Obstetricians Mr. Michael To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many consultant obstetricians are employed by the national health service in each regional health authority in England; and what is the number on a whole-time equivalent basis in the current year and in each of the past five years. Mrs. Virginia Bottomley The information requested is given in the table:new contract will, in time, provide helpful information on the extent to which minor surgery has expanded in general practice. Mr. Michael Morris To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the operations in which general practitioners are now required to have competence to qualify for inclusion in the minor surgery list; and whether there have been any changes from the original list in the White Paper "Working for Patients". Mrs. Virginia Bottomley The procedures in which GPs must be competent before gaining admission to the minor surgery list are set out in the table. There have been no changes to the original list which appeared as schedule 1B of the NHS (GMPS) Regulations 1974 (as amended). However, we have recently agreed to amend the list of procedures by removing ligation of varicose veins. Minor surgery procedures Injections intra articularperi articularvaricose veinshaemorrhoid Aspirations jointscystsbursaehydrocele Incisions abcessescyststhrombosed piles Excisions sebaceous cystslipomaskin lesions for histologyintradermal naevi, papilloma, dermatofibroma and similar conditionswartsganglionsremoval of toe nails (partial and complete) Currette cautery and cryocautery warts and verrucaeother skin lesions (eg molluscum contagiosum) Other ligation of varicose veinsremoval of foreign bodiesnasal cautery