asked the Minister of State for Defence what has been the level of expenditure on defence as a percentage of gross national product by, respectively, the United Kingdom, United States of

asked the Minister of State for Defence if, in view of the damaging effect of misunderstanding of the statement of 20th April 1972 concerning Multiplex Designs Ltd. of Sidcup, he will make an ex gratia payment to that company to cover this damage.

No. The misunderstanding had no damaging effect on the situation of the company. This has repeatedly been made clear in answer to the numerous representations made by and on behalf of the company.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many nursery school places are currently provided by each local education authority in England and Wales; and what is the percentage of children under 5 years of age in each area.

The figures, based where applicable on NATO definition of defence expenditure, are shown in the attached table. The percentage figure for Britain in 1973 under national definition is approximately 5·75 per cent., as given in the 1973 Statement on the Defence Estimates.

The following table sets out numbers of full- and part-time pupils in nursery schools and classes in January 1973 and gives these numbers as percentages of births in 1968 and 1969.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether the cost of collecting the entrance charges is to be deducted from the sums collected for entrance to museums and galleries.

The additional sums offered to the museums and galleries represent the total yield from charges less VAT and the cost of collection.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what administrative expenses are to be deducted from the sum raised by entrance charges to museums and galleries.

The cost of collection represents principally the cost of staff and the relevant overheads.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will arrange to obtain information about the demand for accommodation for single persons, with a view to including information thereon in housing returns.

Housing needs are best assessed by local housing authorities. It would not be practicable to require them to maintain records in a form which would seek to isolate single people, or which could be sufficiently well defined to justify aggregation and publication in national housing returns.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will introduce legislation to require local authorities to provide a proportion of housing units for single people in their building schemes.

The responsibility for assessing the range of housing needs in their areas rests with local authorities. Their duty to consider these needs, in drawing up their housing policies and building programmes, already includes the claims of single people.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will relax the cost yardstick on appropriate building programmes so as to encourage building units of accommodation for single persons.

More flexible cost yardstick arrangements were introduced last November to enable local authorities to proceed with new schemes to meet all types of housing need at a cost which reflects local market conditions. If the hon. and learned Member has a particular case of difficulty in mind perhaps he will let me have details.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will issue a circular to local authorities on housing needs of single persons.

I intend to do so, as a supplement to the design bulletin on the housing needs of single people which was issued in 1971. The Department is already approving for subsidy schemes of self-contained dwellings for single people by local authorities and housing associations. These can include schemes on the new lines set at Goscote House, Leicester.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will introduce legislation giving financial incentives to local authorities in stress areas to encourage the provision of new housing for single people.

The existing housing subsidies apply to new dwellings for single people as to dwellings for others

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will introduce legislation to require local authorities to ensure that housing is provided for single people made homeless by development.

Local authorities are already required by the Land Compensation Act 1973 to provide accommodation for people, including the single, displaced by redevelopment in some circumstances; there is also the range of legislation which gives protection against unlawful eviction. Authorities are aware of the need to cover, in their housing policies, the needs of single people.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make available property in his possession for the use of homeless persons this winter.

Arrangements already exist for bringing into suitable use the properties held by the Department. I have recently tightened these procedures and will be setting them out in the circular on homelessness which is to be issued shortly.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he proposes to issue to local authorities his circular on homelessness.

With my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Wales I shall be issuing a joint circular on homelessness within the next few weeks.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he now intends to take to assist in the provision of homes for homeless families and single persons.

The forthcoming joint circular on homelessness is designed to mark the start of a more effective effort by local authorities, voluntary organisations and central Government, working together. For single people, the Government intend to introduce a new form of financial assistance for hostels.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what action his Department has taken regarding plans, announced in the April 1973 White Paper, to provide a new scheme of grant aid to local authorities and voluntary bodies providing hostel accommodation for single homeless people.

A consultation paper outlining proposals for single people generally was circulated to local authority associations and voluntary organisations. It attracted much interest. The comments on it contained many useful points and suggestions, which are being incorporated, so far as practicable, into a revised scheme. This will be announced shortly.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will issue a circular to local authorities recommending them to relax prohibitions on sub-lettings by council tenants to lodgers.

Many authorities already follow the advice about allowing lodgers given in several reports of the Central Housing Advisory Committee. I shall be emphasising the importance of this in a circular to be issued shortly.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has had in favour of increasing the £4,000 limit on modernisation of council dwellings; and what proposals he has for raising the cost limit.

The present limit under the Housing Acts 1969 and 1971, for the purpose of calculating the Government contribution towards the cost of improving council houses, is £1,000 normally, and £2,000 in the development and intermediate areas for works completed before 23rd June 1974. No recent representations about the adequacy of this limit in relation to council housing schemes have been received. The Government do not consider that it is necessary to make any general increase in these limits of allowable cost in view of the additional help which is available to local authorities for this purpose under the Housing Finance Act 1972.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will give a general direction to British Railways to continue providing for the carriage of poultry on their trains.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) whether he has had discussions with British Rail to ensure that, under the emergency powers, the increased public demand for rail travel is being matched by an increase in services;(2) if he will make arrangements under the emergency powers for British Rail to provide extra commuter rail passenger services to cope with the increased demand resulting from those members of the public who are responding to the voluntary appeal to save petrol.

British Rail is doing all it can to help.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will announce his decision, after reconsideration, about his department's grant to the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Scheme in the financial year 1974–75.

I cannot at present add to my answer of 11th December to the hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Mr. Marks).

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether his recent statement about the transfer of funds from urban development to the railways will affect the completion of stage 5 of the inner ring road at Darlington.

It is too early to say whether the transfer of funds will have any effect upon stage 5, but I will keep the hon. Member informed.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the delay in compulsory purchase inquiries in the Newcastle-under-Lyme area due to a shortage of inspectors; how many inspectors are needed for a full complement; and whether he will make a statement.

There are at present 247 inspectors available to hold these inquiries, though this represents part only of the casework with which the inspectors are called upon to deal. The number of inspectors remains short of requirements and recruitment is continuing. In the case of compulsory purchase orders made under the Housing Acts 1957–69 the period between submission and local inquiry is at present about eight months.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will, under the emergency powers, direct the relaxation of restrictions on working hours of bus-driving members of the Transport and General Workers Union so that those who wish to work overtime shall not be prevented from so doing.

The relevant provisions of the Fuel and Electricity (Control) Act enable me only to relax statutory requirements affecting drivers' hours. Overtime is a matter for industrial negotiation.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the measures he intends to introduce to eliminate the evasion of motor vehicle tax.

Enforcement effort is being increased, particularly in London. In the longer term the centralisation of vehicle licensing will make it easier to identify unlicensed vehicles and open up new ways of dealing with them.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the latest estimate of the cost of building the new Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh.

The estimate at June 1973 prices is £4·25 million.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now make a statement about his consultations or means of intensifying the use of seat belts.

As I told the House on 1st May, I intended on behalf of the Government to consult the various interested bodies on means of intensifying the use of seat belts, including the desirability or otherwise of compulsion. I undertook to report the results to Parliament before any final decision was taken by the Government.The consultations, and an attitude survey carried out during the summer, have shown that most people now accept the value of wearing seat belts. A substantial body of opinion wants or is prepared to accept compulsion: the Automobile Association, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the National Automobile Safety Belt Association, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the motor insurers. A majority of chief police officers consider that it will ultimately be necessary. The Medical Commission on Accident Prevention stressed the value of seat belts in limiting the severity of injuries and said it would support any action to increase their use which the Government judged necessary.On the other side, the Royal Automobile Club opposed compulsion on the grounds that further efforts should be made to increase the wearing rate by persuasion and by improving the design of belts; the Magistrates Association and some of the police associations were also opposed to it on the grounds of the difficulty of enforcement. Others thought there should first be renewed efforts to persuade.Several organisations thought that compulsion should be deferred until the design and installation of belts had been improved. Others took the contrary view, pointing to the savings of life and injury which the wearing of belts can bring now. The manufacturers have assured me, however, that improvements can, and will, be made. Any law requiring seat belts to be worn would, of course, have to allow for certain exceptions.The Government now have a clearer idea of public opinion on this matter. The question of compulsion gives rise to issues of personal liberty and considerable problems of enforcement. The counter-argument is that if the proportion of people wearing seat belts could be raised from the present 30 per cent. to 90 per cent. nearly 1,000 fewer people would die on the roads in a year and over 10,000 serious injuries would be prevented, and that such a result can be achieved only by compulsion. In considering the issue further the Government will take note of what is said in Parliament during the passage of the Road Traffic Bill; the question will first arise at the Report stage in another place.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what research is being undertaken by the Government, or by the Government in conjunction with private industry, into ways of improving the viability of electric-propelled vehicles, particularly for delivery purposes, into improving the weight/energy ratio of batteries, and into the development of hybrid internal combustion/ battery-electric vehicles.

I have been asked to reply.Since 1967 the Government have spent about £400,000 on research and development in this field. A project definition study, commissioned by my Department, of the sodium-sulphur battery, which has a high energy-weight ratio, has very recently been completed and is now being considered with the Electricity Council, British Rail and the Department of the Environment. The development of this battery poses considerable technical problems which must be overcome before it can become a commercial proposition.The prospects for hybrid-electric vehicles, which also depend on the development of a satisfactory battery, are the subject of discussions between my Department and industry.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the nature and extent of the Crown Agents' investment in Diebold Group International.

I understand that the Crown Agents, through their wholly-owned subsidiary 4 Millbank Investments Limited, hold 500 Diebold Group International Inc (DGI) convertible voting preferred shares. These cost $ US 500,000 and represent 16·6 per cent. of the equity.

asked the Lord President of the Council for how many hours the House of Commons sat in Session 1972–73; how many of these hours were after 10.30 p.m.; what was the average cost per hour, including heating and wages and salaries; and by how much this figure would have been reduced if all sittings had terminated by not later than 11 p.m. or midnight.

In Session 1972–73 this House sat for a total of 1,457 hours. Of these, 227 hours were after 10.30 p.m.Expenditure charged to the House of Commons Vote (Class I, Vote 2) for the Financial year 1972–73 was £6,786,888. Additional expenditure borne on the Votes of other Departments in connection with the operating costs of the House of Commons was estimated at £3,589,500. The overall cost for each hour when the House was sitting may accordingly be estimated at about £7,000. It is not possible to make any realistic estimate of the extent to which these costs might have been reduced if all sittings had ended by 11 p.m. or midnight.

asked the Lord President of the Council (1), since Members have had no adjustments of their salaries during phase 1 and 2, whether he will use phase 3 in general, and unsocial hours procedure in particular, in deciding new salary figures to put to the House;(2) whether he will provide means to enable Members to have the opportunity of negotiating their salaries and conditions of employment through their trade unions or on some other stated basis before they are voted on.

The Government have already indicated that it is not anticipated that there would be more than one review of Members' salaries during a Parliament of normal length. The basis on which Members' salaries are determined and how Members can express their individual or collective views on this issue are matters that might be considered by the Review Body at the appropriate time.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) for how many houses he has approved improvement and modernisation grants under the 1971 Housing Act applied for by Coatbridge Town Council; and what was the value of the grants involved;(2) for how many houses he has approved improvement and modernisation grants under the 1971 Housing Act applied for by the Airdrie Town Council; and what was the value of the grant involved.

Since the Housing Act 1971 came into operation in August 1971 approval has been given for grant-aided improvement works by Coatbridge and Airdrie Town Councils as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will instruct all new area health boards to institute immediately joint consultative committees with all employees through their appropriate organisations, who will come under their jurisdiction in 1974.

A current agreement of the General Whitley Council recommends the establishment of joint consultative committees of management and staff of hospitals and other National Health Service organisations and provides a model constitution for these committees. It is the intention that the agreement should continue to apply in the future to the new health authorities; but the general council is at present considering what improvements might be made to make the agreement more effective.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what arrangements he has made for the direct representation on the new area health boards of employees in the new service.

None. The suggestion that the new health authorities should contain direct representatives of staff was considered during the passage of the National Health Service Reorganisation Bill and rejected. There are other and more appropriate ways of giving staff of the service an effective voice in its operation and planning.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the total number of applications to, and awards made by, the fund administered for the Government by the Rowntree Family Trust for congenitally handicapped children, for each region and each local authority area, respectively; what is the number per thousand children under 16 years of age in each area; and if he will make a statement.

Information in the precise form sought by the hon. Member is not yet available, as applications have been coded by existing local authority areas and grants by local authority areas as they will be after 1st April 1974. The Rowntree Trust intends to reconcile the two different methods of compiling the statistics and I shall let the hon. Member have the revised table in due course. The figures at present available are given below. The number of grants made has, however, recently risen sharply and approximately matches the number of applications currently being received.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will now review the recruitment, training and control of investigators on social security work.

Officers selected to be special investigators are drawn from local office staffs and generally have had considerable experience of local office supplementary benefit work and the normal training given to all executive officers. They are initially trained on this job by experienced special investigators and by the regional officer responsible for all staff engaged on this work. They also visit headquarters for instruction by staff in the division responsible for the policy relating to special investigation.Recruitment, therefore, is a matter of selection from serving officers and the present procedure works satisfactorily. The present arrangements for training and control also appear to be satisfactory when it is borne in mind that these officers have no special powers and are engaged on work which is appropriate to local office staffs. Their appointment and employment on these duties is primarily to relieve local offices of complex or time-consuming cases which might otherwise delay the day-to-day work.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether, having regard to the decision of Mr. Commissioner Nelligan in the appeal of Derek Powdrill of 82 Helena Crescent, Leicester, he will now give instructions to the Attendance Allowance Board to disregard the arithmetical calculation in respect of patients receiving kidney dialysis treatment when considering their applications for attendance allowances.

I would refer the hon. and learned Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Alfred Morris) and my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. John Hannam) on 10th December.—[Vol. 866, c. 61–2.]

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will introduce amendments to the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970, in order to facilitate the transfer of responsibility for accommodating the homeless to housing departments.

I am not convinced that any amendments are needed.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what percentage of the average funeral cost was met by the standard death grant in 1948 and is so met in 1973, respectively.

Figures showing the average cost of funerals are not readily available, but in 1949, when the death grant first became payable, the maximum charge for a funeral at minimum standards, as agreed by the National Association of Funeral Directors, was £20. The death grant was then £20. The current figures are respectively £75 and £30.

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will issue a circular to local authorities in Wales encouraging them to introduce a scheme for concessionary bus fares for retirement pensioners in their respective areas.

Local authorities are already well aware of the powers available under Section 138 of the Transport Act 1968. It is for these authorities to take their own decisions in the light of local circumstances and to determine their own priorities. So far, 42 local authorities in Wales have made arrangements to operate concessionary bus fare schemes for pensioners.