HC Deb 23 November 1959 vol 614 cc27-8
46. Mr. Janner

asked the Minister of Health which of the recommendations of the McNair Report, 1956, have been implemented; and what were the dates of the respective implementations.

Mr. Walker-Smith

Measures have been taken for the implementation of all the main recommendations. Remuneration falls within the terms of reference of the Royal Commission on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration, which was set up in February, 1957 The first review of dental treatments in relation to prior approval was initiated in August, 1957, and the establishment of the Standing Committee on Dental Health Education in October of the same year. The Government's decision to expand dental training facilities was announced in July, 1958.

Mr. Janner

Does the Minister realise that his reply amounts to very little; that, in effect, what has been done is certainly not consistent with the urgency that the McNair Report tried to impress upon him? Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree with the Report when it says that … ultimate responsibility for implanting in the minds of the public a proper realisation of the importance of dental health must rest on the Minister of Health …"? And what steps is he taking towards meeting the Committee's views?

Mr. Walker-Smith

I dealt with the matter of the Standing Committee on Dental Health Education in reply to the hon. Member last week, or the week before—

Mr. Janner

Unsatisfactorily.

Mr. Walker-Smith

No, satisfactorily to all except the hon. Member—[HON. MEMBERS: "No."]—who finds himself, not for the first time, in an inconsiderable minority. The Standing Committee is a co-ordinating committee. The funds go to the various bodies and are expended by these bodies whose activities this Committee co-ordinates. The Standing Committee is not itself a spending body.

Dr. Summerskill

Can the Minister say whether he is implementing the recommendation of the McNair Committee that the number of available places should be increased from 650 to 1,000? And has he now established a dental school in Wales with 50 places, as the Committee recommended?

Mr. Walker-Smith

Yes, we are implementing the recommendation in regard to increasing the annual intake. That will be done by the projects to which I have already referred—the project of the dental hospital in Birmingham, at University College Hospital in London, and others that I mentioned in answer to my noble Friend the Member for Hertford (Lord Balniel) last week. In regard to Wales, there will be a new dental hospital at Cardiff which, as the right hon. Lady may know, is now the subject of an architectural competition.