§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what were the data on which he based his allocation to Trent regional health authority of additional resources to meet the full cost of the nurses' pay award; what representations he has received on the adequacy of the sum allocated; what changes there have been to those data; if he will meet the chairman of the regional health authority to discuss the funding of the pay award; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. Currie[holding answer 18 July 1988]: Health authorities generally have welcomed this year's review body pay awards and the additional funds made available. Both have been discussed in the course of the regular meetings Ministers have with regional chairmen.
The additional sums provided were to meet the cost of the recommendations made by the pay review bodies for nurses and midwives, doctors and dentists and the 367W professions allied to medicine. The sum available to regional health authorities has been allocated in proportion to their 1988–89 initial revenue cash limits and in the form of a single cash limit adjustment. Trent regional health authority's share of this extra funding was £43.1 million.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimate he has of the possible shortfall in funding of the nurses' pay award in the North Western regional health authority as a result of the distribution of the sums allocated by his Department; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. Currie[holding answer 18 July 1988]: The clinical regrading exercise, which forms a major part of this year's pay award to nurses and midwives, will not be completed until 31 October. It is too early to predict the final outcome for any individual health authority.