asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance why, under his pensions regulations, a disabled ex-Service man in the warrant officer, class I, or equivalent rank in the other Services, is allowed to claim a child allowance for his children until they reach the age of 18 years, whereas an ex-Service man below that rank can only claim until his children have reached the age of 16 years; and whether he will amend his regulations to ensure that all ranks can claim their children's allowance until the child has reached 18 years.

This is a longstanding provision of the Royal Warrant, but there is no such differentiation where the child is a student or an apprentice or is incapable of self-support by reason of infirmity. In all these cases the Royal Warrant provides for the continued payment of the allowance and I do not think that any extension of the present arrangements is necessary.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance, in view of the prejudice which exists, what consideration he has given to financing the National Assistance Board as part of the National Insurance Scheme, and not through direct Treasury grant.

I have seen a Press report of some proposals by my hon. Friend. But I do not think it would be justifiable, as his Question suggests, to place this additional burden on the resources from which National Insurance benefits are paid.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance on what grounds it was decided to transfer the work of the office at Bethesda, Caernarvonshire, to Bangor; to what extent local authorities, trades unions, and employers in the Bethesda and Ogwen districts were consulted first; and if he is aware that difficulties will arise for the largely working-class population, estimated at over 9,000, of these districts if the office is abolished.

The office work is being transferred from Bethesda to Bangor in order to effect economies, but the Bethesda office is to be kept open full-time for inquiries so that the public shall not be inconvenienced by the change. The new arrangements have the agreement of my local advisory committee on which the Anglesey and Caernarvonshire County Councils, employers' associations and trades unions are represented.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the duties of the Chief National Insurance Officer; and in which sections of the regulations or acts they are laid down.

The Chief Insurance Officer is one of the Insurance officers appointed as independent determining authorities under the National Insurance and Industrial Injuries Acts, and has the same statutory duties as other insurance officers. In addition it is his duty to ensure that information as to the relevant law, including decisions of the National Insurance Commissioner, is available to insurance officers throughout the country, and to handle centrally appeals to the National Insurance Commissioner.

asked the Paymaster-General the comparative costs of laying main transmission and main distribution lines for electricity underground as compared with the costs of placing them overhead.

The figures are given below. Generally speaking underground lines cost from four to eight times as much as overhead but the difference would be much greater in the case of the super-grid.

asked the Paymaster-General (1) what was the number of workers in the clerical grades and draughtsmen employed by the National Coal Board last September, compared with the number employed in September, 1954;(2) what was the number of technical coal workers employed by the National Coal Board in September, 1956, compared with the number employed two years before.

Employment in the grades referred to has been as follows:

EMPLOYMENT WITH THE NATIONAL COAL BOARD
—	September, 1956	September, 1954
Number of:—
Technical coal-workers	12,800	11,200
Clerical workers	31,900	28,000
Draughtsmen	1,300	1,200

asked the Paymaster-General if he is yet in a position to terminate the allocation of coal scheme, and also to permit consumers to buy without being tied to one supplier.

No. These two objectives cannot be achieved without additional supplies of suitable coal and we cannot afford to increase our imports of large coal. But my noble Friend has aked the Coal Board and the trade to re- examine the possibilities of filling the gap in supplies by other means, including the use of the smaller sizes of coal.

asked the Minister of Health on what date his regional medical officers ceased to inspect the dangerous drugs register kept by doctors.

These inspections, which are made on behalf of the Home Office, have not ceased.

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware of the increasing difficulty in obtaining suitable candidates for the post of physician superintendent in mental and mental deficiency hospitals, owing to the lack of any financial inducement to compensate for the extra responsibilities involved; whether he has considered the views of the Bradbeer and Guillebaud Committees which have a bearing on this subject; and what steps he proposes to take to remedy the situation.

I am aware of the difficulty to which the hon. Member refers and the views which have been expressed on the absence of inducement to consultants to take posts as medical superintendents at mental and mental deficiency hospitals. The level of remuneration of these officers is within the terms of reference of the Royal Commission on the pay of doctors and dentists. I do not feel able to comment further on it at present.

asked the Minister of Health if he is now in a position to make a detailed progress statement on item three of the phase III rebuilding programme at Stoney Stanton Road Hospital, Coventry.

Work on this item has now begun and it is estimated that it will be finished by October, 1958.

asked the Minister of Health when he proposes to reimburse the Newcastle Regional Hospital Board for the underspending in 1955–56 of £12,693 due to failure on his part to give planning approval for the West Cumberland Hospital and the Middlesbrough General Hospital accident and orthopaedic department.

There can be no question of reimbursing the Board for expenditure not incurred; but future expenditure on these schemes will not be affected by the failure to spend up to the full amount estimated for last year.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total amount of Tobacco Duty relief allowed to retirement pensioners in the financial year 1956–57; and what percentage of pensioners received it.

About £15½ million for retirement pensioners, in addition to about £¾ million for non-contributory old-age pensioners. Roughly 53 per cent, of pensioners holding pensions which qualify them for Tobacco Duty relief, if they are habitual smokers, apply for and get the relief.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he makes of the likely change in stock- building in the 1957–58 financial year.

Movements in stock-building are extremely difficult to forecast, and I do not think it would be useful to offer an estimate of the probable change in 1957–58.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what have been the changes in the first quarter of 1957 com pared with the first quarter of 1956 in the value of exports and of imports; and what estimate he makes of the change in value of personal consumption and in production for the same period.

In the first quarter of 1957 the value of United Kingdom exports f.o.b. was £836 million compared with £775 million in the first quarter of 1956, and the value of imports c.i.f. was £1,058 million compared with £985 million. No estimate is yet available of consumers' expenditure in the first quarter of 1957. The index of production in the first quarter of 1957, taking 1948 as 100, is provisionally estimated as 141, the same figure as in the first quarter of 1956.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what was the total of China's sterling surplus on current account with the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Malaya for 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955 and 1956;(2) what was the total of China's sterling surplus on current account with the sterling area for 1952 to 1956, inclusive.

I regret the figures are not available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will state for each of the years from 1951 the net long-term overseas investment of the United Kingdom as shown by calculating the annual value of the new long-term overseas investment of the United Kingdom and deducting therefrom, firstly, the annual value of overseas disinvestment by the United Kingdom and, secondly, the annual value of net long-term investment from overseas in the United Kingdom.

Cmnd. 122 gives the following figures for long-term investment calculated in this way.

	£ million
1953	180
1954	200
1955	110
1956	140

A somewhat less reliable estimate in an earlier White Paper in the same series puts the figures for 1952 at £150 million. No estimates are available for 1951.These figures exclude inter-Government lending, for which separate figures are given in Cmnd. 122.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will state for the years from 1951 to the latest convenient date the annual average value of the net long-term overseas investment of the United Kingdom as shown by calculating the annual average value of the new long-term overseas investment of the United Kingdom and deducting therefrom, firstly, the annual average value of overseas disinvestment by the United Kingdom and, secondly, the annual average value of net long-term investment from overseas in the United Kingdom.

The only figures available have been published in the White Papers on the balance of payments the latest of which was Cmnd. 122 (see in particular page 43, paragraph 25). It is probable that the averages there given would not be substantially affected by the inclusion of the years 1951 and 1952.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government when he proposes to take steps to increase the sources from which local government authorities raise their rate income and so relieve the burden now borne by householders and small shops.

I would refer the hon. Member to the statement which I made in the House on 12th February and to the reply which I gave to the hon. and learned Member for Kettering (Mr. Mitchison) on 18th March; and I would ask him to await the issue of the White Paper to which I referred in that reply.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) in how many cases his consent has been given to a notice to quit under Section 24 of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1948,

AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS ACT, 1948—SECTIONS 24–25 NOTICES TO QUIT
(1)			(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)
Years beginning 1st March			Minister's consent given	Appeals against Minister's consent heard(a)	Appeals against Minister's consent allowed(a)	Minister's consent refused	Appeals against Minister's refusal heard(a)	Appeals against Minister's refusal allowed(a)
1948	…	…	398	643(b)	198(c)	632	See Columns (3) and (4)
1949	…	…	430			762
1950	…	…	358	156	64	675	209	44
1951	…	…	322	134	51	549	185	36
1952	…	…	314	119	47	473	170	26
1953	…	…	240	96	40	364	131	28
1954	…	…	119	50	25	205	73	16
1955	…	…	135	32	15	238	53	6
1956	…	…	44(d)	31	9	125(d)	42	9
(a) Figures are for decided cases only and are shown in the year in which the decision was notified to the Ministry, which may not be the year in which the appeal was lodged.
(b) Number of appeals against both consents and refusals heard in the period 1st March, 1948, to 28th February, 1950.
(c) Number of appeals against both consents and refusals allowed in the period 1st March, 1948, to 28th February, 1950.
(d) Six months only—1st March, 1956, to 31st August, 1956.

The following table gives the information in the form in which it has been obtained from county agricultural executive committees, to whom the Minister's functions under the Section in question have been delegated. I regret that the information is not readily available by calendar years, and that to obtain the full information for the period from 1st March, 1948, to 28th February, 1950, would mean undue expenditure of time and labour.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at what percentage of full capacity bacon factories in the United Kingdom have been working during the months of January, February, March and April, 1957; and what effect this fall from total capacity has had on average bacon prices.

Expressed as a percentage of the highest output ever attained (in the autumn of 1952) the production of bacon factories in the United Kingdom was 61, 65 and 69 respectively for the first three months of this year. The figure for April is likely to be comparable to that for March.Prices for "A" selection home-produced bacon this year have ranged from 328s. per cwt. in January, to 247s. at which level they remained from 25th March until a few days ago. The price has since risen to 257s. The comparable price in the autumn of 1952 was 323s. 6d. per cwt. Thus there appears to be no direct relationship between the proportion of factory capacity employed and the market price of bacon.

asked the Minister of Labour the separate numbers of men, women, boys and girls registered at the Borough Employment Exchange at the most recent date in April; and the number on the disablement register at the same date whether included or excluded from the total of registered unemployed.

The following table gives the information desired:

asked the Minister of Labour the total number of working days which have been lost to date by official and unofficial strikes since December, 1955.

A total of about 5,960,000 up to the end of March, 1957. I regret that the information at my disposal does not distinguish between official and unofficial stoppages.