§ Mr. RoweTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the impact on voluntary sector organisations which employ nurses of the proposed public sector pay award for nurses. [69010]
§ Mr. DenhamThe Review Body for Nursing Staff, Midwives, Health Visitors and Professions allied to medicine makes recommendations on the remuneration of groups within their remit employed in the National Health Service.
116WVoluntary organisations are responsible for assessing, determining and reviewing their own running costs and it would be inappropriate for the Department to become involved in that process.
§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health which establishments have paid a regular lead to nursing staff in each year since 1970; what was the annual value of the lead; what was its purpose; and if he will make a statement. [69054]
§ Mr. DenhamNational terms and conditions for nursing staff include a range of leads and allowances paid under certain circumstances. Details of all such allowances were set out in Annex 1 of our 1998 evidence to the Review Body for Nursing Staff, Midwives, Health Visitors and Professions Allied to Medicine, copies of which are available in the Library. This included information on the current national rate of payment and a brief description of conditions for payment. Further information on conditions for payment is in the Nursing and Midwifery Staffs Negotiating Council Handbook. The value of leads and allowances each year from 1970 can be found in the Advance Letters issued to the National Health Service, copies of which have been placed in the Library. All NHS bodies which employ nurses on national contracts pay these leads and allowances, if qualifying conditions are met. Since 1994 employers have had the flexibility to increase leads and allowances locally which some NHS trusts have done. In their sixteenth report for 1999, laid before Parliament by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health, the Review Body recommended that London allowance and on-call and stand-by allowance should be increased and urged NHS trusts to increase relevant leads and allowances. The national rate of London allowance will increase by 15.4 per cent. from 1 April 1999 and on-call and stand-by allowance will also be increased by 19 per cent. from 1 April 1999.