asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what action she is taking on the testing of new drugs on patients without the patients' knowledge.
In June of this year my Department drew the attention of health authorities to the recommendations of the Royal College of Physicians on this point.They suggested that if clinical research investigations were not expected or intended to benefit the patient, his informed consent should be obtained. Where the research was intended to benefit the patient, the Royal College advised that consent should ordinarily be sought but recognised that there were sometimes circumstances in which it would be inappropriate or even inhumane to explain the details and to seek consent. It suggested that such cases should be examined with particular care by ethical committees, which consider the ethical aspects of all clinical research in institutions. Another circular from my Department in May of this year asked regional health authorities to consider how best to ensure that all clinical research projects undertaken outside hospital were also scrutinised by ethical committees.I fully support these recommendations. Since they relate to ethical rather than to legal questions, their implementation is primarily a matter for the medical profession though I will continue to keep a careful watch on the situation and am ready to investigate any particular case
| Year | (a) | (b) | (c) | (d) | (e) | (f) |
| Weekly earnings: national average manual earnings | NI Contributions as % of column (a)—flat-rate to and including 1960, flat-rate plus-graduated (participating employment) from 1961 | NI Contributions as % of column (a)—flat-rate (NPE) 1961–65; flat-rate plus graduated (NPE) from 1966 | Weekly earnings: 80% of national average manual earnings | NI Contributions as % of column (d)—column (b) heading types | NI Contributions as % of column (d)—column (c) heading types | |
| 1949 | £7·13 | 3·51 | £5·70 | 4·39 | ||
| 1950 | £7·52 | 3·32 | £6·02 | 4·15 | ||
| 1951 | £8·30 | 3·01 | £6·64 | 3·77 | ||
| 1952 | £8·93 | 3·25 | £7·14 | 4·06 | ||
| 1953 | £9·46 | 3·07 | £7·57 | 3·83 | ||
| 1954 | £10·22 | 2·84 | £8·18 | 3·55 | ||
| 1955 | £11·15 | 3·05 | £8·92 | 3·81 | ||
| 1956 | £11·90 | 2·86 | £9·52 | 3·57 | ||
| 1957 | £12·58 | 2·94 | £10·06 | 3·68 | ||
| 1958 | £12·83 | 3·90 | £10·26 | 4·87 | ||
| 1959 | £13·55 | 3·69 | £10·84 | 4·61 | ||
| 1960 | £14·53 | 3·44 | £11·62 | 4·30 | ||
| 1961 | £15·34 | 5·08 | 3·98 | £12·27 | 5·46 | 4·97 |
| 1962 | £15·86 | 4·92 | 3·85 | £12·69 | 5·36 | 4·81 |
| 1963 | £16·75 | 5·43 | 4·18 | £13·40 | 5·75 | 5·22 |
| 1964 | £18·11 | 5·30 | 3·87 | £14·49 | 5·59 | 4·83 |
| 1965 | £19·59 | 5·41 | 4·08 | £15·67 | 6·13 | 5·11 |
| 1966 | £20·30 | 5·47 | 4·19 | £16·24 | 6·34 | 5·17 |
| 1967 | £21·37 | 5·76 | 4·54 | £17·10 | 6·84 | 5·50 |
| 1968 | £23·00 | 5·57 | 4·43 | £18·40 | 6·85 | 5·43 |
| 1969 | £24·83 | 5·24 | 4·15 | £19·86 | 6·34 | 5·04 |
| 1970 | £28·05 | 5·88 | 4·96 | £22·44 | 6·46 | 5·30 |
| 1971 | £30·93 | 5·98 | 5·14 | £24·74 | 6·43 | 5·38 |
| 1972 | £35·82 | 5·97 | 5·25 | £28·66 | 6·32 | 5·37 |
| 1973 | £40·92 | 5·89 | 5·25 | £32·74 | 6·14 | 5·35 |
| 1974 | £48·63 | 6·00 | 5·47 | £38·90 | 6·09 | 5·42 |
| Notes: | ||||||
| 1. Earning figures are based on the Department of Employment's annual October enquiry and-column (b), (c), (e) and (f) figures are based on contribution rates applying at the end of October in each year. | ||||||
| 2. Columns (c) and (f): "NPE"=non-participating employment. The separate flat-rate contribution for NPE employment operated from 1961 only. | ||||||
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the average total amount paid in national insurance
which is brought to my attention. I will also keep under review whether any further action is necessary.