asked the Secretary of State for Air what conclusions have been reached regarding the use of jet aircraft for initial flying training in the Royal Air Force; whether an order has now been placed for a basic jet trainer: and whether he will make a statement.

The evaluation trials have shown that ab initio flying training on jet aircraft has definite advantages, and it has therefore been decided to establish this form of training on a larger scale. A production order is now being placed for the Jet Provost, which I am satisfied is the best aircraft for the purpose.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether, in view of accumulating evidence of unsatisfactory features in the recently developed export trade of cattle to the Continent, he will institute an inquiry forthwith to ascertain the facts and make recommendations.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a statement on the exportation of live cattle.

I would refer my hon. Friends to the reply that I gave yesterday to the Member for Norfolk, South-West (Mr. Dye) and others.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies under what authority the Inter-African Labour Conference is to be convened at Lusaka in August; the number of delegates and observers expected; what organisations they will represent; and how many will be Africans.

The 5th Session of the Inter-African Labour Conference is being organised under the aegis of the Commission for Technical Co-operation South of the Sahara by the Government of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The composition of delegations from the six Member Governments (Belgium, France, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Portugal, the Union of South Africa and the United Kingdom) is a matter for each Government. The United Kingdom delegation will, as at past sessions include, in addition to representatives of the African colonial Governments, territorial representatives of employers' and workers' organisations appointed to express technical views on questions under discussion. It is not yet known what organisations will be represented by observers. It is customary for the International Labour Organisation to send an observer.About seventy delegates and observers in all are expected to attend the Conference, but the number of Africans cannot be forecast. (Five Africans were included in the United Kingdom delegation at the previous session at Beira in 1955.)

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the average number of persons per doctor in Jamaica, Dominica, Trinidad and British Guiana, respectively; and how these figures compare with the United Kingdom.

I am consulting the Governors of the territories concerned and will write to the hon. Member when their replies are received.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the estimated long-term number of doctors required in the West Indies.

I would refer the hon. Member to paragraphs 9 and 10 of the Report of the Hospital Advisory Committee, University College of the West Indies Teaching Hospital, recently published as Colonial No. 327, where this question is discussed.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the difficulties about expanding the teaching facilities for medical students at the University College of the West Indies.

An authoritative assessment of the future needs of the Teaching Hospital of the University College of the West Indies has just been published—Report of the Hospital Advisory Committee—Colonial No. 327. This will have to be considered by the authorities of the College and the Hospital and, to the extent that the proposals affect Governments in the area, also by those Governments. Before this consideration has been given to the Report it would be premature to say whether any difficulties are likely to arise.

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware of the distress arising from the difficulty being experienced by parents wishing to withdraw children placed in mental institutions before the age of 5 years with the parents' agreement, often because of temporary difficulties, and that this distress is increased when the children are moved from one institution to another, making visits by relatives and friends almost impossible; and what action he is taking to deal with this situation.

I am not aware of any such cases. Parents who desire to place a child temporarily in a mental deficiency hospital can do so under present arrangements and can withdraw the child at any time. Mentally defective children are cared for in the nearest suitable hospital to their home.

asked the Minister of Health how many children under the age of 5 years have been certified as mental defectives since 1st January, 1950, or the nearest convenient date; and the number sent to mental institutions.

Separate figures of ascertained mental defectives are not available for children under 5. The number of children under 5 admitted to institutions vested in the Minister of Health during the period 1950–54 was 1,581.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the fact that the remuneration to general practitioners for the carrying out of the responsible duties and complicated arrangements required to collect, store, and administer the vaccine and keep the necessary records in connection with inoculation against poliomyelitis is unreasonably low, he will increase the present inclusive fee of 5s. for the two inoculations required in each case to a more reasonable figure.

The vaccination will be performed as part of the general practitioner's comprehensive medical care of his patients for which he receives remuneration from his local Executive Council; the additional 5s. fee is to be paid by the local health authority for the record of vaccination. This is the present fee for records of other forms of immunisation and was agreed between representatives of local authorities and of the medical profession.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that, following recent publicity, a large demand has been made to general practitioners by parents for inoculation against poliomyelitis for their children, and although only a limited number of children have been selected for this treatment even they are unable w receive it due to the withholding or non-availability of the vaccine; and if he will make a statement on the progress of this scheme.

A batch of vaccine expected in mid-January did not fully satisfy requirements of purity. One of the tests on a further batch is being repeated and if it is successful the vaccine will be issued to local health authorities in about ten days' time. In neither case has there been any suspicion of live poliomyelitis virus being present in the vaccine. When regular supplies are available the first step will be to complete the vaccination of nearly 1,500,000 children whose names were registered with local authorities last year. Plans for vaccinating further children will be announced in due course.

asked the Minister of Health how many children of 16 years of age or under there are who have been reported to his Department as ineducable.

On 31st December, 1955, the latest date for which complete figures are available, there were 25,658 children under the age of 16 who had been ascertained as subject to be dealt with under the Mental Deficiency Acts. 18,161 were under guardianship or supervision in the community, the remainder were in hospitals. Separate figures showing the number of children aged 16 similarly ascertained are not available.

asked the Minister of Health how many mentally handicapped are attending occupation centres; and how many await places.

On 31st December, 1955, the latest date for which complete figures are available, 12,372 mentally handicapped persons were attending occupation centres and 7,877 others, the majority adults, were reported by local health authorities to be suitable to attend when places could be provided.

asked the Minister of Health how many occupation centres are in use for the mentally handicapped at the moment; and how many it is proposed to provide in the next two years.

At the encl of 1956, there were 301 occupation centres in full-time use and 69 other centres where part-time training was being given. Schemes for another 41 full-time centres have been approved and may be expected to be working in the course of the next two years, and proposals for 33 others are being considered.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will give details of the schemes proposed to him by the London County Council under the Town Development Act; and indicate which of these proposals he has now approved and the number of persons likely to be rehoused thereby.

My formal approval has not yet been sought for any such schemes; but schemes at Haverhill, Letchworth and Thetford (each for about 5,000 people) and at Huntingdon (for about 3,500 people) have reached an advanced stage of negotiation. In each of them provisional offers of Exchequer grant towards the extra cost of water and sewerage have been made. These offers are without prejudice to any planning or other approvals still needed before the schemes can be put into operation.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the number of persons in the Gatehead area who have applied for reimbursement of prescriptions on medical item charges and the number who received reimbursement since the charge was first instituted, to the nearest convenient date.

I regret that this information is not available.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will publish in HANSARD a table of figures showing the main items of imports from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for the twelve months ended 31st December, 1956. and similar details for the exports from the United Kingdom to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the re-exports from the United Kingdom to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Following are the figures:

asked the President of the Board of Trade his policy with regard to the importation of "Supreme Knitting Machines" from the United States of America for the manufacture of heavy industrial fabric; and for how many of these machines have import licences been authorised or issued.

The normal rule is to grant licences for the import of industrial machinery from the dollar area when the Board of Trade are satisfied from the information before them that a dollar machine will reduce costs, and that no alternative non-dollar machine offering roughly similar advantages is available.If my hon. Friend will let me have details of the particular model or models he has in mind, I will send him the information for which he asks in the second part of his Question.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury why the Prime Minister's expense allowance is not used to meet the cost of his postage, telephone, secretarial and travel expenses.

All Ministers, including the Prime Minister, are provided with the staff and facilities mentioned in the hon. Member's Question for the discharge of their normal Ministerial duties. In addition the Prime Minister has part of his statutory salary relieved from tax to enable him to discharge the special public duties inseparable from his office.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why council houses in the Towcester Rural District are rated up to £26, whilst similar council houses in the Boroughs of Buckingham and Daventry are rated at £22 or less.

The rating assessments of houses in Towcester, Buckingham and Daventry are all based, as provided by the Valuation for Rating Act, 1953, on the rents paid in those areas for comparable properties in and about 1939.The council houses in Towcester with rateable values of £26 are larger than those in Buckingham and Daventry with rateable values of £22.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury by how much the staff of all Government Departments was reduced in the last calendar year; and what further reductions will be made in 1957.

Precise figures are not yet available for all Departments; but, it is estimated that, excluding the Post Office, the number of non-industrial staff fell during 1956 by about 1,100.I can give no estimate yet of what further reductions will be made in 1957.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer under what international agreements the United Kingdom is precluded from forming or entering a tariff preferential area in Europe or elsewhere.

I have been asked to reply.Apart from the provisions of bilateral Treaties of Commerce and Navigation, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade precludes the grant of new or increased tariff preferences. It does, however, allow, subject to certain conditions, the formation of free trade areas and Customs unions.

asked the Minister of Works whether, in consultation with the President of the Royal Academy, he will initiate a competition for the design of a statue to be erected in Parliament Square to mark the independence of Ghana and the elevation of the first Negro State to full membership of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

I do not think it would be wise to erect a statue to commemorate one step in the constitutional evolution of the British Commonwealth of Nations when so many others have not been commemorated in this particular way.