asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his policy for the working hours of radiographers, in view of the Clegg report that they should work 37½ hours each week and the radiological safety decision that no more than 35 hours should be worked in any one week.

The fixing of conditioned working hours for radiographers is a matter for the professional and technical "A" Whitley council. The present 35-hour working week for radiographers was originally based on recommendations of the British X-ray and radium protection committee. These were superseded in 1957 by the issue of the code of practice for the protection of persons exposed to ionising radiations, which was based not on specific maximum hours of work but on improved monitoring procedures and safe use of equipment. Since then the code has been up-dated at intervals.