asked the Minister of Health what arrangements he has made for the continuance of full medical facilities to be provided during the further stage of the rebuilding of Crawley New Hospital; and what temporary accommodation will be provided for this purpose.

Full hospital services will be maintained with 30 beds in temporary accommodation.

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware of the unsatisfactory conditions under which hospital nurses are working and the long hours of work involved by day and night; and why he will not set up an inquiry into them.

Conditions are improving as the capital programme proceeds, and the great majority of nurses work the 88-hour fortnight. An inquiry would not help.

asked the Minister of Health if he will make a statement on the latest stage of negotiations on the nurses' and midwives' pay claim, in view of the fact that the full procedures of the negotiating machinery have not yet been exhausted.

I shall be making a statement during the debate later today.

asked the Minister of Health what is the approximate cost per child per annum of maintaining the four children under the age of fourteen years who are inmates of Rampton Hospital.

If these children were transferred from Rampton and not replaced, the annual saving would be negligible.

asked the Minister of Health what has caused the delay in the publication of the analysis of the age and sex distribution of the population of England and Wales arising out of the 1961 Population Census taken more than a year ago; and when it will be published.

Publication was planned for mid-1963 and the work is up to schedule.

asked the Minister of Health if he has further considered representations made to him proposing an independent inquiry into the working of the Health Service Whitley machinery in view of the discontent prevailing on the staff side.

Yes. I do not think such an inquiry is needed.

asked the Minister of Labour how many industrial establishments there are in Scotland with a labour force of 3,000 or more; and how many of these have a full-time medical officer.

Twelve, of which ten have medical officers, five of whom are full-time.

asked the Minister of Labour if he will now give effect to the recommendation of the Committee of Inquiry on Industrial Health Services submitted to Parliament in 1951, that a standing joint advisory council should be formed in Scotland.

No. The Industrial Health Advisory Committee, which was appointed in 1955 to advise on measures to further the development of industrial health services in work places under the Factories Acts, covers Great Britain as a whole, and the interests of Scotland are considered equally with those of England and Wales.

asked the Minister of Labour if his regional officials will consult the Youth Employment Committee in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in view of the excessive unemployment among school leavers, particulars of which have been sent to him by the hon. Member for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Central.

Our officers maintain close liaison with the Youth Employment Committee. By 30th April all but 9 of the 1,331 Christmas 1961 school leavers were in employment and good progress was being made in placing the Easter school leavers.

asked the Minister of Labour what is the reason for the continued delay in publishing the earnings of employees of Government Departments, which was first promised 20 months ago.

No promise has been given to publish separate figures for central Government, but I am having the figures extracted and I will send them to the hon. Member.The information from non-Governmental sources embodied in Table B.25 of "Statistics on Incomes, Prices, Employment and Production", which included salaried employees of Government Departments, was obtained voluntarily on the clear understanding that figures for the separate industries covered would not be published.

asked the Minister of Labour what consultations he has had with the British Transport Commission on the methods to be adopted in dismissing railway workers from workshops which are to be progressively reduced in strength.

The British Transport Commission has kept my Ministry informed of expected redundancies in the railway workshops. The procedure for dealing with such redundancies has been agreed between the two sides of the Railway Shopmen's National Council.

asked the Minister of Labour what consultations he has had regarding the industrial dispute at London Airport which is disrupting the British European Airways Corporation's air services.

As the hon. Member will know, normal working was resumed on Friday last, 11th May, following agreement to refer the matter to a conciliation committee to be set up by the National Joint Council for Civil Air Transport.Throughout the course of this dispute, my officers were in touch with the parties and joint meetings were held by them on 10th January and 12th April.

asked the Minister of Labour what was the cost of Government resettlement and retraining schemes in 1961–62; under what schemes this money was expended; and, in the event of Britain's accession to the European Economic Community, what proportion of this sum would qualify for a 50 per cent. grant from the European Economic Community Social Fund under Articles 123 to 127 of the Rome Treaty and under the regulations adopted by the Council of Ministers in August, 1960.

The cost to my Department of resettlement grants and industrial training in the financial year 1961–62 was about £2,200,000. Certain additional costs of industrial training were borne on the Votes of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Works. Resettlement grants were provided under the temporary transfer scheme and the resettlement scheme; industrial training was provided under the disabled persons scheme, the ex-Regular scheme and the general scheme for able-bodied persons. It is not possible at this stage to make any estimate of the proportion of this expenditure which would qualify for grant from the European Economic Community Social Fund, should we join the Community.

asked the Minister of Labour with which industries he has now held discussions on the promotion of industrial safety; and what further discussions are now pending.

Since September, 1961, discussions on industrial safety have been held with the following industries—iron and steel, shipbuilding and ship-repairing, building and civil engineering, cable-making, cement, chemicals, clay, food manufacturing, tin box manufacturing, furniture, glass, and saw-milling. Further industries will be approached shortly.

asked the Minister of Labour with which industries he has now held discussions on the improvement and modernisation of their apprenticeship and training schemes; and what further discussions are now pending.

I would refer the hon. Member to my reply of 31st January. The engineering and construction industries, following my discussions with them, are reviewing their apprenticeship arrangements. I have noted with satisfaction the recent decision in principle by the construction industry to reduce the period of apprenticeship in the industry. These two industries are much the largest employers of apprentices and I would expect any decisions they make to have a considerable influence on other industries. Both sides of the electrical contracting industry have decided to make a joint study of apprenticeship arrangements and I am considering the timing of approaches to other industries.

asked the Minister of Labour what is the estimated intake into industrial rehabilitation units for 1962; and how this compares with the last three years.

I expect the intake in 1962 to be over 11,000. The intake in the previous three years was: 1959— 10,237; 1960—10,333; 1961—10,726.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary for Science, in view of the below average expenditure by universities on dental research, what steps he is taking to secure that adequate funds and staff are made available for dental research outside the universities in future.

The Medical Research Council are already supporting a programme of dental research and have recently set up a new unit at Bristol University. They will continue to take every opportunity of expanding their activities in this field. Generous funds for the support of dental research are also made available by the Nuffield Foundation.As regards the universities, I am informed that the University Grants Committee is paying particular attention to the development of teaching and research in the dental schools during the next quinquennium.

asked the Lord Privy Seal if he is aware that there have recently been clashes between United Nations and Katanga forces; what measures have been taken to prevent a renewal of hostilities; and why United Nations troops recently stopped all railway traffic between Elisabethville and Jadotville.

Since the beginning of this year three or four minor incidents have taken place. None of them has involved fatal casualties. I understand that they have been discussed between the United Nations and Katanga Commanders. There are no signs of a renewal of hostilities. Although the United Nations inspect railway traffic at Elisabethville, I have no knowledge of any recent stoppage there.

asked the Lord Privy Seal what decision has resulted from his proposal that the United Kingdom should be invited by the members of the European Community to take a full part in talks that are now going on about future political unity.

As I told the House on 2nd May, the Foreign Ministers of the Six have not met since 17th April and there has not therefore been an opportunity for them to consider our suggestion that we should join in political discussions with them. We are, however, in close touch with individual Governments on this matter.

asked the Lord Privy Seal if he is aware that proposals for a common films policy have now been submitted by the High Commission to the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Community, dealing with screen quotas, labour mobility, and the right of establishment; if he will apply to the Commission for a copy of these proposals and circulate an English translation to the trade associations and unions in the United Kingdom; and if he will now consult representatives of the British film industry on the likely effects if Great Britain joins the Common Market.

I am informed that no proposals on this matter have been submitted by the Commission of the European Economic Community to the Council of Ministers. The Board of Trade are in close touch with the British film industry.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he is aware of the concern expressed by farmers about the frequency with which officials enter farmland without prior permission, and the dangers to livestock which this can entail and whether he will take steps to remind all Government and other statutory bodies whose officials have power of entry on to farmland of the importance of seeking prior permission before doing so.

No, I am not aware of the concern to which my hon. Friend refers, but I will gladly look at any specific case where difficulties may have arisen if my hon. Friend will send me details. Ministry officers usually give prior notification of visits to farms and where they do not they are under instruction to see the farmer or his representatives before undertaking the business of their visit. I do not think it is necessary to issue any reminders about something which is well known.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he proposes to introduce legislation to carry out the main provisions of the Report on Commons.

I would refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend's reply to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Knutsford (Sir W. Bromley-Davenport) on 6th November last.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what sum he expects to save in the cost of agricultural support, consequent upon his raising the general standard at which cattle are accepted for guarantee, and by reducing the maximum weights on which the guarantee is paid.

As my right hon. Friend indicated in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (Mr. Ridley) on 2nd May, it is not possible at this stage to give an estimate of the saving since the final figure will depend not only on the number of animals found ineligible but also on the market prices on which the deficiency payment is based.

asked the Minister of Aviation whether the airworthiness requirements imposed in the annual review of older civil aircraft is of the same standard as that applied to the latest types of machines.

Design requirements have clearly been changed over the years and cannot generally be imposed retrospectively. The principles of airworthiness control, including the life of components, are, however, applied to all aircraft and, where necessary, performance limitations are fixed for older ones. I would add that on their airworthiness record some of the older ones are among the safest.

asked the Minister of Aviation whether he has yet asked the British aircraft industry to submit design studies of a space aircraft.

No.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many 10-shilling widows there are; and what it would cost annually to give them a full pension at 50 instead of at 60 years of age.

About 89,000 at the end of 1961: and £8 million a year.

asked the Minister of Education what action he proposes to take on the Report he has received from the Standing Advisory Committee on Grants to Students.

The Report of the Standing Advisory Committee on Grants to Students is under consideration. I shall announce new rates of grant as soon as possible.

asked the Minister of Education if he will state the numbers of students receiving grants from public funds which have been prematurely terminated at teacher training colleges, and the proportion of the numbers of such students for each of the past five years.

The numbers of all students who prematurely terminated courses of teacher training and the proportion of these to the total number in training were:

Year	Number of students whose courses were prematurely terminated	Total number of students in teacher training	(2) as a percentage of (3)
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
1957	576	28,689	2·0
1958	668	30,295	2·2
1959	688	32,272	2·1
1960	734	34,863	2·1
1961	1,092	37,001	3·0

Separate figures are not immediately available of students not on grant, but the proportion of these to all students was about 1·5 per cent. in 1960. The figures include students training in university departments of education.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies why the British Council is withdrawing its staff from the Gambia.

It was decided, with regret, to withdraw British Council representation from the Gambia as part of the reduction in expenditure overseas called for by my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer last July. It is proposed, however, subject to the approval of Parliament, to make a gift of the library and other equipment to the Gambia Government.

asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty whether he will cause instructions to be given that all naval vehicles using the public highway shall be fitted with direction indicators.

It has been our policy since 1st January, 1960, to fit all new naval vehicles using the public highway—except motor cycles—with flashing indicators. Most light vehicles which were purchased before 1960 were provided with semaphore type indicators. Some 200 of these vehicles have been refitted with flashing indicators, and some heavier vehicles previously operating without direction indicators, have been similarly equipped. We intend to fit flashing indicators to another 200 pre-1960 naval vehicles this year.

asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty if he will state the total area of Southwick Park, Hampshire, in Admiralty possession for H.M.S. "Dryad", the Navigation School, and the area occupied by buildings, the number of rooms used for residential and instructional purposes respectively, the total number of rooms and the total annual cost of the establishment.

The area of land available for H.M.S. "Dryad" is 153 acres of which 46 acres are occupied by buildings, including 22 acres of housing estates for officers and ratings. The establishment comprises approximately 515 rooms of which some 210 are used for residential purposes and some 140 for instructional purposes. The remainder are used for administration, and as stores, etc. The maintenance of the buildings and grounds costs approximately £24,000 a year.

asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty if he will state the size of the site of the Royal Naval Medical School at Alverstoke, Hampshire, the number of rooms used for residential and instructional purposes, respectively, the total number of rooms and the total annual cost of the establishment.

The site of the Royal Naval Medical School at Alverstoke comprises 12 acres of which the school uses 4¼ acres, a housing estate a further 4½ acres and 3¼ are let for grazing. It contains a total of 24 rooms none of which is residential. Fourteeen are instructional. The remainder are used for administration, and as stores, etc. The maintenance of the buildings and grounds costs approximately £1,250 a year.

asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty if he will state the size of the site occupied by H.M.S. "Royal Arthur", at Corsham, Wiltshire, the number of rooms used for residential and instructional purposes, respectively, the total number of rooms and the total annual cost of the establishment.

The site occupied by H.M.S. "Royal Arthur" at Corsham, Wiltshire, comprises 32¾ acres of which the establishment occupies 23 acres, its playing fields a further 5¼ acres and its married quarters estate 4½ acres. The total number of rooms is about 570 of which 390 are used for residential purposes and about 70 for instructional purposes. The remainder are used for administration, storage, etc. The maintenance of the buildings and grounds costs about £15,300 a year.

asked the Secretary of State for Air whether he will give instructions that all vehicles used by the Royal Air Force on the public highway shall be fitted with direction indicators.

There are very few vehicles in the Royal Air Force fleet which do not already carry direction indicators. Under instructions given in 1961, the Service is at present engaged on a programme designed to equip all Royal Air Force vehicles which use the public highway with indicators of the "flashing" variety.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will investigate the complaint, details of which have been sent to him by the hon. Member for Louth, of the obnoxious odours from the effluent from the Humber bank factories near Grimsby; if he will take steps to reduce these odours; and if he will make a statement.

At the Courtaulds works, which I think my hon. Friend may have particularly in mind, the gas scrubbing plant has recently been modified in a way which should improve its performance. The Alkali Inspectorate will continue to watch the position. If my hon. Friend would send me details of any other works giving rise to complaint, I will gladly make inquiries.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what purpose the newly built prison situated in Hindley and Abram is to be used; and how many prisoners are to be accommodated there.

Since Hindley was opened last December it has been used as a Young Prisoners' Centre. On 26th June, 1962, it will become a borstal for inmates who require conditions of full security. Its reversion to prison use will be considered as further borstals now under construction become available. The establishment can accommodate 300 inmates.

asked the Minister of Power if he will issue a general direction to the National Coal Board to restore to its former agricultural use land which has been used for the stocking of opencast and other coals.

No. Land used for stocking coal is subject to planning legislation in the ordinary way, and the imposition of suitable conditions about restoration is the responsibility of the local planning authorities.

asked the Minister of Power, how much opencast-mined coal is at present stock-piled.

Opencast coal stocks on 28th April, 1962, were 3·1 million tons.

asked the Minister of Power if he will issue a general direction to the National Coal Board to tidy up the districts despoiled through opencast coal mining, especially where rural beauty, dams and belts of trees have been ruined.

No. The Board co-operates wholeheartedly in giving effect to the deemed planning conditions which I have imposed. These provide for restoration, including where appropriate the replanting of trees.

asked the Minister of Power to what extent the Council for the Preservation of Rural England are consulted, and their objections noted, when he is asked to authorise new sites for opencast coal mining operations.

The National Coal Board has to give public notice of its intention to apply for an authorisation to work opencast coal. Any representations made by the Council would be carefully considered. I have not received any such representations about the sites I have recently authorised.

asked the Minister of Power how many opencast sites at present being worked in Yorkshire are producing anthracite coal; and to what extent the recent survey over the Yorkshire coalfield has revealed anthracite seams near enough to the surface to be mined by opencast methods.

I am told by the National Coal Board that the answer to both parts of the Question is "none".

asked the Minister of Power how many opencast sites are being worked in the country; and if he will list the Yorkshire sites.

The National Coal Board tells me it was producing coal from 40 opencast sites on 31st March, 1962, including the following in Yorkshire: Coney Warren, The Springs Zone, Hungate Zone, Oxbow, Craven II, Mill Moor, Melton.

asked the Minister of Power what is the present output of opencast coal from the Yorkshire sites; and what percentages this represents of the national opencast output and of all opencast and deep-mined coal.

In the first four months of 1962 coal output from opencast sites in Yorkshire averaged 21,000 tons a week. This was 13 per cent. of total opencast output and one half of one per cent. of total coal output, including deep-mines.

asked the Minister of Power what requests he has now received for authorisations to open or extend opencast coal mining sites in Yorkshire.

None.

asked the Minister of Power how many opencast coalmining sites are producing anthracite coal; where they are situated; and what is their total annual output.

The National Coal Board tells me it was producing anthracite from two sites in Glamorganshire and one in Brecknockshire on 31st March, 1962. The sites worked by the Board in 1961 produced 736,000 tons of anthracite in that year.

asked the Minister of Power to what extent it has been the policy of his Department to confirm compulsory orders for the working of coal by opencast methods; to what extent this is still the practice on certain occasions; and if he will now give an assurance that no site will be so authorised by him unless it is with the consent of all concerned.

I have had no applications or the confirmation of compulsory rights orders for sites authorised under the Opencast Coal Act. I should consider on their merits any applications that were made to me and I could not give the undertaking the hon. Member suggests.

asked the Minister of Power what coals, other than anthracite, are in short supply and can only be supplemented by opencast coalmining.

The balance of supply and demand for particular coals is continually changing, but after allowing for supplies from opencast production there are no coals at present in generally short supply. In certain areas, there are potential shortages of particular coals which can most economically be met by opecast production, and new sites may for example be needed for coking coal in South Wales.

asked the Minister of Power if he is aware that the Southern Electricity Board has now made a formal application to the Midhurst Rural District Council for an overhead 132 k.v. single circuit wood pole line for the final section of the proposed Alton-Fernhurst circuit; and what steps he is taking to implement his ruling in paragraph 8 of his letter EL.82/3/12774 addressed to the Clerk of the West Sussex County Council, dated 27th March, 1962, concerning the planning of the last 1,500 yards of the underground route for this proposed line.

The Board has asked the West Sussex County Council and the Midhurst Rural District Council to approve a proposal to construct two single-circuit lines on wooden poles instead of a double-circuit line on steel towers, which was the original proposal. My refusal of consent for this part of the Board's original application does not debar the Board from making a different application. If the Board applied for my consent to the new proposal and the local planning authority or local authority objected, I should order a public inquiry or hearing.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will give instructions that all military vehicles using the public highway shall be fitted with direction indicators.

It would not be practicable to fit direction indicators to all the older type Army vehicles which are wasting out of service; but most are already equipped in this way, as are all new vehicles designed for use on roads.

asked the Minister of Works whether he will give instructions that all vehicles used by his Department on the public highway shall be fitted with direction indicators.

It is my Department's policy that, with the exception of tractors, mechanical handling plant, motor cycles and motor cycle combinations, all its new vehicles shall be fitted with direction indicators. Less than fifty of nearly one thousand existing vehicles are without direction indicators. These are older vehicles due to be replaced in the next few years. Most of them are heavy trucks and tippers used mainly on site work; if they have to be used to any extent on busy roads they will be fitted with indicators.