HC Deb 26 March 1974 vol 871 cc250-1
1. Mr. Molloy

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will make a statement on her principal policy objectives.

The Secretary of State for Social Services (Mrs. Barbara Castle)

My hon. Friend will have observed that in my speech during the debate on the Address I declared my immediate priorities. I shall develop my principal policy objectives in speeches from time to time both in the House: and elsewhere.

Mr. Molloy

I wish my right hon. Friend well in the massive undertakings that she will endeavour to achieve. Is she aware of the grave frustration in the nursing profession, which could constitute a threat to the National Health Service, due to the fact that recently the profession was given an award which in only a few days was swallowed up by meal price increases in nurses' hostels and in hospitals? In an endeavour to avert the crisis, will my right hon. Friend order an investigation into the nursing profession?

Mrs. Castle

I share my hon. Friend's appreciation of the tremendous importance of the nursing profession to the National Health Service. I shall be giving consideration to its future rôle. My hon. Friend is not quite correct in saying that the award was swallowed up by meal price increases. He is no doubt aware that these increases were negotiated through the Whitley machinery some time ago.

Mr. Goodhew

Does the right hon. Lady expect to press these policies as she announces them to the same final conclusion as she did her previous policy when she announced "In Place of Strife"?

Mrs. Castle

I assure the hon. Gentleman that I shall press my policies with the same speed with which I published a number of reports that had lain in the archives of the Department before I took over.

Mr. Christopher Mayhew

Is my right hon. Friend aware of the contrast between the admirable statements by the Government on the problems of the disabled and the physically ill and the omission from the Queen's Speech and the virtual omission from her speech on the Address of any reference to the problems of the mentally ill? Will she assure the House that she will pay equal attention to the grave problems of the mentally sick?

Mrs. Castle

My hon. Friend is being unfair. If he will refer to my speech on the Address he will find that I stated that we had to work out new priorities in the National Health Service to cover the present areas of neglect. I specifically referred to the problems of mental health and the mentally handicapped.

Sir G. Howe

Will the right hon. Lady assure the House that she will be pressing ahead with proposals for the introduction of a tax credit scheme as the most effective way of meeting the very important areas of need while reducing the incidence of means tests? Will she also tell us what she proposes to do about the family income supplement scheme?

Mrs. Castle

The right hon. and learned Gentleman is aware, from my activities on the Select Committee on the previous administration's scheme, that my colleagues and I consider that scheme has serious defects and that we would not wish to introduce it in its present form. I ask the right hon. and learned Gentleman to await statements that I shall be making later on the family income supplement.