asked the Minister of Labour how many ex-Servicemen and women, respectively, have now completed a vocational training course; how many are being trained; and how many have been approved for training but for whom there are no facilities available.

Five thousand, two hundred and eighty-four ex-Servicemen and 165 ex-Servicewomen have since July, 1945, completed a course under the Vocational Training Scheme. Sixteen thousand, eight hundred and seventeen ex-Servicemen and 843 ex-Servicewomen were in training on the 1st July, 1946, and 25,758 ex-Servicemen and 551 ex-Servicewomen had been accepted and were awaiting allocation to training.

asked the Minister of Labour if he will give the approximate figures of employment found by his Appointments Board with private employers as compared with Government employment

The records are not kept in such a way as to show separately the number of persons placed in Government employment and those placed with private employers. To obtain some indication of the proportion I have had the vacancies handled over a short period examined and find that just under 13 per cent, of them were in Government employment.

asked the Minister of Labour if he will grant a permit to return permanently to this country to a woman, whose name has been submitted to him, of French birth, educated in England, a member of a religious order in this country, who was teaching at the school of the Cannonesses of St. Augustine until the outbreak of the war when she was recalled to France, and who is urgently needed to resume her teaching in French at a convent of the order in Cambridge preparing students for the universities of London and Cambridge.

I am making inquiries and will write to hon. Member.

asked the Minister of Labour the average weekly rates of wages as at 1st June, or nearest convenient date, in the years 1919–28 and 1945–46 for farm-workers, bricklayers, carpenters, dockers, miners, male cotton operatives, builders' labourers, skilled engineers, railway porters and signalmen, respectively.

I am having such figures as are available extracted and will forward them to my hon. Friend.

asked the Minister of Labour the numbers of men, women and juveniles, registered as wholly unemployed in the United Kingdom as at 1st June, or nearest convenient date, in the years 1919 to 1933, inclusive, and in 1945 and 1946.

I am having such figures as are available extracted and will forward them to my hon. Friend.

asked the Minister of Labour the numbers of men, women and juveniles, registered as wholly unemployed at Ministry of Labour employment exchanges at Taunton and Wellington, Somersetshire, as at 30th June, or nearest convenient date, in the years 1919–1946, inclusive.

I am having such figures as are available extracted and will forward them to my hon. Friend.

asked the Minister of Food whether he will allow extra bread to children who are attending schools where dinners are not provided and who cannot go home to their midday meal.

I am taking care to make children's rations sufficient for their needs so that such an arrangement will not be necessary.

asked the Minister of Food whether he will make the qualification extra bread for manual workers, over and above the 15 ozs., not the receipt of the extra cheese ration, but the necessity to take a packed meal to work.

I shall have met the real needs of most classes of manual workers for whom the 15 oz. ration is not enough, and who are unable to supplement it at canteens, by granting this special allowance to classes of workers eligible for the special cheese ration. I shall however be willing to consider the claims of other classes in consultation with the Trades Union Congress.

asked the Minister of Food whether he will give an assurance that potatoes will not be rationed during the next 12 months.

I regret that in view of the present uncertainty of the world food situation, I am unable to give any such assurance, but I am certainly not contemplating the rationing of potatoes at the moment.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will state, in units indicative of bulk, the United Kingdom production in the first six months of 1939, and the same period in 1945 and 1946, of private motor cars, wireless receiving sets, refrigerators, children's boots and shoes, linoleum, carpets, sheets, blankets, aluminium and iron saucepans, frying pans, knitting and darning wools, domestic gas stoves, and electric fires for household use, respectively.

Such of the information requested as is available is published in the "Monthly Digest of Statistics" prepared by the Central Statistical Office.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what he proposes to do with regard to Regular Servicemen who have no prewar clothes, since they are now allowed to wear mufti when on leave.

I am not yet in a position to add to the reply given on this subject on 1st July to the hon. and learned Member for Exeter (Mr. Maude).

asked the Minister of Health whether the panel of consultants having special experience of smallpox, instituted by his predecessor, still operates; and who are the present members.

This informal panel is still maintained; I am sending the hon. Member a list of its members.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will, in connection with the proposed new hospital administration, see that suitable arrangements are made for transport to and from railway stations and the hospitals in country districts, to avoid the hardship of visitors having to walk exceptionally long distances.

This is certainly one of the things which we shall have to take into account.

asked the Minister of Health (1) when it is anticipated that a water supply will be laid on at Fringford, Oxfordshire; whether it will be a piped supply or standpipes; and if he will take steps to improve the sanitation in this village;(2) when it is anticipated that a water supply will be available at Souldern, Oxfordshire; whether it is intended to have piped water laid on or standpipes; and whether he is satisfied that the present water at the village pumps is adequate.

The parishes of Souldern and Fringford are included in proposals for a piped supply of water to the rural district of Ploughley, which, I understand, will shortly be submitted to my Department. Pending the submission of the scheme I am unable to say whether the water will he supplied by standpipes or conveyed into the houses; or when the supply will be afforded. The question of the sanitation at Fringford is for consideration by the rural district council in the first instance and I am bringing the matter to their notice.

asked the Minister of National Insurance the rates of unemployment benefit for men, with separate figures for the allowances for wife and children, payable as at 1st June in the years 1919 to 1925, inclusive, and in 1945–46, and to indicate also any limitations with regard to period of benefit.

I am compiling the desired information, and will send it to my hon. Friend as soon as it is complete.