§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information is available to his Department on (a) vacancy rates for medical laboratory scientific officers and (b) how National Health Service pay and benefit levels for medical laboratory scientific officers compare with those available for similar positions in the private sector.
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§ Mr. NewtonFirstly, information on vacancies for medical laboratory scientific officers is not collected centrally. Secondly, a direct comparison of the rates of pay and benefit levels of medical laboratory scientific officers employed in the NHS with those available in the private sector is not possible since the requirements and responsibilities of posts will differ widely.
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the percentage change in (a) the basic pay and (b) the take-home pay of medical laboratory scientific officers since 1979 (i) in money terms, (ii) deflated by the retail price index and (iii) in relation to national income levels.
§ Mr. NewtonInformation in the form requested is not available. The increase in basic pay of a basic grade medical laboratory scientific officer since 1979 is as follows:
1 April 1979 £ 1 April 1986 £ per cent increase cash per cent increase in real terms1 Minimum of Scale 3,606 6,368 76.6 +5.2 Maximum of Scale 5,157 8,986 74.2 +3.8 1Based on July Retail Price Index. In addition to basic pay, many medical laboratory scientific officers receive additional payments for being on-call or standby, and for calls to the laboratory. Present average earnings of full-time staff are estimated to be about 23 per cent greater than basic pay.
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what grounds medical laboratory scientific officers are categorised as ancillary staff.
§ Mr. NewtonI am not aware of any such categorisation. Medical laboratory scientific officers remain part of the professional and technical staffs group.