§ 32. Mr. Patrick Maitlandasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he can account for a continuous rise in the number of cases of dysentery recorded in the 1951 Report of the Department of Health from a pre-war yearly average of 108 to 2,293 in 1949, 5,075 in 1950 and 6,004 in 1951.
§ Mr. J. StuartThe 1951 provisional figure can now be corrected to 5,302, as compared with an average of 1,142 in the five years 1935–39. I am advised that the increase is largely due to better reporting of a mild type of the disease, and certainly the latest figure for deaths, 15 in 1951, compares favourably with the 1935–39 average of 30.
§ Mr. MaitlandWhile thanking my right hon. Friend, may I ask if he will bear in mind two important approaches to this problem, one of them being with regard to the handling of food and its packing, and the other with regard to providing adequate lavatory accommodation in what are deplorable housing conditions throughout Scotland?
§ Mr. StuartI shall bear that in mind.