§ 2.20 p.m.
§ LORD TAYLORMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government the percentage of (a) general consulting physicians and general consulting surgeons and (b) consulting psychiatrists employed by the National Health Service aged 61–65 who are in receipt of any kind of merit award.]
LORD ST. OSWALDMy Lords, I regret that on this occasion I cannot even afford the noble Lord the luxury of questioning the official figures, because there are no official figures. The results of the last review in England and Wales were notified to Boards in February. The processing of the data arising from this review is not yet at a stage where details such as those required by the noble Lord can be extracted.
§ LORD TAYLORMy Lords, is the noble Lord capable of giving the figures previous to this review—the figures which the Royal Commission used in their tables?
LORD ST. OSWALDMy Lords, I suggest I could seek them from the Royal Commission's Report, which the noble Lord and I, so far as I know, will be debating very soon after the Recess. But is there any particular point in my doing that at the moment? It is not in the noble Lord's Question.
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, in view of the importance of this Question and the impending debate, and so that we shall all start equal on April 27, may 798 I ask the noble Lord whether he is aware that my noble friend always takes the wise precaution of working out the answers in advance, so as to be able to check the Government's information. Would it be helpful if I used my influence with my noble friend for him to give the Government the answer now?
LORD ST. OSWALDMy Lords, I very much appreciate that the noble Lords, Lord Taylor and Lord Stonham, ask the Government Questions only in order to give their own answers; but in point of fact on this occasion there is no Government Answer, for the reasons I have given.
§ LORD TAYLORIs the noble Lord aware that it is possible to work out the answer by extrapolating from Tables 25 and 29 in the Royal Commission Report? One can get the answers to these questions, and I believe they are 80 per cent. and 22 per cent.
LORD ST. OSWALDMy Lords, my understanding is that the noble Lord has asked for figures which are more up to date than the figures in the Royal Commission's Report. Am I wrong in that?
§ LORD TAYLORI did not put down a date, my Lords.
LORD ST. OSWALDMy Lords, perhaps in fact I have misunderstood the noble Lord's Question, but I thought he wanted the latest figures and did not particularly want to be given figures by me to-day which he could have read in the Royal Commission's Report.
§ LORD TAYLORMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that one cannot read these figures, but one can work them out?
LORD ST. OSWALDMy Lords, the explanation which has been given to me for my not being able to give the noble Lord the figures he requires is that they have to be passed through a system of punch cards, and the punching of the cards has not yet been completed.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, instead of this mechanisation, had it not better be sent back to the old system, in order to save time?