§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many nursing vacancies there were in each NHS trust in each of the last five years. [6379]
§ Mr. GalbraithOnly a few trusts were in existence five years ago. Information on vacancies at Scotland level is available in the 14th and previous reports of the Review Body for Nursing Staff, Midwives, Health Visitors and Professions Allied to Medicine at Appendix D, Table 4 (Cm 3538), a copy of which is available in the House Library.
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many newly qualified nurses there were in each of the last five years. [6380]
§ Mr. GalbraithThe information is set out in the table.
Student nurses completed training 1992–93 to 1996–97 Nurses in training 1992 courses (P2000)1 1992–93 3,136 — 1993–94 3,020 — 1994–95 2,608 — 1995–96 614 1,460 1996–972 388 1,622 Notes:
1 In 1992 new courses for training nurses were introduced. Students are no longer NHS employees but have student status and receive bursaries. The "old" courses were gradually phased out as the last of these students passed through over the next few years.
2 These figures are provisional and unpublished.
Source:
National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting for Scotland.
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the number and percentage of nurses who are on temporary contracts, indicating the proportion of nurses on contracts of one year or less. [6382]
381W
§ Mr. GalbraithInformation at a current date could not be obtained other than at disproportionate costs. Most recent data available from 1996 suggested that overall only 5¼ per cent. of nurses were on temporary contracts.