§ Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations he has received from the Royal College of Nursing on the marked disparity in the salaries of members of management teams in which each member is reckoned to hold comparable responsibility; why, at regional level, the member of the team responsible for nursing will get nearly £40 per week less than the member responsible for administration; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir K. JosephI saw representatives of the staff side of the nurses and Midwives Whitley Council, which includes representatives of the Royal College of Nursing, on 16th May before the provisional salaries were announced. The staff side subsequently informed me that it wished to see my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, and he received a deputation on 20th June. In fixing the256W provisional salaries regard was had to the responsibilities of the new posts—as far as these can be assessed at present—compared with existing chief nursing officer posts, and to the relevant provision of the pay code which is that the rate for new work should not be more than the current rate paid for the same or most nearly similar work by the same or other employers.
§ Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table showing the differences in hours worked and in responsibilities carried by members of the same management team at regional level where the population exceeds 3.5 million which warrants the differences in pay for an administrator receiving £7,779 per annum, a treasurer/finance officer receiving £7,524 per annum and a nursing officer receiving £5,769 per annum; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir K. JosephThe chief administrative, finance and nursing officers of the new regional health authorities will not take up their posts until the autumn and they will not become fully operational until April 1974. For this reason the salaries have to be fixed on the basis of a provisional assessment of the responsibilities of the new posts and they must also conform with the provisions of the pay code relating to new work. As I have already announced, the salaries will be reviewed in 1975 in the light of actual experience of the new posts, when all relevant factors will be taken into account.