§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the(a) rate and (b) number of vacancies for consultant psychiatrists in (i) England and (ii) each strategic health authority in each of the last six years. [144291]
§ Mr. HuttonThe information requested has been placed in the Library. Vacancy rates have only been collected by the Department since March 1999. For March 1999 to 2000 data was collected for the whole psychiatry group only. From 2001 to 2003, data is available by psychiatric speciality. These data have been provided by health authority and regional office from 1999 to 2001 and by strategic health authority and Government office from March 2002.