asked the Minister of Education whether he will sanction the provision of a new heating system at the Grange Park School, Sunderland.

Yes. I understand that the first part of the work is to be put in hand shortly.

asked the Minister of Education whether he will sanction the provision of additional laboratory accommodation at the Monkwearmouth Grammar School, Sunderland.

No. The pupils attending this school are to move to new buildings in about three years' time.

asked the Minister of Education how many direct grant schools have received assistance from the Industrial Fund for the Advancement of Science.

Sixty-eight direct grant grammar schools in England and Wales have received grants for building and apparatus, and 41 for apparatus only.

asked the Minister of Education what proposals have been put to him recently by the London County Council for school building, and in particular for the facilities for science teaching; and what reply he has made.

The Council submitted proposals for the 1959–60 building programme to the value of £3,207,815, including £900,000 for science accommodation in existing schools. I have accepted proposals to the value of £1,297,825, including £265,000 for science accommodation in existing schools.

asked the Minister of Education if he will amend his recently announced regulations for State scholarship and training college awards so as to confer some substantial alleviation of the means test as it affects parents whose incomes range from £525 to £1,500.

No. The changes I have made should be considered as a whole. They benefit parents at all levels of income.

asked the President of the Board of Trade to what extent the need now exists for the salvage of waste paper not only by businesses and local authorities but also by householders; and what recommendations for wastepaper salvage have been sent to local authorities.

There is still a demand for waste paper which can be collected and used economically. Local authorities decide how far to encourage householders to collect paper for salvage. Local authorities and the mills consult about the level of supply, and I understand that paper mills in certain areas have recently been able to increase their purchases from local authorities.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware of the concern arising from the latest official announcement of a two points increase in the cost-of-living index; and, in view of this being the biggest monthly increase for the past two years, what financial action is to be taken in an effort to avoid hardship amongst the many people dependent upon small fixed incomes.

The latest announcement shows a decrease of one point in the Index of Retail Prices, and not an increase as the question suggests.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he is aware that, owing to the transport restrictions in force because of swine fever, animals taken in lorries from Lincoln and Lincolnshire by road to the Royal Show at Bristol must make a wide detour which adds substantially to the time and cost of the journey; and whether, if there are safeguards to prevent the animals being removed from the trucks during the journey, the regulations may be amended to allow the animals to be transported by the most direct route.

My right hon. Friend is aware of the situation to which the hon. Member refers, but swine fever is highly infectious and difficult to control, and my right hon. Friend does not think he would be justified in making an exception to the requirements of the Swine Fever (Infected Areas) Special Orders for pigs destined for the Royal Show.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many potatoes harvested in 1957 have been marketed by the Potato Marketing Board; and what was the cost per ton to growers for this service.

Under the present arrangements, the Potato Marketing Board normally buys potatoes from producers only in implementation of the support price guarantee which it administers on behalf of the Government. No potatoes have been bought by the Board from the 1957 crop and the second part of the Question does not therefore arise.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if his attention has been drawn to the increasing number of robberies in the Greater London area in which iron bars have been used as coshes; and if he will give comparative figures for such robberies during the last convenient period of twelve months and for the corresponding period say, four years ago;(2) in view of the serious and often lasting injuries caused to innocent people by the use of iron bars as coshes, what steps have been taken to enable suitable punishment to be awarded to the attackers if convicted.

The number of robberies known to the police in the Metropolitan Police District in which coshes or blunt instruments of some kind were used was 63 in 1957 and 48 in 1953. I regret that figures are not available to show in how many of these cases the instrument in question was an iron bar. The maximum penalty for either robbery with violence or felonious wounding is life imprisonment.

asked the Secretary for the Home Department whether he can now announce the membership of the inter-departmental committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice Streatfeild on the business of the criminal courts.

My noble Friend the Lord Chancellor and I have appointed the following to be members of the interdepartmental committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice Streatfeild on the business of the criminal courts:

• Mr. T. H. Evans, Clerk of the Peace for Staffordshire.
• Dr. T. C. N. Gibbens, senior lecturer in forensic psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, London.
• Mr. J. G. Harries, Secretary for Education, Cornwall.
• Sir David Hughes Parry, Q.C., Chairman of Caernarvon Quarter Sessions and director of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London.
• Professor W. J. H. Sprott, Professor of Philosophy, Nottingham University.
• Mr. G. A. Thesiger, M.B.E., Q.C., Chairman of West Kent Quarter Sessions and Recorder of Southend.
• Mrs. Barbara Wootton, J.P., Nuffield research fellow, Bedford College, London.
• Miss Nora Wynne, O.B.E., J.P., director of Carr & Co., Carlisle.

asked the Prime Minister whether the megaton nuclear bombs now being tested by Her Majesty's Government at Christmas Island are partly made of U238, which causes the dangerous fall-out to which the British Medical Council drew attention in its report.

I cannot disclose details of the design of our weapons.

asked the Prime Minister what action is being taken to ensure economic expansion in this country and a more successful policy abroad, particularly in the under-developed countries where economic aid can be of greater influence than armed forces.

As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer explained in his Budget statement, our first priority must be to win the battle against inflation; subject to this, it is the policy of the Government to secure a steady expansion of the national economy, and to move towards this at the earliest possible moment.The Government will, of course, continue to give as much help as they can to under-developed countries, particularly in the Commonwealth.

asked the Minister of Health what quantity of tinned food was destroyed last year as unfit for human consumption; what were the chief causes for the deterioration in the food; and if he will make it compulsory to have the date on which the food was packed stamped on the tins.

I regret that the information asked for in the first part of the Question is not available. The chief causes for condemnation of canned food are swollen or leaking cans and faults due to damage. I do not think that any case has been established for compulsory date stamping.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies when the economic survey of Nyasaland, which will make recommendations for agricultural and industrial development, will be completed; and if he will place a copy of the Report of the survey in the Library upon publication.

The Report will probably be completed early next year. When it has been published a copy will be placed in the Library.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has yet arranged for the publication in East Africa of the Serjeant and Griffiths Report upon Muslim Education.

I am in consultation with the East African Governments with a view to arranging the local publication of this Report.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that the county council of the County of Lanark has not drawn upon the pool of unemployed labour on hand in the village of Leadhills in recruiting men for work on the water supply bat has brought workers from a considerable distance; and what steps he proposes to stimulate employment in the village.

I understand that the County Council has engaged 8 men from Leadhills for this work in addition to 18 existing employees who travel daily from Larkhall. I am in touch with my right hon. Friends, the President of the Board of Trade and the Secretary of State for Scotland, on the employment problems of this area.

asked the Paymaster-General whether he will give more detailed consideration to the hardships that now occur in connection with the rates of compensation for wayleave rentals over agricultural land in respect of electricity pylons.

Compensation in these cases is settled in accordance with scales agreed between the electricity authorities, the National Farmers' Union and the Country Landowners Association subject to the right of any owner or occupier, who considers that the amount offered would involve him in hardship, to have his compensation determined by the Lands Tribunal. The scales of compensation are at present under review by the authorities concerned and my noble Friend has no reason to believe that this machinery is working unsatisfactorily.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland which schools have received assistance from the Industrial Fund for the Advancement of Science; which schools have been promised such assistance in the future; and which are independent and which direct grant schools.

I am informed that the whole of the resources of the Industrial Fund have now been allotted, and that the Scottish schools which are being assisted from the Fund are as follows: