NHS Executive

HC Deb 13 January 1995 vol 252 cc258-9W

Mrs. Beckett

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff were relocated from London to NHS executive headquarters in Leeds in the past three years; and what was the total cost of relocation expenses paid.

Mr. Sackville

A total of 482 staff in the national health service executive and 40 in the NHS Estates agency relocated to Leeds on permanent transfer terms. £11.76 million was paid in relocation expenses.

Mrs. Beckett

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of the 200 staff to be made redundant at the NHSE headquarters in Leeds were relocated to Leeds in the previous three years; and what are the estimate severance and redundancy payments to these staff.

Mr. Sackville

It is the intention to reduce staff in the national health service executive by around 200 by 1 April 1997. We hope to avoid any compulsory redundancies, through early retirement and natural wastage. I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) on 29 November 1994,Official Report, column 586.