§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will consider seeking powers to uprate the pensions of pre-1973 service widows to bring them into line with widows' pensions post that year; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonWar widows' pensions paid by the Department are at the same rate regardless of the date of death of the service man, and we have no plans to change this.
§ Mr. Weetchasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will set out in the Official Report the financial benefits received by widows of husbands killed on active service in Northern Ireland and those widowed as a result of world war 2 and the Korean war.
§ Mr. StanleyI have been asked to reply.
The rates of benefit currently received are as follows. Where there could be eligible children the rates for these are also shown. All rates will be increased by 3.7 per cent. from 21 November 1983.
Ratio of hospital nursing and midwifery staff (whole-time equivalents) per 1,000 patients (inpatient discharges and deaths plus hospital day cases) 1979 1980 1981 Nursing and Midwifery sisters 7.8 7.4 7.6 Staff Nurses and Midwives 7.5 7.6 8.1 Senior Enrolled and Enrolled? Nurses 9.0 8.9 9.5 Unqualified staff (including learner nurses and student midwives) 26.2 25.6 26.1 Note: Agency Staff are excluded.
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many nurses were under training in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 and at the latest available date.
77W
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe figures supplied by the General Nursing Council for England and Wales show that the average number of nurse learners in training during the years ending 31 March were as follows:
Numbers 1979 78,816 1980 78,286 1981 77,215 1982 78,072 1983 78,590
Ratio of hospital nursing and midwifery staff (whole-time equivalents) per 1,000 patients (inpatient discharges and deaths plus hospital day cases) Region Nursing and Midwifery Sisters Staff Nurses and Midwives Senior Enrolled and Enrolled Nurses Unqualified staff (including 'earner nurses and student midwives) Northern 6.8 8.6 10.9 23.6 Yorkshire 7.1 7.0 9.6 25.6 Trent 7.3 7.2 10.3 27.4 East Anglia 6.4 8.5 7.6 25.0 North West Thames 8.2 10.8 9.1 24.2 North East Thames 6.9 8.5 9.0 27.3 South East Thames 7.3 9.4 9.0 26.0 South West Thames 9.0 10.3 10.2 28.2 Wessex 7.0 8.8 7.9 26.3 Oxford 7.2 8.0 7.3 24.3 South Western 7.9 10.0 10.1 27.3 West Midlands 8.2 6.4 10.2 29.1 Mersey 9.2 6.1 11.3 28.1 North Western 7.8 5.7 8.9 24.8 Average 14 Regions 7.6 8.1 9.5 26.3 Boards of Governors 6.4 12.1 10.2 13.6 England Average 7.6 8.1 9.5 26.1 Note: Agency staff are excluded.
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now make it his practice to collect statistics on the number of trained nurses out of employment; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe Department is not in a position to collect statistics on the number of trained nurses out of employment.