HC Deb 24 May 1995 vol 260 cc599-600W
Mrs. Beckett

To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to her answer of 2 May,Official Report column 713, what projected savings in staff costs will result from the estimated cost of £500,000 for the financial year 1994–95 for the National Health Service Executive support programme for the introduction of local pay. [25898]

Mr. Malone

The purpose of the introduction of local pay throughout the health service, facilitated by this support programme, is to provide more flexible working, to redeploy finite resources and to target them more closely on improvements in the quality and quantity of healthcare. The support programme is designed to facilitate the spread of good practice developed by trusts which have made significant progress in developing local pay schemes for different staff groups.