asked the Minister of Labour the weekly amount by which the expenditure of the Unemployment Insurance Fund exceeds the income?

Any deficiency of the Unemployment Fund on insurance account is now met by a grant from the Exchequer. For the current financial year to 18th June, 1932, the deficiency grant payable by the Exchequer is approximately £980,000, or between £80,000 and £90,000 per week.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of unemployed

asked the Minister of Labour to state, for the period 1919 to 1931, the aggregate national expenditure upon unemployment, including unemployment benefits, Poor Law relief, &c, not inlcuding any expenditure upon public works?

During the 13 financial years from 1919–20 to 1931–32, inclusive, the aggregate expenditure of the Unemployment Fund (including benefit, administration, interest, etc.), amounted to £702,822,000. Payments of out-of-work donation during the five years from 1919–20 to 1923–24 totalled £49,193,000. Poor Law relief in money or kind to able-bodied persons and their dependants during the 12 years from 1920–21 to 1931–32, inclusive, amounted to £89,141,000; figures for this service for the year 1919–20 are not available.

asked the Minister of Pensions how many of the 20,000 ex-service men who received medical or hospital treatment during 1931 are in receipt of pensions, and of those who have no pensions Low many received treatment allowances?

The following table gives the information desired:

The records of the Ministry do not enable these particulars to be given.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office what the estimated saving by the reduction in the special campaign pensions is for the present financial year?

As the reduced rates apply only to awards made after 1st October last, the saving during the current financial year is not likely to amount to more than from five to ten thousand pounds.

asked the Minister of Health the number of cases brought to his notice in which pension rights have been lost owing to the failure of employers to stamp the cards; and whether he can state the number of prosecutions which have been instituted in connection with such failures?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply on this subject given on 21st April to the hon. Member for Romford (Mr. Hutchison), of which I am sending him a copy.

asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been called to the recent report of the Cheshire county analyst with regard to the low butter-fat content of imported cream; and if he can state whether, in view of the number of reports which have been made by local authorities with regard to this matter, he will consider obtaining at an early date power to make regulations for the marking of all such cream with its butter-fat content?

I am aware of the report referred to, but I am afraid that I cannot at present consider the introduction of legislation on this subject.

asked the Minister of Health in respect of Wolverhampton and Staffordshire, the number of persons in receipt of relief from public assistance committees in December and up to the last available date?

The numbers of persons (men, women and children) in receipt of poor relief (excluding rate-aided patients in mental hospitals, casuals and persons in receipt of domiciliary medical relief only) in the Geographical County of Staffordshire (including the County Boroughs of Burton-upon-Trent, Smethwick, Stoke-on-Trent, Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton) on Saturday, 26th December, 1931, and on Saturday, 11th June, 1932, were 31,556 and 35,063, respectively. The corresponding figures for the County Borough of Wolverhampton (included above) were 2,512 and 2,584.

asked the Minister of Health the total expenditure on all forms of Poor Law relief for the six months ended 31st May, 1931, and the six months ended 31st May, 1932?

The accounts of Poor Law authorities in England and Wales are made up for financial years ending on the 31st March, and the information asked for by the hon. Member is not available.

asked the Home Secretary the number of motor accidents in the last four months to the most convenient date involving death or injury; in how many cases motor coaches or chars-a-bancs were involved; and in how many cases motor cycles with or without side-cars?

The latest figures available are those contained in Table II of the Annual Return for 1931, which was presented to Parliament on the 27th May (Parliamentary Paper No. 79). To obtain figures for any part of the current year would involve a special return for which I do not feel justified in asking.

asked the Home Secretary the nature of, and the reasons for, the instructions modifying the previous practice issued by the Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police with respect to allowing, or refusing to allow, parties interested in street accidents, or their authorised legal representatives, to have access to the information collected by the police of such accidents?

There has been little change in the conditions under which abstracts of police reports, are furnished, except that, under the present practice, copies of any statements made to the police by witnesses are no longer supplied except to the persons who made them or their authorised representatives, and there has been an increase in the fees payable. The reasons for these changes were explained by my right hon. Friend in reply to questions on the 8th and 9th instant by the hon. Member for the West-houghton Division and the hon. Member for Leicester East.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the numbers of civil servants employed in or by Somerset House in 1913 to 1919, 1928 and 1931; and the total cost to the taxpayer in each case?

I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to the Department of Inland Revenue.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the number of gallons of foreign cider imported during the first fortnight of June, 1932, and June, 1931, and the amount of duty paid on this cider?

The Trade Accounts are kept on a monthly basis, and I regret that information for broken periods is therefore not available.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what would be the approximate annual loss to the Treasury on the basis of the revenue from Income Tax for 1931 if married women were treated on the same basis as single women for Income Tax purposes and husbands did not have to add the income of their wives to their own for such purposes?

The extent of the loss to the Exchequer would depend upon the amount of redistribution of income that might take place and cannot therefore be fully measured on the basis of existing incomes. In certain circumstances the loss might be as much as £30,000,000.