asked the Minister of Supply if he will hold an inquiry into the production of British aircraft.

No.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he will issue a general direction to the British Electricity Authority that the cost of placing electricity cables underground should be spread over the undertaking as a whole, instead of being carried regionally, where this is necessary to preserve amenities.

I do not think that it would be desirable to make such a general rule about one aspect of exceptional costs.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he is aware of the demand by sections of the grocery and provision trades that the cut in imported bacon should be restored; and whether he will make a statement.

Special arrangements were made in April to reduce temporarily weekly shipments of bacon from abroad when supplies of home-produced bacon were heavy. These temporary arrangements are now being ended as demand has increased.

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that aged sick are being sent from hospitals to mental homes, in order to secure accommodation which otherwise would not be available; and what provision is being made to increase the accommodation for these aged and chronic sick people in hospitals, other than mental hospitals, and in old people's homes.

I am not aware of the tendency mentioned by the hon. Member, but accommodation is being provided outside mental hospitals in many ways. Some 1,500 beds have been provided in recent years in long-stay annexes, and the number of beds for the chronic sick in hospitals generally has been increasing. New homes for the aged and infirm in need of care and attention are being opened by county and county borough councils at the rate of over a hundred annually, and in addition provision is made by voluntary organisations, usually in association with local authorities.

asked the Minister of Health the number of convalescent homes, their total bed complement, the percentage of convalescent beds to hos-

NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE NON-TEACHING CONVALESCENT HOMES (INCLUDING PRE-CONVALESCENT ANNEXES) IN THE HOSPITAL SERVICE IN ENGLAND AND WALES Region Number of homes at 31st December, 1953 Total bed complement Percentage of convalescent beds to hospital beds (excluding mental and M.D.) Average weekly cost per patient 1953–54 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) £ s. d. Newcastle … 5 153 0.93 8 16 0 Leeds … 11 558 2.9 7 12 11 Sheffield … 13 686 3.2 9 0 5 East Anglia … 4 222 2.6 7 15 11 N.W. Metropolitan … 11 518 2.5 8 8 2 N.E. Metropolitan … 4 135 0.62 6 18 1 S.E. Metropolitan … 15 1,125 4.3 6 19 1 S.W. Metropolitan … 8 422 1.5 8 0 4 Oxford … 6 324 4.1 9 3 8 Southwestern … 9 385 2.1 7 5 9 Wales … 2 84 0.52 8 4 2 Birmingham … 6 284 1.1 10 16 2 Manchester … 8 286 1.1 10 4 10 Liverpool … 7 435 2.9 8 15 4

NOTE: The figures in column (5) are adjusted to exclude out-patient expenditure. The homes to which the figures in that column relate do not in all cases correspond exactly with those included in column (2).

asked the Minister of Health whether, in deciding on the new hospital programme, he will have special regard to the position of those regions whose bed accommodation per thousand of the population is below the national average, thus assisting to adjust the bed deficiencies which have been a marked feature of some regional boards since the inception of the National Health Service.

This is one of the main factors I shall take into account.

asked the Minister of Health what steps are being taken to make effective use of our hospital nurses by transferring the domestic duties, now carried out by them to domestic staff.

Hospital authorities are well aware of the desirability of relegating domestic duties to domestic

pital beds, excluding mental and teaching hospitals, and the average weekly cost, per convalescent patient, for each region, separately.

The reply is as follows:

staff, and nurses are not now employed on such duties to anything like the extent that they formerly were.

asked the Minister of Health what questions he put officially to the Standing Pharmaceutical Advisory Committee of the Central Health Services Council during 1954 and what advice he received from it.

The Committee, together with the Standing Medical and Nursing Advisory Committees, was asked for advice about the adoption of a standard system for settling responsibility for the custody and issue of dangerous drugs, and scheduled poisons in hospitals, and also for recording the requisitioning and issuing of them. The three Committees have formed a joint sub-committee for this purpose. No other questions were referred to the Committee during the year, and no advice was received from it.

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that health visitors are required to possess two more obligatory qualifications than hospital sisters but receive less remuneration than hospital sisters; and what steps he is taking to improve the salaries, pensions and conditions of service of health visitors.

Yes; but as the hon. Member has been informed in reply to previous Questions, this is a Whitley Council matter.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is aware that repatriated prisoners from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics have stated that a Bristol man named Charles Hammond, together with several other British nationals, are still in a Russian prison camp; and if he will make inquiries with a view to having them repatriated.

Yes. Inquiries are being made with a view to identifying Charles Hammond and other alleged British subjects who are reported to be detained in the Soviet Union.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has yet received the final Report of the committee which is studying the emigration and population problems of Mauritius; and what are the possibilities of emigration for Mauritians to North Borneo.

No. I understand the Report has just been printed and copies will be sent to me shortly.

With regard to the second part of the Question, North Borneo is unlikely to provide an outlet for Mauritius's surplus population, as its labour and population requirements can more suitably be met from adjacent territories.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware of the acute shortage of dental X-ray film for the National Health Service; and what action he is taking.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Surbiton (Mr. Fisher) on Friday, 24th June.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will arrange for the Park Telephone Exchange to be renamed Parkway with a view to reducing the many wrong numbers at present obtained as a result of callers inadvertently dialling PARK instead of PAR.

No. A difficulty is that there is an exchange called Barkway which would be too easily confused with Parkway.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will reverse his previous decision and open an additional post office in the Hartsholme-Swanpool area of Lincoln, in view of the need in this area.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland on what date the sum of £250,000 was made available for the improvement of Renfrew Airport; and how much has been expended to date.

I have been asked to reply.

I assume the hon. Member is referring to the Renfrew Airport Terminal Area development scheme mentioned at Item 9 of Subhead A.1, Vote 4, Civil Estimates, Class IX, 1955–56. Funds for this scheme, which is estimated to cost £282,000, were first voted in 1952–53 and the scheme has been included in successive Civil Aviation Votes since then.

Expenditure to date is approximately £235,000.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will investigate the possibility of granting improved tax allowances for wear and tear on plant and machinery to individuals making their living in the horticultural industry.

The standard rates of wear and tear allowances for particular classes of machinery or plant are determined by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Income Tax Acts, and there is a right of appeal against a decision of the Commissioners to the Board of Referees. If market gardeners consider that they can produce evidence showing that the rates at present allowed them are inadequate, they should approach the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, preferably through their trade association.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he has yet reached a decision with regard to the introduction of special regulations applying to the display of index letters and registration numbers on trailers drawn by farm tractors; and how soon he expects to be able to make any decision available to the National Farmers' Union.

I propose to amend the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations to permit a farmer to display on a trailer drawn by an agricultural tractor the registration mark of any such vehicle in his possession.