§ Dr. GodmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his estimate of the number of agency nurses employed in the National Health Service in Scotland in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythInformation about agency nurses is collected twice yearly and the average whole-time equivalent for the quarter ending 30 September in each of the last five years is as follows:
Year Whole-time equivalent 1985 79.8 1986 144.7 1987 193.0 1988 237.7 1989 128.4 Information is collected centrally only on the whole time equivalent of agency nurses employed in the National Health Service.