asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations what plans are being made for the extension of secondary and higher education in the High Commission Territories and for the establishment of a common university.

The Basutoland Government are planning to spend £29,000 from the Colonial Development and Welfare Fund on the building and equipment of six more junior secondary schools. In the Bechuanaland Protectorate £45,000 is being spent on improving the junior secondary schools. In Swaziland £12,000 has been allocated from the Colonial Development and Welfare Fund for the provision of further classrooms and laboratories for existing junior secondary schools and high schools.The Pope Pius XII Catholic College has been established at Roma in Basutoland and accepts students from all three territories, who can there take courses enabling them to qualify for degrees awarded by the University of South Africa, Pretoria.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will arrange to meet the Federation of British Industries to discuss with them the economic effects and after-effects of the armed conflict in Egypt.

There is already close consultation with representatives of industry and commerce on all trade questions, including the particular problems arising out of the situation in the Middle East. Such consultations will continue.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in HANSARD the dates upon which he increased the Bank Rate since October, 1951; and the amounts of such increase on each of these dates, together with similar details for increases made in the interest rates charged to local authorities on moneys borrowed from the Local Loans Fund.

There have been both reductions and increases in these rates since October, 1951.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer in what circumstances pensions guaranteed by the State are subject to cancellation or reduction, either before or after the retirement of the person concerned, on the conviction and sentence of that person in criminal proceedings.

A serving civil servant who is convicted and sentenced in criminal proceedings may be dismissed from his post as a disciplinary measure, when he automatically forfeits any pension he would otherwise earn by his service.A member of the Armed Forces in similar circumstances may be discharged or dismissed: if he has had long service the military authorities may allow a modified pension.Under the Forfeiture Act, 1870, a pension drawn from public funds ceases to be payable to a pensioner who is convicted of treason or felony, for which he is sentenced to death, preventive detention, corrective training, or imprisonment for more than twelve months. The Criminal Justice Act, 1948, enables the pension to be restored in whole or part.In cases which fall outside the Forfeiture Act a pension may be reduced or cancelled. Such action is mainly taken in grave cases as, for example, embezzlement of public moneys.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have taken place in England and Wales and in the City of Birmingham, respectively, during the last year for the emission of diesel fumes from transport vehicles.

I regret that this information is not available.

asked the Minister of Education how many more university awards would need to be given by the West Riding of Yorkshire to bring that authority to the same number of awards per thousand of the population aged 13 years to 15 years as is the practice in Lancashire.

About 260.

asked the Minister of Education how many more university awards need to be given by the West Riding of Yorkshire if that authority made them to all students obtaining two advanced passes in the General Certificate of Education examination.

827 of the applicants in 1956 had two advanced passes, and 476 of these were offered awards.

asked the Minister of Education if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table showing how the university awards of the West Riding of Yorkshire per thousand of the population aged 13 years to 15 years compares in number with those made by all other authorities of comparable size.

The following is the Answer:

asked the Minister of Education what reply he has given to the request of the West Hartlepool education authority to be allowed to operate a new scale for maintenance awards, similar to the scheme in operation in neighbouring areas.

I have advised the local education authority to await my consideration of the Report of the Working Party which I set up to consider the whole question of maintenance allowances. I expect the Report to reach me shortly.

asked the Minister of Education the number of school dentists now employed by the Monmouthshire Education Committee; what number is necessary for the full implementation of the school dental service in the schools of Monmouthshire; and what proposals he has in mind for strengthening the service.

Six dentists are employed full-time and one part-time in the school dental service in Monmouthshire. Between two and three times this number would be needed to provide a comprehensive service, and the local education authority is trying to recruit additional staff. The supply of dentists is a matter which is at present receiving the consideration of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health.

asked the Minister of Education how many children in Monmouthshire will not receive secondary education because of lack of school accommodation.

When a school now under construction is opened, there will be 12 all-age schools in Monmouthshire with about 1,400 children of secondary school age.

asked the Minister of Education what school building projects in the County of Monmouth have been postponed because of Government economic policies.

The starting dates of six schools included in the programme approved for 1956–57 will be postponed for about two months each. Of the nine projects proposed by the local education authority for 1957–58, three have been included in the approved main or reserve programmes; the others have been deferred because they fall outside the present building policy.

asked the Minister of Education what proportion of the total number of school children have secured places in grant-aided grammar schools in Buckinghamshire and in England and Wales, respectively, in the years 1953, 1954 and 1955.

The percentages of 13-year-old pupils, for whose education the Buckinghamshire education authority was responsible, who were in grant-aided grammar schools in January, 1954, 1955, and 1956 were 18·7, 19·1, and 19·6. The corresponding figures for England and Wales (which include pupils in the grammar streams of bilateral and multilateral schools) were 21·1, 20·8 and 20·3 respectively.

asked the Minister of Education whether he will draw the attention of local education authorities to the facilities offered by correspondence colleges and other institutions claiming to prepare children for intelligence tests and other aspects of the 11-plus examination, and claiming to ensure that such children will enter grammar schools.

No. I cannot believe anyone takes seriously a claim that coaching will get any child a place in a grammar school.

asked the Minister of Education what steps he is taking to improve the distribution of teachers.

Following the conference on this subject which I recently held I have now put to the associations of teachers and local authorities some practical suggestions which they are considering. I will make a statement as soon as these consultations have been completed.The Conference brought out the vital importance of maintaining the total supply of teachers and in particular of recruiting as many home-based teachers as possible in the area of every authority however well placed at present.

asked the Minister of Education whether he will increase the number of technical State scholarships.

I am considering the number of such scholarships. Any change would be announced in time for the next academic year.

asked the Minister of Education the number of technical State scholarships awarded to students attending colleges which set their own internal final examination as compared with technical colleges taking the recognised externally set examination papers.

I regret that this information is not available. If the hon. Gentleman will tell me the particular point he has in mind I will try to help him.

asked the Minister of Education if he will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT information, similar to that supplied to the hon. Member for Itchen in 1952, showing the percentage of children over the age of 12 years receiving secondary education in secondary grammar, secondary technical, secondary comprehensive and all-age schools, for every local education authority for the latest available date.

The information asked for by the hon. Member contains a great number of figures and I do not think it would be appropriate to circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT. I will however send it to him as soon as it is available.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he has taken in the case, brought to his notice recently by the hon. and gallant Member for Arundel and Shoreham, of a Government trainee who was employed for six months in a dairy without being allowed to milk a cow; whether he has yet addressed a suitable reproof to the farmer concerned; and if he will withhold grant from the farmer.

I understand that in this case the boy's time in the dairy was prolonged with his father's consent.The grant is paid solely in respect of the first three months on the farm. This was satisfactorily completed and no question of withholding the grant or of a reproof arises.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies when the people now living under unsatisfactory conditions in the Patio Danino and the Nissen huts in the Almeda Parade in Gibraltar are to be rehoused.

I have asked the Governor how the new housing programme will affect these people, and will send the information to the hon. Member when I have his reply.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what censorship arrangements have been in operation in Cyprus since 1st October; for how long and on what authority; and through what administrative machinery they have been carried out.

Civil censorship was in force in Cyprus from 31st October to 7th November. It was imposed under the authority of the Emergency Regulations and administered as a civil operation by the Cyprus Government.

asked the Minister of Defence whether he will offer to the United Nations Police Force in Egypt either as a free gift, on loan, or on a cost-payment basis, the arms, munitions and stores landed in Egypt and at present under British command.

The Government will be glad to consider any requests for assistance that the United Nations may make.

asked the Secretary of State for War what arrangements are made for Service men in the Eastern Mediterranean to receive a regular supply of newspapers.

Many thousands are flown to the area daily and are supplied on the scale of one for every five men. Deliveries have been well maintained except for one occasion when some newspapers had to be unloaded on route to make way for extra fuel and passengers.

asked the Secretary of State for War to state the casualties suffered by the 1st Battalion the Wiltshire Regiment since 1st August, 1956.

One soldier has been killed and one wounded, not seriously, as a result of terrorist activity.

asked the Secretary of State for War what casualties have been suffered by National Service men from Swindon in Cyprus and the Middle East during 1956.

Three National Service men, whose parents live in Swindon, were wounded, none of them seriously, in Cyprus, and none elsewhere in the Middle East.