§ Mr. Hordernasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish a table showing the number of doctors, nurses, technicians and administrators employed in the National Health Service at the latest convenient date, and in each of the last five years, on the same basis as the table in Appendix 1 on page 97 of the December 1981 issue of Economic Trends.
§ Mr. FowlerThe figures quoted inEconomic Trends are taken from a return made for the Department of Employment by all National Health Service employing authorities. They represent a head count of all employees and do not distinguish the various staff groups.
I can, however, provide details of the numbers of directly employed NHS staff in England by staff group from our own manpower censuses for each year between 1975 and 1980 showing both the numbers of full-time and part-time employees and the whole-time equivalent figures, which are generally regarded as a more reliable measure of NHS manpower. The information is set out in the following table:
115Wand occasional sessional staff in the Community Health Services. Figures from the first two columns for each year.
‡Included agency nurses and HV students. Excludes students nurses (Community).
• In 1980 the working week for nursing and midwifery staff was reduced calculated on the basis of a 371/2 hour week and a strict comparison with the nursing and midwifery figures for previous years is not therefore possible.
§ Mr. Hordernasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will give the cost of wages and salaries in the National Health Service in each of the last five years; and how much of these increases arose from automatic increments as opposed to wage awards;
(2) if he will publish the cost of wages and salaries in the National Health Service in each of the last five years, distinguishing between increases paid by annual increments and those paid through negotiated settlements, and the proportion that wage and salary costs bear of total expenditure in the National Health Service in each year.
§ Mr. FowlerThe total gross cost of salaries and wages in the National Health Service in England for each of the five years is given below. Information on the effect of annual increments is not available, whilst information available on pay awards cannot readily be applied in the context of this question.
Wages and Salaries Gross Cost Proportion of Total Expenditure £million Per cent. 1976–77 2,716 70.4 1977–78 2,948 69.2 1978–79 3,308 68.9 1979–80 4,027 69.8 1980–81 5,286 70.8 Notes
1.The figures are derived from accounts submitted by health authorities, including the dental estimates board and prescription pricing authority.
2.The wages and salaries figures include employers' national insurance and superannuation contributions, but not the fees paid to practitioners in the Family Practitioner Services.
3.The total expenditure figures used in calculating the percentages include both capital and revenue expenditure other than the cost of the Family Practitioner Services.