asked the Secretary of State for Air if he is aware that Service men in the Royal Air Force Element Camp, Ty Croes, Anglesey, are continually complaining about the quality of the food provided, but without effect; and if he will inquire into the position with a view to improving conditions in this camp.

I am making inquiries and will write to the hon. Member.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has considered representations by hon. Members on the anxiety felt by trades unionists lest the device of attachment which it is proposed to use for the enforcement of maintenance orders should be introduced as a means of recovering civil debts or collecting fines; and whether he will now make a statement in reply.

I know that some trades unionists and employers are anxious on this score. I can assure the right hon. Gentleman that I have no intention of introducing legislation to make the attachment of earnings available for the recovery of ordinary civil debt or for the collection of fines, to which in my view different considerations apply from those which apply to obligations under maintenance orders.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will make a statement on the shortage of qualified radiographers in the National Health Service; and what action he is taking to prevent radiographers leaving the service in increasing numbers.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Walthamstow, West (Mr. Redhead), on 2nd December.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is now in a position to make a further statement on the Government's hospital building programme.

Yes. It is proposed, subject to the voting by Parliament of the necessary funds, that £22 million shall be spent on capital development in the hospital service in England and Wales in 1959–60, compared with £18 million this financial year and £20 million proposed for next year.Hospital boards are being informed of their individual allocations within this total for the modernisation of mental hospitals, the replacement of obsolete plant, and ordinary capital expenditure. In addition, the programme of major building projects announced by my predecessors will be continued and extended. As my predecessor explained to the House on 1st July, 1955, the original programme, in order to encourage speedy action, included more projects than it would be possible to start in the years to which it was allocated. Projects already in the programme, but not started, and the second phases of some of those for which only the first phases have so far been authorised, are likely to make a considerable claim on the capital available for 1959–60. I am today inviting boards to bring to completion the planning of a number of additional major projects. I hope that all boards will endeavour to complete the planning early in 1959–60.The projects selected include the first phases of new hospitals to be built at Liverpool and Boston, and the second phases of a number of large schemes already in the programme such as the new hospitals at Huddersfield, Swansea and Swindon; the mental deficiency hospital at Llanfrechfa Grange, near Newport; the development of The Downs Hospital, Sutton, as a medical nuclear physics centre; and the provision of a new X-ray department and theatres at Lewisham Hospital where the first stage of development is now nearing completion. There are new out-patient departments for the Dudley Road Hospital at Birmingham, the Chester Royal Infirmary and the North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary, Stoke-on-Trent; an outpatient department and admission unit to serve the Hollymoor and Rubery Hill Mental Hospitals; and an admission unit and convalescent villas at the Garlands Mental Hospital, Carlisle.A new regional neuro-surgical unit is included for the Newcastle General Hospital. Extensions are proposed at the Pontefract General Infirmary, Sharoe Green Hospital at Preston, the Blackpool Victoria Hospital, Blackburn Royal Infirmary, and Bronglaise Hospital, Aberystwyth; and works of modernisation are included for St. James's Hospital, King's Lynn; the City Hospital, Exeter; St. Lawrence's Mental Hospital, Bodmin; and Hope Hospital, Salford. Among the projects are a new boiler house for the Manchester Royal Infirmary and some improvements at the City General Hospital, Sheffield. I am also asking for plans to be prepared for the first phase of some hospital development in Hull, and for additional beds at Ilford or Barking, but details of these two schemes have yet to be worked out with the boards concerned.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he has yet appointed the Committee foreshadowed in his White Paper on Local Government Finance to review the Plant and Machinery (Valuation for Rating) Order, 1927.

Yes. The following have agreed to serve on the Committee:

• Sir Edward H. Ritson, K.B.E., C.B. (Chairman),
• Mr. T. S. Dulake, F.R.I.C.S.,
• Mr. A. B. Henderson, M.A., M.I.C.E., M.I.Mech.E.,
• Mr. Maurice Lyell, Q.C.,
• Mr. C. H. Pickworth, M.I.C.E., M.I.E.E.

asked the Paymaster-General whether he is aware that West Germany has recently signed a trade agreement with East Germany whereby they will receive large amounts of soft coal; and whether he will investigate the possibility of Great Britain obtaining coal from East Germany, thus saving on dollar imports of coal.

I am aware of the Agreement. As regards imports into this country, our policy is to replace them by home supplies.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the estimated cost of paying the travelling expenses of all patients who have to travel more than five miles for medical attention.

I can make no reliable estimate; but the cost would certainly be very heavy.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when the reconstruction work on the Glasgow-Carlisle road immediately south of Newfield Inn, Lesmahagow, is to be completed.

Reconstruction work on 4¾ miles of the Glasgow-Carlisle trunk road south of Newfield Inn started on 16th October and the contract period is 2½ years.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what has been the average number of tradesmen, labourers and apprentices employed on housing contracts at East Kilbride each year since the Development Corporation was appointed.

The average numbers of building operatives employed on housing contracts at East Kilbride are as follows. Statistics are not available for years earlier than 1950–51, nor for the separate categories of building labour referred to by the hon. Member.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) whether, in view of the fatal road accident at Coulter Bridge, near Biggar, on 24th August, he is satisfied with the road safety measures now in force; and when this bridge and its approaches are to be reconstructed;(2) how many road accidents, fatal and non-fatal, respectively, have occurred since the war at Coulter Bridge, near Biggar.

Since the beginning of 1946 there have been four accidents at Coulter Bridge, in which five persons were killed and two injured. The responsibility for road safety measures at this bridge is a matter for Lanark County Council as highway authority and it would be for them, in the first place, to consider any scheme for reconstructing it and its approaches. I understand that certain works were carried out in 1953 and that the approaches to the bridge are adequately sign-posted and subject to the 30 m.p.h. speed limit.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many persons were employed in the Statistics Division of the Board of Trade at the latest available date, and at comparable dates during each of the past six years.

The following is the information:

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware of the present difficulties of obtaining adequate information from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to enable a decision to be reached as to whether or not the provisions of the Anti-Dumping Act are being infringed in any particular instance; and whether he will make arrangements to inform the Soviet authorities that the continued importations into this country of Russian manufactured goods cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely unless such information is made available.

The Board of Trade's powers to act under this legislation do not depend solely on the supply of information by foreign countries, and the second part of the Question does not therefore arise.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury if, for the years 1940, 1947 and 1956, he will set out in tabular form comparative figures and percentages for consumers' expenditure, expenditure on food only, gross fixed capital formation at home, value of physical increase in stocks and work in progress, exports of goods, exports of services, gross domestic product, and gross output of shipbuilding and engineering, and, for the years 1924,

The table below provides, as far as possible, the statistical information asked for. Comparable information is not available for all the years required, but estimates have been given for the nearest year for which information is available. The figures have been derived from a variety of sources, principally the National Income Blue Book and the Censuses of Production.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation (1) what proposals he has submitted to the local authorities concerned in regard to the claiming system in respect of classified roads and bridges;(2) what objections he has received from boroughs and urban districts with populations of 30,000 and over, or from associations representing them, to his proposal to grant new powers to county councils to veto expenditure on classified roads claimed by these local authorities.

I have decided not to proceed with these proposals.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he will introduce legislation to ensure that Corps Diplomatique name plates may only be obtained by persons entitled to fit them to their cars.

No. As the use of C.D. plates is not officially recognised and cars bearing them are not accorded any special privileges, no useful purpose would be served by legislation on the lines suggested.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether the work on the West Cromwell Road extension in Brentford and Chiswick is up to schedule; and whether he is satisfied with the progress of this new road in the Middlesex County Council's area of responsibility.

I expect the whole scheme to be completed on schedule.