This study complements a wide variety of material made available to the Royal Commission on manpower planning in the NHS. The first paper, by Alan Williams, is a consideration of some of the manpower problems facing the Commission within a general theoretical context. The second, by the secretariat, describes existing arrangements for manpower planning and management in the NHS and discusses three important issues with implications for medical manpower planning and management; career structure for doctors, overseas doctors and women doctors. The third paper, by Ivor Batchelor, deals with another important issue in medical manpower, specialisation in medicine.