§ Baroness FAITHFULLasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will state how many non-medical staff were employed in the National Health Service in each of the seven years 1970–1976.
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLThe whole-time equivalent of staff other than doctors and dentists employed in the National Health Service in Great Britain was:
1971* 718,707 1972* 748,600 1973* 758,164 1974 772,598 1975 824,384 *Figures for 1971–3 exclude community health services staff and certain common services staff in Scotland: they include social workers, responsibility for whose employment was transferred from the NHS to local social services authorities on 1st April 1974.
838WAI regret that comparable figures for 1970 are not readily available and that 1976 figures are not yet available. Figures are at 30th September each year. A fuller analysis of these figures will appear in the 1976 edition of Health and Personal Social Services Statistics to be published shortly.