asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the hours of opening of unemployment benefit offices.

From 1st November, offices of my Department will close to the public for unemployment benefit purposes at 4 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. as at present.Since the introduction of payment by post, experience has shown that little unemployment benefit business is transacted with members of the public in the late afternoon and that there should be an overall improvement in service if, at this hour of the day, counter clerks are released to concentrate on the preparation and despatch of claims and other administrative work necessary to ensure prompt payment of benefits.Offices providing all other services, including the employment service, will continue to open for these purposes from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the results of his review of the contributions by development corporations towards new town amenities.

Yes. I have informed the chairmen of the new town development corporations that I have decided to improve the capacity of English new town development corporations to contribute towards amenities. The main responsibility in this field must, of course, remain with the appropriate local authorities; but, as the basis of corporations' present monetary quotas for approved amenity projects has not been changed since 1963, these need to be revised in the light of more recent price levels and developing standards of amenity provision.Under the revised formula, in a new town starting tomorrow the corporation would be able to plan on an expenditure towards major amenities in the town of £11 per head of the incoming population which the new development would attract, instead of the old £4 per head, but to cover a somewhat wider range of provisions.In the existing new towns the new formula will be abated to allow for expenditure already incurred under the old formula and to suit the current phase of development. The effect of the new formula will be to increase the quotas in the various English new towns by amounts varying between less than £100,000 in the older ones and over £1 million in the largest new ones.The use of these new quotas will still have to be considered alongside other priorities within the total provision for new towns' finance. Development corporations will, however, be able to make their forward plans on the basis of the updated ceiling figures now available.My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Wales are making similar arrangements in respect of development corporations for new towns in Scotland and Wales.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what response he is making to the appeal by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for assistance in the transfer of populations in the South Asian sub-continent.

We have agreed to make aircraft of the Royal Air Force available for a period of two months to undertake round trips between Karachi and Dacca. A Supplementary Estimate will be presented to Parliament. Until Parliament gives its approval, recourse will be made to the Civil Contingencies Fund as necessary.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what recommendations he has received from the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council with regard to the prescription of occupational deafness; and whether he will make a statement.

The council's report on occupational deafness has today been published as a Command Paper (Cmnd. 5461). As the report points out, this is a condition which gives rise to special difficulty in relation to the Industrial Injuries Scheme and I should like to record my thanks to the council for the very careful and practical manner in which the many problems involved have been considered.The main conclusions and recommendations of the council are as follows: