asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement about the steps he has taken to resolve all the problems caused by the recent dispute involving the ambulance service in Essex.

The problems in this dispute are matters for the Essex Area Health Authority. The settlement referred the intepretation of the meal allowance agreement to the Joint Secretaries of the Whitley Council for consideration. The machinery for maintaining good industrial relations in the service is, I understand, to be the subject of meetings to be held between the authority's officers and trade union leaders early in the new year.