asked the Paymaster-General whether he will give reasons to account for the fall in stocks of household coal in Scotland to 227,100 tons at the present time as compared with 251,900 tons in November, 1956; and what is his target figure for an adequate stock of this type of coal for this time of year.

Scottish house coal stocks have declined since late September because of the loss of coal output during the influenza epidemic, but despatches from the pits are now improving again. During the last five years stocks at this time have averaged 247,000 tons.

asked the Paymaster-General, in view of the inflationary effect, in certain circumstances, of wage increases in the nationalised industries for which he has a responsibility, if he will consider the desirability of introducing legislation to make it ultra vires for the boards of these industries to make wage increases which are not matched by national productivity, and to assign a specific function to the Council on Prices, Productivity and Incomes in assisting the boards to shape their wages policies in the general national interest.

The Government do not propose to interfere with the normal procedure of wage negotiations in the nationalised industries.Questions regarding the functions of the Council on Prices, Productivity and Incomes should be addressed to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

asked the Minister of Supply whether he will make a statement with regard to the future use of the Royal Ordnance Factory, Thorp Arch.

I have nothing to add at the moment to the reply given to my hon. and gallant Friend on 25th July last.

asked the Minister of Supply if he will publish a list of military aircraft projects abandoned as a result of the Government's policy announced in Command Paper, Number 124.

The military aircraft projects abandoned as a result of the policy announced in Command Paper No. 124 were the supersonic bomber, a supersonic fighter, and a research aircraft project.

asked the Minister of Health the figures for the supply of National Milk for September, 1956 and 1957.

The total quantity of welfare milk, both liquid and dried supplied during September, 1957, is estimated at 13·49 million gallons—compared with 13·51 million gallons in September, 1956.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will publish in HANSARD a table of figures showing the rates of pay now being received by the lower-paid clerical workers in the National Health Service; how these compare with similar grades in the Civil Service; what has been the percentage increase in the wage and salary scales of staffs in the National Health Service since its inception until the latest stated date; and how this percentage increase compares with that received by the Civil Service for the same period of time.

Yes. The following is the information:

asked the Minister of Health what positive evidence he has that the live poliomyelitis virus discharged into the sewers from infected persons is incapable of spreading the disease among swimmers who bathe at an outlet of untreated sewage.

None, but while the possibility that sewage may play some part in the spread of poliomyelitis cannot be ruled out, there is no evidence that the disease has been contracted from this source.

asked the Minister of Health what machinery exists for reviewing the present Whitley Council structure in the National Health Service.

There is no formal machinery. The constitution of the Health Service Whitley Councils provides for its amendment by the Councils themselves.

asked the Minister of Health the constitution of each side of the Whitley Council for the National Health Service workers together with the organisations they represent.

The following statement gives particulars of the representation of each of the authorities and organisations represented on the Council:

asked the Minister of Health whether he is now prepared to grant loan sanction to the Middlesex County Council for the erection of an adult male practical training centre for mental defectives in north-east Middlesex.

As the Middlesex County Council were informed in July, my right hon. and learned Friend regrets that he will not be able to recommend loan sanction during the present financial year.

asked the Minister of Health what action has been taken by his Department following the recommendation of the chief medical officer of his Department that tobacco smoking should be prohibited in public transport and places of public entertainment.

No such recommendation was made; questions about smoking in public transport or places of public entertainment would be for my right hon. Friends the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation and the Secretary of State for Home Affairs.

asked the Minister of Health what evidence was given to the Wolfenden Committee by his Department with regard to part-time prostitutes.

None.

asked the Minister of Health (1) if his attention has been drawn to the conditions existing at St. Luke's Hospital, Bradford; and if he will state what provision is being made to improve facilities urgently required;(2) if future building policy now covers the removal of undesirable hutments in the grounds of St. Luke's Hospital, Bradford.

I am aware of the unsatisfactory condition of the hutted wards known as block H, as are the Regional Hospital Board. Work has been in hand for some time to enable the block to be closed, and I am informed that it is hoped to do this by 1st December. Long-term hospital building policy in Bradford is still under consideration by the Board.

asked the Minister of Health the number of hospitals in Wales involved in the ban on overtime; and whether he will make a statement.

I assume the hon. Member is referring to the ban on overtime in respect of administrative and clerical staff. 87 hospitals are involved. I am informed that finance departments are chiefly affected, but that in general weekly wages were paid on time at the weekend.

asked the Minister of Health whether he has now had an opportunity of examining to what extent the action of trade unions and staff associations in the hospital and medical services, in working to rule and banning overtime, has affected the efficient administration of these services; and whether he will make a further statement.

I am in close touch with the situation through regular reports from all parts of the country and have no evidence that the efficiency of the services is yet affected. I am happy to say that by no means all the unions and associations concerned are taking part in the action referred to, nor all the branches of those which are.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will now state the amount allocated for hospital maintenance purposes in the current financial year to the South Manchester Hospital Management Committee, and the amount spent in the last financial year.

I am informed that the allocation for the current year has not yet been finally determined by the Regional Hospital Board. The amount spent in the last financial year was £1,749,967.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will now state the moneys to be allocated for maintenance purposes in the current financial year to the Ancoats, Crumpsall, Jewish, and Northern hospitals in Manchester.

I am informed that the allocations for the current year have not yet been finally determined by the Hospital Management Committee concerned.

asked the Minister of Health how far the numbers of male and female nurses at present employed in mental hospitals fall short of establishment; and what were the comparable figures for 1955 and 1956.

The estimated shortages, of male and female nursing staff in mental hospitals at 31st March, 1957, the latest date for which figures are available, were 2,450 and 4,000 respectively. The comparable figures at 31st December, 1955, were 3,100 and 5,150 and at 30th September, 1956, 2,900 and 4,500.

asked the Minister of Health why he cannot make available figures of average length of stay of patients discharged from individual mental hospitals.

I am about to review statistical arrangements in this field, but my present impression is that to prepare these figures for individual hospitals would involve considerable additional labour, dis-proportionate to the value of the information.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that members of the Confederation of Health Service Employees are operating a ban on overtime at certain mental hospitals; and whether he will make a statement.

Nurse members of the Confederation of Health Service Employees are at present refusing to work overtime in eleven mental and mental deficiency hospitals. The Confederation have stated that this action has been taken in furtherance of their campaign for improved salaries and conditions of service and for the establishment of a separate Whitley Council for mental and mental deficiency nurses. I have no evidence that the treatment or care of patients has been affected, though in some hospitals social activities have had to be curtailed.

asked the Minister of Health why he appointed Mrs. Kathleen Lovibond as Chairman of the Uxbridge Hospital Board; and what qualifications she has for this particular appointment.

Chairmen of Hospital Management Committees are by statute appointed not by me, but by the Regional Hospital Board.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) whether he will make a statement on the future relations of the United Kingdom with the Yemen;(2) whether he is now in a position to make a statement on his consultations with the Yemenite leaders.

My right hon. and learned Friend who is, as the House is aware, unable to be present here today, hopes to make a statement himself on this subject in reply to Questions on Wednesday. I would ask the hon. Member to await this.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will instruct his representative at the United Nations to support the recent United States proposal to establish a fund of 100 million dollars for the advancement of the under-developed countries.

The United States proposal is of great interest to Her Majesty's Government and is, of course, the subject of exchanges between the United States and United Kingdom delegations in New York. I would prefer to say no more at this stage.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will instruct his representative at the United Nations to support the proposal of the Government of India to enlarge the membership of the United Nations Disarmament Sub-Committee from five to 12 members.

The United Nations General Assembly decided on 19th November to expand the Disarmament Commission by adding fourteen countries to it. No proposal to expand the Sub-Committee was put to the General Assembly.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on what date he requested the Bonn Government to give information concerning allegations that they were, contrary to the Potsdam Agreement, employing about 200 persons as judges and public prosecutors who were personally concerned as judges in the infliction of death and other heavy sentences under the Nazi régime; on what date the Bonn Government replied to his inquiry; and whether they have intimated when they expect to conclude their investigations.

This matter was raised on 5th July with the Federal German authorities who at once replied that an investigation into these allegations had already been initiated. There is, as yet, no indication as to when the investigation will be concluded.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what reply he has made to the request of the Liverpool Corporation that he meet a deputation to discuss the excessive smoke from the Clarence Dock Power Station and the committee's difficulties, arising therefrom, in effecting a smokeless zone.

I am sending the hon. Member a copy of a letter which has been sent to the Town Clerk today offering to arrange for a deputation to be received by my Department to discuss smoke pollution problems in Liverpool.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what official researches have been carried out to determine the treatment necessary to render sewage incapable of the conveyance of infectious disease before discharge into the sea; and how long this treatment takes.

On the information at present available, I do not think that the situation calls for research on the lines suggested. But I am keeping in touch with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health on this subject.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what action it is proposed to take to protect water supplies from possible contamination by radioactive substances from atomic power stations.

None of the nuclear power stations so far approved will drain to a source of drinking water. Moreover, no significant discharge of radioactive waste is expected from these power stations. Arrangements already made with my noble Friend the Minister of Power will ensure that any discharge there may be does not exceed a prescribed level of radioactivity.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will publish in HANSARD a list of those local authorities who have informed him that they are within sight of satisfying their local housing need; and how many of these authorities suffered severe bomb damage during the last war.

I am not in a position to do this, as individual local authorities do not write and tell me when they think they are within sight of satisfying their local housing needs.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will now announce the names of the members of the Commission to be set up to review the county and county borough areas in Wales.

I think it would be better to await passage of the Bill authorising the bringing into existence of the Commission.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government when selecting the Commission to review the county and county borough areas in Wales, if he will have regard to the need for at least some of the members of the Commission being bilingual.

Certainly.

asked the Minister of Defence how many acres of land are held by Service Departments in the County of Northumberland; and what action is being taken to return this land to the farming community.

60,328 acres of land are held by Service Departments in Northumberland, 57,450 acres of which are let for agricultural use. 1,800 acres will shortly be disposed of.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware of the practice in hospitals throughout the country whereby doctors are increasing the charge of a second death certificate necessary for the purposes of cremation from two guineas to four guineas, and of the proposal of one hospital in the Midlands to increase the fee of six guineas; and if he will take steps to stop this unreasonable increase.

If the hon. Member will be good enough to let me have the information on which his Question is based, I shall be glad to look into it.

asked the President of the Board of Trade to what extent it is envisaged that the rules and principles governing the proposed European Free Trade Area would conflict with the principles of the British film quota system, as now operated in the United Kingdom.

The negotiations are at a very early stage and I cannot yet say precisely what form the Free Trade Area will take or how it will affect the film industry.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what consideration has been given to the future administration of government in Pitcairn Island; whether he is satisfied that contact with the outside world through regular visits from passing passenger ships is likely to be maintained as at present; and if he will make a statement.

The affairs of the island are conducted by an Island Council and responsibility for the administration rests with the Governor of Fiji. No change is contemplated in these arrangements. The Governor of Fiji is considering the possibility of arranging more frequent visits to the island by administrative, professional and technical officers in the Fiji Service.I do not know of any proposal to change the existing arrangements whereby passenger lines call at the island.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what sums are intended to be allocated from Colonial Development and Welfare funds for the benefit of Her Majesty's subjects on Pitcairn Island; what schemes they are to finance; and how soon the islanders will see these schemes put into operation.

Colonial Development and Welfare schemes to the value of nearly £1,500 have been made providing for a new engine for the island's whale boat, a film projector and generator, and a soil survey. The first two schemes have been completed. A programme of projects to develop the island's resources, involving expenditure of up to about £10,000, is at present being drawn up in consultation with the islanders and it is expected that Colonial Development and Welfare funds can be made available for any scheme that may be approved with this programme by 1960.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what plans he has for improving the present system of land tenure and for fostering the agricultural development of Pitcairn Island.

The draft development programme at present being considered by the islanders makes provision, as a basic part of the programme, for a visit by a senior member of the Fiji Agricultural Department to examine the agricultural resources and the system of land tenure on the island and to make general recommendations on possible lines of development.

asked the Minister of Education his chief reasons for refusing the National Association of Schoolmasters representation on the Burnham Committee.

I have nothing to add to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, North (Mr. Llewellyn) on 14th November.

asked the Minister of Education whether he has considered the study, entitled "Loneliness," by the Women's Group on Public Welfare, recently published by the National Council of Social Service and whether he will circularise to all local authorities the recommendations on pages 45 and 46, particularly, that lists of social clubs and interest groups should be widely exhibited in each neighbourhood.

This valuable report received wide publicity last July. I am sure that many local authorities will find it useful but I do not think it necessary for me to circulate extracts from it.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will give an estimate of the extra revenue which is derived from the application of Section 55 of the Finance Act, 1940, as amended by Sections 29–30 of the Finance Act of 1954, and after allowing for the rebate for industrial property given by Section 28 of the same Act, compared with the Estate Duty which would have been collected if the normal principle of valuation had been applied, namely, the transfer price as between a willing buyer and a willing seller of those interests.

About £5 million.

asked the Prime Minister if he will, when considering closer links between Great Britain and Malta, take steps to avoid the possibility of the proposed Maltese Members obstructing purely British business in the House.

The Round Table Conference did not evidently envisage that the contingency referred to in my hon. Friend's Question would, in fact, arise and recommended that Maltese Members should have the same rights as other Members of this House.

asked the Postmaster-General the estimated increased revenue, for a full year, from the increase in telephone rental charges, including the abolition of free calls, during the last Session of Parliament.

About £13 million.

asked the Postmaster-General the estimated increased revenue, for a full year, from the increase in call box charges from 3d. to 4d. during the last Session of Parliament.

About £1 million.

asked the Postmaster-General the estimated financial value to telephone users, for a full year, of the new charging system for telephone calls; and how it is divided as between business and residence users.

About £2 million taking into account the 3d. call. The division between business and residence users is not known.

asked the Postmaster-General how many subscribers have given up their telephones in the Brighton area since the recent increase in telephone rentals.

In the Brighton Telephone Manager's Area 3,424 subscribers have given up their telephones since the 18th July when the increased tariffs were announced. Not all of these are attributed to the increased charges as in the corresponding period prior to the announcement there were 1,670 cessations.Over 2,500 new subscribers have been connected since the 18th July.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the gross amount of the Exchequer Equalisation Grant received by Scotland in each year since its inception.

The amounts for each year are as follows (the figures for 1957–58 are those for the first provisional payment):

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will state, for each county council, and county of city, the percentage of their total expenditure that was borne by Government grant during the last financial year.

The percentage of total expenditure on revenue account, including housing but excluding other revenue producing undertakings, borne by Government grants for each county (including burghs except counties of cities) and for each county of city in 1954–55—the latest year for which information is available—was as follows (the figures are based on details extracted from the local authority Abstracts of Accounts):

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many candidates were presented for higher English at the Scottish leaving certificate examination in March, 1957; and how many passed.

7,541 candidates were presented in English on the higher grade at the Scottish Leaving Certificate Examination in March, 1957 and 5,921 passed.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation when he intends to hold an inquiry into the collision on 5th November, 1957, between a Manchester to Euston train and a lorry; and whether he will arrange for such inquiry to extend to ascertaining the cause of the lorry being on the railway line.

I am investigating the cause of this collision which appears to have been due to a road accident. I do not propose to hold a formal inquiry.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether approval has yet been given to the Essex County Council's scheme for widening the London—Shoeburyness Road, A.13, at Hadleigh.

I have informed Essex County Council that I have approved this scheme in principle and that if they care to submit an application for grant I will consider it favourably.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will introduce legislation to amend the law relating to the issue of A, B and C licences for road transport vehicles, so that licences may not be refused by the licensing authority if the applicant is offering a service which might be preferred by the public.

In considering applications for A and B hauliers' licences, licensing authorities are already required by Section 9 (1) of the Transport Act, 1953 to have regard to the interests of the public generally, including primarily those of persons requiring facilities for transport. C licences are granted on request.