HC Deb 14 December 1989 vol 163 cc792-3W
Mr. Dover

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will investigate the pay levels for nurses and other health staff returning to the National Health Service after a period of employment in the private health sector.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

The pay of NHS staff generally is determined either following the advice of the pay review bodies, or through direct negotiation in the Whitley councils. Arrangements for determining the starting pay for health staff returning to the NHS after service elsewhere, including the private sector, are a matter for those councils or, in the case of the review body groups, for the appropriate negotiating council or committee.

Mr. Dover

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about the arrangements for negotiating pay and conditions of service in hospitals wishing to opt out of the National Health Service.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

Hospitals and other units granted NHS trust status will remain fully part of the NHS. Staff who transfer from health authority to NHS trust employment on establishment of a NHS trust will retain their existing contracts and all rights arising from them, subject to the substitution of the new employer for the old and any consequential technical changes. Once established, it will be for NHS trust management boards to determine the arrangements for negotiating pay and conditions of service of their staff.