asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty whether, in view of the decision to arm the new county class destroyers with the Seacat as well as the Seaslug guided missile, he is now able to say which Daring class ship has been selected to carry out the forthcoming trials of the Seacat; and how long they are expected to last.

The forthcoming trials at sea of Seacat will be carried out in H.M.S. "Decoy". I cannot say how long they are expected to last.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he has taken on the Report of the Food Standards Committee on Soft Drinks published early in 1959; and which recommendations have been implemented.

Many comments on the Food Standards Committee's Report on Soft Drinks were received. These raise difficult issues which have to be given full consideration before any action is to be taken.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what special provision is being made to assist the Government of Somaliland during the period of hiatus between that territory attaining independence and its present union with Somalia.

The arrangements which have been made by Her Majesty's Government to give assistance to Somaliland after independence are set out in the Report of the Somaliland Protectorate Constitutional Conference (Cmnd. 1044).

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is satisfied with the regulations under which an overseas Government is empowered to retain in the Colonial Service on extended probation, without the approval of the Secretary of State, an officer whose appointment it has recommended should be terminated and not extended; and if he will make a statement.

I am satisfied with the Colonial Regulation concerning probationary service.

asked the Minister of State for Commonwealth Regulation whether Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom will be represented at the inauguration of the Republic of Ghana.

Yes. The United Kingdom Ministerial delegation to the ceremonies to inaugurate the Republic of Ghana will be my noble Friend the Lord Privy Seal and my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in his latest representations to the Japanese Government in Tokyo, Her Majesty's Ambassador raised the case of the losses sustained by Commander J. C. Boldero, Royal Navy, during the Sino-Japanese hostilities in 1937; and what settlement of this claim was proposed by the Japanese authorities.

The representations recently made to the Japanese authorities by Her Majesty's Ambassador in Tokyo were aimed at achieving a settlement of all pre-war claims presented or represented under the Treaty of Peace with Japan. Individual claims were not mentioned. The second part of the Question does not, therefore, arise.

asked the Minister of Health how many hospitals Susan Bell of Durham County was taken to before gaining admittance to Shotley Bridge; what action was taken at the hospitals she was taken to to relieve her suffering caused by burns; and 10 what extent it is the practice for emergency treatment to be given irrespective of whether the patient has been taken to the wrong hospital.

This patient was taken to two local hospitals before transfer to the plastic surgical centre at Shotley Bridge. At each of these hospitals she was considered fit to travel and it was understood that she had already received a full dose of morphia. It is the normal practice for a hospital to give emergency treatment unless immediate transfer is considered preferable. Some time would have been saved if a plan for the selection of hospitals for emergencies such as this had been clearly known to all concerned, and the hospital management committee is reviewing its arrangements to that end.

asked the Minister of Health if he will list the advisory committees and sub-committees which he has appointed under Section 2 (3) of the National Health Service Act, 1946, and state the number of times each of these met during 1959.

The following are the Standing Advisory Committees which I have constituted under Section 2 (3) of the National Health Service Act, 1946, and the number of times each met during 1959:

Standing Medical Advisory Committee	3
Standing Dental Advisory Committee	2

Standing Pharmaceutical Advisory Committee	0
Standing Ophthalmic Advisory Committee	0
Standing Nursing Advisory Committee	3
Standing Maternity and Midwifery Advisory Committee	2
Standing Mental Health Advisory Committee	4
Standing Tuberculosis Advisory Committee	3
Standing Cancer and Radiotherapy Advisory Committee	1

The Central Health Services Council and the Scottish Health Services Council, themselves appointed jointly the following Committees which both met five times in 1959:

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) on how many occasions in the Borough of Battersea during the year prior to 30th April, 1960, the Metropolitan Police have recorded road accidents where either the fire service or the ambulance service, or both, have attended; what were the locations of such accidents; what were the hours at which such information of such accidents was received; and what were the hours of arrival of each of the above services;(2) on how many occasions in that part of the Borough of Wandsworth bounded by the following streets, Wandsworth Bridge, York Road, Usk Road, St. John's Hill, Marcilly Road, Trinity Road, Tooting Bec, Balham High Road, Balham Hill, Clapham Common, South Side, Long Road, The Pavement, Old Town, Clapham, North Street, Silverthorne Road, Queen's Road, Queenstown Road, and Chelsea Bridge, the Metropolitan Police have, during the year prior to 30th April, 1960, recorded road accidents where either the fire service or the ambulance service, or both, have attended; what were the locations of such accidents; what were the hours at which information of such accidents was received; and what were the recorded hours of arrival of each of the above services.

I regret that the information requested is not readily available. It could be obtained only by the detailed examination of hundreds of reports, and I do not think I would be justified in requiring this large task to be undertaken.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a list of all those local planning authorities who have not yet obtained his approval of a development plan covering the whole of the areas for which they are responsible; if he will distinguish between those authorities who have submitted a draft plan which awaits his approval and those who have made no submission at all; and if, in the former case, he will indicate in each instance by what date he expects to be able to notify his approval.

All local planning authorities in England and Wales have submitted development plans for the whole of their areas. My right hon. Friend has not yet approved the plans for the following areas:

• Birmingham.
• Denbighshire.
• Glamorgan (part)
• Manchester.
• Merthyr Tydfil.
• Shropshire.
• Walsall.

Provided the necessary printing can be completed in time, my right hon. Friend expects to approve the Birmingham, Shropshire, and Walsall plans in the next two months and the Denbighshire, Manchester, and Merthyr Tydfil plans by the end of the year. The Glamorgan plan was submitted in two parts; my right hon. Friend has approved the first part and expects to approve the second next year.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will state the number of acres to be submerged by the making of a new reservoir in the Washburn Valley; and how many people are to be removed from their homes.

One hundred and forty-two acres would be covered by the proposed reservoir. I understand that there are four permanent residents on the site and four who live there at week-ends.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs how many roads across the Washburn Valley are to be submerged by the proposed reservoir; and if he will take steps to prevent any road being made impassable until an alternative road round the new reservoir has been completed.

The order as submitted to my right hon. Friend provides for the closing and submergence of three roads and the construction of a new road. The order is sub judice and I cannot say what decision my right hon. Friend will take on this or other points.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will now give the size of the waiting list in each telephone area of the United Kingdom at 31st March, 1960; and what proportion this bore in each case to the total number of subscribers in each area.

I give the figures below:

Telephone Area	Waiting List (31st March, 1960)	Waiting List as a percentage of total number of subscribers
Aberdeen	251	0·4
Bedford	775	1·6
Belfast	1,190	1·6
Birmingham	3,758	2·8
Blackburn	783	1·3
Bournemouth	107	0·2
Bradford	432	0·5
Brighton	786	0·7
Bristol	154	0·2
Cambridge	480	0·9
Canterbury	283	0·4
Cardiff	1,707	2·5
Chester	417	0·9
Colchester	149	0·3
Coventry	2,459	4·2
Dundee	35	0·1
Edinburgh	91	0·1
Exeter	3	—
Glasgow	711	0·4
Gloucester	339	0·8
Guildford	1,085	1·9
Lancaster	316	0·8
Leeds	658	0·8
Leicester	416	0·6
Lincoln	986	2·0
Liverpool	169	0·1
London—
Centre	Nil	Nil
City	Nil	Nil
East	1,905	1·2
North	1,462	0·8
North West	28	0·1
South East	1,353	0·6
Southwest	3,245	1·3
West	3,856	2·0
Manchester	3,124	1·6
Middlesbrough	578	1·2
Newcastle-on-Tyne	1,094	1·1
Norwich	120	0·3
Nottingham	576	0·6
Oxford	1,960	3·5
Peterborough	88	0·2
Plymouth	44	0·1
Portsmouth	1,041	1·9
Preston	909	1·3
Reading	1,634	2·5
Scotland West	1,435	1·6
Sheffield	657	0·9
Shrewsbury	417	0·9
Southampton	106	0·2
Southend-on-Sea	1,095	2·1
Stoke-on-Trent	49	0·1
Swansea	184	0·5
Taunton	Nil	Nil
Tunbridge Wells	374	0·6
West Midland	2,645	3·5
York	277	0·6

asked the Minister of Labour if he will state separately how many official and unofficial strikes took place during April, 1960, and how many men were registered at their local employment exchange as unemployed as a result of these stoppages.

In my reply to the hon. Member's Question on 26th April— (OFFICIAL REPORT, col. 4)—I gave the reason why accurate figures distinguishing official and unofficial strikes are not available. No information exists about the number of men who registered as unemployed as a result of these stoppages.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when it is intended to introduce the Measure, mentioned in Her Majesty's Gracious Speech on 27th October, 1959, to modernise the law in Scotland relating to succession.

Work on this Measure is in progress, but I regret that I cannot yet say when it may be possible to introduce a Bill.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland, for the last convenient period of twelve months, how many cases of theft and burglary were known to the police in which cigarettes were the only or the main item stolen; in how many of these cases prosecutions took place; and in how many cases prosecutions took place for reset.

I regret that this information is not available and could not be collected without disproportionate labour, but I am not aware of any serious increase in such cases.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he will approve the grant aid for, and authorise the work to start on, the improvement schemes for the township roads of Kinsbrugh and Balmeanach, which are, respectively, first and second on the county priority list of township roads in the Isle of Skye scheduled under the Congested Districts (Scotland) Act, 1897.

I have made an offer of grant to the county council in respect of the Balmeanach township road. Proposals for the improvement of the Kinsbrugh township road are under consideration but I am not yet in a position to say when these proposals will be approved. The scheme is fourth out of five in the county council's list of suggested township road improvements in the Isle of Skye.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will issue an

Educational year 1958–59
Students "released" from Industry
Boys and Girls aged under 18 years released by their employers to attend courses for part-time education shown as a percentage of the estimated number aged under 18 years who are insured under the National Insurance Acts
Industry		Estimated Numbers employed at end of May, 1959*	Numbers released by employers during year ended 31st July, 1959	Numbers released as per cent, of numbers insured
(1)		(2)	(3)	(4)
Public Administration and Defence	…	2,600	1,538	59
Mining and Quarrying	…	5,290	2,640	50
Engineering and Electrical goods	…	9,470	4,418	47
Gas, Electricity and Water	…	530	210	40
Construction	…	10,820	2,425	22
Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering		4,710	882	19
Vehicles	…	1,520	287	19
Metal Manufacture	…	2,820	463	16
Chemicals and Allied Industries	…	1,840	163	9
Professional and Scientific Services	…	6,520	435	7
Miscellaneous Services	…	14,420	844	6
Paper Printing and Publishing	…	6,580	305	5
Food, Drink and Tobacco	…	8,710	376	4
Timber, Furniture, etc	…	2,870	120	4
Transport and Communication	…	5,140	216	4
Distributive Trades	…	43,520	1,293	3
Textiles	…	12,100	417	3
Other Manufacturing Industries	…	1,050	36	3
Bricks, Pottery, Glass, Cement, etc	…	1,330	33	2
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	…	8,750	117	1
Metal goods not elsewhere specified	…	2,090	11	1
Leather, leather goods and Fur	…	530	—	—
Clothing and Footwear	…	5,660	21	—
Insurance, Banking and Finance	…	3,130	13	—
		162,000	17,263	11
* Figures supplied by the Ministry of Labour

asked the Minister of Transport if he will give Exchequer expenditure for the financial year 1959–60 in respect of new construc-

A table of total figures for the educational year 1957–58 was given in my Answer to the hon. Member on 23rd February, 1960. The corresponding table for the educational year 1958–59 is given below. I regret that separate statistics for boys and girls are not available.tion and major improvement on trunk roads, classified roads and loan expenditure on classified roads, respectively.

While the accounts are not yet finally closed, the present figures, on which there is unlikely to be much adjustment, are trunk roads £38,721,725; grants for classified roads £15,581,904; loans on classified roads £1,550,750. In total these amount to £55,854,379.

asked the Minister of Transport, whether the "Empire Fowey" has now been sold.

Yes. The vessel has been sold to the Pan-Islamic Steamship Co. Ltd., of Karachi. It will be used primarily for the pilgrim traffic between Pakistan and Jedda.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to what extent it is still the case, as the Board of Inland Revenue declared in its evidence to the Royal Commission on the Taxation of Profits and Incomes, that covenants employing a discretionary trust are on the increase.

There continues to be some increase in the number of such covenants in favour of charities. Information about the number in favour of individuals is not available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state for the latest available date how many covenants involving a discretionary trust are in operation; what is the total annual amount before deduction of tax payable under covenants of this kind; and what is the estimate of the annual loss of Income Tax and Surtax, respectively, by the use of such deeds.

I regret that this information is not available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many discretionary trusts relying upon a capital sum and not upon a covenant existed at the latest date for which figures are available; and how many had been established during the previous five years or during any period for which figures are available.

I regret that this information is not available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to what extent premiums paid on an endowment policy by a firm for education of their employees' children are regarded by the Inland Revenue as taxable emoluments of the employees.

The Inland Revenue would in general regard such premiums as part of the employee's remuneration and accordingly liable to Income Tax.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how far payments by firms to schools other than by way of scholarship for their employees' children are regarded by the Board of Inland Revenue as a legitimate business expense for tax purposes.

The application of the law to particular cases depends on the precise facts but payments by firms of school fees for their employees' children are normally admissible as a business expense in computing trading profits.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state, as far as can be ascertained, the total value of property transferred inter vivos without payment upon which stamp duties were paid during the last year for which figures are available and during the years 1938–39, 1951–52, and 1955–56, or during those years nearest to the above years for which information is available; and if he will also state the main types and amounts of property included in the total at the various dates.

I regret that this information is not available because the records of transfers of property do not distinguish cases where there was no payment.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why, in the National Income Statistics; Sources and Methods, the 5 per cent. allowance for business expenditure on wines, spirits, and cider, which was then in use, was described as probably too small.

This statement represented the concensus of opinion among the officials who were at that time responsible for the national income estimates.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will provide an estimate of the probable yield for any recent and typical year of a capital gains tax similar to the estimate which the Board of Inland Revenue provided for the Royal Commission on the Taxation of Profits and Incomes.

I would remind the hon. Member that the estimates provided by the Board of Inland Revenue to the Royal Commission related to the average yield to be expected in the long run and not to the yield of a single typical year. The yield for any particular year would depend both upon when the capital gains tax had been introduced and upon the actual gains and losses realised in the basis period. None of this information is available and without it it is impossible to answer the Question.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what amount of the item entitled, "Running Costs of Vehicles", in Table 18 of the National Income and Expenditure Blue Book for 1959 was represented in 1958 by the component which was entitled "Other Running Expenses", on page 126 of National Income Statistics; Scources and Methods; whether the assumption that personal expenditure accounts for 40 per cent, of the total applies to both publications; and whether the total is confined to expenditure on cars and motor cycles.

"Other running expenses" as defined on page 126 of "National Income Statistics: Sources and Methods" were estimated at £166 million for 1958. In arriving at this estimate the proportion of 40 per cent. mentioned in the Question was used, but as indicated in Sources and Methods it was applied only to the items derived from the summarised accounts of insurance companies; for the remaining items, direct estimates of consumers' expenditure were made. The total includes repairs, etc., to pedal cycles as well as to cars and motor cycles.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many civil servants are seconded to the staff of Western European Union by Her Majesty's Government; and if he will state the grades in which they are seconded;(2) what supplementary allowances are paid to civil servants seconded to the staffs of Western European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; and if he will state the amount of these supplementary allowances in each grade.

I regret that it has not yet been possible to collect the information for which the hon. Member asks in these two Questions. I will, however, write to the hon. Member as soon as the information is available. I will also ask for the Answers to these two Questions to be circulated in HANSARD after the House reassembles.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the approximate total number of deeds of covenant in operation for Income Tax purposes during the latest year for which figures are available; and the average amount involved in each covenant made by those who paid only Income Tax and by those who paid both Income Tax and Surtax, respectively.

About one million. The average amount for all cases is estimated to be somewhat under £50; separate estimates for Income Tax payers and Surtax payers cannot be made.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he proposes to take on 1st July, 1960, in respect of the United Kingdom Revenue duties, in order to carry out the obligations of Article 6 of the European Free Trade Association Convention.

Under paragraph 3 (b) of Article 6 of the Convention, Member States have an obligation to eliminate any effective protective element in "revenue duties", with the option of doing so either by successive reductions corresponding to those prescribed for import duties under Article 3, or on or before 1st January, 1965. Her Majesty's Government have decided to exercise the second option; and the protective elements in the United Kingdom Revenue duties to which Article 6 applies will be eliminated, therefore, on or before 1st January, 1965. Where this option is exercised there is an obligation to notify the Council of the European Free Trade Association on or before 1st July, 1960; and the Council is being informed accordingly. I should emphasise that the protective elements in question are small in relation to the yield of the duties.I do not intend to make any of these minor changes in rates during the current financial year. I am conscious, however, of the need for the earliest practicable action in this field and it is not my intention that the protective elements in all these duties should be maintained in full until the end of 1964.