§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give, for each district health authority, regional health authority and special health authority, and the total for England as a whole(a) the number of agency midwives employed and (b) the amount spent on agency midwives in the latest available year, for the previous year and for 1979.
§ Mr. NewtonThe number of agency midwifery staff in each region, special health authority and England at September 1979, 1985 and 1986 is given in the table. Similar information for September 1987 is not yet available. Information by district health authority is available only from 1982 and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Expenditure specifically for agency midwives is not available centrally.
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NHS midwifery agency staff: 30 September Whole-time equivalents1 Region 1979 1985 1986 Northern 2 — — Yorkshire — 1 1 Trent — — — East Anglian 4 6 1 North West Thames 30 58 31 North East Thames 43 66 130 South East Thames 62 81 94 South West Thames 49 26 26 Wessex 2 3 —
Region 1979 1985 1986 Oxford 3 — — South Western 16 1 — West Midlands 9 4 10 Mersey — — 2 North Western — — — London Postgraduate Special Health Authorities 12 15 8 England: Total l21 261 303 Source: DHSS Annual census of NHS non-medical manpower. 1 Figures are independently rounded to the nearest whole-time equivalent.