asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware of the dissatisfaction in certain South Wales hospitals as a result of the Welsh Board of Health refusing to allow boards of management to pay the same rates of wages to members of the Civil Nursing Reserve as are now to be paid to the normal staff; and, as all these nurses are performing similar duties, will he reconsider the attitude of his Department to this problem?

The recommendations of the Nurses' Salaries Committee cannot be automatically applied to members of the Civil Nursing Reserve, whose conditions of service are in some respects different from those of normal hospital staff. I am now reviewing the rates of pay of the Civil Nursing Reserve, in the light of the recommendations of the Nurses' Salaries Committee, but new rates cannot be paid until the review is completed. Any changes will operate, retrospectively if necessary, from the same date as the scales proposed by the Nurses' Salaries Committee for the ordinary staff of hospitals.

Can my right hon. Friend give an indication of when he is expecting a decision?

Very shortly.

Miss Ward:

Has the right hon. Gentleman considered the payment of allowances to the Civil Nursing Reserve without deduction of Income Tax?