§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if his Department will issue urgent guidelines to all National Health Service staff involved in treating patients suffering from or suspected to be suffering from acquired immune deficiency syndrome; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what representations his Department has received concerning guidance to National Health Service workers in contact with patients suffering from acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI shall let the hon. Member have a reply as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what liaison there is between his Department and international research agencies dealing with the problems of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeResearch in the United Kingdom into the problems of AIDS is co-ordinated by the Medical Research Council working party on AIDS, on which our Department is represented. The working party collaborates with scientists in other countries through the United States centres for disease control in Atlanta and the World Health Organisation's AIDS reference centre in Paris. In the European Community the Comité pour la Recherche Medicale has set up a working group on AIDS on which the United Kingdom is represented by two members of the MRC working party, who keep our Department closely informed.