§ 105. Mr. Messerasked the Minister of Health whether he has appointed any assistant or unestablished medical practitioner as a member of the working party to make recommendations to him on the redistribution of the central pool, so as to bring about a relative improvement in the position of those practitioners least favourably placed under the present plan of distribution to make it easier for new doctors to enter general practice and to stimulate group practice.
§ Mr. Iain MacLeodThe Working Party on the Distribution of the Central Pool consists of officers of the Health Departments and representatives of the medical profession appointed by the General Medical Services Committee of the British Medical Association. I could not, of course, influence the Committee in its choice of individual representatives on the working party.
§ 106. Mr. Messerasked the Minister of Health whether he has caused to be furnished to the Working Party, established to report upon matters affecting the remuneration of general practitioners in the National Health Service, full information upon the conditions of employment of salaried assistants and practitioners and the restrictions placed upon the entry of such assistants into practice as principals.
§ Mr. Iain MacLeodNo. The working party has to make recommendations upon the distribution of the central pool between principals in general practice. In the National Health Service the principal is responsible for the acts of his assistant, who is employed and paid by him according to an agreement reached between them.