§ Mr. Wareingasked the Secretary of State for Transport what further action he intends to take following the report of the working party set up by the faculty of occupational medicine of the Royal College of Physicians on medical standards for seafarers; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. David MitchellThe report has generally been welcomed by both sides of the industry, subject to some reservations. I expect to appoint soon a medical adviser whose main job will be to promote the consistent application of the medical standards partly through an exchange of information between the medical referees. The adviser will also keep the medical standards under review. One of the recommendations of the report is that the number of approved doctors should be reduced. To this end the shipowners have agreed to review the list of doctors submitted by them, and new approvals will be made only in case of real need. Finally, I am giving favourable consideration to the recommendation that medical referees should ask the advice of an appropriate consultant in every case of an appeal.