§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, in the light of his reply to Questions on Research Income (Pay Beds) Official Report, Monday 5th July, column 443, how he proposes to assess the potential value of research programmes discontinued because of loss of private practice income by academic medical staff; and by what mechanism he will make good such losses.
§ Mr. EnnalsI am making inquiries into the support which research funds receive from the fees paid to academic medical and dental staff treating private patients particularly in non-specialised NHS facilities which would be withdrawn from private practice as part of the phasing out of private practice from the NHS under the Health Services Bill. When the inquiries are complete it will be possible to assess whether there is likely to be any serious effect on research programmes, and to consider what if any adjustments should be made to research budgets, and how.