asked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the necessity of maintaining the most experienced available surgical skill in London, where the first and most critical effect of any air attack must be expected, he will revise the arrangements by which nearly all the most experienced surgeons are awaiting the expected casualties in centres remote from London?

The present arrangements, which were made in general agreement with the profession, provide for the bulk of the surgical treatment required by London air-raid casualties being given by the more experienced surgeons at hospitals on the periphery of, but not necessarily remote from, London, and for the rapid transfer of the patients to these hospitals. These arrangements are designed not only to secure the most efficient treatment of the patients but also to avoid undue risk to highly skilled and irreplaceable personnel, and I think it undesirable to revise them further for the present.

Is my right hon. Friend informed of the statement made in a recent lecture at the Royal Society of Medicine, given by a celebrated Spanish surgeon, who had wide experience of air casualties in Spain, and who emphasised the primary importance of immediate surgical attention of the highest quality to such cases; and does he not think that, in view of this experience, a reorientation of the medical arrangements in this respect is urgent?

I am well aware of the statement, and, in fact, our plans are well advanced for dealing with the matter. But any who have had experience know that a hospital in the centre of a bombarded town is not always the most auspicious place to which to bring casualties.

asked the Minister of Health the number of members of the honorary staffs of the voluntary hospitals who have accepted the new conditions outlined in his answer of 23rd November, and the number who have actually returned to take up their duties as regards conduct of out-patient and other specialist departments and systematic education of medical students in the voluntary hospitals; and whether the offer of transfer to this new scheme from any form of agreement previously accepted in individual cases covers those members of hospital staffs who were receiving the second grade of salaries for whole-time service?

To date, 337 specialists and consultants have accepted the offer to which the hon. Member refers. I cannot say how many of these have returned to their normal duties, as this is a matter with which I am not officially concerned. It was not suggested by the professional committee consulted that the offer of transfer should extend to members of the Emergency Medical Service receiving the second grade of salaries for whole-time service.

May I remind my right hon. Friend that in his answer on 23rd November he, as I thought, undertook to facilitate the transfer to the new scheme that he was offering of all voluntary staffs who had accepted full-time engagements, irrespective of any agreements which they had previously accepted; and will he not regard this category of honorary officers as being covered by his undertaking?

I will again examine the answer I gave. I do not evade carrying out any undertaking that I have given.