§ Mr. WorthingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much each Scottish health board spent on agency workers in the most recent available year; and what percentage this was of their overall nursing costs.
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§ Mr. Michael ForsythRelevant information in health boards' annual accounts is recorded under the category of "non-payroll" nursing costs. While this relates principally to the cost of engaging agency nursing staff, some other expenditure (such as payments for nursing staff in non National Health Service hospitals which have contractual arrangements with health boards) is also included. The figures for 1986–87 are given in the table.
Health board Non-payroll nursing costs £ thousand Per cent.1 Argyll and Clyde 2 0.01 Ayrshire and Arran — — Borders — — Dumfries and Galloway — — Fife — — Forth Valley — — Grampian 27 0.05 Greater Glasgow 1,030 0.78 Highland 28 0.13 Lanarkshire — — Lothian 1,757 2.11 Orkney — — Shetland 21 0.99 Tayside 140 0.27 Western Isles — — Total 3.005 0.78 1 As proportion of total expenditure on nurses' salaries and wages.