HC Deb 15 April 1943 vol 388 cc1399-401W
Dr. Summerskill

asked the Minister of Health how many fresh cases of venereal disease have been reported during the last three months; and how does this compare with the same period last year?

Mr. E. Brown

As statistics for venereal disease are compiled from returns obtained from local authorities on a yearly basis only, I regret that I am unable to give the particulars for which my hon. Friend asks.

Dr. Summerskill

asked the Minister of Health how many individuals, men and women, have been informed against under Regulation 33B; how many of these have refused treatment and subsequently been imprisoned; have all the informers under Regulation 33B been treated and, if not, what action has been taken?

Mr. Brown

Reports on the operation of Regulation 33B so far are not yet complete and I am at present unable, therefore, to give the particulars for which my hon. Friend asks. With regard to the last part of the Question, the Regulation does not operate except on information given to a special practitioner by two of his patients.

Mr. Driberg

asked the Minister of Health whether he has co-ordinated the first quarterly reports on Defence Regulation 33B; how many times this Regulation has been applied and with what effect on the incidence of venereal disease in the respective districts?

Mr. Brown

As not many of the reports to which my hon. Friend refers have so far been received from medical officers of health, I am not yet able to give the desired information.

Sir H. Morris-Jones

asked the Minister of Health whether he will give the number or the percentage increase since the war in cases of venereal disease in each of the North Wales counties; the number of treatment clinics for the disease in each county at the last available date and the number pre-war; whether it is intended to increase the number; and what steps he is taking in this area to combat this evil?

Mr. Brown

The numbers of cases of venereal disease in the six counties of North Wales attending treatment centres for the first time in 1939 and 1942 were 355 and 281 respectively, representing a decrease of about 21 per cent. I will send my hon. Friend an analysis of these figures, county by county, as soon as possible. Clinic facilities in this area are the same to-day as before the war. There is one clinic in Carnarvonshire and one in Denbighshire, the needs of the counties of Anglesey, Flint, Merioneth, and Montgomery being served by hospital outpatient departments at Bangor, Chester and Shrewsbury. There are no immediate plans for increasing these facilities, but the general situation with regard to venereal disease in this area is under review.