asked the Minister of Education how many establishments of further education offer full-time courses for the first year of apprenticeship.

asked the Minister of Education how many full-time first-year apprenticeship courses are now being conducted in local technical colleges; what was the comparable figure a year ago; and what expansion is planned.

Eighty-four technical colleges are offering 108 full-time first-year apprenticeship courses, and 120 colleges are offering 146 pre-apprenticeship courses which exempt from the first year of apprenticeship. The comparable figures a year ago were 76 colleges offering 91 courses and 95 colleges offering 112 courses, respectively. It is for each local education authority to decide how far it can develop such provision in co-operation with industry, but, as envisaged in the White Paper on Industrial Training, I look forward to a substantial expansion.

asked the Minister of Education what steps he has taken to establish a Commonwealth information centre in London on the teaching of English as a second language as recommended by the Report of the Second Commonwealth Education Conference hi 1958; and whether he will consider combining this project with the establishment of an academy of language to guide the development, teaching and use of English as a world common language.

The recommendation of the Second Commonwealth Education Conference in 1962 that there should be a Commonwealth English language information centre was referred to the Commonwealth Education Liaison Committee. The Committee took note that the British Council had recently established in London an English teaching information centre which served a similar purpose and decided not to pro- ceed at that stage with a separate Commonwealth centre. I am sending the right hon. Member a leaflet about the British Council's centre. Any expansion of its functions is, in the first instance, for the British Council to consider, but I doubt whether it would be easy for a body set up by any one nation to attempt to guide the development and use of the English language.

asked the Minister of Education what progress he has made in his consultations with the United States of America concerning the development of English and its standardisation.

The hon. Member is no doubt referring to the Answer which my predecessor gave him on 5th July, 1962. Informal discussions have since been held between British and American experts and are continuing. The establishment of standards of English is one of the important matters under consideration, and I am sending the right hon. Member a copy of a paper which the British Council has just prepared on this as a basis for further discussion.

asked the Minister of Education what progress is being made with the establishment of language centres where businessmen can obtain rapid tuition in foreign languages.

A number of technical and commercial colleges are already providing short intensive language courses in response to requests from firms. Many others have the necessary facilities and are ready to meet any reasonable demands.

asked the Minister of Education, in view of the excess of applicants for university places over the number of places available, and the excess of places in colleges of technology and further education over candidates for them, if he is aware that degree-status qualifications obtained by passing courses in the latter institutions are often of greater value to their holders than the conventional degree; and if he will take steps to bring this to the notice of those concerned.

Courses in the colleges are not generally under-subscribed, and where they are the subjects are not necessarily those for which the universities have an excess demand for places, but there is clearly a national need for more students to enter courses of technology. I agree that the opportunities available in institutions of higher education other than universities are not sufficiently widely known, and I am publishing a booklet shortly giving information about the courses available, and the standards of entry required. The booklet will be sent to all secondary schools, and I hope that careers masters, in particular, will find it useful.

asked the Minister of Education whether, in view of the wish of the county of Rutland to develop its education service, he will review the allocation of money granted to the county for the 1963–64 school buildings programme.

The major and minor building allocations for 1963–64 were settled last year. I am ready to agree to a slightly higher figure for extensions at Casterton Secondary School.

asked the Minister of Education what is now the state of the school dental service in Hinckley.

The authority has recruited a school dental officer who took up duty at Hinckley on 26th April.

asked the Minister of Education if he will publish a table of figures showing the original estimate of the birth rate made in his Department for the purpose of assessing the future of the schoolbuilding programme, and the actual birth rate, in each of the last five years; and what estimate he now makes for the same purpose for each of the next five years.

Following is a table showing the actual live births for each of the years 1957 to 1961 together with the estimates made at various dates both for these years and for the years 1962 to 1966. Any error in these estimates would affect the school building programme only to the extent that decisions are made on schools to be completed as much as five years ahead.

asked the Minister of. Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will reject the proposal to route the Pennine Way in Redesdale along a metalled road, as suggested by the National Parks Commission, and consider the alternative route suggested by the Highways Committee of the Northumberland County Council.

I understand that the county council is prepared to accept either route. My right hon. Friend has told the National Parks Commission that he is willing to defer consideration of its proposal to give time for the county council to make a public path creation order. He would then be able to consider at one time both the Commission's proposal and the county council's order.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will state the new duties of the hydrologists now to be appointed to the 26 river authorities, the number for which appointments will be available in the first year, and the salary range; and whether existing staff of departmental headquarters and regional offices will be considered together with those of the present river boards;(2) what new duties of hydrologists cannot be efficiently performed by the present staff of river boards; what training would be necessary for them to undertake this work; and whether, if present staff took the training in the interim period and qualified, they would be upgraded and appointed.

If the Water Resources Bill becomes law, hydrologists employed by river authorities would normally plan and operate schemes for collecting hydro-metric information and would advise the authorities on a policy and programme for water conservation, on the control of abstractions, and on schemes of river regulation and on the forecasting of floods. Their duties would vary from area to area and it is not possible to generalise about the number of hydrologists the authorities may think it right to appoint, or about the field from which they would be recruited and their grading and remuneration when appointed.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will state the number of days of sup ply of water which Leeds City Corporation had in its reservoirs on 30th April; and if the level of water in Lindley or Leighton reservoirs is up to the over flow cill.

One hundred and forty-five days' supply. The levels in the two reservoirs were six inches and four inches, respectively, below the overflow cills.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he is yet in a position to announce the names of the chairman and members of the In quiry into Rating Problems; and if he will make a further statement about their terms of reference.

I am not yet in a position to make a statement.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what progress he has made in the selection of members to serve on the Staff Commission to be set up under the London Government Bill.

Appointment of the Commission must wait until the Bill has been passed. I have it in mind to appoint Sir Harold Emmerson, formerly Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, to be Chairman of the Commission; and Lord Geddes of Epsom, formerly General Secretary of the Union of Post Office Workers, and Lord Hemingford, Chairman of the Huntingdonshire County Council, to be members. I understand that these appointments will be generally welcomed by local authorities and staff organisations. These gentlemen have agreed to serve and I have asked them to start their consideration of the problems involved as soon as possible, without waiting until they have been formally appointed.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether any firm offers have yet been made by industrial undertakings to expand or establish themselves in Donibristle, Fife.

Three industrial concerns have applied for factories on the industrial estate at Donibristle. Two applications have already been approved. The concerns in question hope to provide nearly 300 jobs.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether. having regard to the United Kingdom's favourable balance of trade with Australia, he will make a statement about the renewal of the trade agreement between the two countries.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to renew the existing trade agreement with Australia; and whether he will invite the Australian Minister for Trade, when he comes to London this month, to negotiate a new agreement designed to expand trade between the two countries.

My right hon. Friend will be holding preliminary discussions about the future of the Agreement with Mr. McEwen, the Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, in London on 6th and 7th May.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what progress is being made in establishing the advance factory at Portmadoc, Caernarvonshire.

The contract for the advance factory at Portmadoc was let to a firm of North Wales builders during March and they have begun work on the site.

saked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will make a statement on the failure of Tecalemit Engineering Ltd. to occupy the factory built for it in Camborne-Redruth at Gov ernment expense.

My right hon. Friend is very disappointed that the company has decided to abandon this project, but every effort will be made to find another suitable tenant for the factory as soon as possible.

asked the President of the Board of Trade, in view of the fact that duty on footwear into Canada is 25 per cent., whereas Commonwealth footwear enters the United Kingdom free of duty, what new steps he is taking to put this type of Commonwealth trade on a fairer basis and to give exporters a more reasonable chance of succeeding; and if he will make a statement.

None. It would not be practicable or desirable to try to arrange reciprocity of treatment item by item.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what progress is being made in attracting new industries to the Pwllheli district of Caernarvonshire.

Site work is now in hand on the advance factory at Portmadoc which is conveniently situated to recruit workers from Pwllheli. The additional benefits for development districts announced in the Budget should help to encourage further development in this area.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what was the total quantity of liquid egg imported over the last 12 months; and what percentage came from China.

During the year ending 31st March 233 cwt. of liquid egg were imported, of which none came from China. One thousand, one hundred tons of frozen egg were, however, imported from China in the same period.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will give an estimate of the cost of implementing the suggestion contained in paragraph 162 of the Report of the Wolfenden Committee on Sport of offering exemption from Income Tax to non-profit-making national bodies concerned with the development of amateur sport.

I am afraid that the necessary information is not available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether free depreciation allowances will be made available for the building of ships.

Under Clause 38 of the Finance Bill these allowances will be available in respect of new fixed plant and machinery of the shipbuilding industry in development districts, subject to the conditions therein set out.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury what was the cost of a retirement pension to a married woman contributing in her own right under the present Act reaching the age of 60 years on 1st June, 1964, and subject to full Income Tax relief in respect of National Insurance contributions; and what was the cost in similar circumstances to a widow who has not been subject to Income Tax and has been unable to claim relief in respect of National Insurance contributions.

The present National Insurance contributions do not contain separate elements allocated to particular benefits, but on the basis of a reasonable allocation the cost of the retirement pension to an employed married woman contributing from October, 1946 to May, 1964, would be of the order of £120 in flat rate contributions plus up to £49 in graduated contributions. Tax relief in respect of this total of contributions against earnings liable to Income Tax at the standard rate throughout the period would amount to about £55. The earnings of a widow who was not liable to tax would be unlikely to attract graduated contributions. If she paid flat rate contributions these would be the same as those for the married woman.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury what was the cost of a retirement pension to a man under the present Act reaching the age of 65 years on 1st June, 1964, and subject to full Income Tax relief in respect of National Insurance contributions, and the cost in similar circumstances to a man who has not been subject to Income Tax and unable to claim tax relief in respect of National Insurance contributions.

On the assumptions in my Answer to my hon. Friend's first Question, the cost to an employed man contributing from October, 1946, to May, 1964, would be of the order of £135 in flat-rate contributions, plus up to £49 in graduated contributions. For a taxpayer liable to Income Tax at the standard rate throughout the period the tax relief in respect of this total of contributions would amount to about £60. The man not subject to Income Tax would have paid the same flat-rate contributions but would probably have paid little, if any, graduated contributions.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the value of Government contracts placed in the development districts of the Falmouth and Camborne constituency of Cornwall in 1960, 1961, and 1962, respectively.

I regret that this information could not be obtained without an individual scrutiny of all Government contracts placed during the period 1960–62; and the considerable work involved in doing this would not be justified.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many officials of Civil Service staff associations have been excluded from negotiations with certain Departments on security grounds; in which associations they were or are serving; what position they held in the staff association concerned; and how many cases are still under appeal.

The answer to the first part of the Question is seven. These officials of Associations held various positions which brought them into negotiation with certain Departments and thus brought them within the announced security policy. The associations concerned are the Institution of Professional Civil Servants, the Society of Technical Civil Servants, the Civil Service Clerical Associations and the Civil Service Union. There are at present no cases under appeal.

asked the First Secretary of State what is Her Majesty's Government's present liability as guarantor of the external funded debt and of other borrowings by, or guarantees by, the Government of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

I would refer my hon. Friend to my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary's reply to the hon. and gallant Member for Arundel and Shoreham (Captain Kerby) on 1st February, 1963.

asked the First Secretary of State if he will provide in his proposed legislation for dissolution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland guarantees to ensure that, in any ordinary circumstances, persons who enjoy the status of federal citizens at the time of dissolution may continue to be able to move freely between the territories to attend to businesses, professions and property, wherever these are situated or carried on.

I will bear in mind the hon. Member's request, but I am not at present in a position to commit Her Majesty's Government in this matter.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ban all Sunday meetings, marches and demonstrations in London other than religious ones, in order to give reasonable rest and holidays to the police forces.

No. In any case there is no power to do this under existing legislation.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many supporters of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament have been dismissed from service in Civil Defence in the last six months because they have proved a security risk.

The local authorities and other bodies responsible for organising the various civil defence services are not required to inform me of dismissals or the reasons for them, but no dismissals for this reason have come to my notice.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will now give the names of the committee set up to inquire into the jury system.

As soon as I have received replies from all the persons invited to serve on this committee, I will announce the membership.

asked the Secretary of Stale for the Home Department what has been so far the approximate cost of setting up Regional Seats of Government; what estimate has been made of the appropriate total costs envisaged; and under what parliamentary authority these sums are or are to be expended.

£356,000 has so far been spent on engineering and building at wartime regional headquarters in England and Wales. The estimated total cost of this work is £1·6 million. The annual sums required are included in the appropriate Civil Estimates.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many arrests have been made to date in connection with the breaches of security and of the Official Secrets Act, in respect of his Department's activities, by the Spies for Peace groups.

No arrests have been made in connection with the Spies for Peace leaflets.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason he associated himself with the Foreign Secretary in apologising to Queen Frederika.

Because of my responsibility for the Metropolitan Police.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much the Metropolitan Police Force is below strength; and how recruitment compares with that of the Essex County Constabulary.

The total strength of the Metropolitan Police on 30th April was 18,399. The authorised establishment was 20,779. Thus there was a deficiency of 2,380, or 11·4 per cent. of the authorised establishment, as compared with a deficiency of 8·5 per cent in Essex. In the first four months of the year there were 428 recruits, compared with 60 recruits to the Essex Constabulary.

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations bow many times the Overseas Migration Board has met in the last six months.

None.

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations why the grant to the Women's Migration and Overseas Apointments Society is being cancelled; and whether this indicates changes in the migration policy of Her Majesty's Government.

The annual Government grant-in-aid of administrative expenses paid to the Society is being tapered off, and will cease at the and of 1965, because the original reasons for the Society's inception and work no longer apply. As regards the countries of traditional migration from Britain the Governments concerned have now established Migration Offices here to stimulate and facilitate emigation to their countries; and oversea appointments on contract terms to developing countries are principally the concern of the Department of Technical Co-operation and the British Council. I might perhaps add that no other voluntary migration society is in receipt of such a grant-in-aid. Turning to the second part of the Question, the Government's migration policy remains unchanged. I would like to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to the Society's achievements over the years.

asked the Minister of Labour what steps he is taking to increase the rô1e of the Youth Employment Service in giving advice and guidance to boys and girls during their last year or so at school.

Youth Employment Officers already interview most boys and girls during their final year at school. My right hon. Friend will continue to encourage still closer links between the Service and schools so that boys and girls may become as informed as possible about careers before the time of formal interviews with the youth employment officer.

asked the Minister of Labour how many whole-time and part-time unemployed there now are in Hinckley.

On 8th April, 1963, there were 303 wholly unemployed and 605 temporarily stopped.

asked the Minister of Health what financial safeguard his department gives to local authorities who bear financial responsibility under Section 41 of the Public Health Act, 1961, where employees in factories are instructed to absent themselves from work where they are suspected carriers of identifiable diseases.

None.

asked the Minister of Transport, in view of the fact that the table on page 11 of the Beeching Report and the maps showing passenger and freight statistics are misleading, if he will issue a general direction, in the public interest, to the Railways Board to publish new statistics giving adequate weight to the destination as well as the station of origin, and to take account of the facts that a comparatively non-industrialised county like Dorset is a recipient rather than an originator of freight, and that many passengers book return tickets from a city like London.

No. The figures on page 11 of the British Railways Board Report illustrate how receipts from originating and forwarded traffic compare with the cost of the least used 50 per cent, of all stations.More detailed information about freight traffics received as well as forwarded is given on pages 38–39 and 71–77 of the Report.Proposals for passenger service and station closures depend mainly on the number of passengers joining and alighting. The Board will provide this information for any opposed closure after they give notice of their proposal under section 56 of the Transport Act, 1962.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will make arrangements for the Army legal services to be put at the disposal of bereaved relatives when pursuing, in a foreign country, a civil claim arising out of the death of a soldier killed while serving overseas.

Yes.