§ Mr. Gardnerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the premature publication of the findings of the Payne Committee of Inquiry into Whittingham Hospital.
§ Sir K. JosephI deeply regret the disquiet to which the staff at Whittingham, 471W as well as members of the hospital management committee and regional hospital board, have been subjected by premature and unauthorised disclosure of extracts of the report of the committee of inquiry before these could be seen in the context of the report as a whole. I am making inquiries into how this came about.
The report is to be published in full in a Command Paper on 15th February when I hope to make an oral statement to the House. There has never been any question of not publishing the report in full.