§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to ensure that the public and the press can attend and listen to the deliberations of family practitioners' committees.
§ Dr. VaughanMy right hon. Friend recently announced his intention to seek legislation to change the status of FPCs to that of independent health authorities. As such, they will be subject to the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 and be required to admit the public and the press to those parts of their meetings that do not deal with confidential matters; many FPCs already take this course.
In anticipation of the change in status I shall be contacting the FPCs concerned to ask them to review their present arrangements.