§ Mr. Geoffrey Finsbergasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the total manpower by National Health Service region on 1 January 1979 and 1 January 1983; and if he will show by the same regional breakdown the reductions in manpower he has recently requested.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeInformation is not available in precisely the form required. Comprehensive manpower data are collected at 30 September each year. In addition to this, since December 1982, there has been a quarterly count made of non-medical manpower in the NHS. The following table gives total manpower in each regional health authority at the closest available dates to those requested in the question.
The table also shows the changes required by each region between 31 March 1983 and 31 March 1984.
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NHS Directly Employed Staff: England (Whole Time Equivalents) Region Staff in Post* at 30 September 1978 Staff in Post* at 31 March 1983 Change in manpower required between 31 March 1983 and 31 March 1984 Northern 49,100 54,100 -186 Yorkshire 56,400 61,900 -264 Trent 65,400 74,000 +520 East Anglian 26,500 29,900 +374 North West Thames 56,800 59,600 -1,000 North East Thames 67,100 73,700 -1,200 South East Thames 64,500 66,400 -1,081 South West Thames 47,500 50,100 -730 Wessex 38,400 43,900 +40 Oxford 31,000 34,000 +229 South Western 49,000 53,000 -124 West Midlands 75,700 84,100 -140 Mersey 43,400 44,800 -506 North Western 66,700 76,200 -562 * Locum medical and dental staff and agency nursing and midwifery staff are excluded. All figures rounded to the nearest 100.