asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will conduct an inquiry into the matters raised in the memorandum sent to him by the National Council for Civil Liberties on identification parades and procedures.

I am considering carefully the various matters raised in the memorandum.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the rules governing identification parades in the Metropolitan Police District; and what measures have been taken to ensure that they are observed.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave on 6th May to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead (Mr. Whitaker).—[Vol. 764, c. 24–5.]

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many United Kingdom citizens in Kenya have applied for permission to come to the United Kingdom in March and April and so far in May 1968; to how many permission has been granted; and what arrangements he has now made to increase the quota in the light of unfulfilled quotas from other areas.

The latest available figures are that 476 applications have been made in Kenya for vouchers from the special allocation, and that about 150 vouchers have so far been issued. All pressing needs are being met, and there is no indication so far that the allocation will be inadequate.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek powers to enable and encourage persons serving sentences of imprisonment to continue to pay for social security stamps appropriate to their employment category before imprisonment.

In general, prisoners may contribute to the National Insurance fund as non-employed persons. A few employed outside prisons under the hostel scheme already contribute as employed persons. As prison earnings increase, the Government will keep under review the practicability of enabling other prisoners to contribute as employed persons.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action is taken by his Department to draw the attention of Commonwealth immigrants when they enter Great Britain to the advisability of insuring their furniture and other property against the risk of fire.

No advice on insurance has been issued. But the National Committee for Commonwealth Immigrants, in co-operation with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, are now preparing posters and intend to institute an educational campaign to warn immigrant communities of the dangers of fire. In addition, my Department have in preparation a leaflet on the principal fire risks in the home.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many of the 4,496 Commonwealth immigrants from India, who were admitted in March 1968 under Part I of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act, were visitors who intended returning to their own country; and how many are permanent settlers in Great Britain;(2) how many of the Commonwealth immigrants, admitted under Part I of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act in March 1968, totalling 26,776 were temporary visitors; how many were permanent settlers; and what further steps he is taking to reduce the number of permanent settlers.

The information the hon. Member is seeking is available in the monthly figures which I place in the Library of the House of Commons. As regards the last part of this Question, I would refer him to the replies my right hon. Friend has given today to Questions by the hon. Member for Twickenham (Mr. Gresham Cooke) and the hon. and gallant Member for Knutsford (Sir W. Bromley-Davenport).

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many of the 1,117 Commonwealth immigrants from Jamaica who arrived in March, 1968, were visitors; and how many were permanent settlers in Great Britain.(2) how many of the 3,545 Commonwealth immigrants who arrived in March, 1968, from Pakistan were temporary visitors; and how many are permanent settlers in Great Britain.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave today to his earlier Questions.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what authority a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies can only obtain an exempting United Kingdom passport if his father or paternal grandfather was born in Great Britain and not if his mother or maternal grandparent was.

The hon. Member is misinformed. A citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies who holds a United Kingdom passport issued here is exempt from immigration control, regardless of the place of birth of his parents or grandparents. If the passport was issued abroad, he is exempt if he or either of his parents or grandparents were born in the United Kingdom.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will cause an investigation to be made into the methods used for the organisation of certain recent demonstrations in the London area, and in particular into arrangements made by the organisers to encourage demonstrators from overseas to come and take part.

The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis has kept me fully informed about the demonstrations being held in London. I do not think there is need for any special investigation.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what authority he intends to prevent Sir Frederick Crawford entering or leaving the United Kingdom, with or without a passport.

Sir Frederick Crawford has not been prevented from entering or leaving the United Kingdom.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the result of his further consideration of the use of turbans by Sikhs in local government services, instead of prescribed uniform headdress where asked for by immigrants.

An increasing number of transport undertakings allow Sikh employees to wear beards, and turbans of a specified colour with the regulation badge. I welcome this sensible attitude.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he will bring into operation the provisions of the London Cab Act, 1968.

My right hon. Friend has made an order bringing Section 4 into operation on 15th July. The rest of the Act is already in force.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the estimated total figures based on current trends for Commonwealth immigrants including dependents for the years 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1971.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave today to a Question by the hon. Member for Oswestry (Mr. Biffen).

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he intends to take action to implement the recommendations of the Committee on Statutory Maintenance Limits, particularly in respect of the existing upper limit and the backdating of payment orders.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave on 2nd May to Questions by my hon. Friends the Members for Holborn and St. Pancras, South (Mrs. Lena Jeger) and for Bolton, West (Mr. Oakes).—[Vol. 763, c. 228.]

asked the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy towards the proposals of the North-East Development Council to attract industry away from the Yorkshire and Humberside Region.

asked the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs in view of the inquiries made of the North-East Development Council since the beginning of 1968 by firms experiencing difficulty in expanding in the West Riding of Yorkshire, if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy towards the work of the North-East Development Council to encourage industrialists to expand in the North-East.

The Government supports the general objectives of the Council in attracting new industry to the North-East. But it is not the Government's aim to persuade industry in the Yorkshire and Humberside region to move itself bodily to the Development Areas. I have informed the Council that in my view competition for industry between the Northern region and Yorkshire and Humberside is unlikely to serve the long-term interests of either region.

asked the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs what communication he has had from the Chairman of the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Council regarding the attempts of the North-East Development Council to get Yorkshire firms to move to the North-East of England; and what has been his answer.

I am arranging for copies of a letter I have received from Sir Roger Stevens and my reply to be placed in the Library.

asked the Minister of Overseas Development what was the value and nature of the contracts he placed with the Microbiological Research Establishment and Chemical Defence Experimental Establishment, Porton, during 1966–67 and 1967–68.

There have been no contracts; but we have contributed, on the recommendation of the Medical Research Council, towards certain overseas research into viral epidemiology by scientists from the Microbiological Research Establishment. The last such grant was made in 1966 and amounted to £2,109.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will now review the operation of section 3 of the Television Act, 1964.

No.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware of the dissatisfaction with the pay position of the grades represented by the Society of Post Office Engineers; when their pay claim was submitted for consideration; when action was taken on it; and if he will make a statement.

Yes; the Society's claim was submitted on 21st February this year; an increase in the pay of Executive Engineers and Motor Transport Officers, Class III, was offered on 2nd May and has been accepted by the society. The pay scale previously in force for those grades had been exceeded, age for age and almost throughout its entire length, by scales awarded in February to the respective subordinate grades by the Civil Service Arbitration Tribunal. The settlement just reached has corrected that anomaly.

asked the Postmaster-General, if he will list the Post Office canteens in the London area which have been fitted out or renovated since October, 1964; and if he will give the cost of each.

A list follows. I regret that information about costs is not readily available because work of this kind usually forms only part of a more comprehensive scheme. If the hon Member is interested in any particular canteen, perhaps he would write to me.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the effective net reduction in the student grants for a dependent second and third child, allowing for the fall in the purchasing power of money since 1965.

Next September State support for students' dependent children will, after taking into account the rise in the cost of living and the increase in family allowances, be no less than in 1965.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what arrangements have been made by Her Majesty's Government for co-ordinating research in civil and defence research establishments and universities in the United Kingdom into the resources of the sea-bed.

This responsibility rests on the Natural Environment Research Council, of whose Oceanography arid Fisheries, and Geology and Geophysics Committees the Hydrographer of the Navy is a member. Arrangements are in hand for permanent representation also of the Ministry of Technology on these Committees.The Council has its own Institute of Geological Sciences and National Institute of Oceanography; it supports marine geological and geophysical research undertaken at certain universities, reviews all work going on in this field, and ensures that activities are co-ordinated and complementary. Inter-departmental machinery exists to define user requirements and assist N.E.R.C. in the direction of its programme and the selection of priorities.Co-operation with the establishments of the Ministry of Defence (Navy), of the Ministry of Technology and of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, in respect, for instance, of the development of instrumentation, equipment, and analytic techniques to assist research and exploration is close.Activities in this field are at present concentrated on the Continental Shelf around our shores. Exploitation of the resources of the deep ocean bed is much further removed from practical possibility.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity whether she will now take steps to ensure that no employers of labour in the public sector are making it a condition of the employment of Sikhs that they do not wear turbans.

So far as the Government service and nationalised industries are concerned, I understand that such conditions are not applied unless they are part of the operational requirements of the job.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity how many of the 5,000 Commonwealth immigrant voucher holders who entered this country in 1967 were professionally qualified people; and if she will give the numbers in each professional category.

Of the 4,978 voucher holders admitted in 1967, 2,590 were professionally qualified. I will with permission circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT the numbers in each profession.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, what is the number of redundant Welsh miners currently being retrained in Welsh retraining centres.

One redundant miner and eight others who applied for training in anticipation of redundancy are now attending Government training centres in Wales. At the last count on 11th March, the total number of ex-miners in training at Welsh centres was 78.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will recommend the setting up of a Royal Commission to investigate the decentralisation of Government Departments.

No.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to have published, soon after the end of each financial year, the amounts by which local authorities have exceeded their estimates of expenditure for that year, together with the reasons for such overspending under each heading.

I have been asked to reply.No. My right hon. Friend would be reluctant to add to the statistical burdens of local authorities in this way, without the prospect of proportionate benefit from the results.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the decision to establish an aluminium smelter on the North-East Coast, the differences between Norway and Her Majesty's Government on the interpretation of the European Free Trade Association constitution have now been resolved.

We are still in negotiation with the interested aluminium companies. As my right hon. Friend said in reply to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Caithness and Sutherland (Mr. Maclennan) on 15th May, the E.F.T.A. Ministerial Meeting held in London last week invited the Governments of the United Kingdom and Norway to hold further bilateral talks and my right hon. Friend has, therefore, arranged to visit Oslo next week for a discussion with the Norwegian Minister of Commerce and Shipping.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will refer the increases in the prices of toilet requisites to the National Board for Prices and Incomes.

We will consider the possibility of a reference on these lines.

asked the President of the Board of Trade in view of the fact that Great Britain is Finland's best customer in her export field and that 75 to 80 per cent. of the British machinery can be manufactured in Finland, what official assistance he is giving to secure the order by the Finnish Government of a British nuclear power electrical generating station.

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority have already submitted a highly competitive tender for the supply of a nuclear power plant to Finland and Her Majesty's Government are doing everything possible to support this tender which is in a field in which the United Kingdom can justly claim to be pre-eminent.

asked the President of the Board of Trade, what proposals he has for stimulating United Kingdom exports to Finland in order to rectify the present adverse balance of trade.

The adverse balance in our trade with Finland is of long standing and every effort is being made to reduce it. The removal by Finland at the end of last year of the remaining industrial tariffs vis-à-vis her partners in the Finefta Association makes Finland an attractive market and the export services of my Department are always at the disposal of firms who wish to take advantage of the growing opportunities there.The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is currently striving, with the full support of Her Majesty's Government, to sell a nuclear power plant to Finland; if they are successful this would make a particularly useful contribution towards improving our trade balance.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he accepts the conclusion in the Report on the Safety Performance of United Kingdom Airline Operators that while the safety level of United Kingdom civil air transport undertakings, as a whole, has improved it is still below that achieved by the airlines of the United States of America and Australia; and what steps he plans to take to meet this criticism and to reassure the air travelling public.

We accept the conclusion but the Report itself contains much to reassure the travelling public. The improved level of safety which must be the object is not to be obtained by anything other than continued effort and attention of all concerned and by vigilance by the statutory authorities. The Report itself makes various suggestions and recommendations and, as my right hon. Friend has already announced, the Board of Trade machinery is being strengthened along lines indicated in the Report.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what steps he is taking, in view of the recent report on air safety, to raise the performance of independent airline operators to the same level as that of the pilots of the State corporations.

My aim, and I am sure the aim of all operators and pilots, is to keep on improving the level of safety all round. A review of training and licensing standards is in progress in consultation with the industry. The appointment of a Director General, and the re-organisation and strengthening of the technical directorates under him, will, I hope, increase the ability of the Board of Trade to assist all operators, who have the primary responsibility, in maintaining and improving their standards.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will review the general grant for education to give increases to local authorities with new towns in their areas; and if he will make a statement.

If my hon. Friend has in mind the formula for distributing the rate support grant, this is being reviewed over the next few months by a working party of officials which includes representatives of the local authorities.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the present amounts of the average domestic rate burden in Scotland, England and Wales respectively.

It is estimated that in 1967–68, the householder in Scotland paid on average about £39 8s. in rates, and in England and Wales about £40 17s.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the National Board for Prices and Incomes has reported on the proposal by the North of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland Shipping Company Limited to increase charges; and what action he proposes to take.

The Board's Report is being published today. The company is being informed that I shall not object to the increases of 10 per cent. in certain freight rates and in summer passenger fares which the Board recommends as consistent with prices policy.I am arranging for early consultation with the company, both county councils and the Highlands and Islands Development Board on the further recommendations in the Report about winter fares, the structure of charges and the financing of any deficit in the future.

asked the Minister of Transport what recommendations were made by the Central Transport Consultative Committee for the provision of extra trains between Helsby and Liverpool; and what action was taken by his Department as a result of those recommendations.

The Central Transport Consultative Committee recommended at their meeting on 6th June, 1967, that the Railways Board should provide an additional train from Helsby to Liverpool at approximately 08.00 hours, and an additional train from Liverpool to Helsby at approximately 17.45 hours.In considering this recommendation, my right hon. Friend's predecessor took into account the heavy losses already being made on this service and the additional cost of providing the extra trains. She felt that it would be wrong to take decisions about individual trains, which cannot be provided without additional expense, until the question of grant aiding the service under the provisions of the Transport Bill has been considered. She therefore did not give a direction to the Railways Board.In the meantime, I understand that the Railways Board have provided a revised service via Rockferry giving Helsby passengers timings similar to those recommended and have arranged that the 17.40 London Pullman may set down Helsby and Frodsham passengers at Runcorn and that return tickets can be used on buses between Runcorn and Frodsham without extra charge.

asked the Minister of Technology what action he has taken to implement the recommendation contained in Report No. 64 of the National Board for Prices and Incomes, which calls upon Her Majesty's Government to invite Mallory Batteries Limited to withdraw the price increases in hearing-aid batteries introduced on 1st January, 1968.

asked the Minister of Technology what action he proposes to take on the Report of the National Board for Prices and Incomes on Hearing Aid Battery Prices, No. 64.

asked the Minister of Technology what action he plans to take on the recommendation in Report No. 64 of the National Board for Prices and Incomes to restrain price increases of hearing-aid batteries.

Discussions on this issue and the other recommendations of Report No. 64 of the National Board for Prices and Incomes are already in progress with Mallory Batteries Ltd.

asked the Minister of Technology if he will state the specific terms upon which the Report of the Select Committee on Science and Technology, concerning nuclear reactors, has been referred to the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation.

The Select Committee recommended that there should be a single organisation concerned with the design and construction of nuclear boilers. The Chairman of the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation was invited to seek the reactions of industry to this proposed reorganisation, and to give me his advice when he had completed his confidential discussions.

asked the Minister of Technology whether he will make a statement on the outcome of his negotiations with the Australian Government on the future of the Woomera Range and associated facilities.

Senator Anderson, the Australian Minister for Supply, and I had discussions in Canberra this week which resulted in agreed arrangements for the future of the range at Woomera and the supporting laboratories at Salisbury, near Adelaide, South Australia. These arrangements will come into force on 1st July, 1968 when the existing arrangements expire, and will continue up to 30th June, 1972.During this period the United Kingdom will continue as a partner in the operation of the range at Woomera and the facilities for its direct support, and will share the costs equally with Australia. Responsibility for Salisbury Laboratories which have hitherto been part of the joint project will, however, be taken over by Australia and these laboratories will be deployed to an increasing extent for Australian purposes. During this period of redeployment, which will extend over the next three years, the United Kingdom will make contributions towards the cost of the Salisbury Laboratories, phased to reflect their changing rôle.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, what effect the restoration of South American meat imports has had on the price of meat.

Official import statistics are not yet available, but trade reports suggest that the removal from 15th April of the restrictions on meat imports from South America and a number of other sources has not yet led to greatly increased arrivals on the British market. It is never, in any case, easy to isolate the effect of any one factor on prices, which are affected at different times by variations in the supplies coming forward from all sources and by fluctuations in demand.

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs if he will explain the circumstances in which a Rhodesian passport and health documents were taken from Master D. P. Bouma, an eleven year old boy, at London Airport recently.

I am glad to correct the misleading reports which have been current about this case. When David Bouma arrived at London Airport on 1st April his travel document was found to have been issued by the illegal regime and consequently to have no international validity. In accordance with the procedure announced in the House of Commons by the then Commonwealth Secretary on 25th January, 1966, the illegal travel document was taken from him and subsequently he was issued with a temporary and renewable British passport. This procedure has had to be applied in hundreds of cases since the illegal declaration of independence; a British passport gives the holder much greater freedom to travel. I understand that the boy's health documents, which had been attached to the illegal travel document, were returned to him when his British passport was issued.

asked the Minister of Health how many of the special Van de Graff mirror-lens deep X-ray machines are in use by the National Health Service; at what cost they are being imported from the Continent; in what regional board areas they are installed; for what specific section of the community they are mainly in use; and for what medical reasons connected with deep X-rays they are required.

Five 2MeV Van de Graff deep X-ray machines imported from America at a cost of £27,000 each are in use in two London Teaching Hospitals and in the Sheffield, Oxford and Eastern Scotland regions for the treatment of carcinoma.

asked the Minister of Power what percentage of the £4·2 million spent on research and development in 1966–67 in the gas industry's laboratories was spent in Wales.

I am informed by the Gas Council that of the £4·2 million the Wales Gas Board spent 0·7 per cent.

asked the Secretary of State for Wales how many meetings of the Welsh Planning Board have been held since the publication in July, 1967, of Wales, The Way Ahead; and if he will make a statement.

Eight. The Board meets regularly to co-ordinate the work of Government Departments in Wales concerned with all aspects of regional planning.

asked the Minister of Health if he will state the insurance: taxation ratio in the financing of the National Health Service over the past 10 years, showing the figure for each year separately.

The total cost of the National Health Service is met not only from taxation and National Health Service contributions paid as part of the combined weekly insurance contribution, but also from local authority rates, payments by persons using the Service and miscellaneous income.

asked the Minister of Health if he will state the number of items of service given under the National Health Service for out-patients, including casualty attendances, in all United King-

I regret that this information is not available.