asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has completed his examination of the question put to him by the Association of Chief Police Officers, regarding the proposed use of police funds to insure the lives of all those who take part in mountain rescue in England and Wales ; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend has decided to recommend to police authorities that they should insure those who at the request of the police, or by arrangement with them, take part in hill and mountain rescue in England and Wales.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, following representations from hon. Members on both sides of the House, he has reached a decision on the suggestion that Greenwich Mean Time should be restored only for a three to four month period ; and whether he will make a statement.

The effect of the decision taken by this House on 2nd December, 1970, is that the period of Greenwich Mean Time will run from the end of October until the middle of March, as it did from 1961 to 1967. While there is power to shorten this period by Order in Council, my right hon. Friend has no present intention of using it.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign police officers or trainee police officers are receiving training from police forces in England and Wales ; and from what countries they came.

Sixty-nine police officers from overseas are at present receiving training from police forces in England and Wales, as follows :

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from the Australian or Canadian Governments regarding the terms of the Immigration Bill.

I have discussed the Bill with a number of Commonwealth High Commissioners, including those of Australia and Canada.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what decrease in immigration from the Afro-Asian Commonwealth countries he anticipates after 1971 following the passage of the Immigration Bill.

When the Immigration Bill becomes law, Commonwealth citizens coming for employment will no longer be admitted for settlement on entry. It is too early to estimate the effects on the level of long-term immigration.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received in favour of legislation for the compulsory registration and regular inspections of dog breeding establishments in the United Kingdom.

About 50 letters, including one from a local authority.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to refuse deportation of any person to his country of origin when he risks being executed, or held in custody without trial.

A person is not deported if this would mean his going to a country to which he is unwilling to go owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race religion, nationality, membership of a particular group or political opinion.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give an estimate of the number of Nagas at present in this country.

This information is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from the Police Federation concerning Home Office Circular 139/1971, entitled "Local Government Reorganisation : Police Areas" ; and if he will make a statement.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from representatives of the police on Home Office Circular 139/1971 ; what reply he has made ; what initiative he has taken to ensure that the Police Advisory Board discusses this matter ; and if he will make a statement.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration the Police Advisory Board is giving to the effect on police areas of local government reorganisation ; and if he will make a statement.

I have now received comments from all the police representative organisations on my proposals for the future of police areas, and I recently met representatives of the Police Federation, who advocated that existing force areas should be maintained within a regional structure. I am now considering all the views which have been put before me and I shall consult the Police Advisory Board as appropriate.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in view of the widespread use of aerosols, whether he will consider strengthening the regulations requiring manufacturers to draw attention to possible danger by misuse ; and whether, in particular, he will amend the regulations to require the danger to be included on all aerosols.

The relevant British Standard and the code of practice prepared by the British Aerosol Manufacturers Association already require aerosols to bear warnings against exposure to heat, puncturing and incineration as well as an additional warnings appropriate to the contents.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will consider reviewing the recruitment procedures for traffic wardens, particularly their temperamental suitability ; and if he will make a statement.

Recruitment of traffic wardens outside the Metropolitan Police District is a matter for police authorities. They must ensure that only persons adequately qualified are appointed.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what emphasis is given in the training of traffic wardens to the need for good relations with the public.

Traffic wardens must be suitably trained in all aspects of the work before undertaking their duties. The need to maintain friendly relations with the public is emphasised.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware of the dangerous situation that exists at the Causeway, Riverside Gardens, Erith ; and if he will take action to co-ordinate the activities of the Metropolitan Police and other relevant authorities to ensure that adequate safety precautions are taken to protect local residents.

The Greater London Council is discussing with the London Borough of Bexley and other local interests the works in the Erith area necessary to protect local residents. As to the second part of the Question, my right hon. Friend will shortly issue a circular to authorities in Greater London on the co-ordination of plans against the effect of Thames tidal flooding.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has received the report of the Joint Working Party of the Police Advisory Boards on the Investigation of Complaints ; and if he will make a statement.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given today to Questions by my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Mr. Deedes) and my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, South (Mr. Fowler).

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received concerning the treatment of Mr. Barney Ross and Mr. Roy Mathews while they were serving prison sentences ; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend has received representations from a magazine which has published allegations by these and other former prisoners. He is in no doubt that the allegations give a totally false picture of the conduct and attitudes of the prison service.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will take action so as to be able to give in future the proportion of outstanding fines where time for payment has not expired.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will establish an inter-Departmental committee between the Home Office, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Employment and the Law Officers, to study the particular social, trading and legal problems created by shoplifting from supermarkets.

My right hon. Friend does not think that this would be appropriate. These problems are already being studied under the aegis of the Home Office.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many school leavers in Hartlepool exchange area have not been offered employment ; how many young persons under the age of 18 years are wholly unemployed ; and how these figures compare for the last month for which they are taken to the same period in 1968, 1969 and 1970, respectively.

On 12th July there were 65 unemployed school leavers still seeking their first jobs in Hartlepool. Altogether there were 261 young people registered as unemployed on that date ; the comparable totals for the month of July 1968, 1969 and 1970 were 162 (including 39 school leavers), 207 (including 39 school leavers), and 226 (including 19 school leavers), respectively.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total number of persons in employment in Scotland at the latest available date, and the comparable figure for one year earlier.

At December, 1970, the latest date for which estimates are available, the provisional number of employees in employment in Scotland was 2,071,000. The figure for December, 1969 was 2,095,000.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will state what the index figures for the basic weekly wage index for men and all workers, respectively, are for June, 1971.

The figures requested are as follows :

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a detailed statement showing how the cost of living has moved since January 1970 and the effect these increases have had on pay on a monthly basis, to the nearest new penny ; and what would be needed to compensate workers earning £15, £17, £19, £21, £23 and £25 per week to replace the loss of purchasing value of these incomes and also the percentage rise for each of the stated months.

The monthly figures of the General Index of Retail Prices are published in the Department of Employment Gazette. The percentage changes each month from January, 1970 to May, 1971 are circulated below.The General Index of Retail Prices is based on the average household expenditure

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many British nationals were working permanently or temporarily in each of the Common Market countries in each of the last five years.

We do not maintain statistics in respect of British nationals working abroad, and some European countries do not separately identify United Kingdom nationals in their statistics of foreign workers.The following information in respect of United Kingdom workers, has been extracted from the national sources concerned :of a wide variety of households, and it would be misleading to use this average index figure to estimate the increased earnings necessary to replace the loss of purchasing power at widely different income levels.Following is the information :

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, whether she will make a statement on the claim submitted by the Further Education Teachers' Panel.

I would refer the right hon. Member to my right hon. Friends reply to the Question by the hon. Member for Goole (Dr. Marshall) on 21st July.—[Vol. 821, c. 304.]

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when she hopes to be able to announce her policy with regard to the financing of local projects of an educational nature, particularly the making of grants for the erection and improvement of village halls.

Discussions with the local authority associations and national voluntary organisations about grants to voluntary youth projects, village halls and community centres are still in progress, but I hope to be in a position to make a statement fairly soon.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many applications are at the moment lodged with her Department for grants for the erection or improvement of village halls in England and Wales, respectively.

342 and 30, respectively.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many ballet schools are approved by her Department, and how many pupils in each such ballet school seeking to pursue a career in ballet receive financial assistance from their local authority.

Seven independent schools which specialise in training for the stage including ballet are recognised as efficient.Information is not available in the Department on the last part of the Question.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will institute a monthly census of school meal consumption in local authority schools.

No.

asked the Minister of State for Defence what representations he has received concerning the allocation of salvage money for the "Pacific Glory" to men of the City of Portsmouth Fire Brigade ; what replies he has sent ; and whether he will make a statement.

No representations have been received. In response to an inquiry from the Portsmouth City Brigade last January my Department advised on the normal practice for distributing salvage money. Settlement of this complex salvage claim is expected to take some time.

asked the Minister of State for Defence if he will give further details on the implementation of those broad principles which the Government accept in the Second Report of the Mallabar Committee on the Royal Dockyards.

I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave yesterday to the hon. Member for Portsmouth, West (Mr. Judd).—[Vol. 821, c. 301.]

asked the Minister of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost, in terms of man-hours and money, of British responsibility for guarding processions and marches in Northern Ireland since 1st January, 1971.

I regret that this information could not be provided without the expenditure of undue time and effort.

asked the Minister of State for Defence what are the regulations governing the taking of photographs by the Army in Northern Ireland.

The taking of photographs in a public place does not generally speaking require the sanction of any specific legal regulation.

asked the Minister of State for Defence what is the meaning of the term, marksman, as used by British Army spokesmen in Northern Ireland and applied to British Army personnel ; how such marksmen are selected ; and by what ranks they are instructed to shoot to kill.

I do not know of any official statement in which the term "marksman" was used in the context implied in the Question.I have nothing to add to my hon. Friend's statement to the House on 26th May on the circumstances in which members of Her Majesty's Forces may open fire.—[Vol. 818, c. 375.]

asked the Minister of State for Defence whether his Department maintains a newspaper clipping service which ensures that comments on the situation of the armed forces in Northern Ireland, made by papers circulated in that area, are available ; whether such clipping services maintain surveillance of the content of the Belfast Newsletter, Belfast Telegraph, Irish News, Irish Times, Irish Independent and Sunday News ; and whether he will make a statement.

Press cuttings are available to the Department from all these newspapers.

asked the Minister of State for Defence how many spent cartridges were collected by the armed forces in the Londonderry area on each of the 10 days prior to the shooting of Seamus Cusack ; by what persons were these collected ; and by whom these were examined.

The information requested in the first part of the answer is not readily available. As a matter of regular practice any material that may be used as evidence following a shooting incident is collected, analysed by the Army ammunition technical officer, and the evidence passed to the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

asked the Minister of State for Defence (1) whether British Army intelligence personnel or other British Army personnel are present in the Crumlin Road Jail, Belfast, carrying out, among other activities, the duties ordinarily discharged by warders ; at what times such persons have been present in Crumlin Road Jail since August, 1969 ; what purpose their presence there serves ; and whether he will make a statement ;(2) on how many occasions have British Army personnel been admitted to Crumlin Road jail for the purpose of speaking with convicted and remanded persons during each month since August, 1969.

Arrangements for the administration of prisons in orthern Ireland are the responsibility of the civil authority. It is not the practice to comment on intelligence matters.

asked the Minister of State for Defence what happens to the weapons which are found as a result of arms searches by the security forces in Northern Ireland.

The disposal of such weapons is a matter for the civil authority.

asked the Minister of State for Defence whether persons received pellet wounds from shotguns on the occasion when James Saunders was shot in Belfast ; and if the persons responsible were apprehended by the security forces.

I regret that I have no information on this point.

asked the Minister of State for Defence how many industrial and how many clerical workers in Portsmouth Dockyard had net take-home earnings of less than £20, how many between £20 and £25, how many between £25 and £30 and how many over £30 in each of the four weeks ended 3rd July, 1971 ; and what were the highest and lowest net clerical and industrial earnings in the same weeks.

The required data is not available in the form requested. Highest and lowest nett earnings would in any event be meaningless because of intermittent bonus payments and deductions authorised by the individual.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service what pre cautions he takes to ensure that civil servants observe the rules relating to their involvement in party political controversy.

The rules are drawn to the attention of civil servants in the Handbook for the new Civil Servant and in departmental staff handbooks. A breach of the rules would be treated as a disciplinary matter within the responsibility of the head of the department.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service if he is satisfied with the working and recruitment of staff employed by private security firms under contract to Government Departments.

These firms are mainly employed for carrying cash and, so far as the limited inquiries we have been able to make show, Departments are satisfied with the service they provide. The working and recruitment of the staff are the concern of the firms themselves.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will negotiate with the Governments of Australia and Canada with a view to assisting 20 mil lion people to migrate from England to these countries.

No.

asked the Sectary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will specify the agreements purporting to give effect to the solutions agreed for the tariff treatment of industrial materials set out in Annex B of Command Paper No. 4715, "The United Kingdom and the European Communities", stating in each case the parties to the agreement, the date of its conclusion, and whether it be oral or in writing.

Arrangements for the tariff treatment of industrial materials were reached in the Conference between the United Kingdom and Community delegations at their meetings at Ministerial level on 11th to 12th May and 7th June. The agreements reached will, in due course, be formally embodied in the Treaty of Accession and its associated instruments.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will clarify paragraph 141 of Command Paper No. 4715, "The United Kingdom and the European Communities", identifying those industrial materials in respect of which agreements have been made, and those in respect of which it has been concluded that no agreements will be required.

In the case of silicon carbide, ferro-chrome, ferro silicon and aluminium, it was agreed in the conference that no special measures would be required, on the assumption that Norway becomes a member of the enlarged Community. The measures agreed for the other commodities are set out in the document I have today circulated in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many inhabitants of each of the dependent territories are solely citizens of the United Kingdom and colonies.

The numbers of inhabitants of dependent territories thought to be solely citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies are estimated to be as follows :

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what arrangements have been made for payment for defence equipment supplied, and on order, to the Ceylon Government, as a result of the recent insurgency in that country.

The equipment is being supplied on commercial terms. But, in order to ease the burden of payment for the Ceylon Government, Her Majesty's Government are making available to the Ceylon Government a credit of an amount not exceeding £748,000 to cover 90 per cent. of the cost of the equipment and freight charges. Interest will be at the rate of 7⅜ per cent. and the credit will be repayable over a period of 10 years. These arrangements will form the subject of an Exchange of Notes the text of which will be made available in the form of a Command Paper. Parliament will be asked to approve the necessary supplementary estimate in due course. In the meantime an advance will be sought as necessary from the Congincies Fund.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what is the latest representation he has received from India regarding contributions towards the cumulative cost to India of looking after the refugees from Pakistan ; if he will give the latest cumulative contributions given by Great Britain and the United Nations, respectively, towards such costs ; and if he will make a statement ;(2) what are the latest representations he has received from India regarding the number of refugees from East Pakistan now in India ; what estimate has been sent to him by India of the expected cost to India of six months' support for these refugees ; and if he will make a statement ;(3) what is the latest information which has been supplied to him by India as to the anticipated shortfall between the cost to India and the contributions from Great Britain and the United Nations of supporting refugees from East Pakistan on India soil ; if he will make representations at the United Nations regarding methods of relieving India of this burden ; and if he will make a statement.

I have received no formal representations from the Government of India. The latest Indian reports show that there are now more than 6¾ million refugees. The Government of India have estimated the cost of maintaining them for six months at £167 millions. The United Nations estimates that by 14th July international contributions, through the United Nations and directly, were about £70 millions. There is nothing I can add at present to the answer I gave to the hon. Member on 29th June about contributions from this country. The United Nations, which has established a focal point for co-ordination in Delhi, is fully aware of the situation and I see no need to make representations.—[Vol. 820, c. 92.]

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he accepts the conclusions of The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Economic Community, Command Paper No. 3274 published in May, 1967, in regard to the effects in the United Kingdom of accepting the Common Agricultural Policy ; and if he will make a statement.

No. These conclusions were necessarily based on assumptions made at that time about the effects of the common agricultural policy as it then stood. The Government's assessment in Command Paper No. 4715 takes account of the subsequent development of the common agricultural policy and the agreements reached on its application to the United Kingdom.

asked the Prime Minister if he will make it the practice of his Administration that when Ministers make appointments to public bodies the sole consideration for such appointments shall be suitability for the post.

This already is the practice.

asked the Prime Minister whether he will now seek to make an official visit to the Republic of South Africa.

I have no plans to do so.

asked the Prime Minister how many Government research establishments he has visited officially since becoming Prime Minister.

None, but my right hon. Friends who are responsible for these establishments make such visits from time to time.

asked the Prime Minister how many official visits he has made as a result of the reports made to him in Parliamentary Questions.

While I always consider carefully requests put to me by hon. Members, there are a number of other factors which I have to take into account in planning official visits.

asked the Prime Minister how many letters he has received on the subject of his last Ministerial broadcast.

About 25. The writers kindly said that they liked my broadcast and found it helpful.

asked the Prime Minister whether he will give a list of his official engagements on Thursday, 8th July, 1971.

My principal official engagements on Thursday, 8th July, were a meeting of the Cabinet, Question Time in the House and the recording of a Ministerial broadcast.

asked the Prime Minister how many letters he has received making representations against the Government's decision to locate the value-added tax centre in a non-development area, in view of the high unemployment in the region ; and what replies he has sent.

I have received a few letters on the location of the V.A.T. headquarters. The replies have explained that reports of the numbers of staff to be employed on V.A.T. at Southend have been greatly exaggerated ; and that nearly three quarters of the staff needed to run V.A.T. will be in local offices throughout the country, many of them in the development areas.

asked the Prime Minister how many letters he has received in the last 12 months about rising prices and increasing unemployment.

About 1,700.

asked the Attorney-General when he was first requested to take legal action on the illegal practice known as cube cutting ; what action he then took ; when he expects to finalise proceedings in connection with this matter ; and whether he will make a statement.

This matter came to the attention of my predecessor on 23rd January, 1969. He then asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to arrange for police inquiries to be made. Summonses have now been served on two people as a result of police inquiries. As proceedings are, therefore, pending it would not be right for me to make any further statement.

asked the Lord President of the Council whether he will move to have referred to the Procedure Committee the need to simplify the rules of order relating to the form in which Questions to the Prime Minister are required to be tabled.

My hon. Friend's suggestion is already within the terms of reference of the Select Committee on Procedure. I have no doubt that it has noted it.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what, at the latest available date, was the average per capita income of a resident of the United Kingdom.

In 1970 the gross national product at factor cost per head in the United Kingdom was £766.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the year 1968, which is referred to in Factsheet on Britain and Europe No. 4, is the latest date for which comparable figures for investment in the United Kingdom and the European Economic Community are available.

The latest figures, for the year 1969, are given in answer to a subsequent question from my hon. Friend. They do not alter the comparison made in the Factsheet.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to what extent the difference in the proportions of the gross national products of the United Kingdom and of the European Economic Community expended on new investment, as given in Factsheet on Britain and Europe No. 4, are due to higher direct taxation in the United Kingdom.

It is not possible to quantify the relationship between levels of direct taxation and the proportions of new investment.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the fraction of nearly a quarter, referred to in Factsheet on Britain and Europe No. 4 in relation to new investment in the Community, is a uniform statistic for all countries in the Community ; and if he will give the fractions for each country therein.

The fraction is not uniform and the latest available figures for the individual countries of the Community are given in the table below. They are based on National Accounts 1956–69 published by the Statistical Office of the European Communities and the latest published figures for the United Kingdom.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services why the pension book is delivered to a pensioner after and not on or before the day on which retirement age is reached.

A pensioner is normally able to obtain his first order book from the Post Office or the local social security office one week before the date on which the first payment is due. I know of one case in Sheffield where there has been delay in issuing the order book. I am looking into this and will write to my hon. Friend as soon as my inquiries are completed.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to what extent he estimates the implementation of the Rome Treaty, if Great Britain enters the Common Market, in respect of the abolition by progressive stages on the restrictions of freedom of establishment, including the rights to engage in self-employed business by nationals of a member State in the territory of another member State, will assist or harm self-employed persons in Great Britain ; and how it is proposed that this will operate in practice.

Since there are at present very few restrictions based on nationality which apply to persons seeking to engage in self-employed business in the United Kingdom, I would not expect their removal after our entry into the E.E.C. to have any significant effect on the prospects for self-employed persons in this country.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the results of noise monitoring so far at Heathrow and Gatwick airports this year are to be published.

Figures for the first quarter published on Tuesday show that the average of day-time infringements was maintained at under 1 per cent. of total movements. In April and May day-time infringements at Heathrow were only a fraction of 1 per cent., while at Gatwick there were no infringements in either month.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what standard designs for pedestrian overbridges he possesses which can be adapted to many locations ; and what units of such designs recommended by him for their aesthetic acceptability are held in stock.

The following firms have standard designs of footbridge approved by my Department and by the Council of Industrial Design.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the coming into effect of Section 21 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act, 1970.

The consultations on the regulations necessary to give effect to Section 21 have now been completed and it should be possible to lay them soon now.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the outcome of discussions with the Chairman-designate of the new Sports Council about the implementation of the Government's decision to phase out, in general, grants to local clubs for purely local facilities.

The Government's policy is that the Sports Council should concentrate its grant-making activities on assistance towards national sports organisations, national and regional facilities and multi-purpose schemes to serve larger than local areas. Additionally, the Sports Council will be able to grant-aid specialist facilities, including those for the disabled, and multi-purpose projects where pump-priming would enable local clubs, local authorities and private enterprise to co-operate in providing facilities giving better overall value for money than piecemeal efforts. The Sports Council will also consider grants for projects of purely local significance where special circumstances make this appropriate ; but it is for the Sports Council itself to determine its own criteria for making such exceptions within the Government's general policy that projects of purely local significance should normally be financed locally rather than nationally.Discussions with the Chairman-designate took into account that these areas of the Sports Council's work will take time to build up, as will adequate participation of local sources in the financing of local clubs. The following arrangements for the transition period have therefore been agreed :1. When the new Council meets this autumn, it will consider what share of its first year's budget to make available for grants towards the cost of local capital projects ; that is, grants broadly of the kind hitherto made by the Department to local clubs.2. Within these limits, a further round of grant making will begin, on behalf of the new Council, in anticipation of its assumption of full executive responsibility, the target date for which is the beginning of the financial year 1972–73. This new round will be based, according to the established practice, on advice obtained from the regional sports councils.3. Applications now in the pipeline will first be so dealt with (meanwhile, the processing of cases on which commitments have already been made by the Department will, of course, proceed). Later, the same process will be applied to submissions which clubs will be able to send in during the coming months ; but the phasing-out will continue and it must be envisaged that the provision for grants to local clubs will progressively decline until they are the exception to the general rule.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the membership of the South-West Economic Planning Council.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the membership of the South-East Economic Planning Council.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the membership of the East Anglian Economic Planning Council.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the membership of the East Midlands Economic Planning Council.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the membership of the Northern Economic Planning Council.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now make a statement about the membership of the North-West Economic Planning Council.

I have now reviewed the membership of all the economic planning councils in England. There are some changes, as I am particularly anxious to bring in some younger members. I am circulating below a full list of the members of each council. I am glad to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the excellent work done by those members who have served hitherto.