asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, in view of the relevance of our educational system to the solution of our economic problems, he will allow greater capital expenditure for educational purposes.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Peart) on 25th June, to which I have nothing to add.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were the reductions in retail prices which raised the purchasing power of the £ from 18s. 3d. in April to 18s. 4d. in May, taking the purchasing power of the £ as 20s. in October, 1951.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which my right hon. and learned Friend the Minister of Labour gave on 23rd June to a Question by the hon. Member for Darwen (Mr. Fletcher-Cooke).

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that John Reginald Christie, a man who had five convictions for theft, false pretences and malicious wounding, was enrolled in 1939 as War Reserve Constable X 112; how, in view of this man's criminal record, this was possible; and what action is taken by his Department to see that criminals are not enrolled into the police force.

My right hon. and learned Friend regrets that in the conditions of rapid expansion of the Metropolitan Police War Reserve at the outbreak of war this man's criminal history did not come to light. He is, however, satisfied that the inquiries now made before recruits are accepted provide an adequate safeguard against the enrolment of persons with criminal records.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the decision of the Wiltshire Quarter Sessions on 24th June, 1953, in the case of Miles v. Wiltshire County Council, to the effect, inter alia, that a fireman who had been dismissed on medical grounds from the Wiltshire Fire Brigade was not entitled to receive an ill-health award under the Firemen's Pension Scheme Order, 1952, on the ground that he had not retired; and whether he will introduce regulations to ensure that firemen who are discharged by fire authorities will not thereby be deprived of their right to pension under the said scheme.

The attention of my right hon. and learned Friend has been drawn to this case. It involves complicated issues which will receive the most careful consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will institute a public inquiry into the conviction of Timothy Evans.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave earlier today to Questions by the hon. Member for Nelson and Colne (Mr. S. Silverman) and others.

asked the Minister of Health if his attention has been called to the nuisance caused by the emission of grit and soot from the chimney of the Royal Infirmary, Leicester, to residents in the neighbourhood and the hospital alike; and if he will see that every possible assistance is given to the hospital management committee in their endeavours to abate this nuisance.

Yes. The regional hospital board is at present considering how quickly it can fit the scheme for improvement into its capital programme.

asked the Minister of Health how many cases, similar to that of John Forester, 21 Red Courts, Bran don Colliery, County Durham, are now on the urgency waiting list of the New castle Regional Hospital Board; how many other cases there are in the region requiring care and attention, but not con sidered as urgent; what is the total accommodation required for Newcastle Regional Board; and what proportion of the cases dealt with are from the county of Durham.

Two hundred and eight patients of this type are on the waiting lists in the region. A further 172 are on non-urgent waiting lists. The regional hospital board consider that if all possible needs were to be met in hospitals in their area over 3,000 additional beds might be required. Of the 3,388 defectives in hospital whose homes are in the region, 653, or 19 per cent., are from the county of Durham.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the shortage of mental deficiency accommodation in the country and the distress caused to parents through lack of such accommodation, he will instruct all regional boards to take steps at once to find extra accommodation for these persons.

Boards are well aware of the urgency of this problem which has been pressed on them in connection with the preparation of their capital programmes. In addition, I hope to make a special allocation available next year for extensions at suitable mental deficiency and mental hospitals, and I have circulated to boards sketch plans to assist them in framing proposals.

asked the Minister of Health what immediate action he is taking to provide a sufficient number of beds to deal with the long waiting list of mental patients requiring hospital treatment in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

I have approved in principle proposals from the regional hospital board to begin next year the provision of 118 beds for mental patients at St. Nicholas's Hospital, Gosforth, and 100 beds for mental defectives at Prudhoe and Monkton Hospital.

asked the Minister of Health the number of mental patients on the waiting list for hospital treatment in the Northern Regional Hospital Board area; and when he hopes to provide the facilities required to enable adequate treatment to be given to these people.

No formal waiting lists are kept for mental patients, who, if urgent, are admitted at once. Nine hundred and forty-seven mental defectives in the Newcastle hospital region are awaiting admission to hospital. I have approved in principle proposals to begin next year the provision of 278 beds for mental patients and 200 beds for mental defectives in the region, but I cannot say when all the accommodation needed can be provided.

asked the Minister of Health what steps he is taking to encourage local authorities to establish systems of night-watching services to care for the aged and sick; and if he will deal sympathetically with the requests made by health committees to establish such schemes.

It is for local health authorities to decide whether to establish such schemes as part of their arrangements for caring for the sick. A number have done so, often with voluntary helpers. My right hon. Friend will certainly deal sympathetically with any proposals so far as the financial situation permits.

asked the Minister of Health how many beds were unoccupied at the Nottingham General Hospital on the 27th May last; and why Mr. A. E. Fletcher, Woodend Road, Heanor, was sent home on that day after being treated at the hospital following a pit accident and was found to be dead after being taken back to the hospital in an ambulance the same day.

I am informed that 16 beds were unoccupied. The patient was not admitted because full examination, including an X-ray, did not appear to show that it was necessary. I am informed that at the subsequent inquest no reflections were passed on the treatment given at the hospital, and that in evidence the consultant pathologist expressed the view that the rupture which was the cause of death occurred some hours after the examination at the hospital.

asked the Minister of Health when he expects to be able to comment on the report of the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust on the work of nurses in wards which is at present being studied by his Standing Nursing Advisory Committee.

My right hon. Friend expects to be in a position to comment when he has received the advice of the Committee. The issues are complex and the Committee's study of the report may well take some considerable time.

asked the Minister of Health when he proposes to issue a circular to extend the use of B.C.G. vaccine; to which classes of the population it is proposed to offer the vaccine; and whether it will be produced in Britain or imported.

As soon as my right hon. Friend has considered any comments from the local authority associations to whom a draft has been sent; vaccination will be offered to certain age groups of school children; the vaccine will, as at present, be imported.

asked the Minister of Health what arrangements have been made to take boys of 15 and young men to and from the Dagenham Senior Occupational Centre for training the mentally retarded, in view of the fact that they cannot look after themselves.

My right hon. Friend is looking into the matter and will write to the hon. Member shortly.

asked the Minister of Education how many children were receiving school meals in June, 1952, and how many at the most recent date at which the figures are available in the whole of Great Britain, in Wales and the county borough of Newport, separately.

2,806,076 children in grant-aided schools in England and Wales received school dinners on a day in June, 1952, including 184,662 in Wales and 4,861 in the county borough of Newport. The corresponding figures for a day in October, 1952, which is the last return available are 3,009,416, 198,533 and 5,171, respectively.

asked the Minister of Education if she is aware that there has been a decline in the number of children taking school meals in the Hayes and Harlington area since the increase in the cost of school meals; and whether she will now review this policy.

My right hon. Friend is not yet in a position to add to the answers given on the 21st May to the hon. Member and the hon. Member for Leicester. North-West (Mr. Janner).

asked the Minister of Education (1) what steps she has taken to deal with and mitigate the worsening conditions in education revealed by the recent report of the Select Committee on Estimates, and, in particular, to secure the building of new schools and the repair and improvement of old ones; how many new schools in respect of which plans were initiated since October, 1951, have been started since that date; what is their location; and when work on them was first begun.(2) what action she proposes to take, and when, to implement the policy of the Government that the school-building programme should, in general, keep pace with the housing programme; and What steps she has previously taken to have that policy implemented;(3) what directives or instructions she has issued, what grants she has given, what licences she has issued, and what powers to take action she has granted to the local authorities concerned, to deal with the conditions of schools referred to in the recent report from the Select Committee on Estimates.

asked the Minister of Education (1) what steps she proposes to take to revise the estimate of additional school places required;(2) what steps she proposes to take to initiate a national survey of older schools.

I would refer hon. Members to what my right hon. Friend said in the House yesterday. With regard to the last three parts of Question No. 67, my right hon. Friend has no information on the date at which work on plans was initiated by the local education authorities concerned, but between 1st November, 1951, and 30th April last building work on 629 new schools was started. Between the same dates my right hon. Friend approved major primary and secondary school building projects to a total value of £49·04 million and minor projects for schools to a value of £6·46 million.

asked the Minister of Education whether she will make a statement on the future school-building programme.

My right hon. Friend cannot make a useful statement on the whole school-building programme in an answer to a Question. In the building programmes of the next few years, however, secondary schools will play an increasingly large part, as compared with primary schools.

asked the Minister of Education to give full details of the number of school-building projects which have either been completely stopped or amended; and the cuts or amendments made by her Department in the County Borough of West Ham's school building programme since October, 1951.

On the first part of the Question I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which my right hon. Friend gave to the Member for Rugby (Mr. J. Johnson) on 25th June. When it became necessary in November, 1951, to impose a temporary ban on the starting of school building projects, there were five projects in the West Ham Authority's school building programme approved by my right hon. Friend's predecessor, four for starting in the building year 1951–52 and one for starting in 1952–53. Of these five projects one started in 1952–53 and one is to start in 1953–54. No date has yet been fixed for the start of the remaining three.

asked the Minister of Education (1) which schools in Cornwall still have pit-closet sanitation;(2) which schools in Cornwall have bucket sanitation; and which of these are of the Elsan type.

Of the 321 maintained schools in Cornwall, 23 have pit-closet and 80 have bucket sanitation; none of the latter is of the Elsan type. My right hon. Friend is sending the hon. Member a list of the schools concerned.

asked the Minister of Education which schools in Cornwall, now in use, were black-listed in 1925.

The following is the information:

asked the Minister of Education the circumstances in which the school omnibus, conveying children from Hopwas, Staffordshire, to the Tamworth S.M.G. school, has been cancelled.

The school bus between Hopwas and Tamworth will be withdrawn next term because the Staffordshire Local Education Authority have decided in accordance with the policy advocated in Circular 242 to limit the provision of free transport to pupils who live further from school than the walking distances prescribed in the Education Act, 1944. I am sending the hon. Member a copy of the Circular.

asked the Minister of Education whether she will state, for the latest available date, the number of children over the age of 15 who were receiving secondary education by voluntarily staying an extra year in secondary modern schools.

In January, 1952, there were in secondary modern schools 19,967 pupils voluntarily staying beyond the compulsory school age. The available statistics do not enable me to say how many of these intended to stay for at least an extra year.

asked the Minister of Education what action she proposes to take to provide the necessary primary schools on new housing estates in the city of Birmingham where the problem, at the present rate of school building, will not be solved until 1958.

For their 1953–54 building programme the Birmingham local education authority proposed nine primary school projects to serve new housing estates and my right hon. Friend accepted them all. For their 1954–55 programme they have proposed 11 primary school projects to serve new housing estates and my right hon. Friend is about to accept them all.

asked the Minister of Education how many technical colleges have been accepted to date, as being eligible for grant for courses as specified in Circular 255.

It is open to all technical colleges to apply for these grants: such applications have been accepted from 11 technical colleges and applications are being considered from a number of others.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the Government's intentions in regard to the Glentress School of Forestry.

The condition of the temporary huts at Glentress is such as to make their further use as training premises uneconomic. The Forestry Commission propose therefore to transfer the Forester Training School to Perthshire, where more suitable accommodation and more extensive facilities for practical training are available.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is aware of the shortage of building bricks in Midlothian; and what steps he proposes to take to remedy the present situation.

While bricks have been scarce from time to time, I am not aware that the progress of any scheme in Midlothian has been seriously impeded. On the general question of supplies, the Government recently met Scottish brickmakers and urged them to consider further extensions of capacity and increases in output.