§ Mr. Robert Cookeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether, in order to ensure that training in family planning is available to medical practi- 82W tioners, he will institute courses in family planning, including refresher courses for practising practitioners.
§ Sir K. JosephThe content of postgraduate medical training generally is a matter for the professional and educational bodies concerned. I understand that family planning is already an integral part of the training of hospital doctors wishing to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology and of doctors undertaking formal schemes of vocational training for general practice; that a number of local authorities provide in-service training and that a training programme leading to a certificate in contraception and family planning is being prepared by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Family doctors attend courses in family planning provided or approved by universities under my Department's scheme for assisting postgraduate medical education. The numbers attending such courses has been increasing: 756 attended in the last academic year. These training arrangements will need to be further extended and we are discussing this with those concerned.