§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services which regional health authorities have cut 422W more jobs than necessary under targets set in March 1983; and by how much these regional health authorities have cut jobs in excess of the target level.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe manpower targets settled with regional health authorities in September 1983 relate to March 1984. No judgment can be made on the relationship between targets and numbers in post until the staff in post figures for 31 March become available. The targets are intended as an aid to the better and more cost-effective use of manpower. There can be no such concept as cutting "more jobs than necessary" so long as the necessary standard of service to patients is provided in an efficient way. The targets should certainly not be regarded as a minimum number of staff posts that have to be provided whatever the needs of the service.
The latest available figures relate to 31 December 1983, and are as follows:
Non-medical staff in post at 31 December 1983* Regional Health Authority Whole-time equivalents 1. Northern 51,310 2. Yorkshire 58,040 3. Trent 70,190 4. East Anglian 28,690 5. N W Thames 54,710 6. N E Thames 68,940 7. S E Thames 61,930 8. S W Thames 47,140 9. Wessex 41,710 10. Oxford 31,900 11. South Western 50,450 12. West Midlands 79,780 13. Mersey 41,990 14. North Western 71,300 Notes:
1. Excludes all medical and dental staff for whom no December count is make.
2. Excludes agency nursing and midwifery staff.
3. All figures are independently rounded to the nearest 10 whole-time equivalent.
* Provisional.