In view of the task undertaken by this country and the sacrifices now being made by other sections of the community, do the Government contemplate early legislation to try and effect some saving in this respect, particularly in regard to pensions over £1,000?

I can only read the answer which I gave to the hon. Member on a former occasion; that is, that we must have regard to what has been enacted by Acts of Parliament.

Surely at a time when all sections of the community are being asked to make sacrifices the Government should take steps to deal with this particular section of the community?

Has not the House of Commons passed Acts of Parliament to reduce allowances to the unemployed?

asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department how many commercial attachés there are in the Central American countries

There are no commercial diplomatic officers in Central America, but in each of the capital cities of the six Central American Republics there are career Consular officers who are charged with the furtherance of our trade interests. My Department is fully alive to the importance of developing United Kingdom exports to these countries, and consideration is now being given to the appointment of a commercial secretary at Panama, or some other suitable centre, for the purpose of co-ordinating the commercial work of the Consular officers in Central America.