asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has from the bacon-curing industry with regard to the breaking of contracts with producers, in view of the losses now being sustained by curers.

Two bacon factories have announced cessation of killing and curing, but in one of these cases I understand that no breach of contract was involved because arrangements have been made to take contract pigs into an alternative factory.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many bacon-curing factories are now in operation as compared with five years ago; what is their capacity to make the Wiltshire cure; and to what extent that capacity is in full use.

There are 183 bacon factories in Great Britain compared with 212 five years ago. No estimates of total curing capacity can be made but the highest quarterly output of bacon, mainly Wiltshire cured, in the last five years was 37,100 tons in July to September, 1965; production from August to October this year was 86 per cent. of that figure.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many deputations which included Members of Parliament have asked to see him on matters within his responsibility since 1st October, 1966; how many have been seen; and how many have not been seen.

Up to today I have received requests to see six such deputations. I have seen five and I am about to offer an appointment to the sixth.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many deputations which inclded Members of Parliament have asked to see him on matters within his responsibility since 1st October, 1966; how many have been seen and how many have not been seen.

None.

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs how many deputations which included Members of Parliament have asked to see him on matters within his responsibility, since 1st October, 1966; how many have been seen; and how many have not been seen.

Two deputations, including Members of Parliament, have recently asked to see me, and I hope to meet them in the near future.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what barracks now under care and maintenance could accommodate British troops and their families within the next 12 months.

Adequate barrack accommodation is available. I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the Answer that my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Southall (Mr. Bidwell) on 16th November.—[Vol. 736, c. 99.]

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what alternatives he has in mind for the Anglo-French variable-geometry aircraft.

As I told the House on 16th November, I am still hopeful that the French Government will see their way to continue with this project and I am determined that we shall do everything possible on our side to make a favourable decision likely.—[Vol. 736, c. 414–6.]

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many Jaguar aircraft are to be ordered by Her Majesty's Government.

Substantial numbers of this aircraft are envisaged.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what advantages were offered by the Tyneside shipbuilding firm which secured the £13 million naval order refused by another firm because of the time limits involved; and if he will make a statement.

We do not disclose details of tenders submitted by contractors; but in general, ability to meet delivery dates is obviously a most important factor.

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many deputations which included Members of Parliament have asked to see him on matters within his responsibility since 1st October 1966; how many have been seen; and how many have not been seen.

None.

asked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs if he will publish any advice given to the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation by the Economic Development Committee for Chemicals on the structure of the chemical industry.

It is for the Economic Development Committee to decide whether any advice it may give to the Corporation should be published.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many deputations which included Members of Parliament have asked to see him on matters within his responsibility since 1st October 1966; how many have been seen; and how many have not been seen.

So far as I am aware, my right hon. Friend was asked to receive three deputations which included Members of Parliament. All were received.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will give details of the cuts, amounting to £600,000, in the building programme for police and prison services which he has announced;(2) if he will give details of the cuts, amounting to £300,000, in the building programme for the fire services, which he has announced;(3) if he will give details of the cuts, amounting to £400,000, in the building programme for the courts, which he has announced.

The reductions are in terms of work to be done in 1967–68, including work carried forward from earlier years, and are in relation to programmes of some £15 million for police and prisons, £6 million for the fire service and £6·5 million for courts. Some projects in each category will have to be held back but final selections have not yet been made; the programmes are kept under continuous review in the light of the progress of building and other considerations.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, eliminating all family murders or murders not involving the commission of any other crime, how many murders known to the police in England and Wales were committed in 1964, 1965, and the first nine months of 1966.

In 1964 19 murders were known to the police in England and Wales which were not family murders and apparently did not involve the commission of another crime. The corresponding figure for 1965 was 15. These figures are based on the corrected murder figures, and, as I said on 16th November in reply to a Question by the hon. Member for Louth (Sir C. Osborne) the corrected 1966 figures will not be published until after the end of the year.—[Vol. 736, c. 133.]

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department which Members of Parliament have had their telephones tapped with his permission since he held that office; and what arrangements he has approved for tapping the telephone system of the Palace of Westminster.

I would refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the house on 17th November.—[Vol. 736, c. 634–641.]

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how many applications for loan sanction he has received from Basingstoke Borough Council, Andover Borough Council, Basingstoke Rural District Council, Andover Rural District Council, and Kingsclere and Whitchurch Rural District Council for the items listed in Circular 42/66, issued by his Department on 30th August, 1966; and what replies he has sent.

Ten. Loan sanction is about to be issued on one application and has been promised on another. The council concerned has been asked to reconsider a third. The remaining seven applications are still under consideration.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how many access agreements have been made during the last 12 months for which figures are available, specifying the counties concerned; and if he is satisfied with the progress being made.

In the last twelve months three access agreements have been made in England: one covers 88 acres in Staffordshire and two cover a total of 24·5 acres in Hampshire.The total area in the country to which there is access, under access agreements or otherwise, is considerable, but there are places where my right hon. Friend would like to see more.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how many deputations which included Members of Parliament have asked to see him on matters within his responsibility since 1st October, 1966; how many have been seen; and how many have not been seen.

Seven. Four will be seen and one request is still being considered.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government in how many cases adjudicated by the Brighton Rent Assessment Committee from its inception to the latest convenient date rents of tenancies have been raised; in how many they have been reduced; and in each case what were the amounts involved.

The Surrey and Sussex Rent Assessment Panel, which covers Brighton, started operations on 28th March, 1966. Up to 12th November, committees of this panel had determined rents in 45 applications for registration. The original rent was reduced in 28 of these cases, confirmed in 3 and increased in 14. The amounts involved are as follows:

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what is the cost of the salary and office expenses of the rent officer for Blackpool; what is the number of applications received to date; and how many resulted in an increase in rent and how many in a decrease.

The amount claimed in respect of the rent officer service in Blackpool up to 30th September was £2,349. Up to 12th November the rent officer had received 31 applications for registration of rent and had determined 23 of these. The original rent was reduced in 8 cases, unchanged in 3, and increased in 12.

asked the Minister of Labour how many deputations which included Members of Parliament have asked to see him on matters within his responsibility since 1st October, 1966; how many have been seen; and how many have not been seen.

I have received two such requests. One meeting has been held and the second will be held shortly.

asked the Minister of Labour in view of the correspondence sent to him by the hon. Member for Louth from a branch of the National Graphical Association, showing that wages are mostly around 15 guineas per week in the printing industry, on what data he based his calculation that average wages were £28 6s. 1d.; and what extra benefits the Daily Mirror employees who went on unofficial strike have received as a result of that action.

The figure of £28 6s. 1d., I gave the hon. Member on 31st October, is the average earnings of men manual workers in newspaper and periodical printing and publishing in April, 1966 for an average working week of 44·8 hours. The figure of 15 guineas a week, referred to by the hon. Member, appears to relate to the minimum weekly rate, including cost of living bonus, for a 40-hour week for certain classes of men manual workers in general printing.I understand that the Joint Committee set up to examine the dispute at the

asked the Minister of Overseas Development how many deputations which included Members of Parliament have asked to see him on matters within his responsibility since 1st October, 1966; how many have been seen; and how many have not been seen.

Two, of which I have seen one. I shall be seeing the other deputation at a later date.

asked the Postmaster-General what is the leave entitlement of clerical officers in the Post Office service.

3 weeks rising to 3 weeks 3 days after 10 years total service, plus six public holidays and 2½ days allowed as privilege holidays. Certain staff in post before July, 1956 retain higher personal entitlements.

asked the Minister of Power whether he is aware of the refusal of the West Midlands Licensing Authority to grant a B licence to the British Oxygen Company Limited for two special gas tankers to help the West Midlands Gas Board in emergencies; if he is satisfied that all practicable steps have been taken to safeguard supplies of gas to industry in the event of plant breakdown or other interruption of supplies; and whether he will refer this matter to the Winter Emergency Committee.

The West Midlands Gas Board has its own tankers. If more should be needed, arrangements could be made to provide them. The answers to the second and third parts of the question are "Yes" and "No".

asked the Minister of Power if he will list the computers ordered by each of the area gas boards and area electricity boards, respectively, giving in each case the principal operations for which the computer is intended.

Information on this was set out in the reply which my right hon. Friend the then Minister of Technology gave to the hon. Member for Devizes (Mr. Charles Morrison) on 16th June, 1966.—[Vol. 729, c. 320.]

asked the Minister of Power how many deputations which included Members of Parliament have asked to see him on matters within his responsibility since 1st October, 1966; how many have been seen; and how many have not been seen.

I have had no requests since 1st October to see deputations which included Members of Parliament.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the minimum number of doctors in general practice in Scotland required to operate the National Health Service; and when, on an extrapolation of present trends, he expects the number to fall below that minimum requirement.

None.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the number of principals providing unrestricted general medical services per 100,000 of the population for Scotland as a whole and for each of the counties in Scotland.

The last available figures are as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total number of principals providing unrestricted medical services in general practice in Scotland on 1st October, 1964 and at the beginning of each successive quarter between that time and 1st October, 1966, inclusive.

The numbers were as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his estimate of the amount of money to be paid in supplementary subsidies under Section 3 and Schedule 2 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1962 for the year 1966–67.

£282,000, of which £126,000 relates to houses completed during the year.

asked the Minister of Social Security how many deputations which included Members of Parliament have asked to see her on matters within her responsibility since 1st October, 1966; how many have been seen; and how many have not been seen.

None.

asked the Minister of Technology on what date an inquiry was begun to ascertain the reasons for the discrepancy between manufacturers' recorded deliveries of machine tools for exports and the figures contained in the Overseas Trade Account; on what date the inquiry is expected to conclude; if its findings will be published; and if he will make a statement.

Since the two sets of figures are derived from different sources and compiled by different methods, some variation is to be expected. My Department has for some time, however, been concerned at the size of the discrepancy, and has been trying to account for it. One important factor is that the Overseas Trade Accounts show f.o.b. figures, whilst manufacturers' returns are based on cost ex-works. Certain steps are being taken to improve the information on which our published figures are based, and we shall continue to keep the matter under review.

asked the Minister of Technology what research his Department is encouraging in overcoming certain technical difficulties like excessive noise in making hovercraft a commercial feasibility in coastal and inland waterways.

Hovercraft Development Limited, a subsidiary of the N.R.D.C., are engaged on research and development work including work on the problem of noise. The hydrodynamics of hovercraft are being studied at the N.P.L.

asked the Minister of Technology if he will make available to the House of Commons Library the information on orders and deliveries of the component sectors of the mechanical engineering industry at present available to the relevant economic development committee.

Delivery statistics of the component sectors of the mechanical engineering industry are published in the Monthly Digest of Statistics. The corresponding information on orders is at present supplied by manufacturers to my Department in confidence for official use only and not for general publication.

asked the Minister of Technology how many deputations which included Members of Parliament have asked to see him on matters within his responsibility since 1st October, 1966; how many have been seen; and how many have not been seen.

One, which I saw.

asked the Minister of Technology (1) if he will give full details of the plutonium transaction between Great Britain and Italy;(2) what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government regarding the processing of fissile material in Great Britain on behalf of foreign agencies;

It is the Government's policy to promote the peaceful exploitation of nuclear energy by encouraging the Atomic Energy Authority to undertake the reprocessing of irradiated reactor fuel for overseas customers on a commercial basis.I am informed by the Authority that one foreign contract involving the separation of plutonium from irradiated fuel has so far been negotiated; this is with the Italian National Electricity Generating Authority for reprocessing the spent fuel elements discharged from the nuclear power station at Latina. It would be contrary to commercial practice to disclose the quantities and values involved or other contractual details.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what proposals he has to re-classify the Overseas Trade Accounts analysis of imports of chemicals as requested in the Economic Development Committees for Chemicals Newsletter No. 1.

Suggestions have been received from the Chemical Industries Association for changes in the chemical divisions of the Statistical Classification for Imported Goods and these will be considered in the next regular annual review of the classification.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if the Overseas Trade Accounts are being revised to show more detailed statistical information on the imports of machine tools as requested by the recent report of the Economic Development Committee for Machine Tools.

The Government are reviewing how best to make available more detailed information about imports of machine tools.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that primary cells and batteries to the value of £33,580 were imported from Canada in the first quarter of 1966, and that £158,066 worth of the same products were imported from the United States of America during that period; and what action he is taking to ensure that importers 'consider obtaining these goods from British manufacturers.

Yes, but these imports are small in relation to U.K. production and are greatly exceeded by exports. While the Government hope that purchasers are aware of British sources of competitive goods and give them full consideration, I do not think that there is any useful action which we could take in this case.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what official arrangements Her Majesty's Government have made, or propose to make, to celebrate fittingly the achievement of complete industrial free trade within the European Free Trade Association countries on 31st December next, three years ahead of the original schedule.

The establishment of an industrial free trade area of 100 million people is an important and historic event, and Her Majesty's Government intend that its significance should be appropriately recognised. As my hon. Friend will know, the Lord Mayors of the capital cities of E.F.T.A. countries and Finland have just visited London, as guests of Her Majesty's Government and the City of London, on the occasion of the Lord Mayor's Show and Banquet. The General Post Office will issue commemorative stamps. I am arranging for a special edition of the Board of Trade Journal and for suitable publicity to be given to the occasion in other ways.In addition to the arrangements sponsored by the Government, I am glad to say that a number of other bodies, with my encouragement, are arranging to celebrate the event in an appropriate manner. The British Broadcasting Corporation are considering the production of a special television programme; the European-Atlantic Group and the British Council of the European Movement are organising a dinner-discussion in December; the British E.F.T.A. Action Committee is organising discussions and lectures throughout the country; the Export Council for Europe plan to hold a special Conference next January on exporting to E.F.T.A.; and some department stores plan to mount displays of E.F.T.A. goods. Her Majesty's Government welcome these activities, and hope that all concerned with trade and public affairs will do what they can to draw attention to the advantages that E.F.T.A. can bring to both producers and consumers.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware of the increasing practice of travel agents to advertise tours abroad and to cancel them at short notice if sufficient bookings have not been secured; and if he will now introduce legislation to stop this practice.

I am not aware that cancellations at short notice are increasing. Legislation to prevent any abuse would be difficult to operate effectively, and I have no present intention of introducing it.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will now make a further statement as to the possibility of legislation designed to protect the public from travel agents who fail to keep their contracts through fraud or insolvency.

My right hon. Friend will continue to keep under review the possible need for legislation, and will watch particularly how far the arrangements introduced by the Association of British Travel Agents in the last two years afford in practice protection to holidaymakers.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what estimate he has made of the value of goods exported by E.N.V. Company, Willesden, arising out of assistance given by his Department.

It would be quite impracticable for me to make any such estimate.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the planned annual percentage increase over the previous year in public authorities' current expenditure on goods services at constant prices and public authorities' capital expenditure at constant prices, respectively, giving a detailed breakdown between expenditure of the central Government, local authorities and public corporations where available, in line with the Blue Book definition, for each of the following years, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, and 1969–70.

For 1966–67 I cannot at the moment go beyond what was said in paragraph 70 of the White Paper, "Public Expenditure: Planning and Control" (Cmnd. 2915), and the figures in Table 11 of the 1966 Financial Statement. The latter, which is not at constant prices, shows current expenditure on goods and services and gross domestic fixed capital formation analysed by spending authority for 1965–66 and 1966–67. Later years will be reviewed in the usual manner.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what is his latest estimate of the effect on the net revenue of the Selective Employment Tax if it was not applied to areas covered by the Highland Development Board;(2) what was the basis of the broad estimate of £2 million, which was confirmed on 23rd June, as the net cost of the Selective Employment Tax in the Highlands of Scotland; and what revision he has since made in that estimate.

The estimate was based on employment figures for the Highlands and Islands prepared for Cmnd. 2864. It was a broad approximation. No further estimate has been made.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of the additional 4,035 non-industrial civil servants recruited into the Inland Revenue between 1st October, 1964, and 1st July, 1966, were required to cope with the growth in existing work, work on Capital Gains Tax and on Corporation Tax, respectively.

A reliable breakdown of staff-in-post into these categories is not possible except at disproportionate cost.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the total numbers employed by each Government Department at the latest convenient date, and the increase that this represents, in each case, since October, 1964.

I would refer the hon. Member to the Answer to a similar Question from the hon. Member for Woking (Mr. Onslow) on 4th November.—[Vol. 735, c. 194.]

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, in view of the legal difficulties that arise from the setting up of ad hoc disaster funds, he will seek to establish a national distress fund.

No. It would be contrary to all the principles on which Parliament votes money to set funds aside to provide against an unspecified need for expenditure.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deputations which included Members of Parliament have asked to see him on matters within his responsibility since 1st October, 1966; how many have been seen; and how many have not been seen.

Two since the beginning of November. Neither deputation has yet been seen.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware of the growing hardship imposed by the limitation of travel allowance on people who rarely travel abroad; and whether he will authorise the allowance to be drawn for a two-year period.

No.

asked the Minister of Transport when she will announce decisions on the future of the Newbury-Winchester railway line and on the future of the Andover-Romsey line.

I have told the Railways Board that I do not wish to raise any objection to the disposal of the formation and the surplus assets of the closed Newbury-Winchester and Andover-Romsey railway lines.

asked the Minister of Transport what applications for capital expenditure have been received from the Port of London Authority or others for the development of facilities for the commercial use of hovercraft within the landward limits of the River Thames.

None.

asked the Minister of Transport how many deputations which included Members of Parliament have asked to see her on matters within her responsibility since 1st October, 1966; how many have been seen; and how many have not been seen.

Thirty, including requests addressed to my Parliamentary Secretaries. Of these, six deputations have already been seen, in each case by one or other of my Parliamentary Secretaries; eleven requests have been accepted, though the deputations have not yet been seen; four requests are under consideration; and nine requests have been refused.

asked the Secretary of State for Wales how many deputations which included Members of Parliament have asked to see him on matters within his responsibility since 1st October, 1966; how many have been seen; and how many have not been seen.

None.