asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many emergency night-call services for general practitioners are now operating in the 16 area health authorities in Greater London; what is the present number of general practitioners in those areas holding National Health Service lists of patients; how many general practitioners have contracted out of their unsocial hours; and if he will make a statement.

I am of seven such deputising services; and there were, at 1 October 1979, 3,504 general practitioners of whom one had contracted out of his out-of-hours responsibilities. The deputising services are used by doctors who have remained responsible for round-the-clock services but who discharge part of that responsibility through deputies employed by these services.