§ Mr. Roseasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many administrative staff are employed now as compared with the period immediately before 149W reorganisation of the National Health Service; and what was the cost in the financial year 1974–75 as compared with the financial year immediately prior to reorganisation.
§ Mr. MeacherReturns of NHS staff are normally collected to show the position as at 30th September each year. The latest figures at present available relate to September 1973; at that time there were 11,339 staff in administrative grades in the former regional hospital boards, executive councils and other NHS bodies. I regret that information on the numbers of staff administering the former local authority health services is not available.
Costs are not collected centrally in regard to administrative staff alone; they relate to administrative and clerical, with other similar staff groups, as a whole. The relevant figures for the financial year 1974–75 are not yet available since only 85 per cent. of the relevant returns have so far been received.