asked the Secretary of State for War what organised suggestion scheme is in operation in his Department; how many suggestions are received from employees through that organisation annually; how many are adopted; what awards are made for such suggestions; and what he estimates to be the savings made by the adoption of employees' suggestions.

We have had an organised suggestion scheme for eight years. Last year 304 suggestions reached the War Office and 234 cash awards were made. It is not normally practicable to value the increased efficiency resulting from suggestions in terms of money.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what organised suggestion scheme is in operation in his Department; how many suggestions are received from employees through that organisation annually; how many are adopted; what awards are made for such suggestions; and what he estimates to be the savings made by the adoption of employees' suggestions.

Since 1951 the staff of the Board of Trade have been invited to submit suggestions to a suggestions committee on which the staff are themselves represented. About 100 suggestions are made in a year and rather less than half of these are accepted. The awards for successful suggestions vary between half a guinea and five guineas.Because of the wide range of work in the Board of Trade, most of the suggestions are only of limited application, and it is not possible to give any figure of financial saving to which they lead. But there is no doubt that the scheme leads to greater efficiency and encourages interest in the methods of work.

asked the President of the Board of Trade at what monthly rate dollars are now being spent on the import of tobacco.

I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend to the hon. Member for Erith and Crayford (Mr. Dodds) on 15th March.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many overseas trade visitors went to the Birmingham section of the British Industries Fair in the years 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1955.

I am informed by the Management Committee of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, who are responsible for the Birmingham section of the Fair, that the number of overseas buyers' badges issued at Birmingham was as follows:

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what has been the increase in real wages and earnings for industrial workers since 1900;(2) what has been the average increase in output per industrial worker since 1900; and what this figure represents in terms of net value added.

No official statistics are available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the value of the product of the average factory worker in the United Kingdom; and what is the net value after deduction of the cost of materials and supplies.

The average value of gross output per worker in manufacturing industry for 1954 was about £2,300, and of net output per worker about £750, gross and net output being defined as in Census of Production Reports.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the number of theatres which have ceased to pay entertainments tax during the past two years.

It is estimated that about 45 to 50 places of regular theatrical entertainment have ceased to be used for dutiable entertainments during the past two years.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the loss to the Treasury of the abolition of the whole of the entertainment tax, taking into account the saving that would accrue to the Treasury in the abolition of the administrative staff and costs involved in collecting this tax.

About £39 million.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many errors have been discovered to date in new rating assessments; what is the main cause of these errors; and what steps have been taken to check all assessments.

A number of errors in transcription from working papers and in calculating deductions from gross values have been revealed by routine checks. These are being corrected. The evidence available suggests that their number is trifling in relation to the total of 15 million assessments made.Regarding the question which has arisen concerning the standards of values applied in one particular valuation area, I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for The Wrekin.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he can now make a statement on mining subsidence with reference to local authorities' interests and in reply to the representations made to him by the deputation which was representative of the National Standing Committee on Mining Subsidence.

A statement on this subject will shortly be made by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Fuel and Power.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government for what amount of loans for private street works the Newcastle-under-Lyme Council has applied for sanction since 1st January, 1956; and for what proportion he has given sanction.

£605: sanction was not given.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works, as representing the Lord President of the Council, what steps he is taking to implement the proposals of the Advisory Council on Scientific Policy regarding home-based pools of scientists for use on colonial problems.

Pools of scientists for use on colonial problems have been established at the instance of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies at a number of agricultural research institutions and also at certain stations of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. A certain amount of research on colonial medical problems is also based on the United Kingdom. One new pool is being set up for stored products research and two other pools have recently been enlarged. Consideration will be given to the expansion or creation of other pools as the need arises.

asked the Minister of Works the total amount of gypsum and plasterboard produced at January, 1953, 1954, 1955, and 1956; and whether, in view of the price, he will consider imposing price control in respect of these products.

Quantities of gypsum and plasterboard produced in the years 1952–55 are given in the following table:

asked the Minister of Works if he can now announce a decision about rebuilding the bridge over the lake in St. James's Park.

Yes, Sir. The response to my statement about a new bridge on 13th March has been clearly favourable. I have therefore written to the Trustees of the anonymous Testator gratefully accepting the generous offer.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many persons in Uganda and Kenya, respectively, have been punitively rusticated within those Territories in each of the last ten years.

The following numbers of persons have been rusticated within Uganda and Kenya since 1946:

asked the Minister of Health to publish a list showing all local authorities in the country to whom information about the new polio vaccine has been given; how many children there are in each between the ages of two and nine years; how many parents approached agreed to permit their children to be subjected to the operation; how many refused, or did not accept the invitation in spite of the extension time allowed; and the total percentage in each case.

Information was given to all county councils and county borough councils. The number of parents who register their children for vaccination will not be known until later this month. I will let the hon. Member have this information when available, together with the estimated number of children in the relevant age groups in each area.

asked the Minister of Health, in view of the fact that deaths from poliomyelitis have dropped from 707 in 1947 to 269 in 1955 and only 134 in 1954 without any use of vaccine, why he is now urging all local authorities to do their utmost to see that the maximum use is made of all available supplies of the new vaccine as he has no knowledge of its ultimate effects on children.

There is no evidence to support the suggestion that the dangers of poliomyelitis and of serious paralysis from that disease are declining. There is, however, good reason for believing that the new vaccine will give considerable protection. It is therefore my duty to offer vaccination to children whose parents wish them to be protected in this way.

asked the Minister of Health in view of the fact that the large majority of the parents of children have refused to participate in the new vaccine proposals against poliomyelitis, if he will allow any parents to withdraw their approval on any date before the actual operation takes place, even if already given in writing.

The number of children registered for vaccination will not be known until later this month; the scheme is entirely voluntary and parents are at liberty to withdraw their consent at any time.

asked the Minister of Health in view of the fact that the operation by the new vaccine against polio subjects the child to a mild form of the disease and is therefore liable to be infectious, if he will arrange to keep all children so operated upon segregated for the period of six weeks during which the effects of the vaccination are estimated to operate.

I am assured that vaccination does not subject a child to the disease in any form. Segregation is therefore unnecessary.

asked the Minister of Health to what extent alternative virus to that obtained from the kidneys of dead monkeys is being used in the proposed mass vaccination of children against poliomyelitis.

The vaccines prepared by the two manufacturers in this country are prepared from virus grown on monkey kidney tissue and inactivated by formalin. No alternative vaccine is being offered under the National Health Service Act, 1946, during May and June, 1956.

asked the Minister of Health (1) in view of the fact that over 900 children who had received the Salk vaccine in the United States of America developed poliomyelitis and over 200 of these were paralytic, if he will invite all local authorities to have similar records kept of the effect of the new polio vaccine now being used in this country;(2) in view of the fact that no guarantee can be given of prevention of poliomyelitis even after vaccination by the new vaccine and no information is available of its other effects, what compensation will be payable to children, or parents, if the child dies or is subject to other illness.

It is claimed that the new vaccine will reduce the risk of a child catching paralytic poliomyelitis. However, as in the case of other immunisations, no absolute guarantee can be given and no question of compensation therefore arises. Records will be kept to assess the extent of the protection.

asked the Minister of Health, in view of the fact that children who have had their tonsils or adenoids removed or have received penicillin or have been inoculated by vaccine of any kind are more susceptible to poliomyelitis, if he will invite all local authorities to keep records revelant to these and similar facts.

As I am advised that such children are not more susceptible to poliomyelitis, except in an area where there is a serious outbreak of the disease, I am not asking local authorities to keep such special records.

asked the Minister of Health what are the safety tests applied to each batch of the new poliomyelitis vaccine before it is issued to local authorities.

The following parallel tests are carried out by the manufacturers and by the Medical Research Council:

asked the Minister of Health how much is being paid to the manufacturers of the new vaccine against poliomyelitis for each dose supplied.

The release of this information would not accord with normal practice.

asked the Minister of Health what evidence he has that the effect of the new vaccine in small children is the same as that on monkeys or other sub-human animals.

Experience in other countries where millions of children have been vaccinated bears this out.

asked the Minister of Health what is the number of children between the ages of two and ten years who have been reported as suffering from poliomyelitis during the last ten years for which figures are available; how many were of the paralytic type; and how many died in each year.

Numbers of notifications are not available for the age group requested. The figures in the table below relate to children aged one year and under ten years.

asked the Minister of Health for how long it is now believed that the new vaccine against poliomyelitis secures protection from this disease; and why it is necessary to subject each child to a further vaccination in three months' time.

The duration of protection can only be assessed in the light of experience but the incidence of poliomyelitis among American children who were vaccinated with Salk vaccine in 1954 and 1955 continues lower than among unvaccinated children.The second injection is desirable to increase the degree of immunity conferred by the first, it is intended to give it at an interval of not less than three weeks; where the first injection is given after 9th June, the second injection will be given in the Autumn.

asked the Minister of Supply the total quantity of low grade ammunition paint offered for sale at the recent public auctions at Woolwich and Melton Mowbray.

The total quantity of ammunition paint offered for sale at Woolwich and Melton Mowbray amounted to about 36,000 gallons.

asked the Minister of Supply how many air compressor machines were offered for sale at Donnington by his Department in February last; what was the purchase price; how many were sold at the auction; how the price realised per machine compares with the cost price; for what purpose the machines were purchased; and how they have been used.

I have been asked to reply. None were offered for sale in February, but 82 were offered and sold by the Ministry of Supply at an auction sale at Manchester on 31st January.These compressors were of four different types, and most were bought during the war. The proceeds of the sale were £1,876 compared to the original cost price of £15,690. The average prices received for each type of compressor varied between 7 per cent. and 22 per cent. of the original cost.The compressors were bought for various purposes, some for use with pneumatic tools in static workshops, and some, which were portable, were intended for use in the Far East. A few were purchased after the war for use at home and abroad with special equipment. The Army has no further use for them as they are either obsolete or unsuitable for present day purposes.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the official Soviet proposals at the Disarmament Committee to limit immediate disarmament proposals to conventional weapons have now been examined by Her Majesty's Government; and whether he will make a statement.

I hope shortly to be in a position to make a statement on the present situation in the disarmament discussions.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many people were in receipt of old-age pensions in the United Kingdom as at 31st December, 1955, or at the most convenient date.

At the end of December, 1955, about 4,800,000 people in Great Britain were receiving a retirement or a non-contributory old-age pension. Northern Ireland has its own Schemes.