asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what research is currently being undertaken by his Department into the causes of grass sickness in horses and ponies.

None. But I understand that some work on this disease is being undertaken by the Animal Diseases Research Association and by the Animal Health Trust.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimates he has made of the effect of value-added tax on food prices.

The changes announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Budget Statement will significantly reduce the tax burden on the food industry, and I am confident that the savings will be fully reflected in consumer prices.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if, following the consultations referred to in paragraph 21 of Command Paper No. 4928, he will publish a White Paper on how producer marketing organisations may best be developed.

Paragraph 21 of the Annual Review White Paper refers to recent or expected developments which will need study in view of their impact on agricultural marketing. It will be necessary to take account of all these developments and the views of the industry before seeking to reach conclusions on the future of producer marketing organisations or deciding on how such conclusions might be made available for consideration.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will seek powers to control the use in poultry litter of wood shavings from timber treated with chlorophenols; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend is aware of the Agricultural Research Council's recent report on this matter and is seeking advice on any possible hazards. In the meantime he does not intend to introduce controls.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he now expects the food standards committee report on date stamping to be presented; and if he will make a statement.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 21st March to the hon. Members for Harborough (Mr. Farr) and Wood Green (Mrs. Joyce Butler).—[Vol. 833, c. 1333–4.]

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many applications were received and paid for hill and beef cow grant, respectively, in Derbyshire.

For the scheme year 1971, 463 applications were received for hill cow subsidy of which 455 have been paid and seven rejected. The number of applications for beef cow subsidy received for the same year was 384 of which 369 have been paid and six rejected; nine are oustanding.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proposals he has for altering the law on tied cottages for agricultural workers.

My right hon. Friend has no such proposals in mind. The law was altered less than two years ago, and we should wait for more experience of its working before considering whether any changes may be needed.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether the proposal under consideration for a convention on anti-dumping of toxic wastes in the North-East Atlantic will prevent burnt-out cyanide waste being dumped in the Atlantic.

The Oslo Convention provides that cyanide wastes are among the substances which would require specific permits to be issued and only under strict conditions before they could be dumped at sea. The voluntary dumping arrangements administered by my Department already control cyanide dumpings on the lines of the convention.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he has taken to monitor the level of salmonella in animal feeding stuffs and the degree to which the presence of these bacteria has resulted in the observed increase in human beings.

Animal feedingstuffs are not regularly monitored for the presence of salmonellae. Samples which have been tested suggest that a very small proportion may be infected, and my right hon. Friend is currently considering in conjunction with the trade what action can be taken to deal with this. It is impossible to say to what extent infected feedingstuffs may have been the indirect cause of any increase in salmonellosis in humans.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government to favour the proposed limit of $285 million per annum on the amount that the European Agricultural Fund should spend on the structural reform of agriculture.

This is the present limit on expenditure from the Guidance Section of the Fund in the existing Community. There is provision in the Treaty of Accession for its adaptation to take account of the needs of the enlarged Community, but its adaptation has not yet been discussed.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to what extent, under the existing rules and regulations of the European Economic Community, Great Britain on entry will be able to introduce legislation without consultations with the Community to control the quality and strength of bottled fruit drinks to enable the housewife to determine whether she is getting value for money.

There are already regulations in force in this country which prescribe minimum compositional and labelling requirements for soft drinks whether made from fruit or not.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether, under the existing rules and regulations of the European Economic Community, Great Britain will be able to make it an offence to manufacture pet foods which include whale meat and to prevent the import of such foods from the countries of the enlarged Ten.

There are no powers under existing EEC legislation which would enable us to take such action.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether free depreciation will apply to fixed farm plant such as milking parlours, bulk milk tankers and grain dryers.

Yes, under the Finance Bill proposals, free depreciation will apply to fixed farm plant, including the items of plant mentioned in the Question.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the cost of minting, including metal content, 50 2p pieces; and what is the estimated cost of minting, including metal content, 40 old sixpenny pieces.

At current metal prices, the approximate costs are 33p for the 2p coins and 16p for the 2½p coins.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give consideration to methods of improving the image of the existing small ½p coin by replacing it with a new coin, similar to the former 3d. nickel coin.

No. The existing ½p coin has practical advantages which would be lost if the specification were changed.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the effect of the proposed Budget measures on the level of unemployment in the North-West of England in the next 12 months.

It is not the practice to publish forecasts of unemployment, regional or national, but I am confident that the North-West should benefit from the general reflationary measures announced in the Budget. With other assisted areas the North-West should also benefit over the medium term from the new regional measures which will be contained in the Industry Bill shortly to be presented to the House.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what staff will be recruited in the Oldham exchange area to enable post-war credits to be repaid.

Tax offices in Oldham have recruited nine staff for the post-war credit release. It is possible that some residents of Oldham may be travelling to work in other tax offices concerned with the release of post-war credits including the special post-war credit centre in Salford.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a detailed list of the foods that will be granted zero rating on the introduction of value-added tax and those that will have to carry the tax when imposed.

Only those foods currently subject to purchase tax will attract value-added tax, and these are itemised in Schedule 4, Group 1, of the Finance Bill. All other food of a kind used for human consumption will be zero-rated.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer in view of the concern felt by the workers employed at the Royal Mint at the failure of the Government to implement their promises of safeguarding the position of staff employed at Tower Hill on the Royal Mint moving to Wales, and of the communication sent to him on 8th April by the hon. Member for West Ham, North, on this subject, if he will have an investigation made into all aspects of the problems confronting these workers.

I do not accept the statement in the first part of the Question and I see no need for any investigation. An undertaking was given that staff who wished to go to Llantrisant when the Royal Mint moved to South Wales would be found jobs in the new factory, and that every effort would be made to find alternative employment for staff who did not wish to move. It was agreed that generous redundancy terms would be provided for the remainder. These undertakings have been implemented.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether under the existing rules and regulations of the European Economic Community, Great Britain on entry will be able to apply free depreciation to fixed farm plant such as milking parlours, bulk milk tankers and grain dryers, without reference to the Community.

There are no rules or regulations of the European Economic Community in force at the present time which would prevent our applying free depreciation to these assets and no reference is needed to the Community.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what are the most recent available figures relating to unemployment in the North-East of Scotland; and if he will specify the categories and number of workers unemployed.

The percentage of unemployed for March, 1972, was 5·3.Following is the information:

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish an estimate of the number of male and female insured workers who work in Ayrshire but have their residence in South Ayrshire.

The estimated number of employees, employed and unemployed, in Ayrshire at June, 1970, the latest date for which information is available, was 130,300–83,600 males and 46,700 females. The estimates are based on the place of work and do not indicate the number of employees residing in South Ayreshire.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish an

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many jobs are currently available in mining in Ayrshire; and how this compares with the same period in each of the last 10 years.

Following is the information:Estimated numbers of employees in employment in the coal mining industry in Ayrshire

The following table shows for June, 1970, the latest date for which information is available, estimates for the numbers of employees in South Ayrshire in the industries specified except for whisky manufacture. Employees in whisky manufacture are classified under "Other drink industries", the figures for which could reveal confidential information about the numbers employed by individual firms.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list all the employment exchange areas in the West Central Scotland Special Development Area, showing against each the male and female unemployment rates in the month preceding the decision to include these areas in the special development area, and the unemployment rates in each month since then; and how this compares with the unemployment rates over the same period for the employment exchange areas in Ayrshire which are not included in a special development area.

The following table shows the information for February, 1971, and March, 1972. Figures for all of the

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what have been the number of factory closures and the resultant redundancies in the Dartford and Gravesend employment exchange areas respectively since 1961.

Not all closures are notified to my Department and records are held for the Dartford and Gravesend employment exchange areas only from 1966 onwards. These show closures of establishments engaged in manufacturing industry and resultant redundancies in these two areas as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will consider extending the time he has allowed for discussion and consultation, about the consultative document "Training for the Future" in view of the number and complex character of the proposals emerging from discussions in industry and in the training organisations.

In his foreword to "Training for the Future" my right hon. Friend said that the Government intend to introduce such legislation as may be necessary in the 1972–3 Session of Parliament, and therefore asked those wishing to make comments to do so as quickly as possible and not later than the end of May. I certainly realise the importance and complexity of the issues raised by the Government's proposals for training, but there is also a need to resolve uncertainty about the future of the industrial training boards and their staff. I think that the present time limit, which allows interested parties up to four months to express their views, strikes the right balance.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give a regional breakdown of the 161,000 construction workers unemployed in January, 1972, and compare these with vacancies for construction workers in each of the standard regions.

Following is the information:

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what part the cost of house purchase for owner-occupation plays in the index of retail prices.

On the advice of the Cost of Living—now Retail Prices Index—Advisory Committee owner-occupiers are assumed to pay rental equivalents which are estimates of the rents which would be paid for their dwellings if they were rented instead of being owner-occupied. These rental equivalents are aggregated with rents paid by tenants to determine the weight for rent in the index, and are assumed to move in the same way as rents paid by tenants of unfurnished dwellings.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is his present estimate of the number of people employed in the contract cleaning industry; and whether he will consider introducing a separate Standard Industrial Classification for contract cleaning employees.

No such estimate has been made. Estimates for minimum list heading 865 of the Standard Industrial Classification include but do not separately identify contract cleaning employees. The Government have no plans at present to introduce a separate minimum list heading for contract cleaning into the Standard Industrial Classification, which is the responsibility of the Central Statistical Office.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will state the percentage male unemployment rate in the months of March, 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972 in the London Borough of Newham's employment exchange area.

Rates of unemployment are not calculated for individual parts of greater London. The numbers of males registered as unemployed in the area covered by the Stratford, East Ham and Canning Town employment exchanges at March, 1969, March, 1970, March, 1971, and March, 1972, were 2,962, 3,071, 2,970 and 4,274 respectively.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will make a statement about the progress of his policy of fostering voluntary collective bargaining, in the light of his reference to the Commission on Industrial Relations of 15 wages councils.

I have nothing to add to the answer given by my predecessor to my hon. Friend the Member for Canterbury (Mr. Crouch) on 31st January—[Vol. 830, c. 37.]

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what representations he has received from the workers at the various Ford plants in Great Britain on changing their venue of operation to countries within the European Economic Community; and what applications he has received, in order to prevent industrial unrest, to arrange a meeting with the Ford management and the trade unions to discuss these problems.

None.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what requests he has received to conciliate in the dispute between the railwaymen and their employers; and if he will make a statement.

I would refer the hon. Member to the statement made in the House yesterday by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. Today my right hon. Friend met representatives of the three railway unions and urged them to consider suspending industrial action and balloting their members on the award made by Mr. Jarratt. He has also asked the TUC to consider this suggestion.—[Vol. 835, c. 37–39.]

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will meet the General Secretary and Executive Committee of the Transport and General Workers' Union to discuss matters connected with the Industrial Relations Act.

Yes, if the union so wishes.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now increase the death grant to take account of the increased cost of burials.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will make a statement on an improvement in salaries for chiropodists, dieticians, occupational therapists, orthoptists, physiotherapists, radiographers, remedial gymnasts and speech therapists; and what progress has been made with regard to new structures for the professions supplementary to medicine and speech therapists.

Pay and grading structures for these professions are matters in the first instance for the Whitley Council. I understand that the council has recently reached agreement in principle on an 8 per cent. increase effective from 1st April, 1972, and has fixed a target date later this year for concluding the discussions on new grading structures.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what advice has been issued by his Department to hospital management committees about the downgrading of painting staff in hospitals, the implementation of which will result in the staff suffering a reduction in wages.

After negotiations with the unions concerned a grading structure for hospital maintenance workers was introduced last year. Under this structure all maintenance workers, including painters, received increases in pay with effect from 1st October, 1970, and a further increase with effect from 1st March, 1971.My Department has issued general advice to hospital authorities on how to grade workers and supplementary advice to those hospital authorities which had apparently either under-graded or over-graded their employees.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, in the light of the recommendations in "A Birth Control Plan for Britain", published by the Birth Control Campaign, a copy of which is in his possession, he will ensure that the inclusion of full birth control services within the reorganised structure for the National Health Service, planned for April, 1974, is considered as part of his current review of family planning services.

I have not yet concluded my review of family planning policy. All relevant information will be taken into account.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will encourage public bodies to accept the notices for family planning facilities from the Marie Stopes Memorial Centre.

I have not received a request for such assistance from the Marie Stopes Memorial Centre. This is not a body for which I am responsible and although I am in favour of suitable publicity for family planning services, it would not be right for me to interfere with the discretion of public bodies over the acceptance of these advertisements.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will investigate, and if appropriate take action on, the circumstances under which prospective abortion patients arriving from overseas are being referred from the former Langham Clinic to the Richmond Clinic in East Twickenham.

The Richmond Clinic in East Twickenham is approved by me

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the fes paid to an ophthalmic optician and an ophthalmic medical practitioner for an eye examination in July, 1948, and at the present time; and if he will make a statement.

The sight test fees payable in 1948 to ophthalmic opticians and ophthalmic medical practitioners were 15s. 6d., and £1 11s. 6d., respectively. The current fees are £1·55 and £1·50. The Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration is at present reviewing the fee payable to ophthalmic medical practitioners.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many abortions were notified as being carried out in England and Wales in 1971 on women whose normal place of residence was given as abroad; and what were the countries of residence of the women concerned.

Following is the information available:

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether, in view of the latest official figures published showing that the retail price index is rising at the rate of 9·6 per cent. per annum, he remains satisfied that the proposed increase in pensions will result in an improvement in purchasing power; and if he will make a statement.

The hon. Member has misunderstood the figures. In the year ended February, 1972, the rise in the General Index of Retail Prices was 8·1per cent. We are satisfied that the proposed increases will give a real improvement which should prove to be more substantial than last year.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he is aware that Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Cottrell and their two children are being accommodated in the Hotel Antoinette, Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey, at a cost to social security funds of £25 a week; how long this has been going on; and why social security funds are being used for this purpose.

I am informed that the London Borough of Kingston, whose responsibility this is, placed this family in hotel accommodation for a period of about six weeks because its temporary accommodation for homeless families was fully occupied. The alternative was to break up the family by taking the children into care, a situation which the authority rightly considered should be avoided. Social security funds were not involved.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the cost of arranging and holding the hearing at Fleet, Hampshire, on 22nd February, 1972, to decide on the reference made by him of the decision of the Durham Local Medical Committee to uphold the prescription of Alphosyl shampoo for a patient by a doctor in County Durham.

The hearing at Fleet was an oral hearing involving other cases. The Durham case was included only because it was a case in which the appellant did not wish to make oral representations, and the extra cost was therefore minimal.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services in how many hospital groups was the value of work planned and supervised by group building supervisors higher than the value of work planned and supervised by group engineers in the last financial year for which figures are available.

I regret that information is not available in the form requested: to obtain it would involve a disproportionate amount of time.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the number of families who successfully applied for family income supplement at 3rd August, 1971; what has been the weekly increase in successful applications for this benefit since that date; what were the dates during this period when advertising campaigns promoting this benefit were carried out; and how much each of these campaigns cost.

Following is the information:

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he is taking to improve the standard of fire precautions in the hospitals of the National Health Service in England.

Fire precautions are primarily the responsibility of the individual hospital authorities. My Department gives them general guidance and, mainly through the regional hospital boards, exercises a general oversight of their performance in this field. The Department has instituted a comprehensive annual survey which requires hospital authorities to report on such matters as the results of fire authority inspections of their premises, the state of their fire drill and their administrative arrangements. The conclusion from the first of these surveys is that, while there is always scope for improvement, hospital authorities generally are making a sustained effort to reduce the risk of fire.The survey also shows that some £5·75 million is needed to bring all hospitals up to fire authority standards and that of this amount £2·5 million was spent in the financial year 1971–72.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what action he proposes to take following his consultations about the effect of raising the school-leaving age on the part-time employment of schoolchildren.

The Government are today introducing legislation to fix the normal minimum age for part-time employment at 13—its present level. Other legislative proposals designed to improve and standardise the regulatory framework for administering this branch of the law, in particular the substitution of regulations for the present control by local byelaws, will be put forward as soon as parliamentary time permits, but not during the current Session.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps Her Majesty's Government are taking to suggest consideration of London as the permanent site for the United Nations Secretariat for Ecology and Environment Protection, which is to be established at the Conference on Environmental Interrelations which is to be held in Stockholm in June this year.

The form and functions of any secretariat to be established by the Stockholm Environment Conference are under study by Her Majesty's Government. An important consideration in deciding upon the location of such a secretariat would be its need to have access to other parts of the United Nations Secretariat and to those specialised agencies concerned with the environment.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on arrests and convictions for political activity and evictions of Africans from their land and property which have been carried out by the illegal Rhodesian régime since the departure of the Pearce Commission from Rhodesia; and what representations Her Majesty's Government have made about these actions.

Since 11th March, when the Pearce Commission left Rhodesia, three Africans have been convicted for possessing offensive weapons and materials. There have also been a number of convictions for criminal offences in cases outstanding from the riots which took place in January. But the Rhodesian authorities inform me that there have been no arrests for political activities since the departure of the Pearce Commission.A number of squatters were recently removed from the African township of Harari outside Salisbury on the grounds that their presence there constituted a threat to public health.I have made no representations to the Rhodesian authorities about any of these matters.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what initiatives have been taken by Her Majesty's Government during 1972 on the United Nations Commission of Human Rights to deal with the question of slavery and the slave trade in all their practices and manifestations.

The United Kingdom Representative at the 1972 session of the Human Rights Commission, which ended on 7th April, tabled proposals directing the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities to appoint a new Special Rapporteur on Slavery in succession to the late Mr. Awad. He also proposed that the sub-commission should examine the possibility of establishing permanent machinery to study slavery, forced labour, etc. and better implementation of the existing international agreements in this field.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action Her Majesty's Government proposes to take on the United Nations Commission of Human Rights concerning the rounding-up and pressing into labour gangs of African boys aged between eight and 15 years by monitors employed by the Town Council of Boksburg near Johannesburg.

We have no information about the allegation to which the hon. Member refers and consequently did not raise the matter at the 1972 session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission which ended on 7th April. If the hon. Member will let me have further information about the matter I will look into it.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contribution Her Majesty's Government will make towards the setting up and financing of a European Freedom from Hunger Fund as envisaged in Recommendation 668 of the Assembly of the Council of Europe; and if he will make a statement.

Recommendation 668 of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe has been transmitted to the World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the European Communities. Until the views of these organisations are known, it would be too soon to take a view on whether such a fund should be set up.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service what were the numbers and what was the cost of the Civil Service, excluding the Post Office, in October, 1964, March, 1966, June, 1970. and at the latest available date.

On the basis set out in the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, South (Mr. Fowler) on 9th February, 1972, the number of staff in post on 1st January, 1972, was 701,896. The numbers on 1st October, 1964, and 1st June, 1970, were 652,400 and 700,750, respectively; information for 1st March, 1966, is not available, but on 1st April, 1966, the number was 659,500. The cost of salaries and wages based on the revised supply Estimates for each of the financial years in question is as follows:

asked the Minister for the Civil Service what sections of Government Departments have been moved to East Anglia in each year since 1966; and which he expects to move in the next two years.

Information is not available in precisely this form, but between May, 1967, and November, 1969, 1,103 jobs of Her Majesty's Stationery Office were dispersed from London to Norwich and 89 Passport Office jobs to Peterborough. There are no plans to disperse further Government work to East Anglia within the next two years.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) whether she proposes to impose financial sanctions on the boards of eight of the national museums and galleries which may exercise their right to permit the public free access on one day a week;(2) whether the financial sanctions which may be imposed on any of the national museums and galleries which decide to permit free access on one day a week will take the form of a proportionate reduction of the annual grant for purchases of the individual institutions concerned.

Neither I nor my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland has any reason for thinking that the boards of trustees who have expressed themselves in favour of a free day intend to adopt a scheme of charges different from that proposed by the Government.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many fair rents have been fixed by the rent officer in the City of York in each year since the Rent Act, 1965, came into force.

The numbers of fair rents registered in the City of York since the rent regulation machinery came into operation there on 1st March, 1966, are:

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the average level of the original rents charged and what has been the average increase in rent awarded in the City of York in each of the years since the Rent Act, 1965, came into force.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will republish the figures for reading ability for 15-year-old boys and girls in the same form as that in HANSARD of 3rd June, 1964, covering the reading surveys of 1948, 1952, 1956 and 1961, but with the addition of the results for the most recent survey and with the small amendment to the figures of 1961 which were later recommended as preferable.

The figures requested are as follows:

The information is as follows and derives from analyses of first registrations in cases where the conditions of both tenancy and premises at the time of registration were effectively the same as those on which the previous rent rested.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those trunk and principal road schemes, giving the estimated cost of each, which have been added to the forward programme during the six months ended 31st March.

The following schemes have been added to the firm roads pro-

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the percentage change over the last 12 months in the average price of private houses, both nationally and in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region; and if he will make a statement on the present position.

The average price of houses in the United Kingdom mortgaged with building societies increased by 13 per cent. in 1971 compared to 1970. The corresponding figure for the three northern Regions—Northern, North Western, and Yorkshire and Humberside—was 9 per cent. A more detailed breakdown is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate approximately the number of households in the United Kingdom lacking a bath or hot water or inside W.C., the number of people living in such homes, and the number of such homes which will be improved or demolished within 12 months and by 1980.

Information is available only for Great Britain. At the time of the 1966 sample census, 4.6 million households containing 11·9 million people did not have exclusive use of all three of these amenities although many would have shared them. Comparable figures from the 1971 census should be available before the end of the year. The rate of improvement and demolition will depend on the response by owners and local authorities to the generous improvement grants now available and to the new subsidy for slum clearance.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT The number of starts and completions, respectively, relating to housing in the public sector for each month from 1964 to the present time.

The numbers of public sector dwellings started and completed in Great Britain in each month from 1964 to 1971 and in the first two months of 1972 are as follows: