HC Deb 05 November 1973 vol 863 cc79-80W
Mr. Deakins

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what criteria he uses when deciding whether to expand the numbers of medical students.

Sir K. Joseph

No precise criteria have been adopted. The Royal Commission on Medical Education which reported in 1968 estimated that the number of doctors needed per million population would rise by 1.5 per cent. a year up to 1975 and 1.3 per cent. a year thereafter; this estimate was taken into account in the existing plans for increasing the number of doctors trained in Great Britain, under which medical school places should rise by over 1.000 during this decade.