asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what will be the cost to the East Midlands farming industry in a full year of the higher charges for farm electricity supplies imposed in February.

The cost on all agricultural and horticultural commodities is estimated at about £140,000 in a full year.

asked the Minister of Aviation if he will give general directions to British European Airways and British Overseas Airways Corporation that, in the filling of newly-created posts, an opportunity should be given to employees and, if considered necessary, to members of the general public to apply.

No. This is a matter which is properly left to the commercial judgment of the Corporations. I am assured, however, that their general practice is to invite members of their staff to apply for appointment to newly-created posts. If, in the opinion of the Corporations, no suitably qualified applicant from the staff were likely to emerge, publicity within the Corporations and public advertisement for posts requiring particular qualifications would be made simultaneously.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will make a statement about the future of the Joint Anti-Submarine School at Londonderry.

The latest position was indicated by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on Monday last during the debate on Northern Ireland. I am not yet able to add anything to that statement.

asked the Minister of Health if, in view of his statement that in a salaried service general practitioners would have premises and ancillary help provided by the State, he will give an estimate of the capital cost of providing such premises and services; and whether he is prepared to provide them within 12 months of the inception of a salaried service.

I regret that information for an estimate is not available. I do not in any event think it helpful in present circumstances to speculate about hypothetical situations.

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that to date 170 general practitioners in West Sussex have signified their intention to withdraw from the National Health Service on 30th June, 1965; and what provision he is making for the continuity of general practitioner medical services in the county, in view of his statutory obligations to provide and maintain such services.

Notification of these intentions has not been communicated to the Executive Council and the second part of the Question does not at present arise.

asked the Minister of Health if he will now reconsider the pool system of payment for general practitioners.

I have already expressed my willingness to discuss methods of remuneration with the profession.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make oral anti-histamines subject to poisons control, in view of the fact that some preparations are known to cause drowsiness.

A number of anti-histamines are already included in Part I of the Poisons List and in the Seventh Schedule to the Poisons Rules. The effect is that proprietary preparations—of which there are about 50—which contain any of the listed substances may be sold only by a registered pharmaceutical chemist; and there are requirements as regards labelling. The Poisons Board has recently reviewed the control of anti-histamines and has recommended that all medicines made up ready for the internal treatment of human ailments which contain an antihistamine substance subject to poisons control should be labelled with the words "Caution: This may cause drowsiness. If affected do not drive, or operate machinery". My right hon. Friend has accepted the recommendation and a Statutory Instrument is being prepared to give effect to it.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if any special category of prisoner will be accommodated in Gartree Prison, Market Harborough, or if it will be a prison for general use.

It is proposed to use the new closed prison at Gartree to accommodate male prisoners serving sentences of over 12 months, drawn mainly from Midland local prisons.

asked the Minister of Labour what retraining schemes are ready for staff workers in February, 1965, at Hamble, Baginton, or in the greater Coventry area.

In general there are good prospects of other employment for staff workers without retraining. For any who could not find suitable employment, and who were suitable for and desired training at craft or equivalent level there are facilities for training in a variety of trades at the Government Training Centres at Southampton and Birmingham.

asked the Minister of Labour if he will draw the attention of both parties to the National Agreement between the National Engineering Employers and the United Pattern-makers Association, clause 7 of which states that systematic short-time shall be worked where practicable in preference to discharging men when a deperession in trade takes place.

The interpretation or application of this clause is a matter for the parties to the Agreement.

asked the Minister of Labour what proportion of the building labour force is normally centred on the Greater London area.

18·4 per cent. of the estimated number of employees in the construction industry in Great Britain at mid-1964 were employed in the Greater London area.

asked the Minister of Labour how many miners were declared redundant in the Northumberland and Durham divisions of the National Coal Board in the years 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962; and how many of those miners were able to obtain retraining in Government training centres in each of those years.

The answer to the first part of the Question is for my right hon. Friend the Minister of Power. I regret that the information asked for in the second part is not available.

asked the Minister of Labour how many places were available for training and retraining at the Felling Training Centre in the years 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962; and what was the size of the waiting lists for these years.

The Training Centre at Felling was reopened in September, 1961. In December of that year there were 90 training places and in December, 1962, 81. The number on the waiting list on those dates was 53 and 43 respectively. In the years 1958 to 1961 the number of training places for draughtsmen housed at the Industrial Rehabilitation Unit at Felling has varied from 12 to 24. I regret the number on the waiting list for training for those years is not available.

asked the Minister of Public Building and Works (1) in view of the ban on office building in the Greater London area, what alternative building programmes he has proposed;(2) following the ban on office building in the Greater London area, what proposals he has to offset the resultant unemployment of specialised tradesmen and capital plant.

The control of office building in the Greater London area is intended to redistribute the pattern of offices. It will be some time before it could affect the construction industry and even then it will do so only in the geographical distribution of its effort. There will be no resultant unemployment of specialised tradesmen or capital plant since alternative work will be available.

asked the Minister of Power when he expects a decision to be made on the choice of the next nuclear reactor to be built by the Central Electricity Generating Board; and if he will announce this decision in the House of Commons.

I cannot say yet when the decision will be made, but I will announce it in the House as soon as I can.

asked the Minister of Overseas Development whether, in view of the increased cost of the Lungi Airport extension, she will vary the terms of the £1 million loan offered by Her Majesty's Government.

Yes. Having taken into account this factor and other circumstances, I have informed the Sierra Leone Government that we are willing to amend the proposed terms of the loan by waiving the interest charge for the first five years.