asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what action he proposes to take to relieve the anxieties of the people of Gibraltar about their future political status.

In a statement issued on 7th October the elected members of the Gibraltar Legislative Council expressed the view that constitutional change is not urgent and that to take precipitate action at present would not be in the best interests of the people of Gibraltar.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide an analysis of defence costs in the United Kingdom in terms of the costs of personnel, equipment, research, training, air transport, overheads, and other costs.

An approximate analysis for the current year is given in the following table:

	£m.
1. Personnel (excluding costs in items 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 below)	110
2. Equipment (excluding costs included in items 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 below)	306
3. Research and Development	250
4. Training	198
5. Air Transport	55
6. Overheads of production and repair establishments and other support functions	423
7. Other costs*	193
These figures are based on the spring's functional costings and are currently under revision.
* Including, inter alia, reserve and auxiliary formations, war and contingency stocks, special materials, and the building and other miscellaneous costs associated with the combat forces stationed in the United Kingdom.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will take the necessary steps to discover the estimated cost per question of processing, respectively, Written and Oral Questions from hon. Members of this House during a month in the near future; and whether he will circulate the reply in the OFFICIAL REPORT with details of significant cost elements and references to any Ministries which differ markedly from the norm.

Pursuant to the Chief Secretary's reply of 7th May, 1965; c. 222, the costs incurred in Government Departments in preparing Answers for 879 Questions for Oral Answer and 673 Questions for Written Answer on which work began in the period from mid-June to mid-July have been analysed. The median cost for those for Oral Answer was £7 13s. 8d. and the average cost was £10 10s. 11d. The median cost for those for Written Answer was £5 11s. 6d. and the average cost was £7 11s. 4d. The range of cost was from under £1 to over £475. The distribution, by cost, is shown by the following table:

Cost		Number of Questions Costed
Over	Up to	Oral	Written
£	£
—	5	262	305
5	10	342	244
10	15	144	59
15	20	61	31
20	25	30	14
25	100	36	20
100	300	3	—
300	500	1	—
		879	673

The circumstances affecting the cost naturally varied widely—for example, whether the information required involved consulting other Departments regional or local offices, or outside sources; or whether it could all be handled within a central office. The median cost for individual Departments with ten or more Questions (Oral and Written separately) ranged steadily from £3 8s. 8d. to £7 15s. 0d. for Questions for Written Answer and from £3 17s. 9d. to £14 13s. 1d. for Questions for Oral Answer.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much of the money borrowed from overseas by Her Majesty's Government between 1945 and October, 1951, was repaid between October, 1951, and October, 1964, in capital and interest; and how much is still outstanding.

In the period from October, 1951, to September, 1964, inclusive, the cost of service on long-term borrowing by Her Majesty's Government from Governments overseas in the period from the end of the 1939–45 War to the end of September, 1951, was £339 million in capital and £398 million in interest. The amount of capital at present outstanding on these loans is equivalent to about £1,590 million.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs what steps he is taking to ensure that any future award by the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration is referred to the National Board for Prices and Incomes before implementation.

My right hon. Friend does not consider that any steps are necessary; the reports of the Review Body are in the form of recommendations to the Prime Minister.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to what extent it is the policy of Her Majesty's Govern- ment that the future status of Gibraltar should not be a matter for negotiation with the present Spanish Government, or any future Spanish Government.

The policy of Her Majesty's Government remains as described in the White Paper entitled "Gibraltar: Recent Differences with Spain" (Command 2632) of April, 1965. This made it clear that Her Majesty's Government remains ready to entertain proposals by Spain for conversations but cannot embark on substantive discussions as long as an abnormal situation on the frontier continues and cannot regard sovereignty as a matter for negotiation.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government when he will announce his decision on the report of the public inquiry into the City of Manchester's Draft Water Order 1965.

My right hon. Friend is considering the report of the inspector who held the inquiry. He will announce a decision as soon as he can, but he cannot yet say when.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance when she intends to bring into force regulations to give effect to her decision that the industrial injuries cover for byssinosis should be extended to certain workers in flax-spinning.

The necessary regulations—The National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) (Prescribed Diseases) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 1965 (S.I. 1965 No. 1828)—have been laid before Parliament today and will come into operation on 1st November.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what representations he has made to the European Common Market Executive regarding the effect on Great Britain of their proposal that Member States should award subsidies of between 10 and 15 per cent. in respect of new ships and major shipyard conversions; and if he will make a statement.

None. I consider it best to make our views known in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development where all the major shipbuilding nations are represented and this is being done.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland to what extent the trunk road building programme in Scotland is being affected by the recent proposed reductions in capital expenditure; and which particular projects are affected.

Of the trunk road schemes costing in all over £16 million which were due to start in the six months to January, 1966, only 9 schemes, not being in development districts, costing about £½ million are being deferred.The Schemes are:

County	Trunk Road	Scheme
Berwick	A.1	Renton diversion
Berwick	A.68	Soutra improvement
Fife	A.91	Dron railway bridge
Moray	A.96	Meikle Dramlachs diversion
Perth	A.9	Footpath at Bridge of Tilt
Ayr	A.77	Junction improvement (A.719)
Ayr	A.77	Junction improvement (B.764)
Kirkcudbright	A.75	Newton improvement, Gatehouse of Fleet
Peebles	A.702	Dolphinton railway bridge

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland to what extent the further education college building programme in Scotland is being affected by the recent proposed reductions in capital expenditure; and which projects are so affected.

The following two new further education colleges have been deferred for six months and will now start next spring:Telford District College, Edinburgh.Esk Valley Technical College, Midlothian.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many further education college building projects were started in Scotland in the years 1962, 1963 and 1964, respectively; and how many he estimates will be started in 1965 and 1966, respectively.

The following is the information required:

FURTHER EDUCATION BUILDING PROJECTS
	Started			Estimated to Start
	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966
New colleges	3	3	2	1	5
Major extensions (£50,000 and over)	7	2	8	5	3
Minor extensions (under £50,000)	11	11	14	19	1

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will introduce legislation to extend the power and function of transport users' consultative committees in relation to proposed rail closures, designed also to improve their public accountability, in view of the new phase of rail closures which has been reached involving major lines and large geographic areas.

No. I am satisfied that the role of the consultative committees in the assessment of passenger closure proposals is the right one. The present legislation, coupled with the improved procedures I have introduced, provide me with all the evidence I need for reaching decisions on every type of proposal. If, however, I find at any time that further improvements are called for I shall certainly introduce them.