asked the Prime Minister when he next proposes to meet the Prime Minister of Denmark.

I have been asked to reply.Next week at the EEC Heads of Government Meeting in Brussels.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what money has been appropriated to promote preventive dental care.

No figure is available for the total sum appropriated for the promotion of dental care, the responsibility for which is shared by area health and local education authorities. The Health Education Council expects to spend £16,000 this year.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will make a statement on her first meeting in Brussels with other Social Service Ministers of the EEC.

Two matters which concerned my Department were dealt with in the Council of Ministers' meeting on 17th June: the proposed programme of pilot schemes and studies to combat poverty, and the social security aspects of the draft directive on equal treatment for men and women in employment. I found the discussions useful and I was glad to meet Social Services Ministers from other Community countries.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what further plans she has to meet the Social Services Ministers of the EEC in their own countries.

I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Wallasey (Mrs. Chalker) on 10th June.—[Vol. 893, c. 229–31.]

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proportion of claimants for invalid vehicles is approved.

Roughly three-quarters of the disabled people recommended by their doctors for a vehicle or a private car allowance receive one.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will make a statement concerning the White Paper on mental health.

I am today discussing the timing of the White Paper's publication with the Consultative Council on Local Government Finance. I am hoping that it will be possible to issue the document in the early autumn.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will make a statement concerning the proposals outlined by the Minister of State on 20th June to offer direct grants to local authorities for the provision of secure accommodation for juveniles.

There were 155 secure places in approved schools and remand homes when the community home system was introduced in April 1973 and 38 additional places have been completed since. The regional plans, as amended, estimate that a further 480 places are needed. A secure unit serves the needs of a wide area. Costs are ultimately shared between user authorities, but at present the very high initial costs have to be borne by a single authority. It is because authorities are increasingly reluctant to do this that we are proposing to introduce a system of grants.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations she has received from medical journals concerning the effect upon them of her Department's plans to restrict promotional expenditure by the pharmaceutical industry.

I have met the editors of several medical journals and have told them that in our negotiations with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry we shall be seeking to safeguard the position of journals of undoubted reference value.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what studies her Department is making on preparation and advice to persons approaching retirement age on the problems of retirement.

My Department has no particular studies in hand but I understand that courses are run by the local authority adult education service and by adult education bodies such as the Workers' Educational Association, and I am informed by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service that some employers grant facilities for staff to attend such courses and others make various arrangements for counselling staff on the problems of retirement.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether she will announce a date for the introduction of age-related distributions in the level of the new child benefits.

No, not at this time.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps she is taking to improve the safety of invalid tricycles.

Through an ongoing development programme, improvements to the design of these vehicles are introduced as opportunity offers in the light of in-service experience, technical innovation and the requirements of safety and other regulations.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will give further attention to the question of the provision of invalid tricycles in view of recent evidence that the numbers and proportion of drivers of invalid tricycles who are injured in accidents is rising steadily.

As my hon. Friend will know, our main policy for the future is to provide a mobility allowance of £5 a week. The option open to an eligible disabled person to have a three-wheeler, rather than cash provision, was decided upon the extensive consultation with organisations representing disabled people and in full recognition that some accidents and injuries are unfortunately inevitable. Nothing has occurred to justify a change in the plans.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she is satisfied with the liaison arrangements which exist between her Department and the electricity boards to avoid power disconnections in genuine cases of hardship.

The liaison arrangements were designed to identify cases of particular hardship and to assist the Department's local offices, and the local authority, to consider what special action, if any, is required. They appear to be serving this function satisfactorily, since we have no evidence of any significant volume of complaints about the liaison of arrangements themselves. If, however, my hon. Friend has a particular case of difficulty in mind, I shall be glad to look into it. The question of consultation is of course quite different from that of help to pay fuel debts.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what discussions she has had with the area health authority regarding the future use of Liverpool Road Hospital, N.1; and if she will give an undertaking that this hospital will not be closed.

I have had no discussions with the area health authority on the future of Liverpool Road Hospital. The area health authority met on 7th July and I understand will be studying the feasibility of alternative proposals which would enable Liverpool Road to remain as a viable and an identifiable hospital.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, in view of the case of an aged disabled miner charged £1·50 for a medical certificate in support of a housing application, details of which have been supplied to her, if she will propose making certificates of this type available free on the National Health Service.

General practitioners in the National Health Service are required by their terms of service to provide without charge to their patients only certain medical certificates and reports which are specified in the National Health Service (General Medical and Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations—for example, those required for national insurance purposes. Doctors are not obliged, therefore, to issue any other certificates and reports and, if they do so, they are entitled to charge fees for the service.Where local authorities require medical evidence to support housing applications they can if they wish make a contribution towards the cost of the certificate. However, local authorities could also consider whether alternative ways of assessing need could be found which would not require the production of medical evidence by general practitioners.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she is satisfied that the occupational deafness scheme covers enough categories of workers; and if she will make a statement.

I would refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Morpeth (Mr. Grant) on 15th April.—[Vol. 890, c. 82.]

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she is satisfied that present legislation is adequate to ensure that single retirement pensioners are fully compensated for the effects of inflation.

Yes. The present legislation provides for pensions to be increased in line with the movement in earnings, or the movement in prices if this would be more favourable to the pensioner.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what action she proposes to take in connection with the recent report of the Health Service Ombudsman, Sir Alan Marre.

Copies of the Health Service Commissioner's report have been sent by my Department to regional and area health authorities. The report mentions failure in communication between staff and patients as a frequent reason why complaints arise and health authorities will be reminded of the importance of good communications. The need for better management of waiting lists is brought out in the report and my Department will shortly be issuing fresh guidance to health authorities on this matter. The Commissioner also refers in his report to the Davies Committee's recom- mendations on hospital complaints procedure about which I hope to make an announcement shortly.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether she has any plans to increase the £100 per annum tax-free allowance for disabled drivers in line with inflation.

I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mr. Corbett) on 23rd June.—[Vol. 894, c. 72.]

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proposals she has to expand facilities for out-patient abortions.

In March 1973 a paper was circulated to the senior administrative medical officers of the regional hospital boards which suggested that early abortion might be a suitable operation for day care treatment. A number of ways of organising a day care system were discussed. The number of abortion performed on a day care basis in the NHS is rising but is still a small proportion of the total. The Lane Committee favoured the provision of day care services for early abortion cases, and gave a list of essential requirements for such a service. I am now considering whether further guidance to health authorities would be useful. One private nursing home belonging to a charitable organisation has been permitted to perform day care abortions on a trial basis under rigorous conditions laid down by my Department. I am currently considering the advisability of allowing extended trials under the requirements set by the Lane Committee in parts of the private sector where I am satisfied that the standards of practice are of the highest and where the charitable status ensures that there is no exploitation of patients.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations have been made to her by general practitioners in the National Health Service about the desirability of increasing National Health Service prescription charges.

No formal representations.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when she next intends to meet the Child Poverty Action Group.

There are no immediate plans for such a meeting.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether she will make a statement on geriatric bed provisions in Nuneaton hospitals; and how this compares with the standards prescribed by her Department.

Current departmental guidance on geriatric bed provision is based on a standard of 10 beds per 1,000 population aged 65 and over. As indicated in my reply to my hon. Friend on 25th March—[Vol. 889, c. 78.]—there is estimated to be a shortfall of about 100 geriatric beds in the North Warwickshire (Nuneaton) health district. The regional and area health authorities have not yet completed their consideration of possible ways of meeting the shortfall.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will so arrange her statistical section as to be able to reveal the age groups within which supplementary benefits are most commonly made available.

Detailed information reflecting the characteristics of recipients of regular weekly payments of supplementary benefit is collected annually in November using random sampling techniques. The main results, including analyses by age groups, are published in "Social Security Statistics", a copy of which is available in the Library.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many times the national insurance death benefit has been increased since it was first introduced.

On two occasions, in 1958 and 1967.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether she will now index pensions, social security payments and other benefits to a price index reflecting the pattern of consumption of these groups receiving those benefits.

I would refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesend (Mr. Ovenden) on 10th June.—[Vol. 893, c. 148.]

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if the figure of £750 million in increased benefits for the disabled is a net figure after savings in supplementary benefit and income tax have, where appropriate, been taken into account; what percentage increase it represents in real terms; if she will break it down into individual benefits; and what is her estimate in real terms of the average weekly cash benefit to each of the disabled people as defined in categories 1 to 6 of the Harris Survey.

I shall write to the hon. Member.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will make a further statement on the joint financing of agreed local projects by health authorities and local authorities.

I am anxious to secure the fullest co-operation between health and local authorities. Consultations on the joint financing of agreed local plans are now taking place.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she has received the conclusions of the working party set up by Sheffield Area Health Authority to study the demand for children's orthopaedic services in Sheffield; and what progress is being made by her departmental investigation of children's orthopaedic services with particular regard to the orthopaedic problems of handicapped children including those with paralytic and congenital types of deformity.

I have not yet received the working party's report but understand I am to do so shortly. The departmental study which I referred to in my letter of 2nd April to my hon. Friend was concerned only with the need for regional centres in children's orthopaedic surgery.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will make a statement on the implementation of her policy on common waiting lists for National Health Service patients and private patients.

I greatly regret that according to newspaper reports hospital consultants have rejected any possibility of introducing a common waiting list, without waiting for the consultation which I promised and have reversed their previous negotiating position when they said they were prepared to discuss the details of any scheme.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether she will institute an inquiry into the circumstances of the death of Adam Grier at Orpington Hospital on 25th August 1974 in the light of the comment of a High Court judge that the cause of death is a mystery.

I shall write to the hon. Member.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what sum is being spent on research into a new invalid vehicle in the current and last financial years.

None. Work continues progressively on the improvements to the existing vehicle.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when she intends to introduce a child benefit which will improve the financial position of one-parent families who do not pay tax.

The Child Benefit Bill provides an interim benefit specifically for one-parent families at the same rate as family allowance—£1·50 a week at present. This will start in April 1976. Since it will be subject to taxation to the same extent as family allowance, it will particularly improve the financial position of, for example, lone parents who, because of domestic commitments, do not earn enough to pay tax.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many children needing mental care are currently accommodated in adult subnormal hospital wards.

I regret that this information is not available centrally.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when she expects to introduce her proposed legislation for the abolition of pay beds.

I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr. Fowler) on 9th May.—[Vol. 891, c. 543.]

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what plans she has for increasing the resources available for the building of community homes.

In present economic circumstances additional health or social services resources for a particular purpose can be provided only by reducing provision for other purposes. The current social services building programme which has just been further reduced by my Department in consultation with the local authorities still gives the highest priority to community home projects. We intend also to promote the provision of secure accommodation by making direct grants the money for which will be found from existing resources, to local authorities for this purpose. The power to make such grants will be sought by amendment to the Children Bill now before the House.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will introduce measures to facilitate the early retirement on full pension of workers with more than 50 per cent. disability.

If my hon. Friend has in mind 50 per cent. "loss of faculty" as assessed for industrial injuries purposes, disablement at or above this level may well be consistent with doing a full-time job; and I would much prefer to encourage adequate rehabilitation and suitable job opportunities than to promote early retirement. National insurance invalidity pension is, of course, available for disabled people who are unable to work. This benefit has been and will be improved; and many employers make additional provision.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what studies her Department is undertaking into the living standards of the lower income families.

The following are the more important studies into the living standards of lower income families which are being undertaken by or for my Department:1. Field work in three studies, covering the financial and social circumstances of families in receipt of family income supplement has been completed. These projects are:

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many full-time students claimed supplementary benefit during the summer vacation of 1974; and what is her estimate of the number who will claim it during the summer of 1975.

I regret that statistics are not kept in a form which would enable this information to be given but it is known that in one week in August 21,000 students were receiving supplementary benefit and that some 48,000 successful claims were made during the vacation, some students claiming more than once. No reliable estimate is possible of the number who will claim during the summer of 1975.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many self-employed contributors claimed sickness benefits in each of the last five years; and what proportion of the total number of self-employed contributors that number of claimants represented.

Figures are not available for the total number of self-employed persons claiming incapacity benefits in the course of any year. The following, however, are the numbers of self-employed persons who were incapacitated for work on a particular day in May/June in each of the last five years for which figures are available, and the numbers of self-employed contributors at the same point in time:

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will make a statement on the plans for provision of an earnings related benefit for the self-employed.

As I announced in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Bury and Radcliffe (Mr. White) on 26th February—[Vol. 887, c. 157–8]—we are re-examining the problems involved in establishing for the self-employed a system of earnings-related pensions with corresponding contribution rates. It is too early to indicate the likely outcome of this study but I have undertaken to present my conclusions to the House when all the possibilities have been examined.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the latest position with regard to the hospital consultants' dispute.

As I explained in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Walsall, South (Mr. George) on 25th April [Vol. 890, c. 416–7]—the Central Committee for Hospital Medical Services of the British Medical Association lifted sanctions and negotiations on modifications of the consultant contract are taking place in the joint negotiating committee. The Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association, which is not represented in the joint negotiating committee, maintains that it remains in dispute.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representation she has received from Age Concern England and Age Concern Scotland on the effects of inflation on the elderly; and if she will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend has received a number of representations from Age Concern about the effects of inflation on the elderly, and replies have been sent or will be sent shortly. These point out that pensions and other benefits have been increased twice in nine months, with the result that the pension is now 50 per cent. higher in cash terms than the rate, established in October 1973, which prevailed when the Government assumed office; that this compares with an increase in prices between October 1973 and May 1975 of 39 per cent.; and that benefits are to be increased again in November, making a cash increase of about 70 per cent. in pensions in just over two years.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she has any plans to remedy the present disparity between regional areas in health and social service provision.

Yes. In 1969 a long overdue move was made towards recognising relative deprivation in the way health service resources were distributed. This Government are determined to take this process further and we have set up a working party, with members from the Department and the NHS, to review the arrangements for distributing NHS capital and revenue to RHAs, AHAs and districts respectively with a view to establishing a method of securing, as soon as practicable, a pattern of distribution responsive objectively, equitably and efficiently to relative need, and to make recommendations. The working party will also be giving advice on possible improvements in the short term as well as longer-term proposals.Greater emphasis has already been given to relative deprivation as one of the criteria for selecting health centres. Social services expenditure is relevant expenditure for rate support grant purposes and the formulae used for distribution of the needs element have taken social factors into account. Local government finance is now under consideration by the Layfield Committee, and discussions are in progress with the local authority associations about possible improvement of the distribution formulae. Separate discussions are in progress about the system of allocation of loan capital for the social services.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations she has received on behalf of retirement and disablement pensioners over the inability of certain social security branch officers to take incoming telephone calls; and what total saving of manpower is involved in such offices by this restriction.

Apart from the inquiries from the hon. Member and from Frome Town Council about the Department's caller office in Frome, to which I have replied, I have received no representations. I hope my letters will have clarified the Department's policy.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many patients are awaiting admission to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, for open heart surgery; and what action she proposes to take about the 38 patients who have been waiting more than two years and the few who have been waiting since 1971.

187, including some patients whose operations have been deferred for clinical reasons. It is for the West Midlands Regional Health Authority and the Birmingham Area Health Authority (Teaching) to consider whether any expansion of the facilities available for open heart surgery is necessary and when it can be achieved within the limited resources available to them

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) why it is not possible to perform more than six open heart operations each week in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham; and when, and to what level, she expects this number to be increased;(2) when work was stopped on the extension to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, which would have increased the hospital's capacity to carry on open heart surgery; and when work will begin again.

The availability of operating theatres and intensive therapy facilities limits the number of open heart operations that can be performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to a maximum of six a week. The major development of the hospital, which cannot proceed in the present economic circumstances, included additional theatre and intensive therapy facilities, but these were planned to allow an expansion in surgery generally, not with a view to an increase in open heart surgery. There are at present no plans to increase facilities for open heart surgery.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many patients each month die while waiting for open heart surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.

Last year 14 people died while on the waiting list for open heart surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Information about the causes of these deaths is not readily available.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether, in view of the current cost of maintaining a patient in hospital and the pressure for places for infirm patients, she will investigate the possibility of giving grants or other compensatory benefits to people who have their aged or infirm relatives at home.

Existing provisions already make a contribution to that end and we shall be adding to the range of those provisions. Thus, supplementary benefit is payable to people who are prevented from working because they are needed at home to care for sick or aged relatives, where their own resources are insufficient for their needs and those relatives unable to pay for the service. There also exists the income tax dependent relative allowance which is available to people who maintain relatives who cannot, because of old age or infirmity, look after themselves. For the future, the invalid care allowance will be provided for "breadwinners" who are unable to go out to work because of the need to care for disabled relatives in receipt of attendance allowances; and in the new pension scheme we shall be protecting the pension rights earned at work by those who have to stay at home to care for aged and infirm relatives.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what amount of capital expenditure has been allocated to the Cambridgeshire Area Health Authority for the coming financial year; and how this compares with the amount which the authority stated to be its requirement.

It has not been possible to notify regional health authorities of the planning assumptions to be adopted for 1976–77. In consequence the East Anglia Regional Health Authority has not been able to settle for the coming financial year the relative priorities within the region or the capital allocations for the area health authorities. The answer to the second part of the Question does not therefore arise.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will send a circular to VD clinics reminding the authorities concerned of the need to treat patients with normal courtesy, in view of evidence that a number of clinics are adopting a punitive attitude to patients which could have serious implications for public health.

I agree that it is of great importance in controlling the incidence of sexually transmitted disease that patients should not be deterred from attending at special clinics both for initial and follow-up examinations, and that they should feel able to encourage the attendance of their sexual partners. This can be achieved only if the clinics provide a considerate and efficient service. I believe that this is understood by the staff of those clinics, who specialise in dealing with the problems of those suffering from sexually transmitted disease, but I shall be pleased to look into any specific problem which my hon. Friend has in mind and any suggestions for improvement. The Consumers Association publication Sex with Health commented on the experiences of 133 people who visited special clinics and I am considering whether any further guidance is needed.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether steps have been taken to ensure adequate quantities of Factor VIII for haemophiliacs in each regional health authority: and whether she is satisfied with the way it is being made available to those who need it.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what progress has been made in increasing the production of Factor VIII for the better treatment of haemophiliac patients within the National Health Service; and what are the present arrangments for ensuring that this drug is available to all who need it.

I recognise that at present not enough Factor VIII in the form of anti-haemophilic globulin (AHG) concentrate is produced within the NHS but, as I informed the hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr. Osborn) on 6th May—[Vol. 891, c. 402]—I have allocated additional funds so that regional blood transfusion centres can provide more plasma for increased production of this material. I hope that the first effects of the steps we have taken will be felt by the end of this year and that the National Health Service will be self-sufficient in this material within two to three years.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will investigate whether the use of hair dyes can cause cancer; and if she will take urgent action to stop the use of any such preparations.

Birmingham University Medical School is undertaking research into any possible risk of cancer from the long term use of certain hair dyes. The Department is obtaining the results as they become available and early indications are that tests are proving negative.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will now take action to introduce payment of the non-contributory invalidity pension on the earliest possible date consistent with making satisfactory administrative arrangements.

Yes. Provision has been made in the Social Security Act 1975 (Commencement No. 1) Order 1975 (Statutory Instrument No. 1013), which was laid before Parliament on 30th June, for payment to the first beneficiaries of non-contributory invalidity pension on 20th November 1975. As soon as it is

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will publish tables on the same basic assumptions as the written replies to the hon. Member for Norfolk, North of 1st February 1974, Official Report, columns 181–5, 8th April 1974, Official Report, columns 63–8, and 15th May 1974, columns 4648, for a week's work after 39 weeks at the appropriate rate and when unemployed after 39 weeks at the appropriate rate, assuming a gross weekly wage of £60, £65, £70, £75, £80, £90 and £100.

The figures below are calculated on the same basis as those in my reply to the hon. Member's earlier Question on 10 June—[Vol. 893, c. 156–164]—in which the figures for normal weekly earnings of £60 were included. "Net income" takes account of the assumed levels of rent, rates and work expenses where appropriate.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, as the only patients who may at present be admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, for open heart surgery are those who would die within a few months without this treatment, whether she will carry out an inquiry into the priorities in the allocation of the money available in other parts of the National Health Service, with a view to assisting the increased provision of this form of surgery.

No. It is for regional and area health authorities to take account of local needs and provide a balanced overall service within the resources made available to them. I see no justification for pressing on them the development of this service in particular.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what advice she gives to voluntary agencies in the United Kingdom regarding their applications to the EEC for financial support, and in particular whether she advises them that any such support will affect any existing Her Majesty's Government payments to them.

I shall let my hon. Friend have a reply as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the degree of responsibility, control and supervision her Department has for voluntary old people's homes registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act.

Voluntary homes for old persons, including homes run by societies registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act, are required by Section 37 of the National Assistance Act 1948 to be registered with the appropriate local authority. Section 39 of the National Assistance Act enables persons authorised by the Secretary of State and by the registration authority to enter and inspect any premises being used as an old people's home. Regulations made under the Act prescribe the arrangements for registration and inspection, and make provision governing the conduct of homes, including the facilities and services provided.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether she has any plans to end the inequality between the sexes in retirement ages; and when she proposes to take action on this.

In her speech—[Vol. 888, c. 1493–4.]—during the debate on the Second Reading of the Social Security Pensions Bill my right hon. Friend explained why the Government have formed no plans to lower men's retirement age.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he is now able to announce any proposals to change the school leaving date in favour of one day, or days, throughout the country, rather than the present system of the date being the end of the school term which varies from one local education authority to another.

Yes. My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I propose to introduce legislation to make the Friday before the Spring Rank Holiday the summer leaving date throughout England and Wales We hope that it will be possible to make the change in 1976.The proposed change should help schools, teachers and upper form pupils in the second half of the summer term when the normal work of secondary schools is affected by examinations. Pupils who reach their sixteenth birthday between 1st February and 3lst August in any year will be legally entitled to leave at or after the Bank Holiday. It will not affect younger pupils and those who decide to continue their education at school after reaching the leaving age.My right hon. and learned Friend and I also propose to consult widely with those concerned about the implications of this change in relation to the present Easter leaving date.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will take steps to establish a common salary scale for all teachers in institutions of further and higher education.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make a statement about changes in the grant arrangements for national museums and galleries.

I am pleased to be able to report that new grant arrangements have been agreed with the Trustees of the British Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the National Gallery, the National Maritime Museum and the Tate Gallery which will give the trustees greater freedom and responsibility for managing their institutions.The trustees are now accountable for an inclusive net subhead covering all their expenditure and receipts, in addition to the purchase grant in aid which will continue to be separate. This will give trustees greater freedom to allocate expenditure as they see fit, and to apply to the needs of the institutions without formality receipts obtained in excess of the Vote provision. The net subhead includes provision for items previously made available by HMSO on an allied service basis and provision in respect of certain goods and services provided by the Supplies Division of the Property Services Agency the cost of which was previously born on the Vote for the Department of the Environment. My consideration of the annual estimates of these institutions will, therefore, in future be concerned more with policy and long-term objectives and less with detailed items of expenditure.The staff of the five museums and galleries will continue to be subject to salary scales and conditions of service analogous to those of civil servants. Trustees will be free, within their financial resources, to create new posts up to keeper and equivalent levels subject to an agreed ratio of senior to junior posts. Any staff additions arising from substantial organisational changes, the assumption of new responsibilities or the introduction of classes or grades not already included in a particular institution's complement and any additional posts above senior executive officer in the Administration Category will be subject to approval by my Department. There will be periodic inspection of posts to ensure common standards of grading and workloads.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will obtain and publish in the Official Report a detailed breakdown of the allocation by direct grant schools of free places to the primary schools in the Bristol area in the last three years.

I regret that the information is not collected by my Department. The Avon local education authority may be able to assist.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any plans to make a ministerial broadcast on the position of sterling.