asked the Minister of Education if she will give the number of school dental officers employed by local authorities per month from January 1951 to the most convenient date.

The latest figures available are those showing the position at the beginning of last January, when the number of dentists in the school dental service was equivalent to 717 full-time officers. Figures showing the present position are being collected and my right hon. Friend will send them to my hon. and gallant Friend as soon as she has them.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will increase the grants available under the Housing Acts for the improvement of housing by private owners.

I am not yet in a position to make a statement on this subject.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air how many houses were completed on Royal Air Force stations in Lincolnshire in 1949 and 1950 and the first 10 months of 1951.

The numbers for permanent married quarters are 156, 203 and 171 respectively

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has considered the renewed application of the borough council of Newcastle-under-Lyme for the same functions in Civil Defence as have already been conferred on the borough councils of Cambridge, Chesterfield, Luton and Swindon: and if he will now amend the appropriate regulations so as to include Newcastle-under-Lyme.

The application is being considered, and I hope to let the borough council of Newcastle-under-Lyme have my decision very soon.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the nearest £1 million, the amount of debt held by Government Departments on 31st March, 1951, under the separate heading of floating debt, other internal debt, excluding bonds tendered for Death Duties, and Treasury guaranteed securities, together with the names of the principal Government Departments including in the compilation.

I would refer my hon. Friend to page 7 of the latest National Debt Return (Cmd. 8384). I regret that I cannot add to the published information.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how many local authorities of each type have obtained exemption from submitting house plans to his Department by certifying that they have been prepared by a qualified architect and how many houses are covered by such certificates.

I regret that this information is not readily available and could not be given without considerable research.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will introduce legislation to implement the recommendation on page 99 of the Report of the Committee on Weights and Measures Legislation, Command Paper No. 8219. relating to the standardisation of the size of bottles containing alcoholic liquor, and, in particular, to the legalisation of the denominations of ⅔pint and⅔quart being the normal quantities in which spirits are bottled.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave yesterday to the hon. Member for Leicester, North-West (Mr. Janner).