§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many toxicologists there were in his Department on 1 April in each of the years 1970 to 1980.
§ Sir George YoungThe Department currently employs 28 medical and 12 scientific staff who are concerned with the two main fields of toxicology: medicines, and food and the environment.
Advice to Government in this field has, over the years, been provided by various branches of the divisions concerned with these subjects, and records do not lend themselves, without unreasonable expenditure, to separating toxicology from other tasks.
In 1978 the Department employed 25 medically qualified and eight scientifically qualified staff to deal with toxicological advice. Since then every effort has been made to recruit trained staff in this shortage field.
Number of Staff Recruited Medical 1975 2 1976 6 1977 4 1978 3 1979 5 1980 (to date) 4* Scientific 1975 — 1976 4 1977 4 1978 3 1979 4 1980 (to date) — *invited to take up appointments. Four open competitions are at present being held to recruit doctors and scientists for the two branches concerned.