HC Deb 01 July 1980 vol 987 cc1275-7
1. Mr Peter Bottomley

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the date of the major pay settlements in health and social services in the past 12 months.

The Secretary of State for Social Services (Mr. Patrick Jenkin)

As the answer contains a list of dates, both of anniversaries and settlement dates, I will, with permission, publish it in the Official Report.

Mr. Bottomley

Given the understandable concern that nurses should not Receive increases below those received by most other people, would it not be a good idea to bring together the settlement dates to a two or three-month period of the year so that various settlements can be looked at together and the nurses' settlement regarded as a maximum, with the rest of the country aiming at settlements lower than the 14 per cent. on offer?

Mr. Jenkin

My hon. Friend makes two points. The first is a procedural suggestion that all settlements should be considered together. That point has some merit, although it would give rise not only to administrative difficulties but would be difficult to achieve without substantial extra cost in the year of changeover. The second point deals with the best way of trying to determine relatives between different groups in the Health Service with a view to trying to reach a better method of dealing with these matters.

Mr. William Hamilton

Is the Secretary of State aware that the nurses feel a considerable sense of betrayal by this Government—not for the first time by a Tory Government—more particularly in view of the fact that both the Prime Minister and the Minister for Health, sitting beside the right hon. Gentleman, said that the nurses should be treated no less generously than the police, the Armed Forces and the firemen, and that has not taken place?

Mr. Jenkin

The hon. Gentleman will know that the Clegg Commission, at the end of its report, drew attention to the need to avoid what has sometimes been called the four-year ratchet effect on nurses' salaries. This is a matter that the Government have taken on board and to which we are seeking solutions. A commitment was given by both parties before the election in relation to nurses' pay. The commitment has been met fully by this Government. It is now for the relevant Whitley council to decide whether the settlement recently reached can stand.

Mr. Paul Dean

Will my right hon. Friend do his best to ensure that those persons, such as members of the Royal College of Nursing, who refused to use the strike weapon against patients, do not suffer as a result of their restraint?

Mr. Jenkin

I accept entirely the point made by my hon. Friend. When professions decide, as a matter of principle, that they will not strike, thus avoiding detriment to patients, this places a considerable obligation on Governments and, indeed, on all parties to see that they are treated fairly.

Mr. Orme

How can the Secretary of State justify his attitude to the nurses, particularly when the Minister for Health, as my hon. Friend said, is on record, on 15 March 1979, as saying that the nurses should be treated in a proper manner? How can the Secretary of State justify the different treatment accorded to doctors compared with nurses? When will he meet his obligations to the nursing profession?

Mr. Jenkin

The right hon. Gentleman seems to forget that his party gave a

MAJOR PAY SETTLEMENTS FOR NHS STAFF SINCE 1 JULY 1979
Group Anniversary date Settlements
Administrative and clerical. 1 April 10 July 1979. Operative from 1 April 1979. Payments made in four stages completed on 1 April 1980.
Ancillary 13 December 14 February 1980. Operative from 13 December 1979. Plus payment resulting from Clegg award paid in two instalments on 1 August 1979 and 1 April 1980.
Ambulancemen 1 January 7 March 1980. Operative from 1 January 1980. Plus payment resulting from Clegg award paid in two instalments on 1 August 1979 and 1 April 1980.
Nurses and midwives 1 April Payment resulting from Clegg award. Paid in instalments on 1 August 1979 and 1 April 1980.
Professional and technical. 1 April* July-August 1979. Operative from anniversary date, paid in three stages completed on 1 January 1980.
Professions supplementary to medicine. 1 April Payment resulting from Clegg award paid in instalments on 1 August 1979 and 1 April 1980.
Doctors and dentists 1 April 28 May 1980. Operative from 1 April 1980. Plus final stage of 1978 settlement paid on 1 April 1980.
* Anniversary date for some works staff: 1 July; anniversary date for opticians: 1 May.