§ Mr. Cryerasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many organisations consulted about the Health and Safety (Fees for Medical Examinations) Regulations 1981 (S.I., 1981, No. 334) endorsed the increase.
§ Mr. WaddingtonSome of the 13 organisations and individuals who commented on the Health and Safety 143W Commission's consultative document "Fees for Statutory Medical Examinations: Draft Regulations" made detailed points on various aspects of the proposals and it is not possible to divide the comments into those endorsing and those not endorsing the increase.
However, only one organisation objected to the principle that the fees should be set at a level which recovered costs, proposing instead that the fees be kept at a lower level as a subsidy to employers. One organisation considered the fees to be higher than charges made by non-EMAS doctors for comparable work but three considered the fees to be similar and one considered the fees to be lower. Three of those who commented questioned why certain specific charges were not lower, one questioned why one charge was not higher and two questioned why certain charges were not the same.