§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many doctors were unemployed in England and Wales at the latest available date; and what were the corresponding figures for June 1979.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI shall let the hon. Member have a reply as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many doctors were employed in the National Health Service in England and Wales at the latest date; what were the figures for June 1979; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeAt 30 September 1983, the latest available date, there were some 43,400* doctors directly employed in the NHS in England. This includes locums but excludes hospital practitioners and doctors with paragraph 94 appointments, most of whom were general practitioners employed on a part-time basis :to the hospital service. A comparable figure for 30 September 1979 is 40,300 but figures for June 1979 are not available. In addition there were some 25,300 general medical practitioners providing services under contract to the NHS in England on 1 October 1983, and 23,100 on the same date in 1979.
Statistics on the NHS in Wales are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
*All figures rounded to the nearest 10.