asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many immigrant children are at present receiving education in Redbridge Borough Council schools, indicating the number of children in each school concerned.

In January, 1971, in maintained schools in Redbridge, there were 1,906 immigrant pupils as defined in the Department's published statistics. These statistics are compiled from returns supplied by local education authorities on the understanding that information about identifiable individual schools will not be published.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will make a statement indicating when it is proposed to start construction of the Propps Hall Primary School in Failsworth, Lancashire.

My right hon. Friend has included this school in the authority's 1972–73 starts programme.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will take steps to have the subject of housing made into a compulsory subject for teachers at colleges of education.

No. Responsibility for the content of the curriculum in colleges of education rests with the colleges themselves and the area training organisations of which they are members.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what discussions she has had with the voluntary youth organisations concerning difficulties arising from the lack of access for their exercise activities in the National Parks.

None.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proposals she has to increase the grants to married women training to be teachers.

Except in the case of a married woman student living at home with her husband who is himself not a student and who is able to work, student grants for married women training as teachers, are being increased by stages over the academic years 1971–72 to 1973–74. I have no proposals for further increases at present.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will make public funds available for the foundation of a chair of Reinforced Composite Materials at a British university.

My right hon. Friend is concerned only with the total grants for all universities taken together. It is for the University Grants Committee and the individual institutions to decide how these should be allocated and spent.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what discussions on changes in education and in training and harmonisation in educational policy are taking place with the Council of Ministers regarding British entry into the European Economic Community; and if she will make a statement.

None. I know of nothing in the Treaty of Rome that would require us to make such changes or to effect such harmonisation.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how she proposes to provide schooling for the children of British parents employed overseas in the service of Her Majesty's Government or the institutions of the European Economic Community as a result of Great Britain joining the Common Market.

In addition to the arrangements which have hitherto been available to British parents serving overseas, facilities will be provided in the European schools of the E.E.C.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps she is taking to encourage the joint use of playing fields, sporting and social facilities, libraries, laboratories and other buildings by neighbouring institutions of higher education.

This is a matter for the competent authorities of the institutions concerned to decide in the light of varying local needs and circumstances. I believe that they are becoming increasingly aware of the potential advantages of sharing and it is the policy of my right hon. Friend to encourage this trend.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what preliminary estimates have been made about the cost of implementing the James Report.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is her estimate of the cost of implementing the proposals contained in the James Report.

The James Report, for the reasons given in paragraphs 6.25 and 6.26, offers no estimates of the cost of implementing its recommendations. I have initiated a study within the Department but I shall attempt no more than a broad provisional estimate so as not to prejudge the issues on which I have undertaken to consult the interested parties.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will take steps to ascertain the views of a representative cross-section of recent graduates from teacher training colleges before announcing her policy on implementing the James Report.

I cannot undertake to organise separate consultations with a representative cross-section of graduates, but the associations which represent the teachers, including recently trained graduates and non-graduates, will certainly be among the bodies I shall consult.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what records are kept of specific individual educational problems solved for the physically handicapped; how such information is stored and distributed to local authorities; and if she will make a statement.

Solutions to individual problems are often not of general application and records are not kept centrally. There are however a number of channels through which information about new approaches to problems is spread. They include regional and local meetings of staff of special schools, and journals of professional and voluntary associations.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what further consultations have taken place with university vice-chancellors and the National Union of Students about the financial structure and control of student unions.

Preliminary meetings took place in December, and my right hon. Friend has received from both organisations a statement of their views. She expects further consultations with the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals to be arranged shortly, and the National Union of Students has been invited to a further meeting.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will give examples of types of expenditure from student union funds which led to the issue of her consultative document on these funds.

The proposals in the consultative document are intended to remedy a number of defects in the present system of financing student unions. These defects are set out in paragraph 10 of the document.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will take steps to set up a registrar of student unions.

This is among the possible courses of action discussed in my consultative document on the financing of student unions which I am still considering.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what reply she has sent to the letter of Sir Fraser Noble, Chairman of the Vice-Chancellors' Committee, on the Government's proposals for financing student unions; and if she will make a statement.

The reply said that the views of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals were being studied. Consultations are continuing.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is now her policy with regard to the minimum population necessary in an urban area for the efficient running of a local education authority.

No minimum population figure has ever been set for this purpose.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will establish an inquiry into the correlation between inadequate school buildings and equipment, understaffing, and the crime rate.

No. But more resources are being devoted to the improvement of school buildings than ever before and the supply of teachers is improving rapidly.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she accepts the proposals put forward by the research councils for the numbers of their headquarters staffs to be employed in the year 1972–73.

I have already approved increases for the current financial year which will bring the councils' headquarter staffs to a total of 1,114. I cannot approve increases for the year 1972–73 while the Green Paper, Cmnd. 4814, is under consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will make a statement on the number of graduates in engineering from Scottish universities in 1971 and her estimate for 1972.

The latest available figure relates to 1970 when the number was 970. Indications are that the 1971 figure will be of the order of 1,050 and the 1972 figure of the order of 1,000.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will seek to amend the Education (Milk) Act, 1971, to enable children of parents who are unemployed or in receipt of family income supplement to receive free milk in schools.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science which are the local education authorities which have failed to make school milk available on sale to all pupils.

In October no local education authority was making milk available on sale to all schools in its area though one authority, Bournemouth, indicated that it had made arrangements to do so later in the month. I have no later information.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will take steps to encourage an adequate supply of specialist teachers, such as counsellors, to meet the demand created by the raising of the schoolleaving age.

Colleges of education are alive to the importance of this problem but there are unfilled vacancies in relevant specialist courses. Particular efforts have been made to recruit mature teachers who can make a special contribution.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science why the eight other national museums and galleries in England and Wales have not been given exempt charity status under the Charities Act, 1960, in the same way as the British Museum, the British Museum (National History), the Imperial War Museum, the National Maritime Museum and, when constituted, the Museum of London.

The National, National Portrait and Tate Galleries and the Victoria and Albert, Science and Geological Museums are not charities. To make the National Museum of Wales and the Wallace Collection exempt charities would require legislation.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what studies she has made of machines which assist backward readers as an alternative to employing remedial teachers.

The only machines I know of are intended as forms of mechanical aids available to teachers, not as alternatives to them. Her Majesty's Inspectorate is familiar with the many kinds of teaching machines on the market.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what will be the 1972 intake of students to the Open University.

I understand that 20,500 new students started undergraduate courses in January.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will give details of the guidance which has been given to those connected with the education services on the subject of metrication terms; and if a separate White Paper setting out details of policy and progress can be prepared in order that the local authority education committees and teaching profession may be aware of Her Majesty's Government's policy.

The main sources of guidance are summarised in the White Paper on Metrication published last Monday which sets out the Government's policy. I believe the education service has an important part to play. The detailed arrangements are best left to the local education authorities, the teachers and the Schools Council.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information, as contained in the communication sent by her Department on 12th January, 1972, in reply to the communication from the hon. Member for West Ham, North, dated 28th December, passed to her by the Department for the Environment, was not readily available to be sent in a communication dated before 12th January, 1972.

My noble Friend has written to the hon. Member.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will list those local education authorities which are not acting in accordance with the terms of Circular 5/71 and which are imposing arbitrary restrictions as to age or educational qualifications when considering grant applications from adult students entering the long-term residential colleges.

The Department does not collect information about local education authorities' arrangements for grants to students at these colleges, or on other courses for which awards are discretionary.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is her policy regarding the radius in miles for a rural catchment area for primary schoolchildren.

This is a matter for the local education authorities.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will make a statement on the planned growth of student and staff numbers at Portsmouth Polytechnic, with particular reference both to the integration of the numbers concerned in the city population so far as housing and other social policies are involved and to the already inadequate working and residential facilities for students and staff.

My right hon. Friend has asked all local education authorities responsible for polytechnics to submit development plans by next September. These plans will certainly need to take account of local circumstances. Meanwhile, she has approved the planning of two large building projects, and others are under consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps she proposes to take to increase the capitation allowances made to primary and secondary schools in areas where capitation allowances are well below the national average.

Capitation allowances are made at the discretion of local education authorities.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will forecast the numbers of teachers in training up to 1977.

The Department's most recent five-year forecast, made before publication of the James Report, assumed that the numbers of students and teachers in training in departments and colleges of education would increase from 120,600 this year to about 125,000 in 1975–76.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when she proposes to make an official visit to primary or junior schools in the Wandsworth, Central constituency.

I have no plans to do so at present.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when she expects to receive the Report on Adult Education from the Russell Committee.

Towards the end of this year.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will seek powers to alter the provisions relating to free transport to school for children of all ages.

No. Local education authorities already have discretionary powers to provide or assist with the transport of children who live nearer to school than the statutory walking distances.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she has considered a recent report on educational results on the North-East Coast, a copy of which is in her possession; and if she will make a statement.

I understand my hon. Friend has in mind a survey published by the journal Where?. I have read the report with interest but do not believe that it calls for a statement. The raising of the school-leaving age should help to increase opportunity in those areas where it is most needed.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she has received the communication sent under date of 27th January, 1972, from the hon. Member for West Ham, North, enclosing a letter from the Chief Education Officer of the London Borough of Newham regarding the increases in building costs over the recent years and the failure of her Department to match these increased costs by increases in the Education Costs Limits; and what action she proposes to take in connection with this matter.

My right hon. Friend has received the letter and a reply will be sent shortly. On the main point of cost limits I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to his Question on 20th January, 1972.—[Vol. 829, c. 246.]

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will publish her reply to the communication sent to her by the hon. Member for West Ham, North, on the inadequacy of grants to meet increased school building costs in the London Borough of Newham.

No. The hon. Gentleman is at liberty to publish the reply if he so wishes.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when she recevied the communication from the hon. Member for West Ham, North, dated 8th December, 1971, concerning St. Angela's School; when she approached the London Borough of Newham in connection with this matter; when she received its reply; and what information as contained in this communication was not known to her Department prior to her reply to the hon. Member sent on 18th January, 1972.

The hon. Member's letter was received on Thursday, 9th December and the Department wrote to the Newham Local Education Authority on Monday, 13th December. Its reply, received on 10th January, revealed that the protracted negotiations about the property in question were almost complete.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether, as a means of assisting in the saving of lives, she will take legislative action to enable her to discuss the curriculum so as to arrange with the educational authorities to initiate a national scheme of tuition to school children in road safety, road use, vehicle upkeep and driving of simulated vehicles; and all other matters which may prove necessary and of use when these children reach the age to obtain vehicle driving licences.

No. I realise the importance of reducing the number of road accidents, but I am unwilling to change the present statutory provision relating to curriculum matters. From time to time the Department produces pamphlets on various subjects including safety, and these are distributed to the schools.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will call for a report from Her Majesty's inspectors of schools on the teaching standards and methods adopted in the lower stratum of comprehensive schools, in view of the recent low standards of achievement recorded by some pupils.

Her Majesty's Inspector's inspection programmes have included quite a number of surveys specifically directed at the teaching methods used with less academic pupils; and at these pupils' achievements. An H.M.I. survey on slow learners in comprehensive and secondary modern schools was published in December, 1971.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps she is taking to assist the schools in the Portsmouth area to cater for the increase in the demand for school places as a result of the return of Forces' families from Malta to the Portsmouth district.

I understand that about 50 families returned to married quarters in Gosport, Hampshire. Of some 40 children of school age, only five are known to be attending Portsmouth schools and the rest are in the county. The Portsmouth and Hampshire local education authorities, which are responsible in the first instance for providing school places, have not reported any problems on this account. If the situation should change my right hon. Friend will consider any request from the authorities for an increase in their minor works al locations.

asked the Minister of State for Defence what proportion of seamen and Royal Marines, respectively, is opting to leave the Service after the first 12 weeks' training.

The proportions exercising their 90-day options to leave are 15 per cent. of Royal Navy ratings and 25 per cent. of Royal Marine other rank recruits.

asked the Minister of State for defence whether he will make a statement on the number and duties of British Service personnel at present stationed in Portugal.

Forty-eight British Service personnel are currently stationed in Portugal. Two are Service attaches at the British Embassy and the remainder are serving at the Headquarters of the N.A.T.O. Commander of the Iberian Atlantic Area.

asked the Minister of State for Defence in how many countries British Armed Forces personnel are serving on secondment to the armed forces of another country.

Seventeen countries.

asked the Minister of State for Defence in how many cases the pay and allowances of British personnel seconded to the armed forces of other countries are paid by the host countries.

Nine countries pay the full cost. The costs are otherwise shared.

asked the Minister of State for Defence what is the approximate cost to British funds of the pay and allowances of members of the Armed Forces seconded to the armed forces of other countries.

About £1,100,000 this year.

asked the Minister of State for Defence how many members of the Ulster Defence Regiment are permitted to bear arms to and from duty, and retain them while at home for their personal protection against the Irish Republican Army.

It would not be in the public interest to reveal details of the precautions now being taken in response to potential threats to U.D.R. personnel at home.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is satisfied with the Fire Precaution Regulations which apply to hotels and other similar establishments; and if he will make a statement.

The existing law on fire precautions in hotels and boardinghouses is both limited in scope and diverse in its operation. The Fire Precautions Act, 1971, which was designed to remove such difficulties, will shortly be applied to hotels and boarding-houses.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will arrange for all departments to withdraw all circulars which discriminate in favour of one sex, with particular reference to educational and employment facilities.

Departments are all well aware of the Government's attitude on this subject.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will set up an interdepartmental working party to include representation from the Lord Chancellor's Department, the Home Office. and the Ministry of Defence to list the provisions of the law which determine the right to claim compensation for damage occasioned to persons and property within the United Kingdom caused by persons operating from the Republic of Ireland, and to list the damage subject to such claims.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the Chief Constable of Lancashire on the arrangements made for the working of the 999 system, in view of the case in Shaw brought to his attention by the hon. Member for Heywood and Royton.

The chief constable regrets that, in response to an emergency call from Shaw, help was sent by mistake to a street of the same name in another place. This was an isolated instance and the chief constable is satisfied that the system normally works well.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, when considering the allocation of county electoral divisions in the implementation of the Local Government Bill, he will double the representation of the Borough of Congleton from one to two councillors.

As my hon. Friend is aware, a draft scheme for the area has been published and comments invited. These comments will be considered by an advisory committee, which will make its recommendation to my right hon. Friend. He can give no undertakings on individual representations at this stage.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce legislation to establish that citizens of the Republic of Ireland shall be aliens within the United Kingdom.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the violence and disorder in Whitehall on Saturday. 5th February, he will now institute a review of the operation of the law relating to public order.

This serious incident was handled with commendable skill by the police. As much as I deplore the violence in which some of those taking part indulged I cannot see that this affair demonstrated any inadequacy in the law.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the Chief Constable giving the establishment figure compared with the actual figure for police officers in Birmingham.

The authorised establishment is 3,029. On 31st January the strength was 2,585.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons were charged with murder in courts in England and Wales in 1971; how many were found guilty; and by what percentage these figures exceed or are less than the comparable figures in 1961 and 1951, respectively.

Statistics for 1971 are not yet available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT as much detailed information as may be readily available, giving the actual amounts of duty and contributions made by bookmakers, the Horserace Totalisator Board and the Horserace Levy Board; and how much he expects to be contributed in the current financial year by these contributors.

With regard to contributions to the Horserace Betting Levy up to 31st March, 1971, I have nothing to add to the reply given to a Question by the hon. Member on 20th January. I should expect contributions during the current financial year to be much the same as those in the previous year. The payment of duty is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.—[Vol. 829, c. 219.]

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is now able to state the month in which the Royal Commission on the Constitution is expected to publish its Report.

No. I can only say that the commission hopes to report in the course of the year. I take this opportunity of saying what a grievous loss we have suffered through the death of the chairman of the commission.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what instructions were given to the Metropolitan Police on duty at Charrington's Coal Depot in Neasden, Willesden, West, with regard to the picket line of miners; how many miners have been arrested; and if he will make a statement.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what instructions have been issued to the Metropolitan Police regarding their conduct towards National Union of Mineworkers picketing of coal depots, power stations and other places; in what circumstances five miners were arrested near Charring-ton's Coal Depot in Neasden, London, on Friday, 4th February, and taken into custody at Harlesden Police Station; and if he will make a statement.

The enforcement of the law in the Metropolitan Police District is the responsibility of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and I have no authority to issue instructions to him on the manner in which the police should deal with picketing.The commissioner tells me that a number of pickets were present outside the entrance to Charrington's coal centre in Neasden on Friday, 4th February. Five pickets were arrested for obstructing the footway and for obstructing the police. They appeared at Willesden Magistrates Court on Monday, 7th February, and were remanded on bail until 21st February.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were given the breathalyser test in 1971; and in how many cases were proceedings taken.

I regret that this information is not available. In England and Wales during the first six months of 1971, 41,802 persons were given, and 2,650 refused, a preliminary breath test. During the same period, there were 18,347 prosecutions for driving or attempting to drive with a blood-alcohol concentration above the prescribed limit or for failing to provide a specimen for a laboratory test.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many deaths and injuries, respectively, resulted from the use of new domestic oil heaters during the last year for which figures are available;(2) how many deaths and injuries, injuries, respectively, resulted from the use of second-hand domestic oil heaters during the last year for which figures are available.

According to the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, 38 people died in England and Wales in 1970 from accidents involving oil heaters, mostly in the home. The Joint Fire Research Organisation estimates that, in oil heater fires in the home attended by fire brigades in England and Wales in 1969, about 300 people were injured. It is not known whether the oil heaters concerned were new or second-hand.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he intends to introduce legislation to amend the British Nationality Act. 1948;(2) if he will propose that the status and rights of Pakistani and Bangladesh citizens resident in Great Britain remain unchanged in his forthcoming Bill to amend the British Nationality Act, 1948.

I am considering the position.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the net figure for immigrants, men and women and children, from Africa, Asia and the West Indies during the 12 months ended December, 1971.

In 1971 253,505 Commonwealth citizens from Africa, Asia and the West Indies arrived in the United Kingdom and 215,425 left, making a net inward movement of 38,080.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many police officers have been suspended or dismissed during each of the last five years by reason of misconduct; how many by reason of dishonesty; and how many are currently under suspension;(2) which police forces have had members suspended or dismissed during each of the last five years and currently under suspension.

The following table shows the number of police officers from

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total number of experiments, in respect of new licences issued in 1970 and 1971, respectively, under the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876; and if he will cause to be printed in the OFFICIAL REPORT the separate types of such experiments.

This information could not he extracted from the statistics collected by the Home Office without disproportionate expenditure of time and money. A summary of experiments performed by all licence holders is published annually in the Return of Experiments on Living Animals. The return for 1970 was presented to Parliament on 29th July last; figures for 1971 are not yet available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can now announce Her Majesty's Government's conclusions about the recommendations of the Brodrick Committee on death certificates and coroners.

The committee's report is long and deals with complex issues affecting a number of interests. As I said in reply to a Question by the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Mr. John) on 15th December, the report will require a good deal of discussion and consideration and it may be some time before the Government's conclusions about its recommendations can be announced.—[Vol. 828, c. 130.]

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will obtain from chief constables, and publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT, for the longest convenient stated period of time, the number of occasions when a person known to be mentally normal has confessed to the police to one, two and three murder attempts, giving times, dates and details, where no action has been taken by the police, including interviewing the person or persons who have made the confession.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give an assurance that on appointing a new chairman of the Horserace Levy Board in November any successor shall, as with the present occupant, give his full time to this appointment and relinquish all outside interests.

No. The current term of office of the present chairman is not due to expire until November, and it is premature to embark upon considerations of this kind.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give, in whatever form may be readily available, information for the longest and most convenient stated period of time of the number and ranks of police officers who have been accused of bribery, corruption, and any other stated illegalities or irregularities against their terms of office of appointment; and in how many instances, and with what results, prosecutions have been initiated.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many police officers have been prosecuted and how many convicted of offences involving bribery during each of the last five years; and how many cases are pending;(2) how many police officers have been prosecuted and how many convicted of offences involving corruption or dishonesty other than bribery during each of the last five years; and how many cases are pending.

Not all this information is readily available. On the best information I can readily obtain, the number of police officers in England and Wales convicted of bribery in each of the four years 1968–71 was none, three, three and four; and the number convicted of other forms of corruption or dishonesty (mainly theft) in those years was 42, 57, 79 and 69.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the statistics for 1971 giving details of the number of persons charged with and found guilty of fraud to be available.

In the summer, I hope.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give details of the number of persons who were found guilty in 1970 and 1971 in the Metropolitan Police district of fraud under Sections 15, 17 19 and 20, respectively, of the Theft Act, 1968; and what were the sums of money involved and the penalities against those found guilty.

I am arranging to obtain information for 1970 and shall write to the hon. Member. Figures for 1971 are not yet available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the number of persons found guilty in 1970 in the Metropolitan police district of offences classified in the criminal statistics as fraud was 3,444; and what was the actual or estimated figure for 1971.

As the hon. Member has been informed, the number of such persons was 3,344 in 1970. Figures for 1971 are not yet available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis has reported that during 1970 in the Metropolitan and City area the police investigated 258 cases of alleged fraud involving sums of £36 million and 251 cases in 1969 involving £35 million; and what were the comparable figures for 1971.

My right hon. Friend is aware of these figures. He is informed by the commissioner that during 1971 the Metropolitan and City Police Company Fraud Squad investigated 343 cases involving £68 million.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will now publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a detailed list Of the persons and organisations whom he consulted before, during and after the preparation of the Horserace Totalisator and Betting Bill.

I have nothing to add to the reply which I gave to a similar Question by the hon. Member on 8th December.—[Vol. 827, c. 324.]

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what action he proposes to take about redundancies at the Rubery, Owen factories in Darlaston.

All the resources of my Department, including a "job team" for advance interviewing, canvassing for vacancies and opportunities for training will be made available, as appropriate, to help those workpeople becoming redundant to obtain alternative employment.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current estimate for short-time working in the West Midlands; and what efforts his Department is making to reduce this figure.

During the week commencing 10th January, 45,488 people in the West Midlands region were known to have worked for less than their full working week. They comprised 25,185 registered unemployed people who were temporarily stopped on Monday, 10th January, and 20,303 people who, although not registered as unemployed on that day, were known to have been stopped at some time during the remainder of the week. Not all of these temporarily stopped were on short-time for economic reasons. Some were laid off because of the indirect effects of industrial disputes. The extensive reflationary measures we have introduced should, in time, lead to an improvement in the economic situation in the West Midlands and therefore to a reduction in short-time working.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what regulations under the Factories Act, 1961, he has issued regarding safety precautions for employees in distribution depots from which outwork is issued by middlemen and to which Section 175, paragraph 2, subsection (b) of Part XIV of the Factories Act, 1961, applies.

None. But if the depots are factories, the Factories Act applies.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the unemployment figures for each employment exchange area in Ayrshire in January, 1972, showing male, female and youth unemployment figures, respectively, and the figures in percentage terms; and how January compares with the same month in each of the last five years.

Following is the available information: