asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied with the administration and publicity designed to ensure that elderly persons entitled to benefits receive them.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied with the distribution and display of posters and leaflets concerning health and welfare benefits, especially as they affect senior citizens.

I am satisfied that the staff administering old people's benefits are doing a good job in coping with the demands made upon them. The Department's extensive publicity programme is under constant review, and, in particular, the unique task of distributing 120 million leaflets a year. Steps are being taken to improve this.

I appreciate what has been done, but does my hon. Friend recognise that many people who need help are not receiving the benefits which are their right? Will he seriously consider the possibility of ensuring that every dwelling unit in every road, street and lane throughout the land is visited by people offering voluntarily to do so? I am thinking of people such as housewives and students who would consider such visiting a labour of love. These people could ensure that where advertisements miss out the personal contact will succeed.

I thank my hon. Friend for the valuable suggestion he has made. I am sure that voluntary effort is doing much and can do more to ensure that those who are entitled to benefits receive them. I hesitate to take on lock, stock and barrel the very large task which my hon. Friend suggests. I suspect that a great deal of the effort would be spent on families which do not really need a visit.

Is the Minister aware that a persistent source of information and authority, as they see it, cited by old people querying benefits and entitlement is other old people and not the Department and its many agencies? How is he to overcome this communications gap? Will he concentrate many of the leaflets issued by his Department at places where old people congregate?

We are constantly trying to improve our arrangements for the supply of leaflets in places such as post offices and social security offices. We are also co-operating much more closely with local authorities and social service departments to try to ensure that the visits which are made by the social service departments are effectively co-ordinated.

How can the Minister be satisfied with the present situation when the most recent available survey estimates that over half a million retirement pensioners due to receive supplementary benefit are not receiving it and when the take-up of other means-tested benefits is often very low? Is not the best way of dealing with this difficult problem to provide retirement pensions which are big enough for all citizens to live on without the need for means testing?

The hon. Gentleman knows very well that we improved substantially the retirement pension so that those on supplementary benefit would not need it. Those most in need would gain no benefit from the vast additional expense which the hon. Gentleman's last point would involve. I hope he is not saying that the Opposition are in favour of that.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will make a statement on the Government's policy towards children in care as the result of homelessness.

The Government's view is that families should not be split up and the children taken into care solely because of homelessness. Where, exceptionally, children have to be taken into care, the aim should be to reunite the family as soon as possible.

I accept that the Minister is a compassionate man. Does he not agree that in Britain in the 1970s it is a very grave reflection on our standards that any family should be faced with the agony of separation simply because of inadequate housing? Does he not agree that, even from the figures he recently gave me, there are far too many families—indeed, many hundreds—in precisely that predicament throughout the country? Cannot drastic action be taken by Government co-ordination to overcome this problem?

It is literally a catastrophe whenever a family has to be split up in this way, but the hon. Gentleman knows that some very difficult individual cases are involved. The local authorities, whether through their housing or their social services committees, have powers to keep a family together and housing facilities at their disposal. They endeavour to do so as frequently as possible. I am happy to say that the number of families still split up is falling, although it is still very much too high.

While the hon. Gentleman rightly describes the situation as a catastrophe when a family has to be split up, is he not aware that this is a growing problem, particularly in the inner London area, including my constituency of Hackney? What special aid is he proposing to give to the inner London areas particularly hit by this problem?

I cannot be specific about the hon. Gentleman's constituency without notice, but the figures generally show a downward trend in the number of families split up in this way. The Greve Report and subsequent reports went carefully into the problem and made a number of recommendations which we have sought to implement, and we passed on the consequential advice to the London boroughs concerned. There are, nevertheless, some intractable factors and no Government have been able fully and finally to dispose of them.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, in view of the rise in cigarette consumption by 6½ per cent. during 1972, if he will now take steps additional to the publication of tar and nicotine content to dissuade cigarette smokers, notably young smokers, from developing the habit, including seeking to include health warnings on duty-free supplies at airports and on ships; and whether he will make a statement on all anti-cigarette propaganda.

I would refer my hon. Friend to my reply to him on 19th June about additional steps against cigarette smoking. The Health Education Council is particularly concerned about young people in planning its antismoking campaigns. Duty-free cigarettes packaged for export do not carry the warning notice and it is not possible to identify at the packaging stage the small proportion sold at airports and on ships.

Has not my right hon. Friend recognised from my hostile supplementary questions that I dismiss absolutely the excuses he has given for continued delay in trying to prevent the inordinate rise in cigarette smoking, now estimated at 6 per cent. last year? Until he resorts to legislation there will surely be no cure. Will he not now relent before the onset of the new Session and introduce legislation at an early date?

The difference between my hon. Friend and the Government has been that he believed it was necessary to have legislation in order to have health warnings on cigarette packets, while the Government thought that we could rely upon voluntary agreement with the industry. I believe that the Government have been proved right. If my hon. Friend has suggestions for different forms of legislation, no doubt he will let me know.

Does not the right hon. Gentleman agree that there is a conflicting and paradoxical situation with regard to advertising? On the one hand cigarette advertisements are banned on television and the Government contribute hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to deterring people from smoking because of the harmful and lethal effects, while on the other hand the tobacco industry is free to advertise the pleasure and gratification of smoking in newspapers and magazines and on hoardings?

Yes, but it would be a grave step for this House to ban the advertising of a product that it is perfectly legal to make, and the Government are not persuaded that to ban advertising would reduce the amount of cigarette smoking.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will establish a committee of inquiry into the causes and consequences of the staff shortages at the City General Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent.

No, Sir. The staffing situation at the City General Hospital reflects the position throughout the National Health Service in that there is a general shortage of trained staff. The Birmingham Regional Hospital Board is well aware of the problem and has always accepted that a high priority should be given to recruitment and training of staff.

Is it not a shocking admission from the Government that the shortage of nurses is a national problem? Is the hon. Gentleman aware that in this case a shortage of seven nurses has meant that an operating theatre has been only half used, despite a massive waiting list for surgery? Is he further aware that the number of beds offered in North Staffordshire is fewer now than it was in 1970? Is he also aware that I have received representations that the recruitment of nurses in North Staffordshire is very inefficient and ineffective, given that there are many married women who would like to return to nursing if the conditions were made appropriate for them?

We have not got enough nurses, although the number now is higher than it was 12 months ago, having gone up nationally by as much as 7i per cent. to a higher level than ever, and in the Birmingham region by 8 per cent. I assure the hon. Gentleman that we are not complacent about the situation. If his allegation that mature nurses are not effectively being reached through advertising is correct, I will look into that aspect.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he is aware of the shortage of health visitors in Huntingdonshire; and what steps are being taken to overcome this shortage.

I am aware of a temporary shortage. The county council is expected to cover this deficiency by September.

While thanking my hon. Friend for that partially satisfactory reply, I ask him whether he is aware that in rural areas doctors can give treatment to far more patients with the help of health visitors than without them. What is the cause of the shortage which has persisted for most of this year? What specifically does my hon. Friend hope to do to overcome it?

There is a national shortage of practically every kind of professional women worker. I take fully the point made by my right hon. and learned Friend that the effectiveness of local doctors is immeasurably extended if they can work as part of a team, and this is part of the purpose of the National Health Service reorganisation. We have found that recruitment campaigns in the past have had the effect of substantially increasing the numbers coming forward and we shall be pressing on with this method very much in the future.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether the Supplementary Benefits Commission has agreed to his request to review its criteria for increasing benefit where a family's income is insufficient to cover the expenses of visiting a dependent child in hospital.

Yes, Sir. The commission has not yet completed its review but expects to do so shortly.

In conjunction with my right hon. Friend's circular in May to encourage better hospital liaison with voluntary organisations, does not this go a long way to meet the representations made to my right hon. Friend by the National Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital?

We shall have to see how far the commission feels it possible to go. I know that it is studying in great detail the report from the National Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital.

Will the right hon. Gentleman ask the Supplementary Benefits Commission to extend its review to cases of wives visiting their husbands who are in prison, very often hundreds of miles away?

That is a different question. If the hon. Gentleman wishes to put it down, I will give an answer.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the current retirement pension as a percentage of the national average wage and the equivalent percentage in June 1970.

The standard rates of pension as a percentage of the estimated net average earnings of male manual workers—with which comparison can most appropriately be made—were 26 per cent. and 24·7 per cent. in June 1970 and April 1973 respectively for a single person, and 39·8 per cent. and 38·4 per cent. for a married couple.

Does not that answer show that pensioners have fallen behind other members of the community? In view of that, will the Government stop boasting that they have done more for pensioners than anybody else has ever done and at least increase the pension by £1 plus 4 per cent., which would be on a level with wage earners?

The Government do not intend to boast and never have done about their record in pensions, but the facts speak for themselves. The present Government have improved the pension in real terms more than the previous Government did.

Why is it that on the Continent pensioners are able to receive much more as a percentage of national earnings? Is it because countries on the Continent have not had the big increase in the number of pensioners that we have had—2 million over the last 10 years—or is it because their gross national product is much higher?

What my hon. Friend says is correct in Holland, which has a smaller proportion of pensioners in the population than we have. But it is very difficult to get comparative figures. One has to take into account not only the level of pensions but the more comprehensive range of cover which we have for wives and dependants, and also the fact that we have the National Health Service, which, broadly speaking, is free at the point of use.

Will the hon. Gentleman confirm that the single person's pension as a percentage of national average earnings is substantially lower today than it was six years ago in 1967?

It has altered very little in relation to average earnings over the years but the proportion of pensioners in the community has continued to rise. What matters to pensioners is what the pension will buy, and it will buy more now than when the hon. Gentleman was responsible for these matters.

Will my hon. Friend confirm that in Continental countries where pensions are higher than in this country the contributions are also higher? Will he make it plain that higher pensions in this country also mean higher contributions?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is true that both employer and employee in most European countries pay substantially more towards the pension than is the case in this country.

Will the hon. Gentleman now answer my question? Is it or is it not true that during 1967 the single pension represented 21 per cent. of national earnings and that it is 3 per cent. below that level today?

The Labour Party really has to realise—

Answer the question.

—that it is no good egging on greedy wage claims and then weeping crocodile tears for pensioners.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the present real value of the basic national insurance pension of £6·75 compared with the date of the last increase; and if he will arrange for another additional payment to compensate for this particularly in view of the latest price increases.

£6·40 at May 1973. The Government are confident that the substantial increase in pensions which will come into operation this October will more than compensate for the rise in prices.

Is the drop in the value of the pension more or less than the Government anticipated when they made the review in the spring of 1972? If the Minister cannot bring forward the date of the increase, will he not at least during the next 10 weeks make a bonus payment on the lines of the much-welcomed Christmas payment made last year?

But the hon. Gentleman knows that there is now an annual review of pensions which gives pensioners the assurance, which they have never had previously, that before the onset of each winter the pension will be increased by at least enough to compensate for rising prices. We are confident that this year it will do more than that.

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that what matters is the relation. ship between pensions and average industrial earnings? Will he confirm that under both Conservative and Labour Governments the pension has declined as a proportion of average industrial earnings? When will the Government accept the target that in a civilised society pensions cannot and must not be less than half average industrial earnings?

The proportion has not altered substantially. What has altered is the proportion of pensioners in the population. This has meant a substantial shift of resources, quite rightly, from the working population to the retired population.

asked the Secretary or State for Social Services if Circular 36/71 issued by his Department stating that the Family Planning Act draws no distinction in the giving of contraceptive advice between the married and the unmarried has been supplied to transport undertakings accepting public display advertisements from approved clinics.

Transport undertakings do not feature on my Department's distribution list for circulars such as the one mentioned by the hon. Member, which was sent to county councils and county boroughs in England, to London boroughs, the Common Council of the City of London and the Greater London Council.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in Bristol British Transport Advertising will not accept advertisements from Brook Advisory Centres, a highly reputable body, specifying contraceptive advice to the unmarried? Have there not been similar experiences in Birmingham and London? Will the right hon. Gentleman send a copy of his circular to this nationalised organisation drawing attention to the Government's policy of non-discrimination?

Advertising on public transport is a matter for the discretion of the undertaking involved. I expect that those concerned will read this exchange.

Will the right hon. Gentleman consider contacting the transport authorities and in doing so will he be sure not to miss out the West Midlands authority, which has also refused to display advertisements about family planning clinics or services? Is he aware that it has a weird idea that this would offend the general public, which is surely nonsense? Will he do what he can to see that everyone has the advice which he has to give them?

No. I produce almost a surfeit of advice to those responsible for carrying out public policy and I must leave the responsibility here to those concerned.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what action he intends to take following the recommendations of the Medicines Commission in regard to products containing vitamin A and vitamin D; and if he will make a statement.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will take immediate steps to limit the sale of aspirins as recommended by the Medicines Commission.

A decision will be taken when the views of the interested organisations which are being consulted in accordance with the requirements of the Medicines Act 1968 have been received and considered.

Will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that many nutritionists advocate large amounts of vitamin D, as much as 1,000 international units, for people over 65 to prevent osteo-porosis, which causes one-third of the cases of head of the femur fractures, which are so crippling to old people? Will he ensure that any action he takes does not discourage old people from taking beneficial amounts of this vitamin and does not prevent them from buying it on general sale?

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her comments which I will certainly bear in mind. She will realise that there are highly qualified people advising me. I will draw what she says to their attention.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he is taking to recruit and train more speech therapists.

Recruitment is a matter for individual employing authorities who are aware of the need for more staff. Training was the subject of recommendations in the Quirk Report which we are still considering.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the present acute shortage of speech therapists is causing great anguish to the parents of many children who need speech therapy? Is he further aware that there is little chance of obtaining a greater supply of speech therapists until the salary scales are radically reviewed upward?

I am well aware of the shortage of speech therapists. Professor Quirk drew attention, and the hon. Gentleman will no doubt recall it, to the extraordinary figure of wastage in this profession which I am unable to believe would be radically altered by sensational increases in salaries.

Would not my hon. Friend agree that the answer to this Question and to Questions Nos. 5 and 6 is one and the same, namely, that we cannot expect girls leaving school to go into a job which will pay them only one-half or one-third as much as they would get as typists? If we are to have a National Health Service with the best type of girl, capable of earning a reasonable salary, she must he able to get that reasonable salary from the NHS.

My hon. Friend must recall that the real problem is not that we fail to attract young girls into the service. We do not. It is that they leave the service to get married very soon after they have joined.

Since there are only men speech therapists practising in the whole of the United Kingdom, may 1 ask what steps the hon. Gentleman is taking to project speech therapy as a rewarding and attractive career for men—or does he regard it as a woman's job since the rates of pay are low, the prospects of promotion few and there is inadequate professional status and poor working conditions?

The hon. Lady has given a quick thumb-nail sketch of some of the deficiencies to which the Quirk Committee drew attention. As she knows, we are considering the Quirk recommendations and I hope that we will achieve the long-range projections of recruitment and maintenance of staff in post which Professor Quirk set out.

Will my hon. Friend bear in mind that all the professions in the supplementary-to medicine group are underpaid? May we hear from the Secretary of State how he is getting on in his talks with the Treasury? This is important.

My hon. Friend, whose experience in this area is unexcelled in the House, will know that the Whitley Council machinery which determines the pay of this group of workers is an independent voluntary organisation over which we have no direct influence or control.

Will the hon. Gentleman now answer the question which I asked him when we debated the Quirk Report and which he did not then answer, namely, whether the pay increase which is to be given to these young girls, back-dated to April, will have to conform to phase 2 of the prices and incomes policy—that is, £1 plus 4 per cent.—or whether it will be an exceptional case? It ought to be the latter. If it is not, it will be a national scandal.

I cannot answer the hon. Gentleman's question because it is not within my power to do so. Obviously, any pay proposal falls within whatever is the current phase of the prices and incomes policy.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many applications have been received for grants from the Government's £3 million fund in respect of congenitally disabled children; how many and what percentage of such applications have been successful; and how much of the said sum remains available.

I am informed that up to 6th July the Rowntree Trust had received 877 applications and had made 161 payments. Only about 2 per cent. of applications have been refused. Payments totalling £16,420 have so far been made,

Does not the right hon. Gentleman agree that those figures show that out of the vast number of disabled people very few understand or know of the existence of these grants or apply for them? Will he take steps to make these grants known and to extend their availability to people who became disabled after birth?

The answer to the second part of the question is "No". The answer to the first part is "Yes". I will be writing again to local authorities soon. From 1st August grants will be available for children under the age of 10 and we must expect, as more and more people become aware of the Rowntree Fund possibilities, that the rate of applications will increase sharply.

Is my right hon. Friend in a position to make a judgment about the amount of money which will eventually be needed to meet the demand? Can he indicate whether the Government will commit further funds when the first £3 million has been allocated?

It is too early to make a judgment about my hon. Friend's first question.

How can we judge the adequacy of the fund without knowing how many children are eligible for benefit? The Secretary of State suggested that there would be an increase in the amount of the fund. Will he make a statement on this matter at the earliest possible date?

It is not possible to estimate how many children might be helped by the fund because the circumstances of each family and the possibility or availability of help from public bodies varies in each case. But we are sure that the rate of applications will increase.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will review the procedure whereby information regarding aids for the disabled can be made more readily known to the medical profession and social services departments; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend is already reviewing this question, and he will make his conclusions known in due course.

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his answer. Will he make sure that next year his Department is represented at the Naidex exhibition organised by the Central Council at Brighton so that people may be aware of what is available? Secondly, will he make sure that the excellent work of the Disabled Living Foundation is spread to the provinces so that they may see, on a permanent basis, what is available? Thirdly, will he consider the recommendation contained in "Care with Dignity" issued by the National Fund for Research into Crippling Diseases that many exhibitions should be held in places like libraries, stores and department stores so that the public and the disabled may become aware of the problems and of what is available to overcome them?

I will consider the hon. Gentleman's first and third questions. On his second question, I think he knows that we already make an annual grant towards the cost of the information service provided by the Disabled Living Foundation, and I believe that this helps in the difficult task of reaching the many local authorities which might have an interest in the information available.

Does my hon. Friend agree that bodies such as the Rowntree Trust and others which have funds available should give much more information on the basis on which they can supply money and the numbers of cases coming to them?

Lacking advance notice of that question, I would not want entirely to subscribe to what my hon. Friend has said. But I corroborate and underline the fact that we cannot make too much information available to the public about the crucial services which exist.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will investigate the efficiency of security arrangements for mental patients who might constitute a danger to the public if not kept under restraint.

A working party of officials was set up in 1971 to consider security arrangements in National Health Service psychiatric hospitals. Its report has just been made and I shall shortly be circulating it to regional hospital boards as a discussion document.

Will my right hon. Friend note that some of us will await with great keenness his words on the report and the report itself? Is he aware that a man who was recently found guilty, not once but several times, of rape was sent to a mental hospital in Birmingham. escaped and raped other young girls? Will he consider the possibility of either stopping the open-door policy in mental homes, which some of us would regret, or not sending people guilty of rape and other violent crimes to places where they can simply walk out of the open door?

My hon. Friend has identified a dilemma, because the open-door policy is, on the whole, producing great benefit to the public. Nevertheless, there are problems of identifying those who are potentially dangerous and of providing suitable accommodation for them. The discussion document which I will send out puts on record the factors which must be weighed, and I hope that decisions can be made fairly soon.

I recognise the need for extreme security at such institutions as Broadmoor and Rampton and the desirability of the open-door policy, but does the right hon. Gentleman agree that there is a prima facie case for the creation of an intermediate type of institution which would relieve the staff at institutions of the open-door type and relieve overcrowding in others?

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is on the right lines. It might be that in each region there should be some wards which are suitable for patients who are not necessarily so dangerous that they should go to places like Broadmoor but too difficult to handle in the normal pyschiatric hospital.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people received earnings-related unemployment benefit in the last convenient period for which figures are available.

The latest available details are taken from a sample analysis of the unemployed made on 6th November 1972. On that day 124,000 claimants were receiving earnings-related supplement to unemployment benefit.

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the value of the benefit is diminished by the requirement of a further 12 waiting days over and above the original six? Does he further agree that many people who would be helped by earnings-related benefit do not accumulate 18 waiting days in any period of 13 weeks?

I understand the hon. and learned Gentleman's point. On the other hand, I think he will accept that the payments for that period were made only retrospectively and, therefore, were of no help to those in immediate need. They are still covered by the supplementary benefit arrangements.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimate he has made of the cost to date of supplementary benefit payments made to those involved in industrial disputes resulting from wage claims incompatible with prices and incomes legislation, and their dependants; and if he will make a statement regarding the progress of his review of supplementary benefits in industrial disputes.

About £35,000. On the review I have nothing to add to my reply to my hon. Friend on 6th March.—[Vol. 852, c. 213–15.]

I appreciate that the first part of the Question invited a subjective judgment and therefore was, not surprisingly, given a subjective answer. Nevertheless, does not my right hon. Friend agree that it is the height of illogicality to encourage employers to believe that it would be against the law for them to concede wage increases beyond a certain level and then to subsidise their employees to fight settlements beyond that level? On the second part of the Question, can my right hon. Friend say how long the civil servants on the inquiry must serve before they qualify for pension?

My hon. Friend is perfectly entitled to criticise Ministers for delay in reaching final decisions, but he is not entitled to criticise civil servants,

Why not?

Because it is the Minister's job and not that of civil servants to take decisions.

Does not the right hon. Gentleman consider that the Government have been very lucky to have had so few workers involved in industrial struggle against the prices and incomes policy? Would it not be better if his hon. Friends were prepared to campaign against the type of labour known as "lump labour" whereby workers do not pay their taxes and millions of pounds are lost to the country? Would it not be a good idea if the Government applied their mind to dealing with that matter?

I do not accept that the Government depended on luck for the diminution in industrial conflict that has occurred recently. What has happened has been due to the general acceptance by the public and by most members of trade unions that the Government's efforts during phase 1 and phase 2 have been well-intentioned and broadly fair.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when work is expected to commence on the new hospital to replace the Manchester Royal Infirmary.

A new works department. costing £196,900, is already under construction and work is expected to start on other ancillary buildings within the next two years. Planning of the main hospital is well advanced, but it is as yet too soon to say precisely when building will start.

Does the hon. Gentleman appreciate the inconvenience that the citizens of Manchester have to suffer from the continued delay in starting this new hospital, and that each month that passes by adds considerably to the already escalating costs of the building?

The hon. Gentleman knows that we are here thinking about a hospital project which will cost £36 million when it is completed. I am sure that he and his constituents can take heart from the fact that we are committed to it by these substantial early stages of which I have given him details today.

When my hon. Friend is considering expenditure upon the Manchester Royal Infirmary will he also consider the urgent need for a new Royal Infirmary in Preston? The people of Preston will not be prepared to wait much longer for the new infirmary which they need so badly.

I note carefully my hon. Friend's important supplementary question—so important that my right hon. Friend is presently to receive a deputation precisely on this issue.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he is taking to recruit suitably trained doctors to carry out the expanded domiciliary family planning service.

As to training, I am considering, in conjunction with the various professions concerned, the question of what further needs for training in family planning there may be for all the staff who will be involved in the expanded service. Extra financial provision has been made for training in family planning, and the provision of adequate facilities is high on my list of priorities.

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that comprehensive reply. May I remind him that a large number of practising general practitioners have had no training in birth-control techniques and that the need for in-service training is urgent? Will he see that this is carried out with the least possible delay?

Medical education is not for me but I am sure that those concerned will have noted the hon. Lady's remarks.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is an essential part of good family practice and that there will always be a weakness in good family practitioners until the family practitioner service is selected on merit and vocation instead of on academic ability? As long as we recruit doctors entirely on academic ability, there will be weaknesses in the family practitioner service.

My hon. Friend should know that the person holding my office has no control whatsoever over medical education. I hope that he will write to those concerned giving his views.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he will invite nominations for membership of community health councils; when these councils will start operating; and when regional and area health authorities will start operating.

It is my intention that regional health authorities should exercise the function of establishing community health councils. The aim will be to bring the councils into operation in April 1974. I hope that the regional and area authorities will be able to hold their first meetings towards the end of August and the end of September, respectively, in order to prepare for taking over operational responsibility for the health service on 1st April 1974.

May we have an assurance that no decisions can be taken by regional or area authorities until the community health councils are fully operational?

Regional and area health authorities will have no operational authority for running the service as a whole until 1st April 1974, by which date I hope that the community health councils will be in existence.

In view of the highly undesirable emphasis on ministerial appointments in the composition of the health authorities, will the right hon. Gentleman treat the community health councils with the greatest respect and urgency, as they will inject an element of democracy which is so far lacking in the reorganised health service?

Yes, certainly.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he is satisfied with the level of proposed capital expenditure in the Birmingham Regional Hospital Board area during the late 1970s.

My right hon. Friend is not satisfied, because the resources available will not be enough to do everything that should be done. But the region will have a fair share of what is available for the country as a whole, and my right hon. Friend is keeping its allocation under continuing review.

Is it not clear that, because of the disastrous drop in Government expenditure after the mid-1970s, many major hospital programmes in the Midlands will be delayed for some years? Why has the Minister selected the Birmingham Regional Hospital Board as the prime target for cuts which will produce a severe hospital crisis in the region within 10 years?

In the three years since the Government came to power Birmingham Regional Hospital Board has succeeded in acquiring a record real increase in the capital resources available for hospitals. The hon. Gentleman will recall that we are just about to start a scheme worth £225,000 in Rugby for the St. Cross Hospital.

On a point of order. Mr. Speaker. In view of the totally unsatisfactory nature of that answer, I beg to give notice that I shall seek leave to obtain my fourth Adjournment debate on this matter.