§ 2.55 p.m.
§ Baroness SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the proportion of women in the 1974 intake of 3,280 medical students.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, DEPARTMENT of EDUCATION and SCIENCE (Lord Crowther-Hunt)My Lords, I understand that at the beginning of the 1974–75 academic year the provisional number of first year preclinical students admitted to medical schools in Great Britain was 3,276. The number of women was 1,115; that is, 34 per cent. of the total.
§ Baroness SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, I thank my noble friend for the great improvement over the past 10 years. Nevertheless, in view of the fact that we are compelled to import into this country foreign doctors who cannot even speak English, does he not think that we should 1246 use our native talents and that, in this important year—International Women's Year—we should stop this waste of the talents of so many brilliant women?
§ Lord CROWTHER-HUNTMy Lords, I am not sure that there is a waste of the talents of many brilliant women. The fact of the matter is that, following a review of university admission policies, the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals advised universities with medical schools to discontinue any remaining arrangements limiting the admission of women by quota. This, I am informed, has now been done and it is one of the reasons for the increase in the proportion of women. In this context, the proportion of women among the successful applicants is higher than the proportion of women seeking admission.
§ Lord DAVIES of LEEKMy Lords, I thank my noble friend for his always constructive and kindly answers. May I ask whether he will examine the entry of students into the medical profession? Does he not agree that the acceptance of the Willink Report—which was supported by the BMA over twenty years ago—limited the entry of students into the medical profession, and that today the overworked general practitioner is suffering from that mediaeval limitation of students to the universities?
§ Lord CROWTHER-HUNTMy Lords, the future need for doctors is a matter for my right honourable friends the Secretary of State for Social Services and the Secretary of State for Scotland, and my right honourable and learned friend the Secretary of State for Wales, but I am sure that this is a matter which is kept under constant review.
§ Lord SEGALMy Lords, can my noble friend say how this number of women medical students is distributed as between the London teaching hospitals and the provincial hospitals?
§ Lord CROWTHER-HUNTMy Lords, I cannot give precise figures in answer to that question, but, as I have said, the proportion of women admitted to medical schools in Britain in 1974/75 was 34 per cent. as compared with 33.2 per cent. in the Northern schools— Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield—and 32.2 per cent. for London.
§ Baroness FISHER of REDNALMy Lords, we welcome the figures my noble friend has given on the increase of women applicants. Can he say whether they are given equality of treatment by the universities on the bursaries that are offered to students?
§ Lord CROWTHER-HUNTMy Lords, this is a slightly different question. I have answered previous Questions on support for all students but, broadly speaking and with minimal exceptions, the position is that there is equality of treatment. My right honourable friend in another place is shortly to introduce a Bill to ensure that there is equality of treatment between the sexes in education.
§ Lord BURNTWOODMy Lords, in so far as there is residual prejudice against women in the London teaching hospitals, can the noble Lord say which London hospitals still evince some prejudice in this matter?
§ Lord CROWTHER-HUNTMy Lords, I do not accept that there is prejudice against women in this respect. The figures I have quoted suggest that in the country as a whole there is no prejudice against the admission of women, in view of the fact that the proportion has gone up very considerably over the past few years.