asked the Secretary of State for War what provision is made by way of petrol allowance to enable Territorial officers and other ranks to motor to their places of parade; and when the arrangements in force were last reviewed.

All members of the Territorial Army who own a private motor vehicle or have the full use of one, registered either in the applicant's own name or in the name of a member of his family living in the same house or in the name of a firm by which he is employed, may apply for petrol coupons to enable them to attend their places of parade, if public transport cannot be used. Each application is considered individually and if it is approved petrol coupons are issued by the Territorial and Auxiliary Forces Associations to cover a period of six months. The arrangements in force were last reviewed in consultation with the Ministry of Fuel and Power in June of this year.

asked the Secretary of State for War what was the total number of men in all corps, regiments, and branches of the Army sent to Malaya between 1st January, 1948, and the latest available date who, at the time of sailing, had less than six Months' service; and what percentage of the above had had no weapon training or combat training up to their date of sailing.

The information asked for in the first part of the Question could not be obtained without a disproportionate amount of work in examining the documents of every soldier sent to Malaya during the last ten months. As regards the last part of the Question, the orders governing the despatch of drafts to Malaya lay down that each man must have attained the age of at least 18 years and 3 months before embarkation, and must have completed his basic training, which includes weapon training and training for combat.

asked the Minister of Town and Country Planning what steps he is taking to give wide publicity to the procedure which should be followed by people wishing to erect dwelling houses for their own occupation, so that they may know they are entitled to have their development charge set off against their compensation provided they make a claim on the Central Land Board.

The terms of the concession to owners of single plots have already received wide publicity. The important thing is that these people should claim before they develop, and in any case before 31st March next. The Central Land Board propose by every Means at their disposal to continue urging people to consider whether they ought to claim.

asked the Minister of Town and Country Planning what action his regulations prescribe for a village community wishing to present the case for the survival of their village against the decision of regional planning authorities to eliminate their homes and amenities by refusing to sanction plans for modern water and drainage schemes.

Section 10 (1) of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, requires the local planning authority before preparing a development plan affecting the land in a county district, to consult with the council of the district in question and before submitting the plan to the Minister to give to that council an opportunity to make representations. It is to be expected that in this way full account will be taken of the views of villages affected by the plan of whose attitude the county district will be aware. If a development plan when submitted provides nonetheless that there should he no further development in a particular village it will be open to the village to present their case at the public inquiry or hearing which will be held to consider objections to the plan in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Development Plans) Regulations, 1948.I assume that the hon. Member has Particularly in mind the village of Letcombe Bassett. I understand that the rural district council have already decided to consider further the provision of main drainage and houses in this village and the question of presenting the case for the provision of such facilities does not therefore now arise.

asked the Minister of Town and Country Planning if he is aware of the widespread popular objection to the proposal to extend a military bridging camp now occupying a few acres on the banks of the River Lune, near Halton, by acquiring a much larger area, and if he will give an assurance that the Inter-Departmental Committee on Services Land Requirements will give full weight to these objections and hold a public inquiry.

Objections to this requirement of the War Department are now under consideration by the Inter-Departmental Committee, and full weight will be given to them. If any substantial objections on grounds of the public interest cannot be resolved, a public local inquiry will be held.

asked the Minister of National Insurance whether he will reconsider the provision whereby an old age pensioner has his pension reduced from 26s. to 16s. per week when he has been in hospital for 56 days.

The National Insurance (Overlapping Benefits) Regulations, which provide for adjusting the benefit of patients in hospital were made in provisional form on account of urgency. They are still under consideration by the National Insurance Advisory Committee. I expect to receive the Committee's report in the near future and I shall then have to consider in the light of their recommendations in what form the substantive regulations should be made.

asked the Minister of National Insurance what reduction there has been in the number of miners in the North Staffs coalfield who have been certified to be suffering from pneumoconiosis and silicosis respectively; and what are the factors that have brought about the improvement.

In 1947, 48 miners in North Staffordshire were certified as suffering from pneumoconiosis as compared with 61 in 1946 and 99 in 1945; but although these figures show a steady reduction it is too early to draw any conclusions from them. The above figures include cases of silicosis as I regret that separate figures for silicosis are not available.

asked the Minister of National Insurance what would be the additional cost to the Government per year, if the old age pensions were increased from the present rates to £2 per week for each pensioner.

The net additional cost yearly of increasing retirement pension to £2 per week (or £4 per week for a married couple) at the present ages, namely 65–60, would be about £160 million at the start and would rise to £260 million in 20 years' time. There would also be a net increase of £7 million at the start in the cost of noncontributory old age pensions. For contributory pension this would mean an increase in the weekly Class 1 contributions of about 2s. 1d. for a man and 2s. 3d. for a woman divided equally between employers and employed with corresponding increases for Classes 2 and 3. The additional cost to the Exchequer (including supplementary contributions) would be over £60 million at the start rising to £160 million in 20 years' time.

asked the Minister of National Insurance how many old age pensioners, at the last convenient date, had had their pensions reduced after being subjected to a means test in consequence of their weekly earnings exceeding £1; and of such number, how many were men and women, respectively.

The earnings rule only applies where the pension is conditional on retirement. I do not think it can properly be described as a means test. Between October, 1946, and the end of October, 1948, 375,000 reports of earnings in excess of 20s. a week were made by old age pensioners or retirement pensioners whose pensions were subject to the earnings rule. Of these, 220,000 related to casual earnings and 155,000 to earnings of a more or less regular character. No record is available of the numbers of individual men or women concerned but the average number of persons reporting such earnings weekly was about 3,500.

asked the Minister of National Insurance what is the average time taken by his records office at Acton to reply to queries from local offices about the records of insured persons; and what action is being taken to reduce this period, so as to permit a speeding up of payments to insured contributors whose contribution cards have been lost or misplaced by approved societies or by his Department.

I presume my hon. Friend is referring to my Department's Central Record Office at Newcastle. When the correct National Insurance number is quoted replies are sent by return of post. When the identifying particulars are incomplete more time is needed, but for all types of cases dealt with by the Central Office the average time between receipt of inquiry and the despatch of the answer is 30 hours. Where the Central Record Office cannot help because essential contribution cards are not available, special inquiries are made by the local office to establish the claimant's insurance position by other means. No average figure for the time taken in such exceptional cases of difficulty is available, but all officers of the Department are alive to the importance of handling them- with special urgency.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether he will give an undertaking that the coal industry will be included in the purview of the Anglo-American Joint Council on Production:(2) whether the steel industry comes' within the province of investigation and discussion by the Anglo-American Joint Council on Production.

I would refer the hon. Member to the written replies on this subject given to him on Wednesday, 3rd November, and to the hon. Member for Wallasey (Mr. Marples) on Thursday, 4th November.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will now say in what circumstances a claim can be made and allowed in respect of war damage manifesting itself after the expiration of the normal period for making a claim.

I would refer to the answer which my right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury gave to the hon. Member for Maidstone (Mr. Bossom) on 1st June. 1948, of which I am sending my hon. Friend a copy.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why an old age pension is excluded from consideration in computing a wife's special earned income relief.

Section 27 (2) of the Finance Act, 1946, provides in regard to payments of benefit under the National Insurance Act that wife's earned income relief shall be allowed only where the. payments are by way of unemployment benefit, sickness benefit or maternity benefit. A wife's old age pension is, therefore, debarred from that relief which is given as an inducement to married women to enter, or remain in, industry.

asked the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to state, with reference to the provisional allocation of expenditure from the Development Fund for rural economy, the amounts expended or approved for expenditure on village halls, rural industries and Women's Institutes, respectively.

The amounts provisionally approved for expenditure on village halls, rural industries and Women's Institutes during the current financial year are:

	£
Village Halls	180,000
Rural Industries	247,000
Women's Institutes	9,700

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury if he will now reconsider the imposition of Purchase Tax of 100 per cent. on leather school bags.

We could not consider these in isolation from other leather receptacles.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what amount of sterling has so far this year been confiscated by the Customs service from people taking more than the permitted £5 out of the country; and what amount has been taken from incoming visitors.

The total amounts taken from travellers, including ships' and aircraft crews who are not entitled to the £5 sterling note export/import exemption, during the period 1st January to 31st October, 1948, were £86,731 from outgoing travellers and £73,566 from incoming travellers.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what decisions have been reached and action taken to provide work, other than that of the examination of candidates for the Civil Service, to the Civil Service Commission; and, in particular, whether negotiations with the Federation of British Industries have resulted in any work for industry being carried out on an agency basis.

Approval in principle has been given for the Civil Service Selection Board to act (if there is a demand for their services) as the agents of interested business firms and industrial and commercial undertakings for the selection of candidates for employment by them. Such arrangements would be experimental, and the Board's prime function would remain recruitment for the Civil Service. In view of the uncertain future of the Selection Board organisation, no commitments for agency work are to be undertaken beyond 1949.Discussions on this basis have been held with the Federation of British Industries, and a scheme is under consideration whereby the Federation will approach a number of firms which have vacancies in 1949 who would wish to put forward candidates to undergo the C.S.S.B. tests, modified as required. As yet, no work for industry has actually been carried out.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury which of the main Government Departments are now running courses on the use of English; what is the approximate number of students and the average weekly period of tuition; and whether good results have already been achieved.

Courses on the use of English are being run this winter in the following Departments:

• Admiralty.
• Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
• Air Ministry.
• Colonial Office.
• Ministry of Education.
• General Register Office.
• Home Office.
• Ministry of Labour and National Service.
• Ministry of National Insurance.
• Ministry of Pensions.
• Post Office.
• Ministry of Supply.
• Board of Trade.
• Ministry of Transport.
• Treasury.
• War Office.
• Ministry of Works.

The approximate total of students is 860; the average weekly period of tuition is one and a half hours. Most of these courses began only this autumn and it is therefore too early to assess results.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will give the percentage of marks needed to qualify for a pass in the Civil Service Clerical open examinations during 1946–47; and the percentage of marks required before 1939 for similar examinations.

From the normal open competitions for the Clerical Class held in 1946 and 1947, candidates have been declared successful if they secured 44 per cent or more of the maximum marks. From the open competitions for the Clerical Class held in 1937, 1938, and 1939, it was possible to fill all the vacancies without lowering the mark required for success below 58 per cent.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can give an assurance that during the negotiations which are to take place between the original contracting parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the 11 other countries now desiring to adhere to that agreement no further diminutions of Empire preferences will be made, either by direct reductions of existing preferential margins or by a lowering of the general duty which would automatically reduce the margin of preference.

No; but I can assure the hon. Member that we shall keep in the closest touch with other members of the Commonwealth throughout the negotiations, and will not agree to reductions in preferences except in return for concessions which make the bargain as a whole fully reciprocal and mutually advantageous.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the value of thoroughbred race horses exported from Great Britain to other countries in the years 1938, 1947, and 1948 to date, respectively.

Exports of thoroughbred race horses are not recorded separately.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what steps are being taken to provide alternative employment for the temporary civil servants who are being rendered reundant through the transfer of sections of his Department from Llandudno and Colwyn Bay.

The Board of Trade has no staff at either of these places. The full facilities of the Ministry of Labour are at the disposal of any of the staff referred to who become redundant, and it is possible that some jobs will be available for them in a surplus Government factory at Llandudno now engaged on the production of civilian goods.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many of his staff will become redundant when the relaxations or modifications in the Board of Trade controls recently announced become effective.

The saving in staff in the Board of Trade expected to accrue from the relaxations announced in Part II of the statement circulated by my right hon. Friend on 4th November is 53.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many Statutory Orders and Regulations affected the Lancashire textile industry on 1st November, 1948; and how many such orders and regulations have since been revoked.

There were on the 1st November, 1948, 66 orders affecting the textile industry. Forty-two of these orders related to the supply and use of raw materials such as cotton and wool, and 24 related to the manufacture and supply and fixed maximum prices of textiles. These orders relate to the textile industry as a whole and none of them relates exclusively to Lancashire. None of these orders has been revoked since the 1st November. 1948.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware of the great shortage of men's artisan clothing throughout Scotland; and whether he can arrange for the necessary cotton to be made available to the manufacturers, so that steps can be taken to remedy the situation.

There is a general shortage of working clothes made of cotton, such as overalls. Our aim is to maintain supplies of cloth at the maximum level consistent with the achievement of the export target for cotton goods. This particular type of cotton goods is an important dollar-earner.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what quantity of British clothing is to be exported to Western Germany during the last quarter of 1948; and what proportion of total imports into the bizone does this represent.

Exports of clothing are not controlled and I cannot estimate the quantity to be exported to Western Germany, which will depend on licences issued at the German end.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what new industries have been introduced into North Staffordshire since the end of the war; and what they represent in terms of employment of male and female labour.

New industries established in North Staffordshire since the war in redundant war factories, in new factories or in existing premises include the manufacture of electric motors, electric cables, agricultural implements, motor-vehicle components, domestic cookers, paint, surgical dressings, women's clothing and rubber toys. They are giving employment to some 1,900 men and 2,300 women.

asked the Minister of Labour how the figures of absenteeism and lost time in industry on Thursdays compares with those on other week-days.

I regret that the information is not available.

asked the Minister of Labour how many persons are unemployed in the borough of Darwen and in the urban district of Turton and the rural district of Blackburn, respectively.

The numbers of unemployed persons on the registers of employment exchanges in Darwen, Turton and Blackburn on 11th October, were 137, 13 and 426 respectively.

asked the Minister of Labour what facilities now exist for the training and employment of registered disabled persons in North Staffordshire; and whether any further schemes are now in process of completion.

Training facilities for the disabled in North Staffordshire are available in a number of employers' establishments; in addition, there are training courses in the Ministry's own centres and in technical colleges in Birmingham and elsewhere in the Midlands. Continuous efforts are made to find suitable employment for the disabled, but the demand is in the main for women workers; the possibility of substituting disabled men in some of the jobs traditionally performed by women is under discussion with employers' organisations.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of registered cases dealt with by the resettlement branches of his Department in the London area during September, showing the returns for each branch separately, and distinguishing between ex-Service and non-Service applicants.

The statement below shows the number of persons who made inquiries at Resettlement Advice Offices in the London postal area during the period 27th August to 24th September, 1948.These figures do not include inquiries in connection with the issue of passports. A large number of the inquiries came from ex-Service men and women, but the exact proportion of ex-Service and non-Service inquirers cannot be stated.

Name of R.A.O.			No. of inquiries.
Battersea	…	…	570
Borough	…	…	191
Camberwell	…	…	43
City	…	…	1,539
Ealing	…	…	714
East Ham	…	…	198
Hackney	…	…	131
Hendon	…	…	433
Holloway	…	…	380
Lewisham	…	…	448
Leyton	…	…	281
Oxford Street	…	…	776
Shepherds Bush	…	…	229
Stratford	…	…	288
Tooting	…	…	232
Tottenham	…	…	512
Willesden	…	…	264
Wimbledon	…	…	335
Woolwich	…	…	138

Seven of the above offices are housed either in the district office or the local employment exchange premises.

asked the Minister of Labour how many personnel are employed at the London Appointments Office; and what is their total annual salary.

The staff at London Appointments Office is 494 (including messengers and cleaners) and the current annual cost of salaries is about £190,000.

asked the Minister of Labour how many people are employed at York House, Kingsway, London, in compiling and maintaining the Technical and Scientific Register; and what is their annual pay.

The staff of the Technical and Scientific Register at York House, Kingsway, number 189, their annual pay being approximately £77,000. I should add that the staff figure includes, in addition to those engaged in compiling and maintaining the Register, a number whose work entails such activities as surveys of various kinds into the present and future distribution of, and demand for, technical and scientific manpower, visits to Universities and liaison with University Appointments Boards and the examination of, interviewing for and submission to, vacancies notified to the Register.

asked the Minister of Labour what is the total annual cost for maintaining the Appointments Department at York House and Tavistock Square, respectively.

The total annual cost of maintaining the Technical and Scientific Register at York House and the Appointments Office at Tavistock Square is about £91,000 and £222,000 respectively.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is yet in a position to make a statement as to when legislation will be introduced to facilitate the reciprocal enforcement of orders for aliment and maintenance in Scotland and England.

It is hoped to introduce legislation on this subject when time permits.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is aware of the rising cost of houses built by local authorities, particularly in the fishing burghs of East Fife; what steps he is taking to reduce those costs; and if it is his intention to increase housing grants to local authorities so as to enable rents to be fixed at reasonable levels.

I have received no evidence of substantial rises in housing costs since 1 decided last June to maintain the present rates of housing subsidy; but, as I have already intimated, if costs do not fall I shall be glad to re-examine the position with the local authority associations. I hope shortly to send to local authorities copies of the report of the Scottish Building Costs Committee which contains suggestions for reducing the cost of houses.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is aware that chemists in East Fife have received no payments in excess of the standard 2s. 6d. per prescription since the Health Scheme was introduced in July; that in consequence of the delay and the large number of expensive prescriptions demanded in recent months, large debts are being incurred by chemists; and what action he proposes to take to ensure regular and full payments to these professional men.

It is the case that, owing to the heavy additional burden of work falling on the trained staff of the central checking bureau, final payments to chemists have been delayed. Interim payments at the rate of 2s. 6d. per prescription form have been made and I have received no representations from the chemists' organisations that this payment is causing hardship. I am, however, reconsidering the position in the light of the calculations made on the prescriptions which have been priced up to the present time.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if, in order to simplify the returns of chemists, he will provide duplicate prescription books, similar to the old National Health Insurance forms.

It is estimated that to provide duplicate forms would require an additional 25 to 30 tons of paper a year and I am not satisfied that, in present circumstances, any commensurate advantage is likely to be obtained by doing so. I shall, however, be prepared to reconsider the question when the paper shortage is less acute.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will circulate a statement in the Official Report showing the number of new houses which each county council in Scotland will be permitted to erect in 1949.

County councils will be encouraged to complete during 1949 as many as possible of the large number of houses now under construction in their districts. The extent to which they can bring additional houses under construction must depend on the progress made with their existing programmes. No statement such as the hon. Member describes can therefore be prepared.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the number of houses built in Edinburgh by the corporation and by private enterprise, respectively, for each of the years 1919–1925 and 1945–1947.

The following is the information:

NEW HOUSES BUILT IN EDINBURGH 1919–25
Year		Local authority	Private enterprise	Total
1919	…	Nil	Nil	Nil
1920	…	15	10	25
1921	…	163	27	190
1922	…	380	87	467
1923	…	494	2	496
1924	…	89	82	171
1925	…	851	524	1,375

LOCAL AUTHORITY* 1945–47
Year	Permanent	Temporary	Private Enterprise	Total
1945	157	10	23	190
1946	139	817	21	977
1947	422	1,184	230	1,836
*Includes houses built by the Scottish Special Housing Association.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether air-raid shelters are continuing to be destroyed in the British zone of Germany.

Yes, but only if they are not needed for the Occupation Forces or the German civilian population, whether as accommodation or storage.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many gifts in money or goods have been made by this country to other countries since the conclusion of hostilities; and what is the value of these gifts.

This country has made gifts since the end of the war to other countries covering free supplies and services, straight grants, debt cancellations, contributions to international relief organisations and other non-recoverable items as follows:

		£ million
1.	United Kingdom contribution to U. N. R. R. A.	155
2.	United Kingdom contribution to J.R.O.	11.2
3.	Civil affairs following liberation in Europe; non-recoverable	49
4.	Greece: maintenance and initial equipment of armed forces	29
	Surplus stores	2
5.	Ex-Italian colonies: cost of administration	11.8
6.	Poland: Welfare and social services June 1946-March 1947	5
	Surplus stores	6
7.	Austria: Before 1st April, 1946	10
	Post U.N.R.R.A.	6
	Surplus machine tools	0.125
8.	Hungary: Surplus machine tools	0.2
9.	Italy: Estimated value of surpluses after allowing for payments from Italy in respect of United Kingdom claims under the financial agreement of 17th April, 1947	55
10.	Netherlands: Military equipment and surpluses; estimated portion in excess of payment under Debt Settlement	16
11.	Malta	30
12.	Burma: cancellation of debt by treaty arrangement	15
13.	Roumania: medical supplies and surplus Army foodstuffs	0.02
	Total	401.345

asked the Minister of Defence when he proposes to carry out a comprehensive review of the present inadequacy of the pensions of retired officers.

A comprehensive review of the retired pay of permanent officers of the Services was carried out as recently as 1946 with the results set out in Cmd. 6750. I do not consider that a further review at the present time is justified.

asked the Minister of Supply what has been the result of the investigation into the alleged illegal disposal of surplus Army stocks in the British zone of Germany.

I understand that the investigation, in which the police are collaborating with the Control Commission, is still proceeding.

asked the Minister of Supply to state, to the most convenient date, the approximate total number overseas orders received by motor manufacturers arising from the London Motor Show; and the approximate total amount of hard currency that will result from these orders.

I regret that this information is not available.

asked the Minister of Transport whether, in connection with the Special Roads Bill, he will make arrangements to exhibit in the Members' Tea Room some pictures and diagrams of the kind of motorways and special roads, the construction of which it is hoped to facilitate by this Measure.

Yes. Maps showing the possible future pattern of motorways, a model of a typical length of motorway illustrating the general layout and treatment of side roads, footpaths, etc., and also other models of typical road junction layouts have already been placed in the Grand Committee Room, Westminster Hall, for inspection by hon. Members.

asked the Minister of Pensions how many persons are now in receipt of disability pensions arising from the late war; what is the total weekly sum involved; what were the comparable figures for the first week in January, 1946; of the total number now in receipt of disability pensions arising from the late war, what are the respective figures for ex-Army. ex-Navy, ex-R.A.F., ex-A.T.S., ex-W.A.A.F., ex-W.R.N.S. and ex-Marine personnel; and what are the present respective weekly figures.

The available information is tabled below.

asked the Attorney-General when he expects to receive the Report of the Committee now considering the leasehold system.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer which I gave on 1st November, 1948, to my right hon. Friend the Member for Bedwellty (Sir C. Edwards).

asked the Postmaster-General how many different denominations of special postage stamps are being prepared to commemorate the birth of a child to Princess Elizabeth.

None. After the most careful consideration, it has been decided not to issue special postage stamps in connection with this event.