asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the nature of the legal problems which are delaying the publication of the South Ockendon Hospital inquiry report; whether the chairman of the inquiry has been consulted about this matter; and how soon he expects to be able to publish the report in full.

The legal problems concerned questions of privilege. The chairman of the inquiry was not consulted about these. I propose that the report should be published in full as a parliamentary paper as early as practicable.