§ Mr. Burtasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he intends to publish the third report of the Maternity Services Advisory Committee.
§ Mr. John PattenThe committee's third report—on care of the mother and baby — is to be published tomorrow and copies will be placed in the Library. As the report completes the review of the whole field of maternity care for which it was set up in 1981, we have accepted the chairman's recommendation that the committee should now be wound up. We are grateful to Mrs. Munro and to her committee's members for their commitment of time and effort over the past three years in producing three valuable reports. The agreement reached between the 501W different professions represented and the lay members has been very impressive. We hope the same level of cooperation can be achieved at local level when the committee's advice is considered and put into effect. We shall be monitoring action taken by health authorities on the committee's reports through the accountability review process and will keep under consideration the need to convene ad hoc groups to consider any further particular issues that arise in the field of maternity care.