HC Deb 11 December 1975 vol 902 cc329-30W
Mr. Nicholas Winterton

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many trained and experienced full-time or part-time nurses or ancillary staff have been given notice or put on short-time; how many offers of employment to trained and experienced nurses or ancillary staff have been withdrawn in the Cheshire Area Health Authority and the Macclesfield District of the Cheshire Area Health Authority; and on whose authority.

Mr. Meacher

No such nursing or ancillary staff employed by the Cheshire Area Health Authority have been given notice or put on short-time working. The only district of the Cheshire Area Health Authority in which any offer of employment to nurses or ancillary staff has been withdrawn is Macclesfield, where two offers of employment to trained nurses—one verbal, one in writing—have been withdrawn. This was on the authority of the district management team under powers delegated by the area health authority.

There is no obligation on the part of any area health authority to employ newly qualified nurses in the area or district within which they have trained and such nurses are free to apply for posts anywhere in the country. However, of the 20 nurses who have recently qualified in Macclesfield, 16 have been offered posts in the district.