§ Mr. PendryTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list, by district health authority(a) the current nursing staff establishment, (b) the number in post at the latest available date and (c) the number who have left the National Health Service in the preceding year.
§ Mr. MellorI refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson) on 4 July at column152, regarding the number of nursing staff in post.
We do not collect information on nursing staff establishments centrally. We expect to have some information on the number leaving the NHS later this year.
§ Mr. JanmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether decisions have been made on proposals made by health authorities under the pilot scheme for flexible pay supplements for nursing and midwifery staff in 1989–90; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeYes. Regional health authorities are being notified today of the decisions which have been taken on their bids and of their additional financial allocations. Copies of the notifications will be placed in the Library.
District health authorities were invited to bid, through their region, against the sum—not exceeding £5 million—which the Government have made available in 1989–90 for a pilot scheme on flexible pay supplements for nursing and midwifery staff. I received a very positive response. Many authorities welcomed the opportunity to use this scheme to meet particular recruitment and retention difficulties for such staff. In total, I received 157 bids from 10 regions, covering 7,792 posts.
Decisions on the bids were taken by Ministers, following detailed analysis by a small panel of departmental and NHS officials. The main criteria used in assessing the bids were vacancy rates; turnover rates; degree of use of agency/bank staff and of overtime; the impact of these factors on service delivery; non-pay initiatives taken by authorities; and local labour market issues.
Altogether, 116 bids (covering 5,804 posts) were accepted as they stood; 19 bids (1,235 posts) were accepted but reduced in coverage to 963 posts; 9 bids (281 posts) accepted but extended in coverage to 397 posts; and 13 bids (472 posts) were rejected.
The supplements which cover all grades in the clinical structure and which range from £200 to £1,000, are payable from 1 July 1989.
Our evidence to the nurses' pay review body on the future of the scheme will take account of our experience of this first round of bids and of the close monitoring of the effects of the supplements that we are undertaking.
A summary of the bids approved, and their cost, is set out in the table.
471W
Region Number of posts covered Total cost (including on-costs) £ Yorkshire 190 146,926 Trent 333 267,374 East Anglia 998 651,077
Region Number of posts covered Total cost (including on-costs) £ North West Thames 1,621 1,091,058 North East Thames 62 38,530 South East Thames 1,219 959,239 South West Thames 2,067 1,077,027 Oxford 272 213,873 West Midlands 324 188,994 North Western 78 64,935 TOTAL 7,164 4,699,033