§ Mr. Nicholas Edwardsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will now institute an independent inquiry into the functions of the General Medical Council; and whether he will make a statement about the risk of interruption of medical services if doctors are erased from the medical register for failing to pay the statutory fees.
§ Sir K. JosephI have decided, in conjunction with my right hon. Friends the Lord President of the Council and the Secretaries of State for Scotland, for Wales and for Northern Ireland, to set up a committee of inquiry into the regulation of the medical profession with the following terms of reference
To consider what changes need to be made in the existing provisions for the regulation of the medical profession; what functions should be assigned to the body charged with the responsibility for its regulation; and how that body should be constituted to enable it to discharge its functions most effectively: and to make recommendations.I hope shortly to be able to announce the membership of the committee.In recent months I have been kept in touch with the valuable work being done by a joint working party of representatives of the British Medical Association and the General Medical Council in identifying the issues and how far they are susceptible of being resolved by further joint discussion. But there are still substantial differences of opinion on a number of questions, and it is now evident that the discussions could not be completed within the period of six months envisaged by the British Medical Association's Annual Representative Meeting last July.
The General Medical Council is a body with a notable record of service to the public and to the profession. It is not 465W contemplated that the profession should be regulated otherwise than by a predominantly professional body, but, as the General Medical Council itself has pointed out, its functions are very much the concern not only of the medical profession but of the public, as well as of the universities and other bodies. In the circumstances, my colleagues and I have thought it right not to wait any longer before establishing an independent committee of inquiry. That committee will, of course, be able to take into account, among other evidence, reports of previous joint discussions and any further report which the joint working party may produce.
I am confident that in the public interest those doctors whose dissatisfaction has hitherto led them to withhold payment of the statutory fees will now pay them without further delay.