§ Mr. Shepherdasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if she will set out in the Official Report the numbers of employees in the direct employ of the National Health Service who were employed in an administrative capacity on 31st March 1949, 1974 and 1975;
(2) if she will set out in the Official Report the estimated total salary bill 467W of those employees in the direct employ of the NHS who were employed in an administrative capacity for the year ended 31st March 1949, 1973, 1974 and 1975.
§ Dr. OwenReturns of National Health Service staff are normally collected to show the position as at 30th September each year. The latest available figures relate to the number of employees at the end of September 1973, when there were 11,339 staff in administrative grades employed in the former regional hospital boards, hospital management committees, boards of governors, executive councils and other National Health Service bodies in England—on a whole-time equivalent basis. I regret that comparable figures for 1949, and the numbers of staff administering the former local authority health services, are not available. Costs are not collected centrally in regard to administrative staff alone; they relate to administrative and clerical, with other similar staff groups, as a whole.