§ Dr. Summerskillasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he now intends to take to improve the standard of catering in hospitals.
§ Sir K. JosephI explained in a speech on 27th April, 1972, to the Hospital Caterers Association my invitation to the Consumer Association to appraise catering in six hospitals and the outcome. There is certainly room for improvement, but it should be stressed that there has been a substantial, and continuing improvement in the majority of hospitals over the past years. Responsibility for the standards of catering at individual hospitals can rest only with the hospital authorities concerned, but matters of staffing, of standards, of levels of expenditure, of research and of technical measures to secure improvement are under constant review by my Department and appropriate measures taken as and when opportunity occurs.