asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been drawn to the increasing difficulty experienced by hospitals in securing nurses; and whether he can now give any information which will assist in remedying this matter?

I am well aware of the difficulty experienced by some hospitals in securing nurses, and, as stated in the reply given to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Evesham (Mr. De la Bère) on 20th October, proposals I have made for securing a better distribution of certain nurses are now under consideration by representatives of the nurses and of their employers.

asked the Home Secretary (1) whether he will now expedite the despatch of replies to those 18B detainees who have now been waiting for periods varying between 16 weeks and upwards for the decisions following upon their interviews with the Advisory Committee;(2) whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that 23 persons detained under 18B have been waiting for periods varying from five to 20 weeks for notifications of decisions regarding their interviews with the Advisory Committee; and will he expedite these replies?

There are at the present time not 23 cases but 16 cases falling within the category to which the hon. Member refers. All these 16 cases have been previously considered at least once and most of them twice. Delay is sometimes unavoidable for such reasons as were stated in my answer of 6th October, but in these cases as in all cases there will be no avoidable delay in taking a decision and communicating it to the persons concerned.