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§ Ms. Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent, North)I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 20, for the purpose of discussing an urgent, specific and important matter with which you have dealt favourably in the past, Mr. Speaker, namely,
the underfunding of the nurses' pay award.The matter is important and should have priority over all other business in the House if we are to avert the crisis in our National Health Service, in its 40th year, which was almost on the cards earlier this year, and which was averted only as a result of your actions, Mr. Speaker.It is urgent because it has just come to light in an article in The Guardian today that it looks as though the Government's promises to meet the nurses' pay award in 371 full are not now to be met. I do not wish nurses' morale to be so low that our National Health Service crumbles as a result of the Government's broken promises.
It is important that the promised grading review should be done in an objective way. Those who are employed by the National Health Service can have no confidence in the Government if they consider that their pay is to be determined by a top ceiling and that their work will not be properly evaluated. In my constituency of Stoke-on-Trent, North and in the west midlands, I have seen nursing staff leaving the National Health Service. They are not leaving in great numbers because they are banking on the review. They have still not received the 4 per cent. in their pay packets. If we are to avert a further crisis, we should have a debate.
Health Service workers, and nurses in particular, need reassurance from the Government. We need a debate before the summer recess. The Secretary of State may well have said that he received a standing ovation when he last met the nurses, but if he is to be true to his policies full reassurances need to be given by the Government. They can be given only if we adjourn and fully debate the matter now.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Lady asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that she believes should have urgent consideration, namely,
the Government's underfunding of the nurses' pay award.I have listened with care to what the hon. Lady has said about the matter. As she knows, my sole duty in considering an application under Standing Order No. 20 is to decide whether it should be given precedence over the Orders set down for today or tomorrow and whether it meets the criteria laid down by the Standing Order. I regret that I cannot submit her application to the House.