asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what conclusions he has reached as a result of his review of the effects of drift net fishing; and what steps he is now taking to preserve the salmon stocks in English rivers.

Drift net fishing for salmon inside territorial waters off England and Wales is controlled by licences issued by river boards. The new problem of drift netting for salmon outside territorial waters is being urgently examined by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and myself and an announcement will be made as soon as possible.

asked the. Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what investigation he has made regarding the dumping of eggs in this country; and what estimates he has made of its effect on British producers, and on the total amount of the estimated support for eggs in the current year.

My Department was in close touch with the Board of Trade during the examination of the recent application for an anti-dumping duty on Polish and Roumanian egg imports. While it was impossible to assess the precise effect of these imports on returns to home producers, the Government concluded in the light of information from the Polish authorities regarding the future level of imports, that it could not be sufficient to justify the imposition of an anti-dumping duty, and it is unlikely that guarantee payments for eggs will be significantly affected.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will cause an inquiry to be made into the unprofitability and price-support system of the beef industry.

The profitability of beef production and the price support system are considered at the Annual Review, and I see nothing in the present situation to justify a special inquiry into them now.

asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans he has for increasing the number of titles in his scheme for low-priced university text books.

The Advisory Committee is now examining many further titles—in fact some hundreds. I expect to have the Committee's recommendations shortly.

asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many low-priced university text books under his official scheme have now been distributed; and to what countries it is proposed to extend their distribution.

These books are being distributed through the normal trade channels, and detailed figures are not yet available. But most of the 121,500 copies produced so far have gone to India. We hope supplies may be extended to Pakistan and Ceylon, and to other countries which need them.

asked the Minister of Power how many Lurgi plants are now operating in the United Kingdom; how many plants the Gas Council proposes to erect within the next five years; and where they will be sited.

One plant is producing gas and one is being built. The Gas Council is now studying, with the National Coal Board, the prospects for producing additional town gas by the Lurgi process.

asked the Minister of Power whether he is now in a position to announce his decision on the proposed extension of the importation of liquid methane by the Gas Board.

No. The proposals which have received require careful study and I cannot promise an early decision.

asked the Minister of Power what part of United Kingdom oil supplies, and to what value, derived from Kuwait in the last twelve months; and what alternative sterling supplies of oil are available in view of the possibility of interruptions in the flow of oil from Kuwait to the United Kingdom.

In the twelve months ended 31st May, 1961, about 24 million tons of crude oil and products were imported direct from Kuwait. The value of these imports was about £167 million. They represented 39 per cent. by volume of oil imports into the United Kingdom during the same period. Some additional quantities of Kuwait oil, which cannot be identified, reached the United Kingdom after refining in other overseas countries, and some of the products obtained from Kuwait oil were exported. As regards the second part of the Question, I do not expect any interruption in the flow of oil from Kuwait. There are, however, many alternative sources from which we could if necessary obtain additional supplies. The cost of these, like the cost of Kuwait oil, would be met partly in sterling and partly in other currencies.

asked the Minister of Power what improvements he has made in skeleton petrol rationing administrative machinery within his Department, since the time of the Suez campaign; and, in view of the developments at Kuwait, whether he will make a statement concerning preparations for petrol rationing in his Department.

Skeleton petrol rationing arrangements have been in existence since Suez. Steps have been taken from time to time to keep them up to date.In view of the precautions taken by Her Majesty's Government there is good reason to hope that these arrangements will not need to be brought into force.

asked the Minister of Power whether the change in the scale of the Colvilles strip mill project has increased the cost; and what effect this will have on the amount to be advanced under the loan agreement with the company.

I told the House on 23rd Mach that the capacity of this strip mill is to be about 500,000 tons of sheet a year instead of about 230,000 tons under the original plan. The extended scheme is estimated to cost more than £60 million, of which the extension accounts for about £16 million. The company now proposes to raise about £15 million by a rights issue. In these new circumstances the company has agreed that the amount in the loan agreement will be reduced from £50 million to £45 million. The remainder of the proceeds of the new issue will be absorbed by the extension of the strip mill scheme. I have agreed that this remainder and the capital expenditure to which it is to be allocated will be disregarded in assessing the cash position of the company in connection with the review of the balance of the loan. This review, as I said in the debate on 23rd March, will take place in the first quarter of 1962.

asked the Minister of Power, in view of the Southern Electricity Board's willingness to build a substation at Clifton Terrace, Brighton, underground in order to save the amenities of the district, why he is not prepared to agree to such a recommendation; and if he will reconsider his decision on this point.

The Board's proposal was to sink the sub-station so that it will be out of sight from Clifton Gardens, and I have accepted this.

asked the Minister of Power whether he has yet reached a decision on the application of the Central Electricity Generating Board for consent to build a power station at Holme Pierrepont.

I have decided not to consent to this application. More power stations on economic sites are urgently needed, but the inspectors whom I appointed to hold a public inquiry advise me that a station at Holme Pierrepont would seriously reduce an area of open country of particular amenity value very near Nottingham, and that the necessary movement of coal by rail to the power station would greatly intensify the city's traffic problems.

asked the Minister of Aviation whether his attention has been called to the congestion in the terminal buildings at Newcastle-upon-Tyne Airport; and when he will announce his decision regarding the amount of financial assistance towards new buildings.

My right hon. Friend has been informed by the Newcastle Corporation of the inadequacy of the terminal building at the airport. As for a Government grant towards the cost of a new building, I regret that I cannot at present add to the reply given on 6th March to the hon. Member for Newcastle - upon - Tyne, West (Mr. Popplewell).

asked the Minister of Aviation whether he will name the Commissioner appointed by him to hear

Year			Vaccination State	Number of Cases
				Paralytic	Nonparalytic	Total
1959	…	…	After 1 dose	33	11	44
			After 2 doses	75	39	114
			After 3 doses	40	32	72
			Not vaccinated or vaccination state unknown	585	207	792
			Total	733	289	1,022
1960	…	…	After 1 doses	5	1	6
			After 2 doses	19	6	25
			After 3 doses	29	35	64
			Not vaccinated or vaccination state unknown	204	79	283
			Total	257	121	378

No appeal has yet been received.

asked the Minister of Health how many people have migrated from Sunderland since the 1951 census.

9,100 (provisional estimate).

asked the Minister of Health how many cases of poliomyelitis have been notified in the county of Warwick during the past three years; and how these figures compare with the rest of England and Wales.

In Warwickshire, excluding Birmingham and Coventry, there were nine cases of paralytic poliomyelitis in 1958, one in 1959 and four in 1960. The corresponding figures for England and Wales were 1,417, 733, and 257.

asked the Minister of Health what was the number of cases of poliomyelitis and paralytic poliomyelitis, respectively, in 1959 and 1960; and what were the states of their previous vaccination.

The information requested is set out in the table below. The figures relating to vaccination states of the cases in 1960 are provisional.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in the light of the judge's comments in the case of Derek Sowle, he will appoint a committee of inquiry to report on this and other cases in which mental and mental defective patients have been responsible for crimes of violence.

asked the Minister of Health if he will investigate the circumstances in which Ronald Derek Sowle, ordered to be detained in Rampton for forty years, previously ceased to be a mental patient.

asked the Minister of Health if he will arrange for an investigation into the circumstances in which Ronald Derek Sowle was reclassified as an informal mental patient.

asked the Minister of Health if he will inquire into the case of Ronald Derek Sowle, a mental patient who was convicted on 29th June at Bristol Assizes of manslaughter, and who had been reclassified three days before the commission of the offence of which he was convicted; and whether he will make a statement.

Investigation is being made, and I shall make a further statement.

asked the Minister of Health what action he proposes to take pursuant to the resolution of the Northampton Executive Council, with regard to National Health Service charges, which has been forwarded to him.

I am sending the hon. and learned Member a copy of my reply.

asked the Minister of Health if he has now received 10-year plans for capital development from all regional hospital boards; what is the estimated total sum required for their implementation; and when he will make a statement.

asked the Minister of Health if he has received the 10-year plan from the Newcastle Regional Board; what is the proposed programme for the Gateshead and District Hospital Management Committee; and when the building of a new diagnostic centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital will be commenced.

It will be several months before I can be ready to make a statement on the national long-term hospital building programme and its components.

asked the Minister of Health what changes in administrative structure will be required as a result of his decision to group a number of post-graduate hospitals and institutes.

None, apart from a change in the administration of St. Mark's Hospital.

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that there is a waiting list of over 200 old people for the hospital beds for old people in Bolton and district; and what action he proposes to take to reduce this.

Yes. The recent filling of a consultant vacancy is expected to reduce the waiting list.

asked the Minister of Health if lie has received the report of the investigation into the cost of 3,000 different drugs and dressings carried out by the Manchester Regional Hospital Board; to what extent its recommendations go beyond those of the Cohen Committee; and if he will make a statement.

I have seen the report of certain actions to reduce the exceptionally high cost of drugs and dressings at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary. There is no inconsistency between these actions and anything in the Cohen Committee's Reports on prescribing by general medical practitioners.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware of public anxiety concerning the future of mental hospitals; and to what extent his proposals for the closure within fifteen years of many mental hospitals involve redundancy among National Health Service employees.

No; to no serious extent.

asked the Minister of Health if he will state, in each of the four categories of award, the numbers of consultants with merit awards who hold teaching hospital appointments and of those who do not.

The figures for England and Wales are:

—	A plus	A	B	C
*Consultants with teaching hospital contracts	79	216	437	503
Other consultants	9	49	270	910
* Over half these consultants also have contracts with regional hospital boards.

asked the Minister of Health the numbers of pharmacists employed in hospitals in the National Health Service in England and Wales for each year, including 1961, since 1948.

The numbers of pharmacists—expressed in terms of whole-time equivalents—in the hospital service at the end of each year from 1949 to 1960 were:

1949	…	…	…	…	1,127
1950	…	…	…	…	1,176
1951	…	…	…	…	1,217
1952	…	…	…	…	1,243
1953	…	…	…	…	1,242
1954	…	…	…	…	1,237
1955	…	…	…	…	1,267
1956	…	…	…	…	1,305
1957	…	…	…	…	1,314
1958	…	…	…	…	1,315
1959	…	…	…	…	1,348
1960	…	…	…	…	1,444

No figures are available for 1961.

asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will publish a White Paper giving details of the action taken by Her Majesty's Government during the Second World War to prevent the supply of wolfram to Germany by the Portuguese Government, including the number of occasions on which Her Majesty's Government protested to the Portuguese Government on this matter.

No.

asked the Lord Privy Seal whether he will call a conference of European countries concerned with sea fishing with a view to establishing a system of fishery protection under international control.

No.

asked the Lord Privy Seal if he has received any communication from the Government of Iraq over Kuwait; and what information he has as to whether the Kuwait frontier has been closed.

The only communication which we have received from the Government of Iraq on this subject was in the form of a circular Note, dated 26th June, to all diplomatic missions in Baghdad. The Note enclosed a statement setting out the alleged Iraqi claim to Kuwait. The text of these documents is being placed in the Library.As far as I am aware the Kuwait frontier has not been closed.

asked the Minister of Labour what was the estimated industrial population of the Coventry district of the Factory Department at 1st June, 1941, and the number of factory inspectors who were in post in that district; and what was the estimated industrial population of the same district at 1st June, 1961, and the number of factory inspectors then in post.

The best estimate that can now be made of the number employed in factories in the Coventry district in 1941 is 110,000. The comparable figure for 1961 is 125,000. Three factory inspectors were in post in both years.

asked the Minister of Labour if he will state, on the basis of figures published in his Department's Gazette, how many strikes occurred in 1958, 1959 and 1960 in Great Britain, Sweden and Germany, and the total number of working days lost as a consequence in each of these three years for the three countries.

The figures required are:

Country and year	Number of stoppages of work due to industrial disputes beginning in year	Number of working days lost in all stoppages in progress in year
Great Britain
1958	2,162	3,205,000
1959	2,060	5,178,000
1960	2,792	2,869,000
Sweden
1958	10	15,000
1959	15	24,000
1960	(a)	(a)
Germany (Federal Republic)
1958	(b)	782,000
1959	(b)	62,000
1960	(b)	(a)
(a) Not available.
(b) Not published.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will review the weighting basis of the Index of Retail Prices in the light of the results of the

NUMBERS OF UNEMPLOYED PERSONS ON THE REGISTERS OF THE BEXHILL, HAILSHAM AND RYE EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES AT 12TH JUNE, 1961
		Men			Women
		Aged 18 to 54	Aged 55 and over	Total	Aged 18 to 54	Aged 55 and over	Total
Bexhill	…	19	133	152	11	2	13
Hailsham	…	6	33	39	1	5	6
Rye	…	6	9	15	—	—	—
Total	…	31	175	206	12	7	19

In addition to the above, there were two boys and six girls under 18 years of age registered as unemployed at the Bexhill Youth Employment Office, which also

Yes, my right hon. Friend has decided to ask the Cost of Living Advisory Committee to consider how the results of the Family Expenditure Survey could be used to ensure that the weighting pattern of the Index of Retail Prices is kept up to date.

asked the Minister of Labour (1) if he will arrange for every regional employment exchange to make a return showing how many registered unemployed on its books are unemployable, and why they are unemployable;(2) for what reason, and at what cost, persons who are unemployable are entered upon an employment register.

It is not in practice possible for our officers to isolate a category of unemployable persons, especially since the views of employers differ widely. I regret therefore that we are unable to arrange for the return suggested or provide the estimate asked for by my. hon. ad gallant Friend.

asked the Minister of Labour how many males and females were registered as unemployed at the Bexhill, Hailsham and Rye employment exchanges on 15th June; and how many of them were over 55, under 18, and school leavers, respectively.

The table below gives the information desired:covers the Rye, Hailsham and Battle areas; all of these had been employed at some stage since leaving school.

asked the Minister of Labour how the representative of Her Majesty's Government voted at the conference of the International Labour Office on the resolution presented by the Nigerian and Indian Governments concerning South Africa's withdrawal from the organisation pending its abandonment

RECORD VOTE ON THE RESOLUTION CALLING FOR THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA FROM MEMBERSHIP OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION, ON THE GROUNDS OF THE APARTHEID (RACIAL DISCRIMINATION) POLICY PRACTISED BY THE UNION GOVERNMENT, SUBMITTED BY THE RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE (SECOND REPORT)
FOR (163)
Australia:	Congo (Brazzaville):	Iran:
Mr. Evans (W)	Mr. Okomba (G)	Mr. Foroughy (G)
Austria:	Mr. du Coup de Saint-Paul (E)	Mr. Ghayour (E)
Mr. Olah (W)	Mr. Pongault (W)
		Iraq:
Belgium:	Congo (Leopoldville):	Mr. Al-Umari (G)
Mr. De Bock (W)	Mr. Kibungu (G)	Mr. Abdul Hadi (G)
	Mr. Jonckheere (E)	Mr. Al-Jadir (E)
Brazil:
Mr. de Mello-Franco (G)	Czechoslovakia:	Israel:
Mr. Barboza-Carneiro (G)	Mr. Erban (G)	Mr. Bar-Niv (G)
Mr. Parmigiani (W)	Mr. Klusák (G)	Mr. Bartur (G)
	Mr. Mahler (E)	Mr. Hausman (E)
Bulgaria:	Mr. Hnilicka (W)	Mr. Becker (W)
Mr. Tonchev (G)
Mrs. Lukanova (G)	Dahomey:	Italy:
Mr. Tzvetkov (E)	Mr. Borna (G)	Mr. Viglianesi (W)
Mr. Abadjiev (W)	Mr. Paoletti(W)
		Ivory Coast:
Burma:	Denmark:	Mr. Gris (G)
Mr. Tin (G)	Mr. Nielsen (W)	Mr. Oka (E)
Mr. Myint (E)	Finland:	Japan:
	Mr. Grotenfelt (E)	Mr. Mishiro (E)
		Mr. Haraguchi (W)
Byelorussia:	France:
Mr. Astapenko (G)	Mr. Bouladoux (W)
Mr. Levko (G)		Jordan:
Mr. Syvak (E)	Gabon:	Mr. Jajjawi (G)
Mr. Makarov (W)	Mr. Walker-Anguilet (W)	Mr. Masri (E)
Cameroun:	Federal Republic of Germany:	Kuwait:
Mr. Wandji (G)	Mr. Richter(W)	Mr. Sarawi (G)
Mr. Fokam Kamga (G)	Ghana:	Mr. Herbisch (G)
Canada:	Mr. Anthony (G)	Mr. Kharafi (E)
Mr. Knowles (W)	Mr. Nettey (G)	Mr. Samaan (W)
Central African Republic:	Greece:	Lebanon:
Mr. Decamps (G)	Mr. Patsantzis (W)	Mr. Wahid (G)
Ceylon:		Mr. Zeinati (W)
Mr. Kumarasinghe (G)	Guinea:
Mr. Umagiliya (G)	Mr. Soumah (G)
		Liberia:
Mr. Sundaram (W)	Mr. Sylla (G)	Mr. Wilson (G)
	Mr. Bah (W)
Chad:		Mr. Trubman (W)
Mr. Brabim Seid (G)	Hungary:
	Mr. Mekis (G)	Malagasy Republic:
Mr. Bouissou (G)	Mr. Szita (G)	Mr. Jarison (G)
Chile:	Mr. Hermann (E)	Mr. Mondet (G)
Mr. Oyarzún Blest (E)	Mr. Somoskoi (W)	Mr. Andriantsitohaina (E)
Mr. Olivares Solis (W)
	India:	Malaya:
China:	Mr. Abid Ali (G)	Mr. Ibrahim Bin Musa (W)
Mr. Yü (G)	Mr. Mehta (G)	Mali:
Mr. Chi (G)	Mr. Chinai (E)	Mr. Ousman Ba (G)
Mr. Chang (E)	Mr. Ambekar (W)
Mr. Liang (W)		Mexico:
	Indonesia:	Mr. Sanchez-Madariaga (W)
Colombia:	Mr. Soetomo (G)
Mr. Arango (G)	Mr. Sastradihardja (G)	Netherlands:
Mr. Herrera Anzoátegui (G)	Mr. Mardanus (E)	Mr. Korte(W)

The United Kingdom Government delegates abstained. The result of the voting was 163 in favour and none against, with 89 abstentions. Details of the voting are given below.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will have a survey made of now uninhabited islands off the west coast of Scotland with a view to reestablishing prison colonies where long-term prisoners could enjoy a relative amount of freedom and earn their own keep without danger to the general public.

I have considered with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland the use of small islands as prison colonies, but the disadvantages of locating a prison in an isolated spot are held to outweigh such advantage as there might be to security.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when it is proposed to make available places at new or existing detention centres to enable courts in the Colchester area to sentence offenders between the ages of 17 and 21 years to detention in a detention centre when such a sentence is, in accordance with the law, deemed to be appropriate by the court.

I hope that in about two months' time the whole of Essex will be included in the committal area of a senior detention centre.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the new fire station at Langley, Bucks, will be completed.

My latest information is that the Buckinghamshire County Council hopes to start work on the new Langley fire station at the end of July. The station should be completed in about a year.

asked the Minister of Defence what precautions he takes to minimise the risk of radiation from the stockpiling of atomic weapons in the United Kingdom.

The most stringent precautions are taken to minimise the risk of radiation from the stockpiling of atomic weapons in the United Kingdom. I am satisfied that this risk is negligible.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether industrial firms which take advantage of the special terms available to establish themselves in Malta will all be required, as in the recent case of a textile firm, to undertake not to export their products to the United Kingdom for a period of five years.

No. In the case mentioned account had to be taken of considerations which are not of general application.

asked the Minister of Education what financial support has been given by his Department to the National Foundation for Educational Research for each year since 1957.

Between 1947 and 1957 the grant to the National Foundation fluctuated according to the current needs of the organisation and varied from £2,000 to £8,000 in a year. In 1957 it was £7,000. In 1958 it was fixed at £3,000 per annum, but as from the current financial year I have increased it to £7,000.

asked the Minister of Education if he will state the number of full-time teachers recruited for the latest 12-month period.

Provisional figures show that about 27,000 full-time teachers were appointed to maintained primary and secondary schools in the year ended 31st March, 1961. This is about 500 more than the number of appointments made in the previous year.

asked the Minister of Education whether he has yet considered the recommendations contained in the Albemarle Report on the Youth Service; what steps he has already taken; and what further steps he proposes to take to implement the recommendations.

Yes. On the day the Report was published I accepted the main recommendations requiring action by the Government.I have announced Youth Service building programmes to the value of £3 million for starts in 1960–62 and £4 million in 1962–63. These two programmes will provide more than 750 new and expanded youth clubs and centres, a number of which are already under construction.The National College for the Training of Youth Leaders was established at Leicester last year and the first ninety students began their course last January. This, together with the output from other courses of training, will mean that about 150 newly trained full-time youth leaders will be available next year.My ordinary grants to national voluntary youth organisations for headquarters administration and training expenses will this year amount to £230,000 to thirty-four organisations compared with £122,770 to twenty-three organisations two years ago. In addition, since the Report was published, I have offered £57,000 in grants for experiments and special developments.In the financial year 1960–61 grants were offered for local voluntary capital projects for the Youth Service to a total of £535,000 compared with £230,000 in 1959–60.The Youth Service Development Council has met eleven times and has advised me on general developments as well as on applications for grant for special purposes. On the advice of the Council my Department's monthly broadsheet "Youth Service" was launched last October and now has a circulation of about 22,000 copies, of which approximately 18,000 are bought on subscription.There is encouraging evidence of growing co-operation and initiative on the part of the local education authorities and voluntary organisations to match the efforts of the Government to expand and develop the Youth Service, and as occasion requires I shall consider with these partners and the Development Council what further steps are necessary to that end.I expect shortly to announce the qualifications required for the status of qualified youth leader and I understand that the Joint Negotiating Committee for Youth Leaders is about to make recommendations on salaries and conditions of service. The next step will be to consider the training of part-time youth leaders and assistants.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what increases or decreases in the number of administrative personnel there have been in each of the principal Departments of State comparing 1959 with 1960; and what were the increases or decreases in the overall cost of administration of these Departments, giving also the total figures for all Departments.

The increases or decreases in the numbers of non-industrial civil servants in Departments with more than 10,000 staff as shown in the Annual statement presented to Parliament, are given below together with the increases or decreases in the

CIVIL STAFFS OF GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS (Non-Industrials)
			Increase (+) or Decrease (-)
Department			In the number of staff at1st April, 1960 compared with 1st April, 1959				In the total charge for salaries and wages for the year ending 31st March, 1960 compared with the year ending 31st March, 1959
							£'000
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food	…	…	+	134			+	696
Ministry of Labour	…	…			-	1,545	+	1,162
National Assistance Board	…	…	+	460			+	1,109
Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance	…	…	+	146			+	1,603
Customs and Excise Department	…	…	+	125			+	763
Inland Revenue Department	…	…	+	2,657			+	3,964
Ministry of Works	…	…			-	168	+	275
Admiralty	…	…			-	689	+	1,320
War Office	…	…	+	11,591			+	9,302
Air Ministry	…	…	+	546			+	750
Ministry of Aviation	…	…			-	5,420	+	153
Post Office	…	…	+	55			+	11,224
Other Departments	…	…			-	3,443	+	5,856
Grand Total for all Departments	…	…	+	4,449			+	38,177
NOTE.—Transfers of staff occurred between the War Office, Ministry of Aviation and Ministry of Transport following the dissolution of the Ministry of Supply.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will extend the practice of accepting claims to apportionment of post-war credits outside the time limit from divorced or legally separated wives to include all separated wives.

Yes. In future claims to apportionment of post-war credits will be accepted outside the time limit from all wives who are permanently separated from their husbands where the full credit has not already been paid before the apportionment is made. They will then be able to obtain repayment of their part of the credits when they satisfy the necessary conditions.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what financial or other assistance he gives to the

In association with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland I make an annual grant to the Federation which has for the past six years stood at £2,500 a year. Proposals are now under consideration for substantially increasing the grant, to enable the Federation to do more towards encouraging the existing work of housing associations and in particular to assist in carrying through the special scheme to be introduced under Clause 7 of the Housing Bill now before Parliament.The Secretary of State and I recognise the Federation as the central body for promoting the formation and extension of housing associations and for giving them advice and assistance. Our Departments, together with the other Government Departments concerned, work in close liaison with the Federation on all matters affecting the work of housing associations.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what applications for loan sanction his Department received between December, 1956, and December, 1959, for the improvement of water schemes for the Oakengates Urban District Council area by the East Shropshire Water Board; and what was the total cost of, and grant made towards, such schemes.

During this period one application was received in respect of the provision of an additional borehole at Sheriffhales and a cross-connection between the Oakengates and Shifnal water systems. The cost was £20,000 and no grant was claimed.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the additional cost of granting a war widow's pension in the case where there is entitlement already to a National Insurance widow's pension which has to be surrendered.

The cost to the Exchequer of awarding a war pension to the widow of a private soldier would be 76s. a week. It is not possible to estimate what might be the saving to the National Insurance Fund if war widow's pensions were awarded in cases now dealt with under the National Insurance Scheme.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the basis used in the assessments of disability far awards of war pensions; how much is paid as pension to an ex-private with amputation at mid-thigh, and how much to an ex-sergeant with identical disablement; and what considerations lead him to pay different compensation for identical disablement.

The basis of assessment of disability for awards of war pensions as laid down in the Royal Warrants is the comparison between the condition of the man as disabled through service and the condition of a normal healthy person of the same age. The assessment appropriate to an amputation at mid-thigh is 70 per cent. This assessment is in accordance with the recommendations of the expert Committee under Judge Hancock. The rate of basic pension payable to an ex-private assessed at 70 per cent. is 68s. 3d. a week and to an ex-sergeant 72s. 11d. Some differentiation of war pension rates according to rank is well established and has been maintained by successive Governments.

asked the Postmaster-General when he hopes to raise television reception in North and Mid-Tyrone up to the standard of that now achieved in the remainder of Northern Ireland.

The B.B.C. hopes to open its television station at Enniskillen by the end of next year: this will serve most parts of Tyrone not now reached from the B.B.C.'s stations at Londonderry and Divis.The I.T.A. hopes to open a station at Koram Hill, Strabane by the autumn of 1962.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland, in view of the proposals made by Her Majesty's Government in this respect in England, what plans he has for joint machinery which will bring the practising teachers in the schools into consultation with the Scottish institutions of higher education to solve common problems and anticipate changes in which they have a common interest.

The Robbins Committee is reviewing the whole pattern of full-time higher education. A great deal of consultation already takes place, and it is my practice to bring into consultation, either through membership of advisory councils and working parties or by ad hoc discussions, representative, both of teachers and of institutions of higher education when problems in which they have a common interest are being considered.