Mr Henry Willink: I do not think that the word "vast" was in the sentence. It was "great majority."
Mr Henry Willink: I wish to ask a question which follows rather aptly after the Parliamentary Secretary's last sentence, because I think that, quite unintentionally, he has greatly misrepresented the Bill. To what did the hon. Gentleman refer when he said that the medical practices committee were the real employers of the doctors?
Mr Henry Willink: It is the same thing.
Mr Henry Willink: I am sure that hon. and right hon. Members opposite will have formed a clear view of the attitude of the party on whose behalf I speak, that when we say we wish this Bill well we mean that we hope the comprehensive health service to which we were pledged as much as the party opposite will not be retarded, or frustrated, by what we regard as the vices of this Bill. I think the Parliamentary...
Mr Henry Willink: To be used by the Minister in his capacity as Minister. These funds vest in the Minister, who then places them in the Hospital Endowment Fund—
Mr Henry Willink: —which the Minister controls and manages. Voluntary effort, sacrifice and association are all discouraged by the Bill. With regard to local government, the Parliamentary Secretary denied that its structure was mutilated by the Bill. Could anything be a more serious mutilation of the structure of our local government than the complete removal of all responsibility for any form of hospital,...
Mr Henry Willink: We do not know yet.
Mr Henry Willink: What I do not know is where the covenant is going.
Mr Henry Willink: It must be considered right in all parts of the House, that there should be a discussion of reasonable length upon what is one of the most important and far-reaching proposals in the Bill. As these discussions have proceeded, we have got a clearer idea of what is in the mind of the Minister. He tells us now that the whole thing is based on two primary principles. The first is that the sale...
Mr Henry Willink: The right hon. Gentleman corrected that, it is true. It is because vagueness such as is in the Clause leaves it perfectly possible for any Minister to introduce that situation, that we must divide against the Clause. If the right hon. Gentleman challenges me and says that that is not true, I reply that it is within the power of the Minister to deal with the whole question of adequacy, as my...
Mr Henry Willink: The Minister frustrated it.
Mr Henry Willink: It is obvious that this is an issue of first-class importance and one on which the Minister himself feels strongly. Indeed, it is the fact that, in the Committee, the argument appeared to go against him, with the result that the right hon. Gentleman was placed in a somewhat difficult position. In order to make clear what I understand the position to be, in contrast to the observations which...
Mr Henry Willink: The Minister says so in the marginal note to his Bill.
Mr Henry Willink: It is so ambiguous. I say that I am using it in the meaning which it has in the Bill, and not in the sense of what is done by the General Medical Council. The right hon. Gentleman hardly has the right to interrupt me when I am using the word which he himself uses in his own Bill and in this very Clause. The marginal note to this Clause is: Disqualification of practitioners. and what is meant...
Mr Henry Willink: I think the Minister must be more and more confused because the whole question is whether there will be an appeal to the Minister. The hon. and learned Member for Gloucester says that there is one already, but I would comment on his observation that the Court of Appeal cannot interfere with a decision of fact. I do not think there is another member of the legal profession who would make such...
Mr Henry Willink: I can still hardly believe my ears when I hear that interruption. The right hon. Gentleman knows perfectly well that nothing that I did proceeded beyond the stage of a White Paper which described itself as an outline of the service. Matters of procedure of this kind, of course, had not been considered in detail; and, if I had not ever thought of an appeal to a tribunal, is that a relevant...
Mr Henry Willink: I beg to move, in page 44, line 39, after "defrayed," to insert: by that Committee out of sums paid to them for that purpose. I believe that the object behind this Amendment is in line with the intentions of the Minister, namely, that in Subsection (2) there should be words inserted which would create the position that the hospital management committees pay their own bills, and do not have...
Mr Henry Willink: On that assurance, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Mr Henry Willink: I beg to move, in page 64, line 25, at the end, to insert: A Hospital Management Committee shall have power to co-opt not more than three persons to he members of the Committee. In moving this Amendment with regard to the hospital management committees, I am appealing to the Minister to reconsider this point in the hope that his view may have changed upon it. It is an obvious criticism of...
Mr Henry Willink: I am bound to say I am unimpressed by the Minister's argument, but I do not want to take up the time of the House further on the subject. I am sorry the Minister has not acceded to my request.
