HC Deb 07 July 1994 vol 246 c311W
Ms Primarolo

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to introduce performance-relaied pay into her Department and the NHS executive.

Dr. Mawhinney

All staff in the Department are now covered by performance pay arrangements, the first of which was introduced in 1992.

Ms Primarolo

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will make a statement on performance-related pay;

(2) what research she has commissioned into (a) the cost of implementing performance-related pay in the NHS and (b) the benefits of performance-related pay;

(3) what plans she has to introduce performance-related pay into the NHS; and which employers will be affected.

Dr. Mawhinney

General and senior managers and certain other national health service staff already benefit from performance-related pay. The freedom of trusts increasingly to determine the pay and conditions of their own staff is an important way of making services more responsive to local needs. We are therefore encouraging the introduction of local pay arrangements linked to the success of the organisation in meeting its objectives to improve the quality and quantity of patient care. Any additiional costs would be offest by increased efficiency.