Why is the Secretary of State so reluctant to use his persuasive powers when faced with the possibility that he will not be able to start the new National Health Service on 1st April with 80,000 officers likely to be leaving the service? There is chaos, uncertainty and a good deal of disappointment at what has been going on with the Staff Commission and NALGO. Why have the Government decided that local government officers should be paid for extra work but that NHS officers should not be paid for it? Surely it is time that he came down from the Olympian heights and started to negotiate personally with the people concerned.