Mr. Robert Watt:

I will have a look at the proposal. I have not seen it. The shortage means we need to train more GPs, the numbers of whom have increased. We are now training up to 250 per year. There is a proposal from the general practitioners to increase that to 350. There are issues in particular locations and various proposals about how we can make it more attractive. Mr. Reid alluded earlier to how it is harder to get GPs in particular parts of the country and, when GPs retire and move on, to get the next generation in to replace them. We will certainly have a look at the proposal but, as a general principle, we do not like to lobby the people who pay the bills. Getting them to reduce the tax base is not necessarily what we do in the Department of Health but I will certainly look at the proposal.