§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the salary of a senior nursing officer grade 1 in January 1972, May 1979, and the latest date for which figures are available; and what pension would be paid if retirement had taken place in 1973, 1979 or 1981 (a) currently and (b) in 1990, assuming present inflation rates.
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§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThe salary ranges for a senior nursing officer grade 1 at the dates requested were as follows:
Minimum Maximum £ £ April 1972*—Effective from 1 April 1972 2,160 2,601 May 1979—Effective from 1 April 1979 5,060 5,883 January 1982—Effective from 1 April 1981 7,280 8,462 *Criteria for the grade were not agreed until late in 1971.
Retirement benefits under the NHS superannuation scheme depend on length of service, superannuable earnings in the most beneficial of the last three years of service and a variety of other relevant factors which can be precisely determined only in relation to individual circumstances. However, for the purposes of illustration, the following table gives appropriate comparisons for senior nursing officers who had 10, 25 and 40 years' service, respectively. The hypothetical examples taken also assume that the senior nursing officers had been on the maximum salaries aforementioned for 12 months.
Retirement Date Length of Rate of pension Service At 31 March At 31 March 1982 1990* £ £ 31 March 1973 (a) 10 years 1,106 2,738 (b) 25 years 2,766 6,848 (c) 40 years 4,425 10,956 31 March 1980 (a) 10 years 1,050 2,599 (b) 25 years 2,626 6,501 (c) 40 years 4,202 10,404 31 March 1982 (a) 10 years 1,057 2,523 (b) 25 years 2,644 6,312 (c) 40 years 4,231 10,102 *It is current practice to award pensions increase annually in November. These figures assume a continuation of that practice and continuation of the 1981 rate of movement in the RPI—12 per cent.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much has been spent on research into nurses' education for each of the last five years; how much is being planned for the current and the next financial year; and what percentage of his Department's research budget this represents in each case.
§ Dr. VaughanThe amounts spent by the Department in the years 1976–77 to 1980–81 on research into nurses' education were as follows:
£000 1976–77 27.7 1977–78 44.5 1978–79 91.3 1979–80 200.2 1980–81 309.9 Estimated expenditure in 1981–82 and 1982–83 is £414,000 and £343,000 respectively: 3 per cent. and 2.6 per cent. of the health and personal social services and social security research budgets for those years.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many researchers into nursing education have been employed by his Department for each of the last five years; how many there are in the current year; and what proposals he has for the funding of this research and the employment of researchers for next year.
§ Dr. VaughanThe Department does not directly employ any researchers in nursing education, but the196W following table gives, for each of the years, the number of those researchers supported in universities and other research centres on contracts financed from the Department's research funds.
Number of researchers 1976 4 1977–78 8 1978–79 9 1979–80 14 1980–81 18 1981–82 20 For 1982–83 the estimated expenditure on research in nursing education is £343,000 and 10 researchers will continue to be supported. Project contracts, involving seven researchers at the Joint Board of Clinical Nursing Studies, Surrey University and London University Institute of Education will come to an end, because of financial constraints. The Department has no present plans to finance further new research in nursing education in 1982–83 but the position will be kept under review.