To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the draft European Community directive on the advertising of medicines.

The draft EC directive is broadly consistent with existing United Kingdom legislation.

Does my hon. Friend agree that pharmaceutical companies make a substantial contribution to the funding of postgraduate medical education? Does he further agree that the draft directive, as it stands, would considerably restrict the ability of pharmaceutical companies to continue to provide such funding? Will he do all that he can to get it across to the powers that be in Brussels that the directive represents a considerable threat to the funding of postgraduate medical education in this country?

I certainly share my hon. Friend's determination to ensure that such a threat does not materialise. We regard it as essential that the directive should not in any way restrict the sponsorship that the pharmaceutical industry rightly provides for genuine educational and scientific projects in the form of research and conferences.