§ Mr. John Pageasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average cost of staffing one nursing position in a National Health Service hospital for 52 weeks of 40 hours each with (a) a State registered nurse employed directly by the hospital, and (b) a State registered nurse with equivalent experience supplied by an agency, taking into consideration the costs of accommodation, holiday pay, pensions, etc., of the directly employed nurse.
§ Mr. Alec JonesInformation in the form requested is not available. Comparison of the cost of a directly employed nurse and an agency nurse of similar grade is affected by such variable factors as the charges made by agencies, which differ from one agency to another, the point that the directly employed nurse has reached on the salary scale and the elements of cost other than salary for the directly employed nurse.