asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs how many local authorities have made representations to him in regard to the need for planning powers to control betting shops.

I assume the hon. Member is referring to control over the number of betting offices. If that is so, the answer is one.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he is aware of the excessive peak-hour pressure on public transport between Woolwich and Central London; and if he will now schedule Woolwich as an area of substantial office development.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to him on 19th November.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will consult local planning authorities in South-East England with a view to establishing a moratorium on all applications for building development in green belts until after the findings of the Study Group on the South-East have been published.

I have no power to establish such a moratorium.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will make a statement on his discussions with the nationalised transport boards to ensure that surplus transport land is not used to increase office development in Central London.

I assume the hon. Member is referring to the proposals by the British Railways Board under Section 87 of the Transport Act, 1962. The Board sent draft proposals to the London County Council on 5th November for consultation and will no doubt submit a final version to me in due course.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will give an estimate of the final population in Basildon new town.

The present estimate is 106,000; but in the light of the South-East Study this figure may have to be reconsidered.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the National Economic Development Council is making an estimate of the increase in retail prices which would result from an increase in farm incomes of 25 per cent. in the next three years; and if he will make a statement.

No.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to what extent it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government that civil servants should be compulsorily retired on reaching the age of 65 even if efficient and physically fit.

The general aim is to employ all efficient and fit officers for as long as practicable; there is no universally applied retiring age.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will provide a list of the ten best-selling Government publications or White Papers during 1963.

Of the items (excluding forms) first published during 1963, the ten of which most were sold were:—

asked the Secretary to the Treasury why it is proposed to merge the grades of departmental higher clerical officer and indoor officer in the Civil Service; and how this will affect promotion opportunities for Customs and Excise staff.

The grades of departmental higher clerical officer and indoor officer in the Customs have been merged as from 1st January, 1964, in order to increase departmental efficiency by making possible greater flexibility of staffing and to widen the experience of staff under consideration for promotion to more senior posts. The promotion opportunities of the staff will not be adversely affected as the merger will not reduce the number of higher posts open to the basic grade.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make available in the Library of the House a copy of the report of the inquiry of Mr. R. L. Le Gallais, Chief Justice of Aden, into allegations of ill-treatment of prisoners detained arising out of the bomb outrage at Aden airport on 10th December, 1963.

Yes, as soon as copies reach London.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what further steps have been taken to hold either a general election or a referendum in Malta; what are the terms to be submitted in the referendum; and what steps are being taken to speed up the introduction of independence.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. and learned Member for Aberdeen, North (Mr. Hector Hughes) on 10th December. I expect to hear very shortly from the Prime Minister of Malta the outcome of his proposal for a referendum, which he made to the leaders of the other political parties in Malta.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies when the United Nations Economic Report on Malta, prepared by Professor Stolper will be published in the United Kingdom and in Malta.

The publication of the Report is a matter for the United Nations in consultation with the Malta Government. I am advised that it will be published as early as is practicable.

asked the Minister of Public Building and Works when he intends to put in hand the exterior cleaning of the Banqueting House, Whitehall.

Towards the end of February, if weather conditions are suitable.

asked the Minister of Public Building and Works for what purposes he proposes to purchase 32 acres of land on the site of Woolwich Arsenal; and what consultations he has had on the matter with the London County Council.

We propose to acquire some 18 acres of the Royal Arsenal Estate and to use the existing buildings on this land for storage so as to enable parts of the Government site at Kidbrooke at present used for this storage to be sold to the L.C.C. for housing. The L.C.C. are aware of these proposals and detailed discussions with them have already begun.

asked the Secretary of State for Technical Co-operation what his plans are for implementing the recommendations of his Advisory Committee on Co-operatives.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for King's Lynn (Mr. Bullard) on Tuesday, 14th January.

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation what arrangements exist to ensure that school-leavers and graduate volunteers, travelling to give service in another country under the auspices of the Committee on Overseas Service, are given special travel facilities.

:Arrangements with the Admiralty and Air Ministry ensure that overseas volunteers benefit to a considerable extent from free passages and various shipping companies allocate berths at reduced rates. These concessions are greatly appreciated by all concerned and a constant lookout is kept for extending such arrangements. Difficulties sometimes arise when passages can only be available at short notice whereas volunteers have to arrive by a given date.

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation whether he will publish figures showing the numbers and categories of experts, technicians and teachers from the United Kingdom, including those giving voluntary service, employed in various Commonwealth and other developing coun- tries; and how these compare with those provided by other nations.

:The numbers of experts from the United Kingdom, paid in whole or part from public funds, at work on 31st December, 1962, in developing countries are shown in the Table. Following recommendations made by a Working Party of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a distinction is made between Advisers and Operational Personnel. The categories under each head are those which have been proposed for making international comparisons, although these are not yet possible since other countries have not completed the necessary statistical arrangements. The Table does not cover volunteers and U.K. experts employed by the United Nations and Specialised Agencies.Volunteers are also selected and sent overseas by voluntary societies receiving a substantial contribution towards their expenses from my Department. The number of such volunteers working overseas in 1962 was 296 and in 1963, 575. This year it is planned to raise the number to 850.The number of U.K. experts employed by the United Nations and Specialised Agencies at 1st July, 1963, was 558. This was more than from any other country.Figures for British experts financed in other ways are not available.

asked the Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development what progress has been made in the expansion of Citizens' Advice Bureaux to deal with consumer protection.

The Board of Trade and the National Citizens' Advice Bureaux Committee wrote to local authorities in August drawing their attention to the role of Citizens' Advice Bureaux in the Government's plan for consumer advice. I understand from the National Committee that some 450 local authorities have, as a result, so far got into touch with them, and that some 50 local meetings about the formation of new bureaux have been arranged.

asked the Prime Minister if he intends to publish the Report of the Plowden Committee reviewing the organisation of overseas services.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Woolwich, East (Mr. Mayhew) on 16th January.

asked the Prime Minister whether he will now make a statement about the membership of the Kennedy National Memorial Committee.

:I am glad to be able to announce that the following have agreed to serve on the Kennedy National Memorial Committee:

• Lord Franks (Chairman).
• The Lord Mayor of London.
• The Lord Provost of Edinburgh
• The Lord Mayor of Cardiff.
• The Lord Mayor of Belfast.
• Lord Chandos.
• Lord Evurshed.
• Mr. Victor Feather.
• Dame Margot Fonteyn.
• Mr. John Freeman.
• Lord Harcourt.
• Dr. T. Lupton.
• Sir Roger Makins.
• Miss Barbara Ward.
• Sir Philip de Zulueta.

asked the Minister of Education whether he will make a statement on the result of the appeal to teachers of pensionable age to postpone their date of leaving teaching.

Between October 1960, just before my predecessor appealed to teachers to postpone their retirement, and October 1963, the number of full-time teachers in maintained primary and secondary schools aged 60 and over rose from 8,771 to 9,868.It is not, of course, possible to say to what extent this increase was due to the appeal.

asked the Minister of Education whether he will make a statement on the report of the National Institute of Education on its inquiry into accommodation and staffs for adult education.

:I commended this report last July to the attention of local education authorities and asked them to consider its proposals for reviewing accommodation facilities and improving staff arrangements, and also to bear in mind the claims of voluntary colleges providing short residential courses.I did not feel able to accept the proposal of the Workers' Educational Association that my grants should cover 90 per cent. of the teaching costs of their districts; but grants have been provided to enable responsible bodies to appoint 15 additional full-time tutors and improve the rates of fees for part-time tutors. I have also given the National Institute an additional grant of £500 towards the cost of its further inquiry into the recruitment, training and status of staff employed in adult education.Owing to the overriding needs of schools, technical further education, teacher training and the youth service, I could not find places for adult education projects in major building programmes for 1964–65, but 44 small projects for improving the evening use of secondary schools by adults have been included in school building programmes for that year. I have also arranged to phase over about three years from 1965–66 the starts of four projects proposed by voluntary colleges providing long residential courses; details were given in my answer to the hon. Member for Fife, West, (Mr. W. Hamilton) on 16th January.

asked the Minister of Education whether he will make a statement on the report of the Henniker-Heaton committee of inquiry on the grant of day-release to workers under the age of 18.

:I understand that the committee hopes to submit its report to me within a few weeks.

asked the Minister of Education what was the number of young persons under 18 years of age who, on the latest available date, were attending evening classes but had no day release.

In November, 1962, 158,000 students under 18 attended evening classes in major establishments of further education, and 272,000 in evening institutes. 261,000 students in this age range were in day release courses. I have no information as to what extent the latter category overlaps with the first two, but my department are at present conducting a sample survey at the request of the Henniker Heaton Committee on Day Release related to this point.

asked the Minister of Education how many persons are receiving day release for commercial studies.

In November 1962, 23,331 students were attending part-time day courses leading to commercial and professional qualifications largely in the commercial field, and a further 7,609 students were attending courses leading to qualifications in wholesale or retail trading. The great majority of these were receiving day release from their employers. In addition there were a large number attending courses in commercial subjects not leading to recognised qualifications.

asked the Minister of Education, whether he will make a statement on day release for agriculture.

The number of students released from agriculture for part-time day courses has increased from less than 2,000 in 1957–58 to nearly 7,000 in 1962–63. Whilst I welcome this evidence of the increasing recognition by the industry of the importance of technical education, I hope that employers will release more of their young workers to attend these courses either on a day release or block release basis, both for their own sake and as a preparation for full-time courses in agricultural institutes. I shall be including a number of projects for accommodation for part-time courses in agriculture in the 1965–66 Building Programme.

asked the Minister of Education what are the numbers of students taking the National Diploma in Art and Design course.

:Information supplied by the National Council for Diplomas in Art and Design shows that there are at present 1,400 students engaged on courses leading to the Diploma in Art and Design. This total is divided as follows: Fine Art, 700; Graphic Design, 326; Three Dimensional Design, 190; Textiles/Fashion, 184.

asked the Minister of Education what progress has been made with experiments with a full-time induction period for part-time technical education.

In my circular of 18th February, 1963, I recommended local education authorities and colleges to experiment with this type of course. Some courses have already been introduced, and I hope that the number of experiments will increase.

asked the Minister of Education what progress has been made with the development of block-release for part-time technical education.

The number of students taking block release courses, in the last three academic years, was as shown in the table below. "Statistics of Education 1962, Part two" gives, in Table 18, an analysis of the course subjects and the qualifications aimed at, for the academic year 1962–63.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs when the hon. Member for Chester-le-Street will be sent a final reply to his letter of 26th October, 1963, regarding visas for a delegation representing the mining communitiy of East Germany invited to attend the Durham Miners' Gala of 964, by the Durham Area Union of the National Union of Mineworkers.

:I have nothing to add for the present to my hon. Friend's letter to the hon. Gentleman of 6th November, 1963.

asked the Minister of Health how many prescriptions were issued by general practitioners on Form E.C.10 for imipramine under its generic name of imipramine, and how many under the trade-name of Tofranil, and what percentage is represented by the latter figure, during the latest six month or twelve-month period for which figures are available.

Sample information suggests that there were about 650,000 prescriptions for imipramine during the year ended 30th September, 1963, in England and Wales and that about 99 per cent. of these were for Tofranil.

asked the Minister of Health how many known cases of leukaemia there are in Britain.

:Central records are not kept of the actual number of people suffering from leukaemia at any one time, but the number in England and Wales is estimated to be of the order of 4,000.

asked the Minister of Health how many persons died of leukaemia disease in the years 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962.

asked the Minister of Health if he will give particulars of the numbers of deaths attributed to leukaemia in each year from 1945 onwards.

The following is the reply:

asked the Minister of Health what tests have been made under the National Health Service of the anti-leukaemia serum developed by M. Naessens; and what proposals he has for further tests in the future.

None. I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Members for Birkenhead (Mr. Collick) and Shetteston (Sir M. Galpern) on 16th January.

asked the Secretary of State far Scotland how many known cases of leukaemia disease there are in Scotland.

Central records are not kept of the actual number of people suffering from leukaemia at any one time. But it is estimated that there are probably rather more than 400 cases in Scotland at present.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many deaths have occurred because of leukaemia disease in Scotland in each of the last five years.

The number of deaths from leukaemia in Scotland in 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962 were 259, 264, 256, 282 and 289, respectively.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will make a statement on the Working Party on Industrial Relations in the Shipbuilding Industry.

The Working Party has had a number of meetings under the chairmanship of a senior official of my Department and has been reviewing

asked the Minister of Transport how many drivers of cars or riders of motor bicycles involved in fatal or serious accidents in the 12 months to the latest convenient date were reported to be going too fast, to be learners, to be affected by alcohol, or to be ill, fatigued, or physically affected; and what is the percentage of drivers of each category involved in the total number of accidents.

The following are the figures for the twelve months ended 31st October, 1963. The figures for drinking are restricted to cases where an arrest appeared justified; they are known seriously to understate the number of cases in which drink is a contributory factor.