asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation what facilities are provided by the literature bureaux to which he has given assistance in Commonwealth and Colonial Territories for the training of students in the writing, preparation, and publication of text books in the field of technical and non-technical education, respectively; and what financial assistance has been given by Her Majesty's Government for such projects in each territory, respectively, during the years 1960 to 1964.

During the financial years 1960–61 to 1963–64 Her Majesty's Government contributed £60,300 to such literature bureaux. Twenty-six thousand pounds went to East Africa, £13,000 to Borneo, £16,000 to the South Pacific and £300 to Sierra Leone. No facilities such as the hon. Member mentions have been provided at the South Pacific Bureau since 1962. With regard to the other Bureaux which are in independent countries, I am making inquiries and will write to the hon. Member.

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that information. In view of the enormous need for text books in the Commonwealth and for training people in their production, does he not think that the provision of a mere 12 bursaries at the University of London for the whole of the Commonwealth is a minute fractional contribution towards the solution of this problem? Cannot his Department do more to provide facilities for training people here in the preparation of text books?

I agree that this is something which should be looked into in the future, but I would remind the hon. Gentleman that we respond to requests and that so far requests of this kind have not been very voluminous. This is only part of the story, for there are also the low-priced book and other schemes of that kind.

Does the right hon. Gentleman remember that he is not spending all the money which Parliament has offered to him for his low-priced book scheme? Would it not be worth while using some of this unused money to help these literature bureaux?

In view of the frequency with which the hon. Gentleman reminds me of this fact, I shall certainly not forget it. As I think he realises, the rate at which a scheme develops is not entirely in our hands. I can only assure him and the House that we are doing everything we can to speed it up.

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation to what extent his Department has given special attention to the need for practical training of Commonwealth students in commerce, accountancy, business administration, and banking, in the United Kingdom and overseas, respectively.

Requests for training in these fields have so far been few. But in anticipation of a growing demand my Department is beginning to study the needs in consultation with the bodies involved. A grant of £5,000 a year is being made to the British Institute of Management and assistance has been given to institutions overseas, many of which offer courses in these fields.

Is it not time that the right hon. Gentleman altered his attitude to this problem? Is it not wrong to wait for requests to arise? Should it not be his policy to assess the need and go out to meet it and organise within industry and administration here the facilities to enable these countries to tackle their problems?

Hear, hear.

If all those hon. Members who so easily applaud that sentiment were to visit the Governments of developing countries, they would take a different view. Of course we should try to anticipate needs and try to stimulate requests which we can meet and which it would be useful to help. As I said, in anticipation of the growing need we are beginning to organise the facilities.

Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind the importance of teaching not only students but the teacher-trainers, because if we get in the teacher-training colleges those who are capable of doing this job, we multiply by many times the effectiveness of what is achieved? Secondly, will he bear in mind what the independent schools can do, because they have felt a very strong demand for help in the lower orders of commercial practical work? Finally, will he make an attempt to help forward this excellent work in every way he can?

I will certainly take account of what my hon. Friend says about the independent schools and colleges. Of course I agree with his last remarks. I also agree that the supply of teacher-trainers is very urgent, and in this respect we are deliberately trying to stimulate more requests than we are getting.

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation how many Commonwealth students in electrical and mechanical engineering entered United Kingdom universities and technical colleges in 1961–62 and 1962–63.

1,158 and 1,359 in the two years in technical colleges. For the universities, the only figures available are of students taking courses in technology. These numbered 1,796, and 1,962 in the two years.

In view of the vastness of this problem and the huge area to be covered in the undeveloped parts of the British Commonwealth, does the right hon. Gentleman think that there has been satisfactory progress in the last few years?

There has been considerable progress, but I agree that the progress still to be made in this and other fields of technical co-operation is very great. We are making it, I hope.

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation what studies he is making of desalination techniques; and what projects he has for their application.

In view of the extensive research being undertaken under other auspices, my Department is not at present sponsoring any studies of desalination. I have no requests for technical assistance in this field under consideration.

Is the Minister aware of the United States Government's interest in desalination—if I may use that term instead of "desalinisation"—in conjunction with the development of nuclear energy and, in those circumstances, will he consult the United States Government in order to study further a technique which may well revolutionise the means of desert reclamation.

I will bear in mind what the hon. Gentleman says.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that his reply is extremely disappointing and that the nation which can solve this problem will do more for the hungry millions than the nation which puts, a man on the moon? Will he therefore bring us into line with countries working on this project and try to get international co-operation on this vital issue?

At least we are not trying to put a man on the moon. I will bear in mind what the hon. Lady says. It is a most important problem.

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation whether he will discuss with the British Overseas Airways Corporation and British European Airways the possibilities of increasing the number of off-peak period air tickets at substantially reduced prices for young men and women who offer themselves for voluntary service overseas.

My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Aviation said on 5th February that he would draw the attention of the Corporations to these matters and I shall follow up his action.

I thank my right hon. Friend for his reply. Will it be borne in mind that on many routes B.O.A.C. planes are losing money and, as such, are really flag-carriers? Does not it seem reasonable that they should fill their payloads with people who want to give voluntary service overseas? Is he aware that this service would cost the Corporation and the Government nothing?

As I have said, I will follow this up. The Government have no power of direction over the Corporation in this matter, but in fairness to the Corporations we ought not to under estimate the difficulties they have in connection with international agreements.

Will the Minister extend that request to the private air companies and, if the Corporation should accede to this request and make a deficit in so doing, will the hon. Member for Rutland and Stamford (Mr. K. Lewis) refrain from pointing to that as proof of the failure of nationalisation?

I cannot answer for my hon. Friend. I can say "Yes" to the other point.

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation what steps he is taking to ensure that British personnel undertaking inspection of projects with British participation in developing countries have the necessary instruction and technical qualifications.

Her Majesty's Government have no right of inspection of technical assistance projects in independent developing countries but, as far as possible, my specialist advisory staff who are highly qualified in their respective fields keep abreast of developments in these countries which they are often invited to visit.

I understand fully the views of the Minister about the sensitivity of developing countries, but is not his answer a little exaggerated? Surely donors, whether Government or private bodies, have a right and a duty to see that their aid or help is being properly used? What are we doing to see that projects on which British public funds are spent are being looked at and followed up?

The staff of our missions abroad keep in regular contact with development projects, and this is a continuous contact. The number of staff devoted to that purpose overseas is increasing. Apart from that, we depend on specialist advisers from this country.

Is not there a case for attaching to high commissions and embassies technical assistance experts as attachés?

While begging this description of "attaché" versus secondment, I can say that there are one or two people who are associated with my Department doing this work in posts abroad.

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation how many expatriate British civil servants are still being employed and paid by the Government of Zanzibar; and how many have had their employment terminated, and on what conditions, by the new Government.

One hundred and seventeen. of which about 80 are in post and the rest on vacation or terminal leave. Thirteen pensionable and four contract officers have had their employment terminated. The pensionable officers will receive their compensation in one lump sum. I do not yet know the terms for the four contract officers.

Will my right hon. Friend agree to watch the situation and the developments in Zanzibar and do what he can to safeguard the rights of the civil servants there? Can he tell me whether the Civil Service Commission established under the Constitution is still effective? Is he aware that I have information that some pensions due in January have not yet been paid?

I was not aware of the last piece of information, which I will look into most carefully and quickly. I must ask notice of the question about the Civil Service Commission. Regarding looking after the rights of service officers in Zanzibar, the House may like to know that before he left on 20th February the British High Commissioner was authorised to inform our overseas officers remaining there, both pensionable and contract, that the British Government in all circumstances would take all measures open to them to secure that the Zanzibar Government fulfils its obligations.

Is the Minister aware that great bitterness has been created among the civil servants in this and other Colonies by their being divided into the designated and the non-designated? Is he aware that the designated get far better treatment, higher salaries and terminal compensation payment as against the non-designated who get nothing of the kind? Will he examine the position again?

There is, of course, good reason for designation, and that is why the people designated get better terms. The other points raised by the hon. Member comprise another Question which I must ask him to put on the Order Paper.

asked the Secretary of State for Technical Co-operation what action he is taking to assist overseas countries in agricultural development, in the light of the recommendations of his Advisory Committee; and if he will make a statement.

I am publishing today the first Report of my Advisory Committee together with an account of the work of my Department in this field. I should like to thank Mr. Bawden, the Chairman of the Committee, and his colleagues for their valuable Report which has been accepted as the basis of our work.

Will my right hon. Friend say something about the need to avoid the wholesale withdrawal of agricultural staff from the countries getting independence?

This is a very great need. It is interesting and encouraging to note that, despite the changed conditions, there are still 1,900 specialists in this sphere overseas compared with 2,200 in 1956, a relatively small decline.

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation what steps he is taking to encourage retired persons with appropriate qualifications to undertake work in developing countries.

Retired members of Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service are often recruited for further assignments overseas. I agree that qualified people near the end of their normal careers at home may be able to give valuable service overseas and I am encouraging such recruitment.

I appreciate the work that civil servants can do, but will the Minister agree that a number of other particularly qualified people, doctors, vets and so on, can do useful work in developing countries? Will he give details of the steps he is taking to encourage them?

For example, when I and my officers visit universities we bring this point particularly to their attention. On a recent trip to Malaya I was glad to find three such persons in position in Malaya.

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation how many doctors and sister tutors have been seconded for duty in developing countries since the acceptance by Her Majesty's Government of the recommendations of the Porritt Committee.

Nineteen doctors but no sister tutors. Two senior nurses, however, have been sent out to teaching posts.

Is not this shocking in view of the fact that the Porritt Committee, when making its recommendations two years ago, said then that the secondment of sister tutors was urgent? The right hon. Gentleman's Department has had at least a year since then to approve the recommendations. Why this indecision?

The question relates only to secondment which is a small part of the D.T.C. medical activities. Since last March 115 qualified medical staff and nearly 100 nursing staff, in addition to those I have mentioned, have been recruited and sent overseas. It was because of the urgent need to do this that we set up the Porritt Committee to advise my Department and to influence the medical profession.

This is one of the things the Committee recommended. Would the right hon. Gentleman consider publishing a report in the near future about the first year's working of the Porritt recommendation so that we can see what is going on?

The first year is still a way from being completed. I am considering the point. I am sure the House will realise that we cannot compel people in these categories to go overseas; we must persuade.

Are not some sort of arrangements made for secondment to apply to sister tutors and other nurses going abroad, as in the teaching profession?

It is much more difficult in the medical profession. This is one of the matters which we have asked the Porritt Committee to go into most urgently.

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation what steps he is taking to ensure an adequate supply of technicians in Commonwealth countries, for the purpose of servicing British-manufactured equipment, and for training Commonwealth citizens in the use of British manufactured machine tools and other engineering equipment.

Assistance in the field of technical education, including the training of technical teachers is, of course, a major function of my Department. But any specialised training required for particular types of British equipment must be the responsibility of the firms supplying it.

Will not the right hon. Gentleman agree that it is not only very important that we should give assistance by providing and training technicians but that we should also provide British machinery and equipment for use by those technicians in their training?

I certainly agree. If, for example, the hon. Member can ever visit the Institute of Technology in Delhi he will see £650,000 worth of equipment.

I shall gladly go there if the right hon. Gentleman will pay my fare.

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation if he will give details of research grants by his Department in the fields of economic, social and educational research in relation to the needs of developing countries.

Since the detailed list of these grants is lengthy, I am, with permission, circulating it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

While thanking the Minister for doing that, may I ask him to bear in mind that these particular subjects are vitally important in the developing countries and the information so far is that they do not receive as much priority as agriculture and medicine? Will he try to put greater emphasis on these kinds of research?

I shall certainly bear in mind what the hon. Member has said. The trouble in this field, as he knows as well as anyone, is that everything is extremely urgent and fixing priorities is very difficult.

asked the Secretary of State for Technical Co-operation whether he intends to make the services of the Overseas Services Resettlement Bureau more widely available.

Yes, Sir. The Bureau will in future accept all officers recruited in the United Kingdom for service on pensionable terms or long-term contract with dependent Governments who lose their offices as a result of constitutional change.

Does this include officers from the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland? May I press my right hon. Friend once again to bear in mind the need of local government officers who do not receive information from the Bureau?

In reply to the first part of that question, the answer is Yes, Sir, provided such officers were initially recruited in the United Kingdom. I am afraid the Bureau does not cover local government officers unless they were first recruited in this country and transferred to local government service overseas. I shall keep in mind the point my hon. Friend has mentioned, but I cannot give any undertaking about it.

asked the Secretary of State for Technical Co-operation what plans he has for increasing the number of experts working in Latin America; and what further visits are being arranged by his Department's professional advisers.

If recruitment is successful I hope the number of experts in Latin America will rise to 70 during the coming year, compared with about 35 at the moment. Further visits by two of my Department's professional advisers have already been arranged.

While thanking my right hon. Friend for that reply, may I ask if 70 is not rather a small number to make an impression on 208 million people? Will my right hon. Friend hear in mind that this is a part of the world where British help is particularly welcome and useful?

I am glad of my hon. Friend's interest in this part of the world. It is only in the last two years that our technical assistance programmes have been extended to this region and that we have been able to pay attention to this matter, but I hope that this is only a beginning.

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation what is the present number of his administrative staff; and how many are on secondment from other Departments.

73 and 44, respectively.

Would not the Minister agree that these figures are very disturbing? Is it not very unsatisfactory that an important new Department like his should depend on so many administrative staff who are on temporary secondment from other Departments of State and are bound to some extent to be looking over their shoulders at their former Departments? Will the Government take this seriously and try to get a proper establishment for the right hon. Gentleman's Department?

I can assure the hon. Member that we are taking the matter seriously. Beyond that I cannot comment at the moment.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what was the average period between the issue of provisional lists and statutory lists of buildings of historic or architectural interest in 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960, 1959, 1958, and 1957.

The average periods vary from a maximum of four and a quarter years in 1960 to a minimum of two years in 1963, but I will, with permission, circulate the detailed figures for the years concerned in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

While thanking my hon. Friend for the details he has given, may I ask if he will not agree that it would be as well if this whole process could be completed as soon as possible?

Yes, I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. I would hope that we would be able to speed these things up, but he will appreciate that one has to look at these matters against the scale of operations involved and that this varies considerably from area to area.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what steps he is taking to draw the attention of local planning committees to the problems which will arise of change of user as more railways are closed under the Beeching Plan.

My right hon. Friend is not aware of any special need for guidance; but if my hon. Friend has any particular points in mind, he will be glad to consider them.

Is it not a fact that there is need for change of user as disused railways will become theoretically agricultural land although in fact they are derelict land? Are not some steps necessary to be taken by the Minister to give guidance to local planning authorities which otherwise might take no action at all?

It is not for local planning authorities to bring forward applications for change of user unless they own the land or have an arrangement with the Railways Board.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that there is substance in this Question, bearing in mind what has happened in the West Midlands? I have it "straight from the horse's mouth", if that is not an indelicate expression, that the planning provisions for overspill in the West Midlands were not taken into consideration when the data for the Beeching Plan were prepared and even now lines are being closed in areas which have been developed since the Beeching Plan was published.

With due respect to the hon. Member, that is a totally different question from the Question on the Order Paper, which relates to change of user resulting from land being given up.

Will the hon. Gentleman tell us what steps the Government are taking to work out the cost to local authorities of the application of the Beeching and Buchanan proposals? How much is it likely to cost? How on earth can local authorities afford it under the present system of financing local government?

I should be delighted to go into that, but this Question deals with the application to derelict land.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what assistance Her Majesty's Government proposes to give to local authorities planning town centres in meeting the heavy cost of the purchase of land and property for this purpose.

Local authorities are being given power to defer repayment of loans for a limited period during the unremunerative stages of town centre redevelopment schemes. Furthermore, as my right hon. Friend informed the House on 10th February, the Government accept the need to overhaul the existing system of planning and highway grants in light of the Buchanan Report, and this is being examined jointly by the Departments concerned.

What is the Department doing about the extortionate increase in land values? Is the hon. Gentleman aware, for example, that in Slough High Street in June last year it cost the council £133,000 for a 38 ft. frontage, which works out at £1 million per acre? Is he aware that this year the council has had to pay at the rate of £2 million an acre for shops in the High Street? What is he going to do about this robbery of the community?

The hon. Gentleman will be aware that by definition land in a town centre is limited in supply. The only way that either my right hon. Friends or hon. Members opposite will lower the cost of such land is to increase the supply.

Does the Parliamentary Secretary remember that it is now some months since his right hon. Friend expressed the view that there was need for new machinery to secure the public acquisition of land? When may we expect a statement about the establishment of this new machinery?

My right hon. Friend made it quite clear that he was referring in that context to major plans for town redevelopment, which is a rather different matter from town centre redevelopment.

What advice has been given to local authorities to draw their attention to the need to redevelop their town centres by the normal commercial methods of co-operation with property companies? Has advice been given to this effect?

My right hon. Friend has published a bulletin on the subject which has been sent to all local authorities. I will send my hon. Friend a copy.

On a point of order. In view of the unsatisfactory replies to the last two Questions, I indicate that I wish to raise these matters on the Adjournment.

Yes, but I think that the hon. Member by rule has to apply that notice to one Question only, otherwise we get into a muddle.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs how many town centre schemes were approved in 1963.

Twenty-three.

This is far too slow. Does not the Parliamentary Secretary consider that a greater sense of urgency is needed in his own Department and that he ought to convey that to the local authorities?

Yes. I agree entirely that we ought to speed up, and we are endeavouring to do so. Certain proposals will be put to local authorities very shortly, and arrangements are being made in my Department to speed up this procedure. I am glad to say that already there is quite a marked increase in the pace at which it is being dealt with.

Does the Parliamentary Secretary recall that he told me that there were fifty-two outstanding in June last year, let alone those which have come in since? Does he not recognise that this is a very serious deterioration in the last eight or nine months? Is it not holding up the vital work of remodernising our town centres? Will he do something about it quickly?

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what study he has made of the resolution passed at a meeting of Northumberland County District Council on 23rd January regarding local government reorganisation, a copy of which has been sent to him by the hon. Member for Blyth; and if he will make a statement.

Most of the resolution is devoted to criticisms of the Local Government Commission's proposals for Tyneside. These objections will no doubt be pursued at the local inquiry which is to open in Newcastle next month. I cannot comment on them in advance. As for the last point in the resolution, I believe that re-organisation in some form is urgently needed if local government is to play a fully effective part in the long term rehabilitation of the North-East.

It is pleasing to note that an inquiry is being held but is the Minister aware that the severance of North Tyneside from the rest of Northumberland flies in the face of the recommendations of the White Paper on Regional Development arising from the visits of the Lord President of the Council to the North-East? If the Government are to be converted to planning, let it be proper planning. Will the Minister undertake, following this inquiry, to receive a deputation from Northumberland County Council to discuss this matter?

I do not accept the implication drawn by the hon. Gentleman from the White Paper. All the arguments that lie behind the hon. Gentleman's supplementary question can be put at the inquiry. It is my job to consider the findings of the inquiry. I fear that I cannot undertake to receive a deputation.

Is the Minister aware that the main point is the question of the linking up of local government boundaries with the need to bring new industries to the North-East? These are two Government recommendations which are in direct conflict with each other and which are preventing the industrial development of the area. This needs looking into.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what steps are now being taken to prevent the foam nuisance, at sewerage works and in rivers, caused by detergents.

Most detergents are now far more readily broken down at sewage disposal works than those produced three or four years ago. More improvement is needed. But manufacturers are now developing still more oxidisable materials and are preparing to produce these in large quantities. The Standing Technical Committee on Synthetic Detergents will be reporting progress later this year.

Is not the hon. Gentleman aware that when travelling on a train and passing sewerage works and rivers, particularly if there is a wind, one sees that there is a tremendous amount of foam still in the detergents? Local authorities which try to break down this foaming agent are put to considerable expense. Is it not time that his Department made quite sure that the detergent manufacturers put in a material at the source which could break down the foaming agent?

I understand that about 70 per cent. of the detergents now used are based on this softer base which reduces the foam by about 50 per cent. There are now signs of an even softer material proving commercially possible and, if this comes about, we will no doubt see an even further improvement.

Will the Minister have another look at this matter, because if he makes inquiries he will find that a town like Castleford has had as much as 6 ft. to 7 ft of detergent foam in the streams on one occasion? Will he also look at the implications of this on places like Doncaster, where the River Don has had a tremendous amount of this foam floating down it? Will the hon. Gentleman show a greater appreciation of the necessity for doing something constructive and at least expedite the publication of the report of the Committee which has been considering this important problem for a long time?

This Committee reports every year. Its report for this year is still to come.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what information he has on the area of disused burial grounds in the Greater London area, arising from his survey of the use of land in that area.

My right hon. Friend has made no survey of land use in the Greater London area.

Would it not be a good idea to look at this matter in the light of the shortage of land in the Greater London area? In particular will the Minister consider removing the prohibitions on building contained in the Disused Burial Grounds Act, 1884, after the lapse of a fixed number of years of an Order in Council made under that Act?

In reply to the first part of the hon. Member's supplementary question, local authorities are able to obtain the detailed information to which he referred, and no doubt do so. On the second part, I must ask the hon. Member to await the outcome of the review of the general law on burial and cremation when that Act will be considered.

Will my hon. Friend look into this matter more closely and find out more precisely just what is the policy of the Liberal Party on building houses in graveyards?

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs when he will give his approval to the comprehensive development area map of Bedworth in the administrative county of Warwick, into which his inspector held a public local inquiry on 9th July last and about which the clerk of the council wrote on 6th January, 1964.

My right hon. Friend has a number of modifications in mind. The Department will very shortly be writing about these to the county and the urban district councils with a view to arranging a meeting to discuss them.

Does the Minister not realise that this is really and truly a slum clearance scheme; that only four buildings will remain if the scheme goes through? Has it not taken a tremendously long time for the Ministry to have put the matter in hand, and cannot something be done to expedite this meeting and a decision on this scheme?

The meeting will take place soon, but I would point out to the hon. Gentleman that the main delay has been due to the necessity of bringing these proposals in line with the Buchanan recommendations.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs, in view of the fact that the proposal to provide 10 permanent caravan sites in Kent for gypsies and other travellers resulted from the survey requested by his Department which revealed the need for sites for 127 families, what steps have been taken so that these families can be identified as the camps become available, to avoid the danger that many of the traditional caravan dwellers will be left out and the places taken by house dwellers who are, in substantial numbers, attracted to leaving behind their homes and debts to take up a caravan life.

The only practical method of dealing with this problem is careful selection of tenants for these caravan sites. This is a matter for the local authority concerned.

Does the Parliamentary Secretary agree that since the proposals for camping sites in Kent were made more caravans have gone into the county and that the situation is worse than ever? Is he not aware that at my site at Cobham I have had many applications from householders wishing to take up caravan life for various reasons? Since applicants for council houses are required to register, is it not essential that something similar should be introduced to ensure that genuine caravan families are not squeezed out and, if this is not done, how is the problem to be successfully tackled?

I was not aware of any specific cases of caravaners having recently left houses in the way the hon. Gentleman suggests, but I am certain that local authorities, which have a lot of experience in assessing the local connection in cases of houses allocation, will be able to handle this matter; that is, in cases of allocating caravan sites.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what grants will be available to rating authorities in Accrington, Rishton, Church, Clayton-le-Moors and Oswaldtwistle, respectively, in respect of old people under the Rating (Interim Relief) Bill.

With permission, I will circulate the figures in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Do the local authorities have the necessary information about the number of old people on which the grants will be based, or will this information be circulated to them?

The latest figures are still to be circulated, though I have no doubt that the local authorities can make a fair estimate on the figures for last year.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what decision he has reached on the request of the Slough Borough Council for authorisation of its plan to erect 2,431 houses between 1963 and 1969.

In January my Department sent the council a letter, of which the hon. Member has had a copy saying that I wanted to reserve a decision on its proposals for 1965 to 1969 until it could show its capacity to handle the greatly increased programmes requested by it and approved in full for 1963 and 1964. The council has accepted this.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware of the desperate housing situation in Slough caused by people pouring into the town, meaning overcrowding, meaning young people cannot get a house to live in when they get married and meaning that there is general house hunger? Is he aware that in the letter to which he referred he made two points, first that the programme which the Slough Council has put forward would be ahead of the general rate of increase in the Government's expanded housing programme? Is he really saying that his great housing programme will not allow 349 houses a year? Secondly, he says that extra work would be put on to the building industry without any regard to its capacity. What about blocks of offices? What about luxury houses?

What about the length of supplementary questions?

I am very glad to see that the local authority is doubling, indeed trying to treble, its rate of house building. I have approved treble the previous programme for 1963 and 1964. As soon as I can see that it can in fact increase its performance in this way, I can give a decision on the later programme.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will introduce legislation to prohibit landlords from writing decontrolled in the rent books of tenants of controlled houses.

While I deplore such action by landlords, I have heard only of the one case reported to me by the hon. Member for Salford, East (Mr. Frank Allaun), and I hardly think on the evidence that legislation would be justified.

Is the Minister aware that this Question arises from a letter I sent to him about a Salford widow who had lived for thirty-one years in her controlled house without a penny of arrears, against whom this kind of threat was tried, although since I wrote to the Minister the rent has not been raised? As the Minister replied to me that he took a serious view of this kind of thing when I wrote to him about a rather similar case of a 70-year-old pensioner in a neighbouring street to whom an eviction order had been sent by registered post, will he now take legal action in both cases?

I have no evidence that these practices are on a wide enough scale to justify legislation. Such malpractices, if they exist in a few cases, do not diminish in any degree the controlled status of the tenancy.

Ought it not to be an offence for a landlord to put any untrue information in a rent book?

There is power in the local authorities to prosecute for an offence against the Act requiring full information to be put in rent books. I should like to consider the point made by the hon. Gentleman.

Ought not this matter to be kept in perspective? Although a case like this is deplorable and is deplored on both sides of the House, should it not be remembered that there are hundreds of thousands of cases and that this is only one out of hundreds of thousands?

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will introduce legislation to prohibit landlords from gaining violent entry to evict tenants who have got into difficulties with their rents following big rent increases resulting from the operation of the Rent Act.

No, Sir. I am advised that it is already an offence for a landlord to gain entry forcibly.

Is the Minister aware that, since I wrote to him about this shocking case of an employee of one of London's largest firms of landlords, which had secured an eviction order, smashing the window of this tenant with a hammer to secure entry—since I wrote to the Minister and since the eviction order was obtained—the clothing and furniture of this family were piled in the open in the rain for seven days? Will the Minister give his support to the Bill introduced by my hon. and well-informed Friend the Member for Paddington, North (Mr. Parkin), which would suspend the operation of a court order until suitable alternative accommodation had been found?

This entry was under a court order and I understand that the tenants have found alternative accommodation.