asked the Minister of Works if he will state, approximately, the present cost of maintaining the twenty-three buildings maintained by his Department in Manchester and Salford; and the estimated cost when they are handed over to maintenance by private building contractors.

:The present cost of maintaining these twenty-three buildings by direct labour is about £3,800 a year. If a comparable amount of work were done by contract I should expect a saving of the order of 10 per cent.

asked the Minister of Works when the Clock Tower will be re-opened to Members' parties.

:On Saturday, 1st June.

asked the Secretary of State for War if he will give an estimate of the number of civilians employed by his Department in England, Scotland and Wales, respectively, who will lose their employment as a result of the recent changes in defence policy.

:It is too early to give a forecast. Reductions in civilian employment will be phased over a period of five years.

asked the Secretary of State for War what future rôle is now envisaged for Territorial units in Shropshire; and whether he will make a statement.

:These units, except the Women's Royal Army Corps, are at present earmarked for use by N.A.T.O. It is proposed in the White Paper on Defence that they should be released from this rôle. They would then join the rest of the Territorial Army as a fighting force primarily for home defence.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether the independent assessors have now reported on all the claims to compensation made by employees of the Suez contracting companies; and what payments have now been authorised.

:I am afraid that I have nothing yet to add to the reply which I gave to my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Bolton, East (Mr. Philip Bell) on 7th May.

asked the Secretary of State for War what steps he has taken through the Army Welfare Department or through the Soldiers', Sailors', and Airmen's Families Association to provide garrison nurseries for the infant children of Service men in the British Army of the Rhine whose wives are ill.

:We do not provide garrison nurseries for children. But in case of illness, home help schemes are organised by local S.S.A.F.A. committees for whose help I am most grateful. Our experience is that in small Army communities there is a fund of help from neighbouring families when it is needed.

asked the Secretary of State for War if he is aware of the increasing wastage of soldiers' working hours caused by married men in the British Army of the Rhine having to be excused duty whilst attending to domestic family needs, especially when sick wives are in hospital, and that this causes anxiety to the relatives at home; and what action he is taking to meet this situation.

:I understand that it is rare for soldiers to have to be excused duty for domestic reasons, but if my hon. Friend has any particular cases in mind, I shall be glad to look into them.

asked the Secretary of State for War why the soldiers at the Tidworth Camp were vaccinated during the recent smallpox outbreak, seeing that the majority of them had already been recently vaccinated.

:Vaccination of all presumptive contacts of a case of suspected smallpox, irrespective of previous vaccinations, is a protective measure which conforms with accepted public health practice. At Perham Down and Tidworth it was offered to those who had not been vaccinated within the previous month.

asked the Secretary of State for War for how long, under his regulations, successful vaccination of soldiers is regarded as giving protection against smallpox.

:Troops are revaccinated in the United Kingdom and North West Europe every three years; in other areas every two years or at shorter intervals; and on medical advice in an epidemic or undue prevalence of smallpox.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government when he expects to approve the price schedules submitted by Paddington Borough Council for the conversion of houses on the Queen's Park Estate, some of which have been empty and ready for work to begin since before Christmas.

:Priced schedules for the work were submitted to me on 18th April. I have approved the scheme, subject only to settling whether the cost of certain minor items should be included in the calculation of grant, and I have informed the Council that they may begin the work.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if, before deciding on the amount of each of the awards under the Injury Warrant, 1952, to be paid to dependants of the officers and crew of the Scottish Fishery Cruiser "Vaila", he will require as a basis for assessing these awards from each of the dependants evidence as to the loss each has sustained.

:Awards under the Injury Warrant, 1952, are related to the salary and emoluments of the deceased civil servant. They therefore take account of the loss sustained by his death.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance whether he will consider recommending the appointment of a Royal Commission. Select Committee or some other type of all-party committee to inquire into the advisability of the introduction by Her Majesty's Government of a National Superannuation Scheme.

:I do not think that in all the circumstances any useful purpose would be served by appointing such a body.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will state the quantity and value of animal feedingstuffs imported this year from dollar sources; and the quantity and value for the corresponding period last year.

:The imports of animal feedingstuffs from dollar resources during the first four months of !his year amounted to 721,000 tons with a c.i.f. value of £20·5 million. The figures for the corresponding period of 1956 are 692,000 tons and £18·3 million, respectively

asked the Minister of Health what progress has been made towards the provision of a new hospital to serve the Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield area in Hertfordshire.

:Plans for the new hospital are well advanced, but the latest estimate of cost is considerably higher than that

Local Office					Men		Women
					Wholly unemployed	Temporarily stopped	Wholly unemployed	Temporarily stopped
Maerdy	…	…	…	…	45	—	19	—
Ferndale	…	…	…	…	93	—	49	—
Tylorstown	…	…	…	…	60	—	20	—
Porth	…	…	…	…	178	—	31	2

A more detailed age-analysis is obtained only in June and December. I will send at which the scheme was originally approved, and it has consequently been necessary to examine further the details of the proposals. This examination is almost completed, and I hope to let the regional hospital board have my views shortly so that it may be possible to commence building during the present financial year.

asked the Minister of Health how many attendances there were at psychiatric out-patient clinics in 1950, and in the latest convenient year.

:The numbers of attendances at mental illness and mental deficiency out-patient clinics at hospitals were: 1950, 523,218; 1955, 714,014. The figure for 1956 is not yet available.

asked the Minister of Health how many domiciliary psychiatric visits there were in 1950, and in the latest convenient year.

:5,592 in 1950 and 11,224 in 1955. The figure for 1956 is not yet available.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of unemployed persons, male and female separately, in age groups, signing at the Maerdy, Ferndale, Tylorstown and Porth offices, respectively, on the latest available date distinguishing the temporary from the more permanent unemployed.

:The total numbers of unemployed persons on the registers of the undermentioned local offices at 13th May, 1957, the latest date for which figures are available, were as follows:the June, 1957, figures to the hon. Member when they become available.

asked the Minister of Labour what were the average figures of unemployment in Skegness, Mablethorpe and Alford, respectively, in the six months ended on 31st March, 1957; and how these figures compare with the national average.

:The average number of persons registered as unemployed during the six months ended 15th April, 1957, was 611 at Skegness and 152 at Mablethorpe which includes Alford. It is not possible to give separate percentage rates for Skegness and Mablethorpe. For both places combined, the average of 763 registered as unemployed represented 6·8 per cent. of the total number of employees in the area, compared with 1·6 per cent. for Great Britain as a whole.

asked the Postmaster-General what amount is covered by the term "hospitality" on page 59 of the Estimates for 1957–58.

:£14,900.

asked the Minister of Supply what engines are to be installed in the later versions of the Victor and Vulcan aircraft now under development on his behalf.

:The later versions of the V-bombers now under development by Messrs. A. V. Roe and Handley Page will be known as the Vulcan Mark 2 and the Victor Mark 2. The first of these will have Bristol Olympus 6 engines; the second will have Rolls Royce Conway 11 engines.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware of the growing public concern about the cost of the long-playing gramophone records; that the cost is tending to frustrate the progress of good music in the home; and whether he will ask the Monopolies Commission to make an inquiry into what appears to be a monopolist control against the public interest.

:If public concern reached serious dimensions, I would take account of it in considering further references to the Commission.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the value of new home-produced equipment delivered to the cotton and staple rayon spinning and weaving industries, distinguishing spinning and weaving, respectively, for 1953 to 1956.

:Manufacturers' deliveries, to the home market, of machinery for processing cotton or staple fibre rayon were:

Year		For spinning and preparatory processes and subsequent processes preparatory to weaving	For weaving
		£ million	£ million
1953	…	5·0	2·4
1954	…	5·4	2·8
1955	…	6·1	2·4
1956	…	5·2	2·0