§ Mr. Rymanasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the number of clinical academic posts which have been frozen or withdrawn over the past five years.
§ Mr. WaldenInformation on numbers of academic posts frozen or withdrawn is not collected by Government Departments. A survey report by the University Hospitals Association and the National Association of Health Authorities, published in September 1985, indicated that a total of 279 clinical academic posts were abolished or frozen in the three academic years 1981–82 to 1983–84 in England and Wales, with 49 posts unfrozen and 78 new posts established, giving a net loss over the three years of 152. Of the new posts established, 31 were under the University Grants Committee's new blood scheme; a further 65 such new posts were established in 1984–85 and 1985–86. There has also been a significant increase in the numbers of clinical academic posts funded, in whole or in part, other than from university general funds.
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§ Mr. Rymanasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has about difficulties in recruiting clinical academic staff and as to the causes of those difficulties.
§ Mr. WaldenParity between the pay of university clinical staff and their counterparts in the NHS has existed since 1968. The delay in translating the 1985 NHS doctors and dentists pay award to clinical academic staff in universities resulted in a number of letters from staff at universities with medical schools which claimed that the situation was affecting recruitment. That correspondence ended in February when the Government agreed that clinical academics' pay, should in principle be linked to NHS doctors' pay, which is settled following DDRB recommendations; and that the universities will not be given less favourable treatment than the hospital and community Health Service in any decisions to provide additional funds to meet additional costs arising from DDRB pay awards.