§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, in view of the fact that a 6 per cent. fall in the intake to medical schools will delay his commitment to reduce list sizes, he will consider maintaining current yearly entry to medical schools, thus lessening appreciatively dependence upon doctors trained outside the United Kingdom.
§ Dr. VaughanThe university grants committee is considering with the universities the implications of the Government's recent public expenditure White Paper—Cmnd. 7746—for the size of the university intake, including the medical school intake, in 1980–81. The Government's policy is to continue to aim at a target intake of 4,080 medical school students so as to reduce the country's dependence on overseas qualified doctors, although they accept that this may not be achieved quite as soon as was expected in the Department's paper "Medical Manpower—the next 20 years." As regards list sizes, I refer the hon. Member to the reply my hon. Friend gave him on 5 November.