asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimates he has made of the number of examinations and interviews conducted by hospital consultants, on patients under the National Health Service; and by what percentage this compares with examinations and interviews done privately.

During the year ended 31st December 1977, the latest date for which figures are available, there were 33,282,196 out-patient attendances at National Health Service hospitals in England. Attendances by private outpatients at NHS hospitals during that period, which are not included in the former total, numbered 105,029; 0·3 per cent. of the NHS figure.