CONSTITUTION ETC. OF ADVISORY COUNCIL ON THE MISUSE OF DRUGS (Hansard, 9 December 1970)

§ Mr. Ogden
I beg to move Amendment No. 20, in page 29, line 10, leave out "one person" and insert "two persons".
This is a short, practical and, I hope, helpful Amendment which, I also hope, 607 will commend itself at least to a number of hon. Members on both sides of the House.
Schedule 1 provides for, in the main, the composition, responsibilities and effective working of the Advisory Council. Paragraph 1(2) sets out the number of representatives of different professions whom the Minister thinks it right to include as the main part of the Council. The Schedule states that the Council shall consist of a minimum of 20 members and the Minister proposes that six of the members shall represent

"(a) the practice of medicine (other than veterinary medicine);

(b) the practice of dentistry;

(c) the practice of veterinary medicine;

(d) the practice of pharmacy;

(e) the pharmaceutical industry;

(f) chemistry other than pharmaceutical chemistry."

This is a total of six out of what will be the minimum number of 20.
I suggest that this proposition represents an imbalance. I would prefer to see a greater professional bias on the Council. The professional representatives will not be responsible only for their individual professions; they will not be delegates but representatives. I believe, therefore, that the proportions should be the other way round. If there is to be an Advisory Council of 20 members, it might be better if 12 were to represent the professions and eight the profession of social workers. I do not like to make this distinction between the professional workers and the social workers, but the Council would be the more able to bring the necessary knowledge to this advisory body if we doubled the number of persons representing each of those sections the Minister lists and then added to them the other equally important representatives from social work.
If the Minister wished to continue the same balance, he could increase the total size of the council to 25 or more, although it would then be getting a little large. However, because of the greater amount of expert advice which would then be available, the composition of the council could be slightly altered to put greater emphasis on the professional representation.

§ Dr. Stuttaford
In some of these categories it will be important for two people to be appointed so that there may always be one present, but to have two from each of the categories mentioned would not be necessary and would upset the balance of the Advisory Council.
It is vain to hope that the representatives from these bodies will not be delegates, for that is almost inevitable and with a council of this sort, with this sort of professional knowledge, the representatives will be almost certain to push the views of their professions. However, I agree that there must always be one representative from each of the categories, and that may mean appointing two from each.

§ Mr. Sharples
In Standing Committee we had a considerable discussion about the composition of the Advisory Council and we listened to the representations on behalf of the various bodies. I said then that I thought that the Council should be a broadly balanced grouping of medical, scientific and lay experts, and this was the assurance given to the B.M.A. There is to be a minimum of 20 members, but it will be perfectly possible for my right hon. Friend, if he feels it to be necessary, to appoint additional members.
In those appointments we shall want to gain from experience and to be able to treat the membership of the Council with some flexibility. I hope that that assurance will be satisfactory to the hon-Member and that he will feel able to withdraw the Amendment.

§ Mr. Ogden
On the basis of that assurance, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.