asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he can quote the prison rule under which officers at Perth prison village had to remove from houses marked for demolition without incurring expense to the State owing to removals made for the convenience of the prisons department; and will he ascertain whether an outside contractor was employed by any of the officers concerned?

The rules now governing payment of removal expenses are set out in the Civil Service Removal Expenses Report, which was applied to the Scottish Prisons Service as from 6th September, 1934. Prior to that date, when the Perth removals took place, the matter was governed by special departmental rules. In neither case is payment provided for in respect of changes of quarters at the same prison, such as occurred at Perth, removal expenses being payable only in event of transfer from one prison to another. In the circumstances it does not appear that any useful purpose would be served by inquiry as suggested in the last part of the question; but I am prepared to consider any representations which may be submitted to me through the usual channels. I may add that the demolition of quarters occasioning the Perth removals was undertaken in order that improved quarters might be provided.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he is aware that a dormitory building in the criminal lunatic department, Perth, approximately 70 yards long, has only one wooden staircase at the south end; what provision is made for the inmates to escape if this staircase caught fire; and whether the authorities are satisfied that an emergency window at the other end, approximately 15 feet above the ground to which an ordinary ladder can be placed, is an efficient means of safeguarding men certified insane?

The reply to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. If the staircase were destroyed by fire before all the inmates on the second floor had descended to the ground floor, escape from the second floor would take place by means of ladders placed at two windows, one at each end of the building and readily accessible. All officers are instructed in the use of fire appliances and in the action to be taken in the event of fire, and officers on duty in the dormitory have telephonic facilities for summoning immediate assistance from any part of the prison. I am satisfied that these arrangements would not prove ineffective if a fire occurred. If, however, the Criminal Lunatics (Scotland) Bill, which has already had a Second Reading in another place, becomes law this session, immediate steps will be taken to proceed with the erection of the new asylum at Carstairs which will supersede the obsolete building at Perth.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that, under the present regulations governing benefit for persons insured under the National Health Insurance Acts, no facilities are provided enabling medical practitioners having the care of such patients to apply laboratory procedures, either in the diagnosis of disease for the direction of treatment along the most effective lines, or in making the best possible use of many modern advances in medical knowledge; and whether he will make provision for such a laboratory service at an early date?

I am, of course, aware that diagnostic facilities of the kind referred to are not provided for insured persons as part of medical benefit under the National Health Insurance Acts. Such facilities are, however, widely available through the agency of hospitals and other institutions, and I cannot hold out any immediate prospect of the extension of the scope of medical benefit in this direction.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can make any statement regarding the progress of the committee on the education and training of students from overseas?

The committee, under the chairmanship of my hon. Friend the Member for North Bradford (Sir E. Ramsden) have made the following main recommendations:

(a) That His Majesty's Government should encourage the flow and placing of carefully selected students from overseas, and that reciprocal relations with overseas countries should be established wherever possible in regard to the education and training of such students;

(b) that, these functions should be jointly discharged for the time being by the Department of Overseas Trade and the Board of Education, and that in carrying out this work they should cooperate with organisations which already exist for these purposes;

(c) that a committee representative of both industry and education should be set up to assist and advise the two Departments in carrying out these functions.

Since the Committee completed their investigations, His Majesty's Government have decided that the principal Departments interested in these and similar, activities concerned with educational and cultural relations with other countries should be represented on the governing body of the newly formed British Council for Relations with other Countries and that Parliament should be asked to make a grant to the council of £6,000 for the financial year 1935–36. It is proposed, that the measures outlined above recommended by the committee should form an integral part of the activities of the British Council for Relations with Other Countries, and a Standing Committee on Students will be constituted under the council. My hon. Friend the Member for North Bradford has, as one of the governing body of the British Council, undertaken the chairmanship of this standing committee. The Board of Education will assist the council in the work of placing students from overseas in educational institutions, and an officer of the Department of Overseas Trade, who was joint secretary to the committee on the Education and Training of Students from Overseas, is to be transferred on loan to the council for a period of two years.

asked the Home Secretary how much it is costing per week for the Scotland Yard authorities to hire cars for the purpose of trapping motorists; and whether it would be cheaper to buy cars instead of hiring them?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Clitheroe (Sir W. Brass) on the 18th instant. The question of buying as against hiring is being carefully watched, but the comparative advantages cannot at present be finally determined.