asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he proposes to bring into operation the provisions of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act, 1949, so far as they relate to criminal proceedings.

These provisions have been reviewed by a Committee, under the chairmanship of Lord Guthrie, which considered whether they should be varied in the light of experience of civil legal aid and any other relevant circum- stances. I am considering the Committee's Report but regret that I am not yet ready to make a statement.

Is the Secretary of State aware that this reply is very disappointing? Is he not aware that legal aid for criminal proceedings has been in operation in England and Wales since March, 1960, and that the Guthrie Report was published in May, 1960? Surely this has taken a long time. Does not the right hon. Gentleman think that Scotland deserves better than this?

The English position is very different. I will write to the hon. Member to explain the detail, which is rather complicated.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make further provision to recompense agents for poor people in criminal proceedings in view of the threatened breakdown of the present service.

I am considering the whole question of legal aid in criminal proceedings, including the payments made to agents who appear in court, in the light of the Report of the Guthrie Committee.

But is not the Secretary of State aware that this was an interim payment which was arranged until such time as the payment under legal aid in criminal proceedings was arranged? Is he not aware that this present amount is totally inadequate, and could he not arrange for some extension of this payment until such time as he has made up his mind and brought in proper procedure for Scotland?

I will certainly bear in mind what the hon. Member has said.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland to what extent his Department uses the facilities afforded by the Central Office of Information to publicise the potentialities for industrial development in Scotland.

My Department continues to utilise fully the Central Office of Information publicity services for this purpose.

Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether there has been any increase in expenditure in this field consequent upon the inauguration of the Common Market? Is he not aware that there are firms which normally would be expected to come to Scotland but which are increasingly turning their eyes to Common Market countries, and that increased publicity might do something, anyway, to reverse this trend?

I could not give a categorical answer to the various points raised, but I would recall to the hon. Member an Answer which I gave him last year which explained fully the efforts made to circulate information from my office.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what further progress has been made in the purification of the River Esk, Midlothian.

Nearly all the sewage works in the Esk Valley have now been modernised or connected to the regional sewer. Pollution of the river by industrial effluent is still serious, but the Lothians River Purification Board has secured the co-operation of the firms concerned and assures me that all are now actively engaged on improvement measures.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that I have been getting similar Answers for the last two or three years and that the river is still in as bad a condition as ever? It smells and it is dirty. Is it not time that something much more effective was done and that the people could see that it had been done?

I am informed that real progress is being made in sewerage. Industrial effluent still causes trouble, but, as the hon. Member knows, this is no easy matter. There is real co-operation to try to achieve improvement.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will state for each of the major road projects completed since 1st January, 1951, the length of roadway, the total cost of construction, and the cost of acquiring land.

I will, with permission, circulate the information, which covers schemes costing over £100,000, in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Will the right hon. Gentleman indicate the percentage increase in expenditure since 1951, taking into consideration the fall in the value of the pound?

That is another question. If the hon. Member puts it down, I will answer it.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will take steps to debar vehicles from using narrow roads where the breadth of the vehicle, or its load, protrudes over the mid-road white line.

No, Sir. I think that the matter is dealt with adequately by the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations which govern the width of vehicles and the loads they may carry; and by the powers available to highway authorities under the Road Traffic Act to make traffic regulation orders.

Is the Secretary of State aware of the great increase in propaganda to get tourists to the Highlands during the summer months? Is he aware that there is a great danger on a narrow road with blind corners when vehicles which use it protrude over the centre white line? A motorist who feels that he is travelling perfectly safely on his own side of the road is liable suddenly to be confronted with a vehicle that cannot move over. The right hon. Gentleman already has Regulations governing the height and weight of the vehicles on these roads. Surely, he should take similar powers concerning width.

I realise the danger which the hon. Member has pointed out, but the use of certain lengths of road of the kind he has in mind, in the North-West in particular, has by order been restricted to vehicles not exceeding 7 ft. 6 in. in width.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether, in view of the present high level of unemployment in the City of Dundee he will advance the starting date for building operations on the Tay Road Bridge.

The starting date in 1963, which the local authorities concerned have agreed with me should be aimed at, has taken many factors into account, such as the time necessary for them to take powers to build the bridge; the time required to prepare the engineering plans; and the competing claims of other road projects on our funds. I doubt whether it would be practicable to advance it.

Is the Secretary of State aware that that date was agreed as the latest possible date? Has his attention been drawn to the representations of the Lord Provost to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour? Is the Secretary of State aware that I understand that the only reason why the bridge cannot be begun in the summer of next year is the Government's unwillingness to authorise it and to give the necessary financial approval?

I am not prepared to add to my original reply. I have noted what the hon. Member has said, but I also hope that he will consider what I have said.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what reply he has made to the request of Glasgow Corporation that revaluation of heritable subjects should be delayed for one year, or alternatively that the date for disposing of appeals should be extended.

I explained to the Corporation that postponement of the effective date of revaluation would require legislation and would present insuperable problems. I informed them at the same time that I was watching the position and that if it appeared, when more evidence was available, that there was a case for postponing the last date for disposal of appeals, I would do so.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Minister of State, speaking on his behalf and dealing with the impact of derating and revaluation on shipbuilding, promised legislation to deal with that problem? Had the Minister of State any authority to do that, or was he merely deceiving the shipbuilders and the people of Scotland?

The hon. Member has raised a whole lot of matters which do not arise out of his original Question.

My Question deals with revaluation, and that is the topic to which the Minister of State addressed himself in Scotland last week on behalf of the Secretary of State, who now repudiates it.

The hon. Member must address himself to his own Question and to my Answer to it.

On a point of order. In what way, Mr. Speaker does my supplementary question not derive from the Question which appears on the Order Paper? Is it out of order?

I did not so rule.

May I therefore, Mr. Speaker, proceed to press the Secretary of State with my supplementary question—[HON. MEMBERS: "No."]—and ask him for an answer to it?

No, I am afraid not. I have no power to compel Ministers to answer.

Then I am right. The Secretary of State repudiates the Minister of State.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the new course for all-purpose social workers to be instituted at the Scottish College of Commerce in Glasgow.

This full-time two-year course will start in October with an enrolment of about fifteen students. Further information about the course is given in my Health Department's Circular No. 30/61 issued on 22nd March, 1961, of which I am sending the hon. Lady a copy.

Will the Secretary of State tell us how many staff have been recruited, what are their salary scales and how they compare with the scales for similar courses to be instituted in England and Wales? What consultation has there been with organisations of professional social workers in Scotland in the inauguration of this course?

I should be very pleased if I were able to answer all those questions without warning. I will send the information to the hon. Lady.

Can the Secretary of State tell us why this college was chosen rather than a university, where there would have been a much better chance of these people getting the training that is considered so important?

A study group, which was representative of the various interests concerned and was appointed to consider and advise upon the implementation in Scotland of the recommendations contained in the 1959 Young-husband Report on Social Workers, agreed that the college was the most appropriate Scottish centre for this type of training course.

Since the content of the course will be dictated by the kind of staff who are recruited to administer it, why cannot the right hon. Gentleman, since he is giving a statement concerning the course, give details of the staff and their salaries?

Because one answers the Question on the Order Paper to the best of one's ability. One cannot guess in advance all the supplementary questions that could possibly be put.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many cars have now been distributed to disabled war pensioners in Scotland as a result of the extension of the scheme last year.

Ninety-two.

In view of the progress that is being made with this scheme, will the Secretary of State consult the appropriate English Minister to make arrangements for its extension to industrial workers?

The hon. Member will realise that this matter was fully debated on 30th June last. I have nothing to add to what was said on that occasion by the then Minister of Health.

Is the Secretary of State not aware that 30th June is very near again and that there is strong feeling in Scotland that this scheme should be extended to the industrially disabled? I ask the right hon. Gentleman to have in mind particularly the paraplegic miner.

I have noted carefully what has been said.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland why a constituent of the hon. Member for Lanarkshire, North had to wait four months for the replacement of a surgical boot, details of which case have been sent to him by the hon. Member.

I have explained to the hon. Lady in correspondence the reasons why a delay of this order is unfortunately unavoidable at present in non-urgent cases but that the hospital authorities are doing what they can to reduce waiting time.

Is the Secretary of State aware that the reply which he gave me by letter was not at all satisfactory? Can he tell the House what is considered urgent and not urgent in these matters? Is he aware that my constituent needed this surgical boot to enable him to carry out his work? Does not the right hon. Gentleman agree that to have to wait four months for a surgical boot is a disgrace?

I have great sympathy with the hon. Lady's feelings about this matter and I have been following it up to see what improvements can be made.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the guaranteed price for fat cattle is calculated on a live-weight or dead-weight; what is the conversion factor applied in equating live-weight with dead-weight; and what is the average percentage of dead-weight to live-weight.

Guarantee payments are determined on the basis of live-weight prices. The conversion factor is 1d. per lb. for every 5s. per cwt. of the live-weight guarantee payment. The average percentage of dead-weight to live-weight is estimated to be about 56 per cent.

Since the conversion factor represents the killing-out percentage considerably less than the national average, can my right hon. Friend estimate the amount of public money which is being poured out unintentionally to those whose cattle are graded after slaughter, and what steps he is prepared to take to remedy this anomaly?

I should inform my hon. Friend that this matter has never been raised formally by any of the representative bodies on the Joint Advisory Panel set up by Ministers to advise them on the working of the fatstock guarantee scheme. I have noted what my hon. Friend has said, but I cannot add to my reply.

In view of the unsatisfactory situation revealed by the Answer, I propose to take an early opportunity of raising this matter on the Adjournment.