§ 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 Clarke[pursuant to his reply, 12 November 1984]: The number registered as unemployed and seeking work as medical practitioners in England and Wales was 316 in June 1979 and 1,288 on 9 September 1982, the last date for which comparable information is available. After October 1982 registration with the Professional and Executive Register of the Manpower Services Commission became voluntary and we can no longer provide comparable figures. The old figures could be taken only as an approximate indication of the number of unemployed doctors at the time. We have no evidence of any significant unemployment of doctors at the present time and we still have some posts which are hard to fill.