asked the Minister of Labour how many State certified midwives have been drafted into the Forces or directed to industry and are not now practising the work for which they have been specially trained.

No State certified midwives have been withdrawn from the practice of their profession and drafted compulsorily into the Services, or directed into industry. On the contrary, special steps have been taken, including the release of women with midwifery qualifications and experience from industrial nursing, to ensure that such women do, so far as practicable, make use of their special qualifications. In this connection I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given him by my right hon. Friend, the Minister of Health on 14th December.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is a very grave shortage of midwives in the North of England and that at least one maternity nursing home is likely to close down unless it can find the necessary staff?

I am well aware that there is a great shortage of nurses throughout the whole country, but I would ask my hon. Friend to appreciate that I cannot make good, in a war, the neglect of this profession for years before the war.

asked the Minister of Town and Country Planning, having regard to the interests of the public generally, and the Scott Report in particular, whether he is satisfied that there are sufficient specialists qualified by training and experience, to ensure that the subject of landscape treatment in the large number of development schemes now being formulated will be given proper consideration and that the work will be carried out under the best possible advice; and, if not, what steps he is prepared to take in order to assist trainees in the profession of landscape architecture.

I recognise the value of expert landscape treatment in a variety of redevelopment and planning problems; and I shall do what I can to see that the best use is made of the knowledge and experience available. There is, however, at present a shortage of specialists in this subject, and the shortage is not likely to he made good until some time after the end of the war. I shall give every encouragement to the professional institutes concerned to arrange suitable courses of training.

Whilst thanking my right hon. Friend for his reply, may I ask if he is aware that there are no less than eight schools of landscape architecture in the United States and that landscape architecture plays a great part in all development schemes over there; and will he, therefore, try to get all the interested. bodies together, with the object of getting at least one Chair established at the earliest possible moment, in a British university?

I am aware of the position in America as compared with this country, and I shall carefully consider the suggestion of my hon. Friend.

asked the Minister of Pensions if there are any special rehabilitation centres in this country for the deaf and hard of hearing, similar to those known as Army Rehabilitation Centres for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the U.S.A.; whether there is any clinic, other than that at Manchester University, in which standardised tests are made of the capacity of ex-Service or civil deafened patients to benefit from different types of aids to hearing; and whether classes in lip-reading have been organised for deaf ex-Service personnel as they were in 1919.

I am making inquiries as to the scope of the work done at the centres referred to. As regards the second part of the Question standardised tests are conducted by aural specialists at each of my regional offices to determine the most suitable type of aid to hearing appliance for ex-Service and civil deafened pensioners. In addition to the one at Manchester University, there are also special clinics at certain of the London hospitals, which are consulted in individual cases of difficulty. The reply to the last part of the Question is as indicated in the answer to a similar question by my hon. Friend on 2nd November.

asked the Minister of Pensions if he will give particulars showing how many applications he has received for pensions from parents of Servicemen who have died on Service; how many such pensions have been granted; and what is the highest and lowest amount of pension awarded.

Up to the end of last year rather more than 58,000 such applications had been received. Pension has been granted in some 25,000 cases and in addition title to pension has been admitted in 28,50o cases although no award of pension has been made because the parents were not in need at the time of application. In these latter cases the parents have been informed that their applications may be renewed if their circumstances should worsen materially at a later date. The minimum rate awarded is 5s. a week and the maximum is 30s. a week for other ranks and £120 a year for officers.

Would my right hon. Friend publish a statement indicating the principles and scales upon which he decides the award of these pensions? Does he realise that we are continually being asked by our constituents why they are refused a pension, or on what scale it is, and we cannot reply?

I have already published that. In answer to a Question by the hon. Member for Deritend (Sir Smedley Crooke) in the latter part of last year, I published in the OFFICIAL REPORT a full statement, but I will repeat that if it is thought necessary.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the 28,50o cases which he said just now are to be considered for entitlement—

Have been considered.

—and are going to be granted entitlement should they require it in the future, are cases which ought to be getting it now, except for the fact that the basis of computing need is far too low?

I have said repeatedly in this House that I am quite prepared to hear arguments about the basis of need and to deal with them if it is shown to me that we are not dealing as generously as we might, but I have asked repeatedly for hon. Members to send me cases of hardship so that I can investigate. Not one has reached me, and I maintain that my scale is a correct one at the moment.

Will my right hon. Friend indicate whether in the reply which has already been published there is anything that will guide those who have been granted entitlement to pension as to when they are to apply?

The whole statement gives the details, and surely that will be an indication of when they can apply. The scale is set out as to how we arrive at need.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is, throughout the country, growing dissatisfaction at the attitude of his Ministry towards the subject of pensions, and would he not reconsider the decision already arrived at in order that these people may be given some satisfaction?

No, Sir, I am not aware of it. I know that in a certain part of the country there is a lot of agitation going on, and some hon. Members are supporting it. [HON MEMBERS: "Why not?"] I am only stating the fact; there is no harm in stating the fact, is there?

And there is no harm in asking.

The decision is a Government decision, taken by the War Cabinet itself. I am carrying out that decision, and I am in thorough agreement with the decision arrived at by the Government.

The right hon. Gentleman said that no one has sent him cases. Is he aware that his Parliamentary Secretary is in the habit of dealing with these cases and that I have sent shoals of them on to him, showing how hardly people have been treated by his Department?

There has not been one case sent along that, on investigation, has proved to be one of hardship.

That is different. The right hon. Gentleman said that there was not a case sent to him. Now he is saying that, on investigation, hardship has not been proved. Members of Parliament are as capable of investigating cases as he is, and they have come to the conclusion that great hardship is being caused.

Unfortunately Members of Parliament have not access to the information that I have, and I repeat that I will deal with any case of hardship sent to me.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is now in a position to make his promised announcement on the subject of double summer time.

No, Sir, but, as I have already stated, I will make this announcement as soon as practicable.

Is the Home Secretary aware that the objection to double summer time is not confined to agriculture, and that it is no benefit at all to industry, and will he bear that fact in mind when coming to any conclusion on that matter? Further, the Home Secretary promised this statement as long ago as the beginning of January; when is he going to give it to the House?

The hon. Gentleman has asked when an announcement will be made. Now the hon. Gentleman is discussing the announcement in advance.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how soon he intends to remove the ban on camping within a mile of military establishments on the South Coast.

The present restrictions upon camping to which my hon. Friend refers are operative throughout the country but the number of military establishments to which they are applied has been greatly reduced as the result of a review undertaken by the Service Departments last September, at the time that the general prohibition on camping within 10 miles of the coast from Duncansby Head to Hingistbury Head was revoked. I hope it may be possible still further to reduce the number of establishments to which they are applied before the camping season begins, but it will probably be necessary to retain some restrictions until the- end of hostilities with Germany.

asked the Secretary, of State for the Home Department what steps have been taken to give publicity as to the procedure for lodging claims for inclusion in the May register in respect of the business premises qualification.

Electoral registration officers and persons acting on their behalf have been instructed to publish in a newspaper, circulating in the constituency or area concerned, a notice setting out the procedure for making business premises applications, the closing date for receipt, which is 28th February, and stating from whom the forms required for this purpose are obtainable, and to whom they should be returned. They have also been directed to publish this notice in such other manner as they may think fit, when they consider this to be necessary—I understand that in fact posters have been issued in the constituencies primarily concerned.

In addition to this local publicity a Government announcement was issued to the Press and the B.B.C. indicating that the closing date for receipt of these applications was 28th February, that forms could be obtained on application from the town clerk of a Parliamentary borough, and the county clerk of a Parliamentary county, and that information would be available in the constituencies as to the detailed procedure for making these claims. I hope that this answer may give further publicity as to what should be done by those who wish to be included in the business register.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that in the Division I have the honour to represent there is, in fact, no effective local Press with a considerable circulation? In any further publicity which he is giving to this matter will he, in view of the fact that questions 4 (a) and 4 (b) on the application form will, in many cases, not be susceptible to an answer, explain what is required by question 4 (c).

The last part of my hon. Friend's supplementary is too detailed for me to answer in response to a Parliamentary question. As regards his first point, I think the House will agree that I have taken all possible steps, in view of the fact that for the first time the business voter must claim, whereas before he was put on the register. My recollection is that in Westminster there are two or three newspapers circulating, which I rather thought were supporters of my hon. Friend.

Is it not a fact that newsprint restrictions stop newspapers from having their proper circulations?

There are too many Tory newspapers.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has considered a circular, a copy of which has been sent him, issued by the London Municipal Society inviting the use of the franchise laws by directors and principal employees of companies to violate the spirit of the recent Act by artificial multiplications of the franchise by manufacturing leases of private lets within company premises; and what steps he is taking about it.

I have considered the circular in question, which invites persons who are directors or in the employ of a company to enter into an occupational agreement with the company in order to secure the business premises vote. My opinion as to whether such agreements are a violation of the spirit of the law relating to the business vote would be of no value as my views on this matter are well known. As Home Secretary I can only consider whether they involve a breach of the law which calls for action. Not all the statements in the circular are accurate, but I am advised that in 1929, in the case of Frost v. Caslon, the Court of Appeal decided that a tenancy derived from a genuine agreement entered into between a company and a director, in order to enable him to qualify for a business vote is effective for that purpose. The question whether any particular Agreement entered into is a genuine agreement is a matter for the registration officer to decide, subject to appeal, on the facts of each case. In the circumstances no action on my part is called for.

Is it not reprehensible that a body setting out to be the Government of a city should take part in a slick and somewhat shady incitement to misuse the franchise law?

I can only say that, legally, the answer is as I have given, but having read the leaflet, I thought it was a little bit near the line.

Is it not the case that a great many Members of Parliament get themselves put on the register in respect of the offices occupied by their associations?

If they have done it by questionable methods, and my hon. Friend will let me know of any cases, I will look into the matter.

Is it not just as legitimate for a business man to make a contract with a company as it is for a Member of Parliament to make a contract with his association whereby he becomes the tenant of certain rooms and gets a vote? What is the difference morally?

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware of the number of Polish soldiers, especially those who have married in this country, who are anxious to obtain British nationality after the war; and whether he has in consideration any measure which will render this object more easy of achievement for them.

Among the many foreigners who are assisting the war effort of the United Nations, both in the Armed Forces and in civilian occupations, there are numerous people who are anxious to obtain British nationality, and I know of no ground on which I should be justified in selecting for preferential treatment the particular group to which my hon. and gallant Friend refers.

In view of the fact that such applications as this are likely to increase in future, is this not a matter to which the Minister might well give his immediate attention?

At the appropriate time general policy on this matter should receive attention, but I think it would be premature to determine it at the present moment.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that there is very understandable anxiety among the people referred to as to what their position will be at the end of the war? Will he make such an announcement as may be possible as soon as possible?

There is some anxiety in other quarters as well, including British, and I must take all points of view into account.

Is the Home Secretary-aware that we are about the only people who treat in this way men serving in our Armed Forces? Whereas men in the Forces of the U.S. and in the Dominions are almost automatically naturalised we treat these people as of no importance.

The circumstances in other countries are different. My hon. Friend will persist in thinking that the British nation have treated refugees badly, and, with great respect, I think she is entirely wrong.

Is the Minister aware that this country is under a special obligation to these men, many of whom will not want to return to a Stalinised Poland? In view of the gross betrayal of Poland at the present moment, should not these people get special treatment?

The views of my hon. Friend on foreign affairs generally, and on this matter, will be given due consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what conditions Sir Walter Citrine was granted an exit permit to visit Greece.

It is not the general practice to attach conditions to the grant of exit permits, and no conditions were attached in this case.

In cases like this where an important delegation makes a visit abroad, and there is likely to be an important report, will the Minister, in future, consider attaching a condition to the permit that a copy of the report should be submitted to him, so that Members of Parliament can receive copies? At present, it is impossible officially to obtain a copy of Sir Walter Citrine's report.

I will consider that. It would however, be very unusual, and would possibly elevate delegations into a rather too official position. But if my hon. and gallant Friend applies to the Trades Union Congress, I am sure that they will consider whether they can supply him with a copy of the report.

Is it in order for Members of Parliament, other than those sitting on the other side of the House, to apply to Transport House for a copy?

Yes, Sir, I should think so.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, in preparation for the municipal elections which are to take place in November next, he is prepared to take steps to secure the temporary release of men in the Services who are councillors due to retire to enable them to seek re-election.

I understand that this matter, which obviously presents substantial difficulties, is under consideration by the Service Departments, but I am not at present in a position to make any statement.

If it is impossible for councillors to return to fight an election, may they retain their seats without re-election?

Under the Representation of the People Bill, now reaching its last stages, their qualification to stand again is preserved, but I do not think I could preserve their actual membership of the council if they were otherwise required to stand for election.

Will the Government give serious consideration to this question, as representatives of local government bodies are just as important as other representatives?

They are much more numerous, which makes the problem more difficult. I said that the Service Departments are considering it, but I do not want the House to feel too optimistic about it.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the terms of reference of the Committee that he has appointed to consider the care of children will include an investigation into the terms and conditions under which various charities, some of considerable antiquity, take charge of orphans and other children who are without homes, in view of the altered conditions and the trend of recent legislation and the restrictions imposed on the operation of charities and trusts by the Charity Commissioners.

I understand that the Minister of Education, as the Charity Commissioner in respect of educational trusts, has power under the Charitable Trusts Act to remove out-of-date or other restrictions imposed by an original trust which may now hamper the working of the charity. The terms of reference of the proposed committee would not exclude them from considering cases where an alteration of a trust appeared to be desirable for the purpose of enabling homeless children to be brought up under better conditions; but I am anxious that the committee, who will have a big task, shall concentrate their attention on large questions affecting the welfare of children.

Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that large numbers of children are put out in homes through the medium of these organisations, some of which are very good and others not so good?

That will certainly be kept in mind.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that when Mr. and Mrs. Baldock complained to the police at Wallasey regarding the case of cruelty to their children the police refused to take any action in this matter and that the subsequent prosecution was only brought through the action of the N.S.P.C.C.; and whether he has any statement to make on the subject.

Mr. and Mrs. Baldock were seen by the coroner's officer on 27th November and a statement was taken from Mrs. Baldock. This statement made no suggestion of cruelty or ill-treatment to the children, and my information is quite definite that no such suggestion was made at any time during the interview with the coroner's officer. I am informed that no intimation of any alleged ill-treatment to the children was made to the coroner's officer or to any other member of the Wallasey police force until 18th December, when the local inspector of the N.S.P.C.C. saw the coroner's officer and told him that he was investigating a complaint of ill-treatment of Peter Baldock.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that when Mr. and Mrs. Baldock went to the police at Wallasey and made the complaint, they were told that no action could be taken, and is it not the fact that the case would never have been heard of, apart from the action of the N.S.P.C.C.? Is this not entirely unsatisfactory?

The hon. Member is making a direct allegation against the police, which the police deny. I am informed, after the most careful inquiry, by the police that the statement that the complaint or allegation was made at that time is untrue and, unless there is real evidence to the contrary to prove it otherwise, I must accept the statement of the police.

When the N.S.P.C.C. officer told the coroner's officer that he was investigating the complaint, did he say from whom the complaint had emanated?

I could not say.

Has the right hon. Gentleman considered a letter, a copy of which I sent him, from Mr. Baldock stating that he had applied to the police and asked them to visit the child in hospital and that this had not been done?

I have seen such a letter but that allegation by Mr. Baldock is definitely disputed, and I do not feel that I can accept it as necessarily being true. Of course, recollections may be at fault, and the circumstances with which the father and mother were faced were very distressing and worrying.

Was the death certificate given by the police surgeon, and not by the doctor who attended the child?

I believe the doctor who attended the child only attended—I am speaking from memory—after the child was dead, and he declined to give a certificate, which is quite ordinary. The coroner referred the matter to the police surgeon, who could find no traces of cruelty, and certified death from natural causes, and I am quite sure that he genuinely so certified.

asked the Minister of Health (1) if he is aware that when Mrs. Baldock, of Hanworth Road, Redhill, applied in July that her children should be sent to a Government residential nursery she received a letter from his Ministry stating this could not be granted because Reigate was not an evacuation area and that when she wrote pointing out this mistake she received no reply; and will he make inquiries into this matter;

(2) if he has made inquiries into the circumstances in which Mr. and Mrs. Budd, of Wallasey, were recommended by the welfare officer as suitable persons to have charge of small children; and why no welfare officer ever called at Mr. Budd's house while evacuated children were there.

I think the House would wish to have the full facts of this distressing case. They cannot be given shortly, and I am therefore circulating a complete statement in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

asked the Minister of Health what is the estimated total cost of supplementary pensions under the old age and widows' pensions for the year ending March, 1945; how many are in receipt of them; what is the average amount for each person; and how much of it comes under the heading of rent allowance.

The estimated cost of supplementary pensions for the year ending 31st March, 1945, is £57,000,000. At the end of December, 1944, there were approximately 1,387,000 supplementary pension cases current which covered the needs of 1,616,000 old age and widow pensioners. The average payment per case was 16s., and the average amount included in this figure for rent or the reasonable share of rent in cases where the applicant was not the householder was 6s. 5d.

asked the Prime Minister how it has come about that the substance of his letter to General Franco, the terms of which were denied to Parliament, has been published in the U.S.A.; whether this was with the consent and approval of His Majesty's Government; if not, what action has been taken in the matter; and what further action it is proposed to take in the future to prevent the continuance of episodes injurious to the authority and prestige of Parliament.

It is the case that reports have been published in the United States newspapers purporting to give the substance of the Prime Minister's recent correspondence with General Franco. This publication took place without the prior knowledge, and still less the consent, of His Majesty's Government, and inquiries are being made in order if possible to ascertain how the leakage occurred. While there was nothing in the Prime Minister's reply which His Majesty's Government would wish to conceal, it is, as I informed the hon. Member for North Lambeth (Mr. G. Strauss) on 31st January, contrary to the established practice for the texts of communications of this nature between Governments to be published, and it is clearly likely to give rise to misunderstandings if unauthorised leakages of this kind take place. His Majesty's Government were not responsible for what happened in this case, and as regards the suture they can be counted on to do what lies within their power to prevent unauthorised leakages of information.

In view of the fact that in this case a serious leakage has taken place, is it not desirable that Members of the House should be fully informed about this correspondence?

I think it would be undesirable to set a precedent by publishing this correspondence.

As this is not the first occasion on which documents sent to the United States Government have been published in an unauthorised way, will His Majesty's Government make a strong protest to the United States Government with the request that this practice should cease in future?

We are doing our utmost to find-out how these leakages occur, and we have taken the matter up.

When the Deputy Prime Minister refers to the substance, does that mean that the whole of this letter was published in the United States? Is he aware that only part of the letter has been published in this country, and will he see, if the whole of the letter was published in America, that it is published in the Press of this country?

I have already said that it is not the intention of His Majesty's Government to publish the letter.

Is it not a fact that there is another side to this story, that newspapers in his country, almost immediately after the despatch of this letter, contained a statement purporting to give what was the general tendency of the letter, and that it is suspected that this emanated from His Majesty's Government's public relations officers in order to undo the mischief which the Prime Minister's reference to Franco had created?

I have no information about that.

Will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind the Prime Minister's own views in regard to ending secret diplomacy and reconsider publishing these documents?

As certain documents have been published and the public know certain facts would it not be better for all concerned, including Members of Parliament, if the Government now published all the facts?

My hon. Friend is now putting again the same question that has been put, and my reply must be that it is undesirable to create a precedent by publishing correspondence of this nature.

asked the Prime Minister when this House will be given an opportunity of discussing the Government's policy on war gratuities; and will he consider giving that opportunity on a discussion of the Notice of Motion on the Order Paper on that matter standing in the name of the hon. Member for Leigh and other hon. Members.

As indicated by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 6th February, the Government are quite willing that there should be a discussion of this matter, if that is the general desire of the House. The question is one for arrangement through the usual channels.

Can the Deputy Prime Minister say whether it will be possible to provide an opportunity some time next week for the opinion of the House to be taken, and will the Government regard as binding what has been said?

I am to be asked a Question a little later about the Business for next week.

asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the low rate of pension of the regular members of the Services, having regard to the recent pronouncement on gratuities to the temporary members of the Services, he will instruct the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Secretary of State for War and the Secretary of State for Air to look into this matter and to make such recommendations as they consider necessary.

There is no connection between the rates of pension and the recently announced gratuities which are payable to both regular and temporary members of the Services.

Is not the Deputy Prime Minister aware that it might be necessary to review, and indeed to augment, the pensions of the regular Armed Forces of the Crown after the war, in view of the change in world living conditions?

asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of his declarations as to which countries the provisions of the Atlantic Charter do not apply. he will now state to which countries those provisions do apply.