§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has any proposals which could alter employment rights, pay and working conditions of midwives; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyRecommendations on pay for nurses and midwives are put forward each year by the independent pay review body for nursing staff, midwives, health visitors and professions allied to medicine. Conditions of service are negotiated in the nursing and midwifery staffs negotiating council and the general Whitley council. We have no proposals to alter these arrangements.
Under the Government's proposals for reform of the National Health Service as described in the White Paper "Working for Patients", National Health Service trusts will be free to settle the pay and conditions of their staff, including midwives. They will be able to follow national agreements or adopt partly or wholly different arrangements.
Staff who transfer from health authority to National Health Service trust employment will retain their existing contracts and all rights arising from them, subject to 729W substitution of the new employer for the old and any consequential technical changes. It will be open to National Health Service trusts to seek to introduce changes in existing contracts at any time after transfer.