asked the Minister of Food what steps he is taking to ensure that the prospective heavy crops of homegrown fruit this year will be available to the housewives at reasonable prices.

Plentiful supplies provide the best guarantee of reasonable prices. I hope that housewives will take full advantage of this year's heavy crops and the extra 1lb. of sugar which I am making available for jam making so that the opportunity may not be wasted.

asked the Minister of Food for an estimate of the amount of the food consumed in this country which comes from overseas, with an explanation of how he arrives at that estimate.

Of the various methods by which the proportions of home-produced and imported food consumed in the United Kingdom can be calculated the best available at the moment is that based on a translation into calorie values of the total food consumed. On this basis it is estimated that in 1951 imports contributed about 60 per cent. of total consumption.

asked the Minister of Food his estimate of the supply position of eggs in the remaining months of 1952.

Probably about the same as last year.

asked the Minister of Food the estimated cost of increasing the subsidy paid to all bakers who consume under 200 sacks of flour per week by 2s. per sack.

Just under £1 million per annum.

asked the Minister of Food the amount of the food subsidy per pound on home-produced bacon and imported bacon, respectively.

The average subsidies on home-produced and imported bacon over the year 1952–53 are estimated to be 1s. 0½d. and 1d. per lb., respectively.

asked the Minister of Transport in what ports of the country port efficiency committees have been established; what is their constitution; when the whole of the ports will be covered; and when he expects to receive the report of the committee set up on 11th March last.

I assume that the hon. Member is referring to the port operations panels which have been set up at a number of ports as a result of the work of the Ports Efficiency Committee. These panels have now been established at London, Liverpool, Manchester, Sunderland, Dundee, Hull, Grimsby and Immingham, Newport, Cardiff, Barry, Port Talbot, Swansea, Middlesbrough and Hartlepools, and a Panel is about to be established at Leith. They consist of representatives of port authorities, shipowners, port employers and labour. The Ports Efficiency Committee did not intend that such panels should be set up at all ports in the country.The Committee is to report "from time to time." It has already made one report and it has another in preparation.

asked the Minister of Transport if he is aware that ex-private haulage contractors in Liverpool are still awaiting the balance of payment of compensation owing to them; if he will give the number not yet paid; and when final payment is expected to be made.

If the hon. Lady will give me details of the particular haulage firms she has in mind, I will ask the British Transport Commission to send her the information she requires.

asked the Minister of Transport if, in view of the fact that Dartmouth Street and Carteret Street, Westminster, are one-way streets, he will introduce one-way working in other streets of similar width in Central London, provided long detours are not caused to traffic.

"One-way" traffic working is not based solely on the width of streets and each case has to be considered individually on its merits.

asked the Minister of Supply how many persons were involved in, and what was the duration of, the recent strike in the workshops at Fort Halstead, near Sevenoaks; if he will set up a committee of experienced industrial- ists presided over by a prominent Queen's Counsel to inquire into the possibility of reducing the expenditure of public money and of dismissing staff who are not doing essential work at Fort Halstead; and if he will make a statement.

My hon. Friend must, I think, be referring to a short stoppage of work on 17th June. It lasted only a few hours. Some 80 persons were involved. I do not consider that an inquiry of the kind suggested is called for. I am, however, looking into various points about which my hon. Friend wrote to me last week.

asked the Minister of Supply whether he is now satisfied that sufficient orders have been placed with aircraft manufacturers to ensure that helicopters of the right types will be available for the three Services and for civilian operators of aircraft as soon as possible; what types are now on order; and by what date he estimates that each type ordered will be in quantity production.

Dragonfly and Sycamore helicopters are in production for the Services and an order for Westland S.55 helicopters will be placed shortly. It is not usual to give information about delivery dates for military equipment. Contracts have also been given for the development of other types of rotary wine aircraft for military and civil use.

asked the Minister of Supply how many workers at the Royal Ordnance factory at Swynnerton have been declared redundant in the past six months; and how many new workers have been taken on in the same period.

No workers have been declared redundant. One thousand one hundred and sixty-one have been taken on.

asked the Minister of National Insurance to circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT the instructions issued by the National Assistance Board to its local offices for dealing with cases of hardship in respect of dental, ophthalmic and prescription charges other than those on National Assistance.

It is not the practice for Government Departments to publish the executive directions which they give to their officers, and I am not prepared to ask the Board to make an exception to this rule.

asked the Minister of National Insurance the maximum income limits beyond which the National Assistance Board in the city of Manchester will not grant financial assistance to those who apply for assistance towards the cost of appliances for which charges have been imposed under the National Health Service Acts.

There are no special rules applicable to Manchester. Each case must be separately considered in the light of its own facts in accordance with the general standards laid down in the National Assistance (Determination of Need) Regulations.

asked the Minister of National Insurance if he is now in a position to inform the House whether his consultations with the Trades Union Congress have reached finality on the subject of workmen's compensation; and what his Department are prepared to do on the matter concerning improvements in benefits, &c.

In accordance with the undertaking given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary on 2nd May, I have had some discussions on this matter with representatives of the Trades Union Congress and I hope to make a statement after the Recess.

asked the Minister of National Insurance whether he has yet had conversations with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the possibility of providing relief to persons paying National Insurance contributions who obtain no set-off in Income Tax relief.

No.

asked the Minister of National Insurance what provision his Department made for Charles Sealeaf, his wife and five children of Westminser Road, Liverpool, whose home was destroyed by fire last week; if he is aware that Mr. Sealeaf has been unemployed since 1945; if he will state the total amount of benefits paid to him to date; and why work had not been found for this man.

I am writing to the hon. Member about this case.

asked the Minister of National Insurance whether he will make available leaflets printed in the Welsh language explaining what applicants for family allowances have to do in order to obtain the increases; and where they will be obtained.

Yes. A Welsh language leaflet will be available in Wales in all National Insurance offices and in certain post offices.

asked the Minister of National Insurance the numbers in receipt of National Assistance payments in the County Borough of West Ham on 1st November, 1951; and at the latest convenient stated date.

The comparative figures are 6,229 on 30th October, 1951, and 6,545 on 24th June, 1952.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power the nature and extent of the duties of the Chief Scientist's Division of his Department.

The Chief Scientist's Division is concerned with promoting research and development in the efficient use of fuel and power. It consists of a scientific branch which investigates new methods of using conventional fuels and new sources of energy; a fuel efficiency branch which promotes the application of existing technical knowledge with the object of saving fuel; and a separate establishment responsible for research designed to improve the safety, health and welfare of men working in coal mines.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power what work his area electricity meter examiners performed during 1951; and if he will give details of the faulty meters they discovered.

There are seven area meter examiners with 20 meter examiners working under them. Their duties are laid down by statute and are mainly: (1) examination and certification of meters submitted to them by the electricity boards; (2) satisfying themselves that the meter testing instruments provided by the boards are maintained in proper order; (3) adjudication of disputes between consumers and boards referred to them for settlement.During the year ended 31st March, 1952, 2,112,495 meters were submitted for examination and certification. About 100,000 sample meters were tested, 733 being found faulty: as a result, 6,822 of the meters submitted were rejected. Five hundred and seventy-six defective items of testing apparatus were dealt with. Sixteen disputed meters were referred to the meter examiners, and two meters were found faulty.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that the annual allocation for fish exports from Britain to France includes £10,000 for periwinkles for which in France there is small demand or sale; that this diminishes the permitted allocation for the export from Britain of monk fish for which there is in France a large demand and sale; and if he will negotiate with the French Government with a view to rectifying this anomaly before the next relevant Franco-Britain Trade Agreement is entered into.

The French import quota for fresh and frozen fish, which applies to monk fish, is quite separate from the quota for periwinkles, and its size is not affected by the existence of the periwinkle quota. I am not aware that the quota for periwinkles is too large, especially at the present time when licences under it are being issued on a reduced scale because of the French payments difficulties. I can assure the hon. and learned Member that further efforts will be made to secure increased opportunities for exports of fish to France in future negotiations.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a list showing how many buildings listed at any time as of special architectural or historic interest under Section 30 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, have now been demolished or are derelict or about to be demolished.

I am circulating in the OFFICIAL REPORT information about demolition. I am afraid that I do not know how many of the 32,000 buildings so far listed might be described as derelict.

asked the Minister of Agriculture how egg producers, with more than a flock of 25 hens, who are not in the pool, are able, under his regulations, to obtain feed for their hens.

Egg producers can draw a bonus ration of feedingstuffs on producing evidence of disposal of eggs to a licensed packing station. In addition, whether or not they sell eggs, poultry keepers can draw basic rations if their holding was registered as carrying poultry in 1939 or 1940, or rations under the extended scheme if their holding is over one acre. These rations may be augmented by unrationed feedingstuffs such as dried grass and certain cereal byproducts.

asked the Minister of Pensions if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table showing the average sums paid weekly by his Department, or from other official sources, to totally disabled ex-Service men who are in employment; who are unemployable; and who are temporarily unemployed on account of a recurrence of ill health or the need for hospital treatment.

Ex-Service men pensioned at the 100 per cent. disablement rate are paid by my Department average weekly sums of £3 15s. if in employment and £6, rising to £6 5s. from 23rd July, 1952, if eligible for the unemployability supplement. A pensioner with a dependant who is prevented from working for a period of less than eight weeks by reason of treatment approved by my Department would receive not less than £4 17s. a week (£5 9s. a week from 23rd July, 1952).I regret that I am unable to state the average sums received from other official sources or to furnish the information asked for in the last part of the Question.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he can give an assurance that recruits are informed before a parade for vaccination and inoculation is called that these operations are voluntary.

I would refer the hon. Member to my written reply to a Question on this subject by the hon. Member for Willesden, West (Mr. Viant) on 4th December last year.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer by what authority Her Majesty's Inspectors of Taxes demand from taxpayers the production of Post Office Savings Bank books.

Inspectors of Taxes have to make such inquiries as are necessary to ensure that liability to tax is correctly determined. If my hon. Friend has cases in mind in which he considers that improper requests for information have been made, and will give me particulars, I should be glad to look into them.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General how many telephone kiosks have been allocated this year to the county of Roxburghshire; and if additional kiosks can be made available to supply the needs of four isolated rural areas, namely, Mosspaul, Laughtree, Borthwick Water and Crealing.

During the period to 31st March, 1953, it is proposed to install in Roxburghshire two kiosks in rural areas—at Leaderfoot Bridge and at Sandystones, and at least two kiosks in towns. Leaderfoot Bridge and Sandy-stones were agreed with the County Council as the most urgent rural cases, and I regret that our resources are insufficient to provide more this year.