Mr. CookTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give the amount spent on(a) agency nurses and (b) agency clerical and administrative staff for the latest available year for each district health authority, special health authority and regional health authority and England as a whole.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyInformation derived from annual accounts submitted to the Department for 1988–89 (the latest available) is shown in the table which has been placed in the Library.
As a result of various initiatives achieved or pending such as nurse clinical grading and local pay flexibility for administrative and clerical and other staff groups the total expenditure incurred on agency staff should reduce in the future.
As shown in the table the expenditure is incurred predominately in the Thames regions which together with the special health authorities for the London postgraduate treaching hospitals accounted for some 85 per cent. and 77 per cent. of the England totals for nursing and administrative and clerical staff respectively.