asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will list the types of specialist medical treatments available in the USSR which are not available in the United Kingdom as laid down in the reciprocal health agreement signed in Moscow on 17th February 1975.

Each application in respect of a patient wishing to be sponsored by the Government for medical treatment in the USSR under the agreement will be considered on its merits. Subject to arrangements to be made when the Anglo-Soviet Joint Committee to be established under the agreement meets for the first time in September, authorisation will be given only where the type of treatment sought is not available in the United Kingdom and where the application is supported by the patient's hospital consultant as well as by the health departments of both countries as being appropriate to the patient's condition.