§ Mr. WallaceTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what rate of pay increases have been negotiated for 1995–96 in respect of nurses and other employees subject to Whitley Council pay rates who are in the employment of Orkney health board and Shetland health board; and if he will make a statement [238]
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 21 November 1995]: Hospital doctors and dentists were awarded increases of 2.5 per cent. with the facility for further increases to be negotiated locally for those in the consultant grade. These enhanced rates have been in payment since April 1995.
Agreement has recently been reached that nurses and all other staff employed by health boards, except general and senior managers, will be awarded a pay increase of 2.5 per cent. on national rates, backdated to 1 April 1995, with the opportunity for further increases to be negotiated locally.
These increases apply to all staff not employed in NHS trusts and form part of a package which has, I am pleased to say, brought an end to the dispute over the 1995 pay award to NHS staff.