asked the Secretary of State for Defence what were the names and designations of those members of his staff who travelled to the United States of America on 26th January by Royal Air Force Comet.

I was accompanied by the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Richard Hull, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Sir Henry Hardman, the Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Solly Zuckerman, and a number of other officers and officials. It is not usual to give in detail the composition of official parties on occasions of this kind.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the annual grant paid by his Department to assist in the upkeep of the Royal United Services Institution.

As the Minister of Defence stated in reply to a Question on 4th December, 1963, the annual grant paid to the Institution is £4,000 for the five years 1962–63 to 1966–67 inclusive.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether the annual grant to the Royal United Services Institution will continue to be paid after 1st April, 1966.

The final payment under the present five-year agreement will be made in April 1966. The payment of a grant to the Royal United Services Institution in subsequent years is now the subject of discussion with the Institution.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government on the setting up of an institute for higher defence studies.

Information on the general lines of our policy for higher defence studies was given in Cmnd. 2902 and further details will be announced in due course.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what funds are currently spent by Her Majesty's Government in the furtherance of higher defence studies.

It is difficult to quantify expenditure in this field, which embraces work in a variety of establishments and disciplines, as well as the whole area of strategic studies conducted in an institution such as the Imperial Defence College.However, as an example, current expenditure on the work of the Imperial Defence College, over and above the pay allowances of students, amounts to about £130,000 a year.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many officers of the Services are sent each year to universities; and what are the numbers, Service by Service.

Including university cadets, the numbers of officers who entered civilian universities in the last two academic years were:

	1964	1965
Royal Navy	4	24
Army	33	48
Royal Air Force	78	55
	115	127

In addition the following started degree courses at the Royal Naval Engineering College, Manadon, the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, or the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell:

	1964	1965
Royal Navy	72	79
Army	40	62
Royal Air Force	47	24
	159	165

We expect that in 1966 about 160 officers and cadets will go to civilian universities and about 200 will start degree courses at Service colleges.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many horses are maintained in the Armed Forces; what is the annual cost of maintenance of these horses; what is the annual cost of replacement; and what is their military significance.

About 675, most of them by the Army. The annual cost of military and civilian personnel wholly engaged in their care and training is £80,000; their forage costs £60,000, their shoes, harnessing and other equipment £18,000; and it costs £17,000 a year to replace them.More than 400 of the horses are used for ceremonial, mostly in London, and 130 for equitation and remount; the rest are used for transport, police duties and patrolling.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence, in view of the fact that in 1964 United States sales to Great Britain exceeded her purchases from Great Britain by £261 million, if he will seek to obtain from the United States Government an assurance that their purchase of naval auxiliary supplies which now amount only to a possible £18 million shall be at least equal to the £100 million to be paid for the F111 aircraft, and that any civilian orders in this shall be free of the normal 30 per cent. import duty imposed on British exports.

I already have an assurance that the full cost of the F111A will be offset by British sales overseas.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will initiate discussions with university examining bodies with a view to taking steps to end their practice of prohibiting parents from entering children of school age for General Certificate of Education examinations at their own expense.

I take it that my hon. Friend is referring to the practice of certain examining boards which do not accept as "external" candidates pupils whose schools are not willing to submit them as candidates in the ordinary way. This is a matter for the examining boards themselves to decide.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will take steps to amend regulations which lead to students in colleges of further education spending excessive hours in classrooms in order to make up the regulation number of class contact hours.

There are no statutory-regulations governing the minimum number of class contact hours in colleges of further education.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he proposes to introduce legislation to implement the recommendation in the Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Court of Criminal Appeal that the law about time lost on appeal should be changed.

As soon as possible. A Bill to implement the Committee's recommendations is being drafted.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will announce the membership of the Committee on Immigration Appeals.

The Chairman of the Committee, as already announced, is Sir Roy Wilson, Q.C., President of the Industrial Court. The other members are:Mr. Raymond Clarke, Secretary of the Yorkshire Council of Social Service and of the Yorkshire Working Group on Immigrants;Mr. Jeremy Hutchinson, Q.C.;Mr. Frank Milton, one of the Metropolitan stipendiary magistrates;

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what percentage of cases involving murder during the last five years the murderer was of foreign origin.

Of the persons who have been convicted of murder during the last five years and were executed or are still in prison or on licence, approximately 2 per cent. were aliens at the time of conviction.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will approve for probation officers the pay scale starting at £820 and rising to £1,510 a year, which was agreed on 24th February by the negotiating body.

Yes: my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and I welcome the agreement and intend to give effect to it.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he will publish figures giving the number of houses started in 1964, and an estimate of how much capital was involved in houses still unfinished at the end of 1964.

426,075 houses were started in Great Britain in 1964. No estimate is available of the value of the work done on the houses which were under construction at the end of that year.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what was the ratio of housing starts to completions for 1963, 1964 and 1965.

The information for Great Britain is as follows:

1963	1:0.81
1964	1:0.88
1965	1:0.97

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he will list the local authorities from which he has received deputations to discuss the subsidies payable under the Housing Subsidies Bill, and the local authorities which have requested him to receive deputations, which he has declined to receive.

The only specific request my right hon. Friend has had to receive a deputation has been from the Portsmouth City Council, who wished to discuss the question of back-dating payment of the new subsidies. He declined the request as this question was then already under active consideration.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government when he will make a decision on the future use of the land adjoining Victoria Avenue East, Moston, Manchester.

Discussions on the future use of this land have recently taken place between officers of the city council and the Department. No formal proposals have yet been submitted to my right hon. Friend.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will state the increase in the Cost-of-living Index between January, 1964, and January, 1965, and between January, 1965, and January, 1966.

The Index of Retail Prices rose by 4·6 per cent. between January, 1964, and January, 1965, and by 4·4 per cent. between January, 1965, and January, 1966.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will state the increase in the Index of Food Prices between January, 1964, and January, 1965, and between January, 1965 and January, 1966.

The index for the food group of the Index of Retail Prices rose by 4·6 per cent. between January, 1964 and January, 1965, and by 2·4 per cent. between January, 1965, and January, 1966.

asked the Minister of Overseas Development what assistance he is giving to the development of curricula relevant to the contemporary needs of overseas countries.

We have been increasingly conscious over the last few years of the need to help developing countries overseas with curriculum development; many of these countries are taking initiatives in this matter and have sent requests to Britain. The Nuffield Foundation has now decided in collaboration with the Ministry of Overseas Development to set up a Centre for Curriculum Renewal and Educational Development Overseas (CREDO) which will take account of the results of developments in Britain, help with their modification or adaptation to overseas conditions, send teams to assist in experimental projects overseas, bring to Britain educationists engaged in projects overseas to work with British teams, and co-ordinate the experi- ence gained in different projects in this field overseas. The Nuffield Foundation has agreed to make available £100,000 over three years; the Ministry is to provide £50,000 over the same period and, in addition, work through the Centre under our technical assistance programmes in providing British experts and training facilities.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if she will ensure that, in the course of its review of the earnings rule, the National Insurance Advisory Committee will examine the effect of the rule on pensioners who can only obtain seasonal employment.

The Committee's terms of reference are to review the present level of the earnings limit for retirement pensioners and to examine matters arising therefrom. They are intended to be wide enough to enable the Committee to consider the application of the limit in all its aspects and to make proposals for its modification which are not inconsistent with the maintenance of the retirement condition on which the benefit is founded. I have no doubt that the Committee will have their attention drawn to the aspect of the rule to which the hon. Member refers.

asked the Minister of Public Building and Works what plans he is making for the construction industries as part of the Government's home defence preparations.

I am planning the peacetime nucleus of an organisation designed to bring the construction industries into the home defence control system at regional level and below should the need arise. This organisation is known as the Emergency Construction Organisation and will be a means of carrying out construction work in emergency. It is being worked out in consultation with both sides of the industries, local authorities and other interested bodies. It will take the place of the Works and Building Emergency Organisation which was set up after the last war.

asked the President of the Board of Trade when he will complete his inquiries into the affairs of the Livestock Marketing Company Limited, which was first brought to the attention of his Department in April, 1964, by a resident of Kettering.

Inquiries into the affairs of Livestock Marketing Company Limited and associated companies have been completed. Criminal proceedings have been instituted against the former managing director.

asked the Minister of Transport what further action is being taken to improve the position in the port of Hull involving the import and export trade of Yorkshire in delays in the handling of raw materials and merchandise, and mounting costs in demurrage charges.

The British Transport Docks Board has a £16 million capital investment programme for Hull in the next five years. Two roll-on roll-off terminals are being built at No. 5 Quay, King George Dock, and major improvements are being made to the Alexandra, Victoria, Albert and Wm. Wright Docks. The Board has asked my right hon. Friend to authorise a £7 million scheme to provide eight additional berths in King George Dock.The Board is providing additional shed space and co-operating with port users in measures to provide information services and to facilitate the movement of exports and the clearance of imports from transit sheds.Unofficial one-day strikes and the ban on weekend working have aggravated conditions at Hull. Efforts to settle the grievances about piecework rates are continuing through the local negotiating machinery. It is hoped that industrial relations generally in the docks will be improved by the action being taken to implement the Devlin Report which was outlined in the reply my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour gave to the hon. Member for Surbiton (Mr. Fisher) on 21st February.

asked the Minister of Transport when she will set up the advisory committee to examine motor rallies.

A committee to advise my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales and myself on the continuing exercise of our powers for regulating motoring events on the public highway will be set up shortly.

asked the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has for developing air transport within Wales.

I have been asked to reply.Development of Welsh and other British air services is, subject to licensing, primarily a matter for the commercial judgment of interested operators. They have as yet found little demand for services within Wales, but provide valuable and developing scheduled services from Glamorgan (Rhoose), Swansea or Hawarden to important centres in the United Kingdom, Eire and the Continent, as well as many seasonal inclusive tour services. The Government would welcome further development of Welsh air services, provided the traffic demand was adequate to support them.

asked the Minister of Aviation on what date the work of enlarging the terminal building at Aldergrove civil airport in County Antrim will start; what arrangement he has made to overcome congestion at the terminal during the summer; and if he will make a statement.

Work on the extension of the building is expected to start in May of this year. During the summer work in the public areas will be kept to a minimum and phased so as to cause as little congestion and inconvenience to passengers as possible. But, pending the completion of the extension, some congestion at busy periods is inescapable.

asked the Minister of Aviation if he will make a further statement about United Kingdom collaboration with Germany on the VF614 project for a small short-haul jet aircraft.

The Government have agreed, on the basis of a special funding arrangement proposed by the Federal German Government, to the development of the Bristol Siddeley M45H engine chosen by the German company for their VFW614 project.Apart from this collaboration on the engine, we have decided that financial assistance from public funds cannot be made available to enable a British air-frame manufacturer to participate as a principal on a risk-sharing basis in a project based on the VFW614 design. This decision does not exclude the possibility of Short Brothers & Harland participating as a sub-contractor on a normal commercial repayment basis if they are so invited. These decisions have been conveyed to the Federal German and Dutch Governments.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what investment from United Kingdom sources took place in Spain for each of the years 1963 to 1965, inclusive; and how much of this was in real estate.

The figures are as follows:

	£ million
	1963	1964
1. Total private investment in Spain from United Kingdom net of disinvestment	2·5	7·2
2. Of which, in real estate*	0·6	3·8
* Excluding purchases by companies in the course of trade.

1965 figures are not yet available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the estimated flow of capital to the Bahamas and Bermuda in each of the years 1963 to 1965, inclusive.

Precise figures are not available, but the outflow of private investment from the United Kingdom to the Bahamas and Bermuda together, net of disinvestment, was apparently insignificant in 1963 and of the order of £5 million in 1964. No estimate can be made yet for 1965.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what investment from United Kingdom sources took place in Portugal for each of the years 1963 to 1965, inclusive; and how much of this was in real estate.

The figures are as follows:

	£ million
	1963	1964
1. Total private investment in Portugal from the United Kingdom net of disinvestment	3·1	1·2
2. Of which, in real estate*	negligible	0·7
* Excluding purchases by companies in the course of trade.

1965 figures are not yet available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to ease the balance of payments by restricting uneconomic investment in the sterling area, particularly the Bahamas and Bermuda.

I have kept the House fully informed of the action I have taken to improve the balance of payments in all its aspects and have nothing to add at the present time.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement showing figures for investment in countries of the sterling area for each of the years 1963 to 1965, inclusive, showing the total amount for each country and the specific forms which investment took.

Separate figures cannot be provided for private investment in every country but they are given (net of disinvestment) for the main countries in the table below. Figures for 1965 are not yet available.

OUTWARD PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN THE OVERSEAS STERLING AREA
(− = net disinvestment)
	1963	1964
Australia	102	77
South Africa	2	18
New Zealand	4	16
Irish Republic	14	9
India	13	17
Pakistan	1	7
Malaysia	11	4
Africa (excluding South Africa)	13	12
Other	11	30
Total	165	190

This outflow was made up by type as follows:

Direct	144	160
Portfolio	−4	−18
Oil and Miscellaneous	25	48
Total	165	190

More detailed information on direct investment in the overseas sterling area for 1963 may be found in the Board of Trade Journal of 2nd April, 1965.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware of the loss of revenue to the Treasury each year by the evasion of the road fund licence; and, as a means of preventing this, if he will in his forthcoming Budget introduce a system whereby the police can, in addition to taking legal action against offenders, receive a 5 per cent. notification and service fee of all licence moneys received from successful prosecutions, such fee being charged against the tax evader.

I have noted my hon. Friend's suggestion.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to tie the value of national savings to the cost of living index, with a view to preventing savers from being deprived, through inflation, of the real value of their savings, in view of the unusual depreciation in the value of money which has taken place since October 1964.

I do not accept the hon. Member's reasoning, and I have no statement to make today about changes in national savings.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what preparations are made to meet the possible demand for immediate repayment of a major portion of the £8,000 million now invested in national savings and repayable on demand.

Her Majesty's Government is always ready to stand by its obligations, but I do not accept the implication in the hon. Member's Question.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why he continues to recommend the purchase of National Savings Certificates in view of the fact that their real value has fallen by more than 1s. 1d. in the pound since October, 1964, and that, on current trends, it will fall still further; and if he will make a statement.

A high level of savings is vital to the health of the economy and thereby to the preservation of the purchasing power of money. This Government is determined to protect the value of savings, and I am confident that investors in National Savings Certificates will not be deterred by the hon. Gentleman's pessimism.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what caused the run on sterling last July and August which so depleted the reserves that the United Kingdom could hold out for only a few more days; what stopped that run; what new action he has taken to prevent it occurring again; to what extent sterling reserves are sufficient to provide for the repayment of the £1,000 million short-term loans contracted since October, 1964, and to defend sterling at its present rate of exchange; and if he will make a statement.

At no time last year was it true that the United Kingdom could have held out for only a few more days. That, as my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister took care to point out in a recent speech, was what others erroneously believed. And they were wrong.The basic reason for the run on our reserves in July and August was the underlying deficit in the balance of payments aggravated by an outflow of short-term capital. The recovery began when the balance of payments improved and the world was convinced by the Government's actions of its determination to maintain the parity of the pound. This was furthered by the announcement on 10th September of new support arrangements agreed with other central banks. These arrangements, which are still in force, together with the other facilities at our disposal to reinforce our now enlarged reserves, provide a strong defence against renewed speculative attack.The debt incurred—which is no larger than the amount required to finance the deficit of 1964 and the smaller deficit of 1965—will have to be repaid from surpluses we shall earn after correcting the large deficit we inherited from the previous administration.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give in column form the percentage of inflation which took place every year separately from 1946 to 1965, inclusive.

The rate of inflation could be measured in various ways, which would not necessarily give the same result. A rough indication, however, can be given from the movement of the con- sumer price index, the annual increase in which is shown in the table below:

	Consumer price index percentage increase over previous year
1946	Not available
1947	6·8
1948	7·3
1949	2·3
1950	2·6
1951	9·6
1952	5·9
1953	1·9
1954	1·9
1955	3·6
1956	4·6
1957	3·3
1958	2·8
1959	0·5
1960	0·9
1961	3·0
1962	3·6
1963	1·3
1964	2·8
1965 (provisional)	4·4

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much extra per week would be added to the incomes of all other adult persons, if everything over £2,000 net per year were taken from the Surtax payers and given to them.

Table 60 of the 108th Annual Report of the Inland Revenue shows that the aggregate net income in excess of £2,000 each of all those whose net income after Income Tax and Surtax was £2,000 or more for 1963–64 was £547 million. If this excess—from Surtax payers and non-Surtax payers alike—were redistributed it would provide all other adult members of the population with about £15 9s. 0d. or 6s. 0d. a week before payment of tax.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in view of the reduced profit margins in most industries, the consequent lower profits next year and the smaller tax payments, what new taxes he proposes to impose to provide the funds to meet the increased expenditure he has allowed; and if he will make a statement.

I cannot anticipate my right hon. Friend's Budget statement.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that commercial concerns, details of which have been sent to him, are operating through the medium of a friendly society so as to offer a return to investors which is entirely tax free; what action he proposes to take; and whether he will make a statement.

I am aware of recent developments in this field which exploit the tax exemptions enjoyed by registered friendly societies and I am considering what action is required.