§ Sir E. Graham-Littleasked the Minister of Health to what services the medical practitioners who are coming from the United States of America to take up work in this country are being allotted; to what body their original selection and ultimate distribution is entrusted; what remuneration is offered to them; and what remission of the rate of Income Tax imposed on British subjects is accorded to these American practitioners on the salaries paid to them in this country in respect of such service?
§ Mr. E. BrownThe doctors referred to are being allotted either to the Emergency Medical Service or to the Royal Army Medical Corps according to their own choice. The selection of the doctors, so far as their professional qualifications are concerned, is carried out in America through the National Research Council, the American Medical Association and other professional bodies. Medical examinations and interviews are arranged in America on behalf of His Majesty's Government. Doctors who choose the Emergency Medical Service are posted to hospitals by the Director-General, Emergency Medical Services. The remuneration offered to them is the salary appropriate to the grade of medical officer in the Emergency Medical Service, namely £550 a year, plus board and lodging or £100 a year in lieu thereof. I understand that this remuneration is subject to British Income Tax in the ordinary way, but the amounts of the tax is repaid to the doctors by my Department, subject to the deduction of a sum equivalent to American Income Tax at current rates. The distribution and remuneration of those doctors who elect to serve in the Royal Army Medical Corps are matters for the Secretary of State for War.