§ Mr. Walker-SmithI would refer the hon. Member to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Sir H. Linstead) on 20th November.
Mrs. JegerIs the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that his reply has given the country the impression that these rather stingy ad hoc hand-outs to the medical and dental profession indicate a complete lack of Government policy towards the National Health Service? Can he say whether in these days of expanding economy this concession should be taken as an encouragement by all the other ancillary workers who have claims before him, such as the radiographers, the psychiatric social workers, the laboratory technicians, the orthoptists, the chiropodists—the list is too long for me to give all the people in the National Health Service who are entitled to better treatment from the right hon. and learned Gentleman?
§ Mr. Walker-SmithIf the country did form any such impression as the hon. Lady first referred to, it would be an erroneous impression through a wrong understanding of the facts. This is neither stingy, nor piecemeal; it is a 4 per cent. increase costing £5 million, and 21 is given because the Royal Commission is taking longer to report than had originally been thought probable.