asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what local authorities in North-West Kent have protested to him about the decision to abolish the Rent Tribunal Office at Dartford; and if he will reconsider the matter in view of the feeling that has been aroused at this step.

Two, Erith and Dartford Borough Councils, have protested to me in writing, and I recently received a deputation from them and from four others: the Urban District Councils of Crayford, Northfleet, Chislehurst and Sidcup and the Rural District Council of Dartford. I am considering their representations.

I welcome the changed attitude of the right hon. Gentleman, and I cannot even think of enough kind words. We shall watch what comes out of the consideration.

I cannot quite agree with my hon. Friend's supplementary question. May I ask the Minister that in future, before he takes steps of this nature, he will consult the local councils and the local tribunals, or will go a step further and realise that there is very deep concern about the shutting down of these tribunals and not shut down any more?

I should not like to deal with the differences above and below the Gangway, as I feel they go far beyond my own personal character.

asked the Minister of House and Local Government the total amount of halfway accommodation available in the county of Middlesex.

There are 77 halfway houses in the County of Middlesex, administered by 21 local authorities and providing accommodation for approximately 740 families.

Does the Minister appreciate that there is likely to be acute hardship this winter, as last, because of inadequate accommodation for evicted families? Will he see if he can get the local authorities to provide more temporary accommodation for unfortunate people who are evicted?

I will certainly do everything possible to avoid hardship.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that if the figures he has given relate to the county welfare services they represent accommodation for roughly 10 per cent. of the families in Middlesex displaced and made homeless by court orders? Will he therefore use his powers to urge Middlesex County Council to increase the number of halfway accommodation in order to rescue many people of this character?

I will certainly look into that matter sympathetically.

The Minister said that he was prepared to look into cases of hardship. Will he look into his Circular 73/52, which calls upon local authorities to give up requisitioned accommodation, and is therefore likely to reduce the number of halfway houses now available?

That is quite another point.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government the number of houses being built for letting outside those being built for the local authorities.

Houses are built for letting by housing associations, Government Departments and private builders, as well as by local authorities. All the available figures are given in Summary Tables D and E and Table No. 3 of the published Quarterly Housing Returns.

Will the Minister give an assurance that no contractors will be allocated raw materials and British labour to provide houses for letting to the wives and families of visiting Service men, as was suggested in one national newspaper a few weeks ago?

I read something in the "Sunday Pictorial," but that is all I have heard about it.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how many of the licences issued since 1st January for private building for owner-occupation have been returned.

I regret that I am unable to add to the information given in the published quarterly Housing Returns.

Is the Minister aware that as the result of the propaganda of the party opposite before they were elected, a number of people in this country feel that they have had a cruel deception perpetrated on them—[Laughter.] Oh, yes—in so far as that, with the increasing interest rates and the higher cost of building, it is almost impossible for people to take up the licence for which they have applied?

I am glad to have this deep interest in private building licences from the hon. Gentleman. The words "cruel deception" are a little hard. I cannot anticipate the year's results, but I think that the "cruel deception" will result in a very large number of additional houses built both for tenants for letting and for private persons for their own occupation.

Does my right hon. Friend not agree that the biggest deception with which these people have had to contend is that of development charges?

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how many houses are being built for sale since the increased allocation allowed under private licence.

The available information is published in the Quarterly Housing Returns.

But cannot the Minister give us some more information than is contained in the document to which he referred? Is he satisfied that with the present prices there is any solution to the housing programme by making houses available for sale when, in fact, most people who want houses cannot buy them at the present time?

I have to be very careful about giving information which is not due until the Housing Returns. I am apt to get into trouble if I do. The next Housing Returns will be submitted to Parliament on the appropriate date of 5th November.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what advice he has given to local authorities in the London area in connection with tenders for housing contracts submitted by member firms of the London Builders' Conference.

I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the answer I gave him on 21st October. Local authorities are well able to look after themselves, and I see no reason to give them advice on this subject until they ask for it.

As a long time may elapse before the President of the Board of Trade does something or nothing about it, will the Minister in the meantime at least encourage local authorities to require an undertaking from contractors that no tender shall be submitted to this price-fixing body, which holds the community to ransom, before the tender is considered by the local authority concerned?

Unlike some people, I believe that local authorities are quite well able to manage these affairs themselves. I am grateful to the hon. and gallant Gentleman for this publicity which will help them in their efforts.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how far the cost of building new houses and doing maintenance work has increased during the past year; and what are the reasons.

The latest available information will be included in the Third Report of the Girdwood Committee, which will be published shortly.

In the meantime, can the Minister give us any information in view of the figures which were increased the other day when providing for extra maintenance costs? Evidently his Department has some information as to the present tendency.

When an expert committee is just about to make a report it is wiser for a Minister to wait for those details than to make estimates of his own.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government the number of villages in England and Wales, respectively, that have no water supply provided; and what steps he is taking to deal with this problem.

I regret that the information is not available, but every effort is being made to improve water supplies as rapidly as our resources permit.

I wonder if it would inconvenience the Minister to give some indication of how many villages had a water supply made available to them either during the past year or the past few years?

If the hon. Gentleman would put down a Question in a slightly different form, I will do all I can to get him the information. "Villages" is not a territorial boundary within which we deal. We deal with "parishes" or "districts" or "councils." Could he have a word with me afterwards and I will do what I can to get him all the information at our disposal?

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government (1) if he is aware that the water supply at Tolleshunt Knights, near Maldon, Essex, is so inadequate that many householders and market gardeners get no water at all during the daytime, water closets are unusable, milk goes sour because there is no water for the cooling apparatus at some farms and fires cannot be put out, but that these conditions are not certifiable by the Medical Officer of Health of the Maldon Rural District Council as prejudicial to health; and if he will consider taking steps to grant more discretion to medical officers of health to issue the appropriate certificate in such cases;

(2) if he is aware of the serious water shortage in the parish of Tolleshunt Knights, near Maldon, Essex; and if he will expedite approval of a scheme to provide a better supply of water to this parish.

The Rural District Council recently asked whether water supplies in the Tolleshunt Knights area could not be improved, and I invited them to send me details of their proposals together with a report on existing conditions by the medical officer of health. I have not yet received any of this information. Medical officers of health have full discretion in reporting on matters of this kind, and no instructions are needed from me.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what representations have been made to him on planning grounds to site a so-called "prison without bars" in a derelict camp in south-east Westmorland; and whether he will give an assurance that his consent will not be given to such an undesirable development in the approaches to the Lake District.

I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to the camp at Belah River. I have arranged for a local inquiry at which the Prison Commission's proposal can be thoroughly examined.

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the inquiry will be in public, that the Commissioners will try to make their case, and that their representative will be open to cross-examination?

I think that probably will be so, but I will look into the point.

Has the Minister considered the use of some of the derelict islands round our coast for this purpose?

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will give consideration to the early rebuilding of Portsmouth Guildhall which was destroyed by enemy action and issue the necessary licence.

I fear that there are other projects which would probably be regarded as more urgent. In any case, I have not received any application in this matter from the Council.

Does the Minister appreciate that whereas Portsmouth is wholeheartedly behind him in his efforts to rebuild the city and appreciates all that he has done, which was more than was ever done by the party opposite, we would like some priority in rebuilding the Guildhall?

I will do what I can, but in this matter, naturally, I shall be guided by the local authorities.

Will the Minister inform the House when we can expect a statement from him on the general question of the blitzed cities?

There is another Question on the Order Paper.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what agreement has been reached on the expenditure involved on Departmental account to meet the equal pay award made by the London County Council.

I am replying to the Council agreeing to meet the extra expenditure in respect of rest centres.

May I ask my right hon. Friend if he would not consider it logical that equal pay should now be applied by all local authorities in the country in order to give equal pay to at least one section of the public employees; and I presume he would have no objection to confirming such applications to his Department for the same financial assistance?

I will do my best, but the hon. Lady will know that what is logical and what is done is not always the same thing.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what will be the total amount of capital expenditure allowed for the reconstruction of the bombed area in Southampton during 1953.

I regret that I am not yet in a position to make a statement.

Could the Minister say what is the reason for this delay in granting the necessary licences for reconstruction? Is it due to the shortage of steel in spite of the expanding steel production, or is it due to the general policy of the Government of the curtailment of capital expenditure?

It is due to the desire that, when the statement is made, it should be one satisfactory to the hon. Gentleman.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will make a grant to the Southampton Borough Council for the purpose of beautifying the city during the Coronation week to welcome visitors from the United States of America and other visitors

I have no power to make such a grant.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether, in view of the fact that numbers of foreign visitors will land at Southampton during the Coronation period, he will give special help in the reconstruction of the centre of this bombed town.

I am very ready to take into account all the needs and circumstances of Southampton and of the other blitzed towns, but as I have stated I am not yet in a position to make any announcement about the programme for 1953.

In view of the recent discussions in another place on the damage done to Southampton during the war, is the Minister aware that Southampton is not ashamed of its war scars and does not mind Coronation visitors seeing them, but that it would be a shame to let foreigners see the neglect of the reconstruction of Southampton by the British people, and that if he wants to do good to the Coronation he will persuade his friends who would not answer this question to do something along those lines?

I agree with the hon. Gentleman, and I know his interest in this matter. War scars of a city, like the wounds of a soldier, are things of which to be proud, but if the hon. Gentleman is throwing discredit on the little that has been done, he must carry five-sixths of that burden.

Will the Minister give equal consideration to the city of Portsmouth?

When a soldier is wounded in the course of war, is not an effort made to heal those wounds? Why does the Minister delay so long in attempting to heal the war scars of Southampton?

I have been responsible for one year out of the six, and in that year for which I have been responsible over £1 million more work has been done in the blitzed cities than in any other year.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what circulars he has issued, consequent upon the enactment of the Forestry Act, 1951, modifying in any way the Ministry of Town and Country Planning circular No. 66 relating to tree preservation orders.

Circular 60/51 on 5th October, 1951, and 20/52 on 15th February, 1952. I am sending copies to my hon. Friend.

asked the Minister of Works how many hotels and houses have been derequisitioned by his Department since 1st November last year; and what superficial area they comprise.

Six hotels and 98 houses, comprising 135,000 square feet and 388,000 square feet, respectively, have been released by my Department since 1st November, 1951.

Will my right hon. Friend go on with the good work, and make it known that he wants the rest of it de-requisitioned.

Yes, Sir. So far as I can tell, the rate of about half-a-million square feet released last year will continue over the next 12 months.

asked the Minister of Works the present production and stock position of bricks, cement and other building materials; and how these figures compare with a year ago.

In the first nine months of 1952, the production of bricks and cement had each increased by over 9 per cent. on the same period of 1951, and is continuing to rise. Brick stocks vary and, generally speaking, are adequate in the South, but inadequate in the North and in Scotland. Cement stocks are low, following a busy building season, but it is hoped will recover soon when production overtakes reduced winter demand. I do not expect serious difficulties with other materials for which I am responsible.

Can we then say with fair confidence that there are stocks to satisfy the Government's most progressive building policy?

The stocks of bricks and cement are low, but as the production of both these materials is rising, I think that if we can keep it going at a good rate during the winter we shall cope all right this year.

Is the Minister taking any special steps to deal with the brick shortage in the North-East of England?

I am taking steps to deal with the general brick shortage, and I am also looking into the particular problem of supplying bricks to the North-East of England. The difficulty there is one of transport, but I hope it may be overcome.

Is the Minister aware that one of the practical dangers of expediting a housing programme is that there is danger of the running down of materials, and will he be careful that in whatever building programme which is envisaged it is kept in balance so that there will be regular work for the people employed in the industry?

Yes, Sir. Of course, success beyond our expectations brings difficulties. But we think we can solve them.

asked the Minister of Works if he is aware of the public concern at the lack of initiative shown in popularising this year's Battersea Festival Pleasure Gardens; whether the venture is to continue during Coronation year and if he will give an assurance that more attention will be given to the organising of spectacular crowd-drawing features with an advertising campaign worthy of the event.

The Festival Pleasure Gardens will open again next year. I leave the business arrangements to the Board of the Company. They inform me that they spent some £35,000 on publicity during the past season. This sum must be compared with the millions spent in 1951 on the South Bank Exhibition which acted as an advertisement to the Battersea Gardens. The Board are now reviewing their publicity programme for Coronation year, and will, I know, take the hon. Member's views into account.

But is not the Minister aware that those who know anything about publicity are amazed at the lack of showmanship in 1952 and that he really must get rid of the dead hand and instil some new life into it? Cannot the Minister, even at this late hour, tell us what are the great plans for 1953? If the management want any ideas I am prepared to supply them.

I must thank the hon. Member. I am not an expert in publicity, but obviously he is. I will ask the Board of the Company to meet him and he can put his ideas to them if he likes.

asked the Minister of Works the future plans for the Festival Gardens and Fun Fair.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave yesterday to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Lewes (Major Beamish).

asked the Minister of Works how much grandstand accommodation for the Coronation Procession will be reserved for disabled ex-Service men.

I hope to make special arrangements for disabled ex-Service men in consultation with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Pensions.

asked the Minister of Works whether he is aware that it is difficult for London hotels to make definite bookings for the Coronation period as the Government have not yet been able to state how much accommodation will be required for official visitors; and if a decision on this matter can be expedited.

Everything possible is being done to give hotels the earliest information of the amount of accommodation desired for official visitors. The exact numbers of the foreign delegations cannot yet be known.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this is causing considerable difficulty to many would-be visitors to the capital, and can he expedite the matter so that the hotels may be in a position to know how much accommodation they will have for visitors?

I started on 3rd June to give the hotels the best estimate I could. The House will understand that until Her Majesty's invitations are accepted or refused I cannot produce exact figures.

Does the reply mean that the Government, although they have had a Recess of 10 weeks, are quite incapable of making any haste in this matter? Can the right hon. Gentleman tell us when these figures may be available?

I cannot answer that question. It is quite unfair on the Sovereign, who is issuing these invitations.

asked the Minister of Works whether provision is being made to allocate any seats along the Coronation route to trade unions and professional and commercial bodies.

Yes, Sir. Seats will be offered to these and other national organisations representing different aspects of national life.

Can the Minister indicate how these bodies should make their application?

Yes, Sir. If they will write to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works, they will get an answer.

Will they include the British Legion and B.L.E.S.M.A.?

I cannot at this stage say which bodies, but I am quite certain that those mentioned by the hon. Member are well in the picture.

asked the Minister of Works for what purpose the marble Adam mantelpiece was bought by his Department for 500 guineas at a sale at Halnaby Hall, near Darlington: and where it will be installed.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 21st October to the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnor (Mr. Watkins).

Yes, but the Minister has only given one part of the answer to the Question. Would he now state in which apartment this £525 mantelpiece is to be erected? Is not it in the apartment of a privileged family? How can he justify, at this time when there is a ruthless cut on wonderful work because of economy, the spending of public money on a mantelpiece?

I think it comes badly from the hon. Gentleman to complain about the preserving of a very fine work of art—and if he will refer to "Country Life" of 8th April, 1933, he can see a picture of it—when the party of which he is a member spent millions on temporary works of art on the South Bank, which have now disappeared. Secondly, the Government are responsible for Royal palaces, and Kensington Palace, which is one of our best palaces, was left in a disgraceful state by the late Government. We are doing up that palace. I am not willing to say for which member of the Royal Family the apartment is to be prepared.

asked the Minister of Works the number of workers employed in building at the last available date; what percentage was employed on house-building; and what were the comparative figures for 1951 and 1950.

As the answer contains a number of figures, I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

asked the Minister of Works whether he will give the names, with dates of appointment, of the Scottish Temporary Defence Works Committee.

No, Sir. This Committee is inter-departmental. It is not the practice to give the names of civil servants serving on committees of this nature.

Would my right hon. Friend just give the name of the chairman of the Committee, so that we might know what weight to attach to its recommendations?

I am afraid that would break the usual rule.

asked the Minister of Works the capital cost of new industrial construction and extensions approved by licence since October, 1951; and the comparative figures for the period October, 1950, to October, 1951.

£126 million from October, 1950, to September, 1951, and £109 million from October, 1951, to September. 1952. These figures relate, not to work done, but to work licensed. The building industry was overloaded in 1951 and the new Government had to impose a ban on new starts from November to February. There was also a shortage of steel in the early part of the year. These difficulties are being overcome and in future it will be possible to licence more industrial work.

Would the right hon. Gentleman say to what extent labour and material has been diverted from industrial construction to housing development?

I think very little indeed, because housing takes so little steel. If we are to do more industrial work we must have more steel. We are now in a position to allocate more steel to erect steel-framed buildings such as industrial buildings, and the total of industrial construction will increase.

asked the Minister of Works if he will give statistics to show the output per man hour in the building industry for the years 1938, 1945 and at the latest available date, respectively.

The physical output of the building industry is impossible to measure, owing to the great range of types of work and materials used.

Will my right hon. Friend make an appeal to all those engaged in the building industry to increase output as far as possible in the national interest, to stop all restrictive practices, and to ask those engaged as bricklayers at least to lay as many bricks per hour as their fathers did?

Productivity in the building industry has increased this year compared with last year more than we could possibly have expected. The same number of bricklayers are laying 10 million bricks more a week this year than last year.

Are we to understand from the reply of the right hon. Gentleman to the Question by his hon. Friend that he emphatically repudiates the implication that building trade workers are not working hard enough?

I am satisfied with the progress we are making, but we can make still more progress, and I believe we shall.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that in Scotland until recently building trade employers refused to put into effect the bonus schemes current in the industry, that only recently have they adopted the scheme for improving productivity and that the responsibility lies there and not on the Government?

I think there are many arguments for and against bonus schemes on particular sites, but as far as I am aware productivity in Scotland is rising.

In view of his first reply, does the right hon. Gentleman agree that it makes nonsense of the continual efforts of the hon. Member for Orpington (Sir W. Smithers) to suggest that building trade workers are in fact slacking on the job?

My hon. Friend has this on his side, that productivity in the building industry was extremely low a year ago compared with prewar, but it is now getting better and I think we can all compliment ourselves on that.

On a point of order. All I said was that if those in the building industry wanted to they could produce much more.

That is not a point of order.

asked the Minister of Works why, in view of the housing shortage in the area, he has allowed four dwelling-houses in Holyhead, Anglesey, formerly occupied by coastguards, to remain vacant for 12 months.

I wish to sell these houses. The delay in doing so has been caused by unexpected difficulties over the title-deeds. I hope the sale by auction will take place within about three months.

Is the Minister aware that 12 months is a rather long time to put a title in order? Is he further aware that there is considerable dissatisfaction locally about delay in letting or selling these houses? Will he do something to expedite the matter?

I share the dissatisfaction, but the fact is that these houses originally belonged to the Admiralty and were transferred to the Board of Trade in 1862 and back to the Admiralty in 1877. In 1923 they appear to have belonged to the Board of Trade. They were subsequently transferred to the Ministry of Transport and, in 1949, they were transferred to the Ministry of Works. It has taken rather a long time to trace all these facts.

Surely if those were legal transfers they were properly carried out and the last transfer must have resulted in an investigation of the title; why, therefore, has this difficulty arisen?

The difficulty is that there are some questions of responsibility for easements and services and we have had great difficulty in getting these things separated. I wish to sell them, not as a block, but one by one, and in order to sell them one by one I am informed by my advisers that I must get the title deeds exactly right.

asked the Minister of Works whether he will now release the main room of the Parish Institute at Willerby which was requisitioned by his Department in 1939 when 16 officers were employed and which is still in their occupation although many of the duties, together with the records, have been transferred to the chief office in Hull, and the staff in Willerby reduced accordingly.

I would gladly release this room if alternative accommodation could be found. I have asked my officers to pursue the search and also to consult with the authorities of the institute, to see whether any arrangement more convenient to them could be made.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that it is a great satisfaction to the people of this country to know that once again we have Ministers who put the convenience of the public above the convenience of their Departments?

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works, as representing the Lord President of the Council, what precise cuts have been made in the plans for the development of the work of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research; which particular research organisations have suffered cuts; to what extent in money and manpower; and to what extent these proposed cuts have been agreed by the Advisory Council of this Department.

As the answer is rather long and necessarily contains a number of figures, I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Is the Minister aware that economy in this Department may be a most dangerous thing for the welfare of this country? Is it not due to the fact that we did not economise in scientific research and development in this country that we have been able to put ourselves ahead of the world in aircraft and other scientific achievements, and that any economy on this must be carefully reconsidered in order not to endanger the country's future?

The utmost care is taken to ensure that the economies made will not have any adverse effect on the progress of scientific research.

Is it not a fact that most of the scientific progress of which we are so justly proud has been made in private industry? Is it not also the fact that many people take the view that encouragement of private industrial research is more profitable?

The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research does co-operate extremely closely with industry and private scientists. I think we have arrived at a system by which public enterprise and private enterprise are working extremely amicably together.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware, in view of the last supplementary question, that all the basic research for the aircraft industry, and nearly all research on jet engines, has been done in Government Departments?

I am aware that a very great deal of fundamental research has been done there and that the utmost use has been made of it by the aircraft industry.

asked the Minister of Labour whether men excused National Service will be called upon to join the Civil Defence Corps.

There is no power to compel such men to join the Civil Defence Corps, but I would certainly urge them to volunteer. The hon. Member's suggestion is clearly not applicable to men in the Merchant Navy, nor, by and large, to men medically rejected. Apprentices and others whose service is deferred, are not excused National Service but are called up in due course.

Whatever the legal phraseology may be as to why they are not doing National Service, is it not a reasonable suggestion to put to these men that, as they are getting this special privilege, they ought at least to play their part in the country's defence either by joining the Civil Defence Corps, the Territorial Army, or some other Service?

Yes, Sir. I quite agree with the hon. Member, and I think he has performed a very useful service by raising this matter.

asked the Minister of Labour the numbers of those called up for National Service in 1949, 1950, 1951, and to the latest date for 1952: the number of those deferred each year separately; and the number of those taken for National Service in each of the years after their period of deferment was over.

As the reply includes a table of figures, I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Can the Parliamentary Secretary give any indication as to whether the figures of those called after deferment permit of us assuming that deferment too often means exemption, because that is the position as some of us see it? I think that the Department should look at this matter because of the fact that those who are fortunate enough to get deferment because of the career that may be before them is to the disadvantage of those aged 18 who are called up? It is not fair to them.

I do not think I can add very much to the reply I gave the hon. Member on 31st July, when I said as plainly as I could that my Ministry takes the utmost care to see that the call-up is universally and fairly applied.

asked the Minister of Labour the total number of women registered as wholly unemployed in Scotland in August, 1952; what is this figure expressed as a percentage of the total unemployed; and whether the percentage of women registered as wholly unemployed in central Fife is greater than that for the country as a whole.

The total number of women and girls registered as wholly unemployed in Scotland at 11th August, 1952, was 23,861. This figure represented 36 per cent. of the total number of males and females registered as unemployed in Scotland at the same date. I am not sure precisely what area the hon. Member has in mind in the latter part of the Question, but for the Cowdenbeath, Kirkcaldy, Leslie and Leven and Methil employment exchanges the corresponding percentage was 53.

Is the Minister aware of the increasing difficulty of women and girls finding employment in Central Fife, that this is causing tremendous hardship to the parents, and will be indicate what steps are being contemplated by his Department to remedy this situation?

My right hon. and learned Friend and myself are well aware of that, and I am grateful to the hon. Member, who came to see me about it when I was recently in Scotland. We are quite aware of the difficulty, which I think is greater in Central Fife than elsewhere in Scotland, in finding employment for women. We do what we can to bring this matter to the notice of appropriate Government Departments.

Will the Parliamentary Secretary make representations to the Ministry of Transport to see if we can get that bridge across the Forth?

What percentage of these women are married and what percentage are unmarried?

I could not say without notice.

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that there is no such place in Fife which is pronounced as he pronounced Kirkcaldy?

I apologise for my Sassenach pronunciation. I am afraid I did not stay long enough in Scotland.

asked the Minister of Labour the total amount of wholly unemployed in Scotland on the latest date for which figures are available; what was the comparable figure for a year ago; and what steps he is taking to remedy the situation.

Sixty-one thousand two hundred and sixty-two at 15th September, 1952, compared with 45,852 at 17th September, 1951. It is the constant concern of my right hon. and learned Friend and his colleagues to encourage the growth of industry in those areas in which there is a special unemployment problem, and I would refer the hon. Member in particular to the answer given by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 21st October about the factory building programme for 1953.

Does not the Minister realise that this is a really alarming increase in the number of unemployed on the register in Scotland, and how soon will the Government be able to announce what action they are taking on this and associated problems in view of the recommendations of the recent Cairncross Report?

We can get the picture in rather more accurate perspective if we also look at 1950. In round figures, the number for 1952 was 61,000, that for 1951, as I have said, was 45,000, but that in 1950 it was nearly back to the same figure, 56,000.

Can the hon. Gentleman give a figure including those on part-time?

No, but I will answer the second part of the hon. Gentleman's first supplementary question, which he did not give me time to answer. My right hon. and learned Friend would not have asked me to go to Buckie and other places in North-East Scotland this summer to look into the position most carefully myself if he had not been aware that there was a special problem and that it will be necessary to take some action to meet it.

,—TO ask the Minister of Labour the number of unemployed workers in the building industry at the last available date; and what percentage were craftsmen.

On a point of order. May I ask why this Question has been permitted to appear on the Order Paper, having regard to the fact that the information is published in the Ministry of Labour Gazette?

It is usual not to ask for information which is readily available in the papers. I will look into the matter.

Twenty-one thousand, seven hundred and fifty-six at 15th September, of whom 21.1 per cent. were building trade craftsmen.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of building trade workers registered as unemployed at the employment exchanges in the county borough of West Ham at the latest convenient stated date and similar figures for a given date in October, 1951.

Two hundred and fourteen at 13th October, 1952, and 96 at 15th October, 1951.

Can the Minister give any explanation for the rapid increase in the number of building trade workers unemployed in view of the urgent need for houses, hospitals, sanitoria and factories? And in view of the fact that the Government said that they would get on with the job of building houses, why are these workers unemployed?

If the hon. Member will again look back to October, 1950, he will find that the figure was almost exactly the same as it is now.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that at the last Election the Tory Party told us that if there was a Tory Government we should be going forward, and yet he has now confessed in his own answer that we are going backwards to the bad old days?

If the hon. Member really wants to go into this matter, I would tell him that one of the causes for the increased unemployment in the building industry is the fact that we are now feeling the effects of the major capital cuts which had to be imposed under the régime of his Government, due to devaluation. These are only now beginning to take effect.

asked the Minister of Labour what evidence there is of effective response to appeals made for the employment of older people, and for the retention in industry of those who have reached the normal retiring age.

As might be expected in a matter of this kind, involving changes in long-established attitudes and practices, the response has been uneven, both from employers and workers, but there is much interest and discussion. This is what is needed at this stage to promote effective action.

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that while he will undoubtedly have the very willing co-operation of many employers, there are also many other employers who will do precisely nothing in this matter unless under statutory obligation to do so? Will the hon. Gentleman and the Minister take into consideration?

The hon. Member will know that I preside over the national advisory committee on this subject, and I should pay a tribute to the great help I am receiving from both sides of industry in this work. Only this week the Post Office announced the raising of the upper age limit of recruitment for minor engineering manipulative grades, so they are certainly playing their part.

Why is the hon. Gentleman's Department retiring fit men of the age of 61 years?

The answer to that was given by the Minister the other day. It is that 60 is the retiring age in the Ministry of Labour and we cannot retain people beyond that age if it affects promotion lower down the scale in the Ministry. That is the only reason for this action.

What use does the hon. Member think it is making appeals to private industry if he himself does not set a good example?

The hon. Member has quite misunderstood the kind of appeal which we are making, which is for the employment of the older age levels on the merits of a particular case, not as a right.

Surely the Government have told the House that there is no longer a normal retiring age in the Civil Service. Why, therefore, does he say that 60 is the retiring age in his Department?

We have 600 people in the Ministry over the age of 60 and we are very glad that they are continuing in employment. I think that is very significant.

Is there any co-operation and collaboration with the nationalised industries, because my experience teaches me that since 1950 an entirely different attitude has been adopted by the high level of nationalised industry, who have been dismissing men who want and are fit to continue at the age of 65? Is there any co-operation between the two Departments?

Yes. The nationalised industries are represented on the advisory committee over which I preside, and they are playing their part. We all recognise that this is a very difficult and urgent human problem, and I am very glad that hon. and right hon. Gentlemen opposite have stressed its urgency. We will do all we can on this committee, urged on, I hope, by the House, to solve this problem.

Has my hon. Friend made any approach to other Departments as well as the Post Office, notably the Admiralty?

asked the Minister of Labour when he proposes to introduce an amendment to the Industrial Disputes Order, 1951 (No. 1376), with the purpose of admitting professional organisations within its purview.

Certain unforeseen difficulties arose over the making of this amendment, but my right hon. and learned Friend is anxious to get the matter settled and will make a statement as soon as possible.

Would it be indiscreet to ask what these unforeseen difficulties were?

I am sorry to stonewall the hon. Member, but he must ask that question of my right hon. and learned Friend.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if a decision has now been reached on the flat-rate scheme for the carriage of fish.

Yes, Sir. The White Fish Authority announced on 16th October their decision not to proceed at present with a flat-rate transport scheme for white fish.

Are we to take it that the possibility of assisting the fishing industry over the matter of freight has been finally turned down by the Government? Without injuring the nearer ports, would it not be possible to do something to assist the more remote areas, because the question of high freights is still a tremendous handicap on the industry in these areas and may deprive the people of the best quality fish?

I fully realise that it is a matter which is causing great anxiety to these ports. It is essentially, in the first place, a matter for the White Fish Authority. The Government will, of course, view it with every sympathy, and I believe that the Scottish Committee of the Authority have put forward proposals for the improvement of marketing of white fish, which would affect Shetland and the outlying ports.

What were the considerations affecting the decision not to proceed with this scheme?

It must be fairly clear that while the scheme would, of course, assist Aberdeen, it would not be so popular in certain large southern ports.