Pay Review Bodies (Hansard, 17 January 2000)

§ Mr. Milburn

I am responding on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the reports of the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration (DDRB) and the Review Body on Nursing staff, Midwives, Health Visitors and Professions Allied to Medicine (NPRB), which are published today. I understand that a similar announcement is being made by the First Minister and the Minister for Health and Community Care in Scotland. Copies of the reports are286W available in the Vote Office and the Library. I am grateful to the chairmen and members of both Review Bodies for their hard work.

Nurses are to receive another big real terms increase in pay and, for the second year in succession, the award is being paid in full, with no staging. The NPRB have recommended an across the board increase of 3.4 per cent. for nurses, midwives and health visitors with bigger targeted increases for specific groups. About 60,000 Grade E nurses on the scale maximum will get a total increase of 7.8 per cent., worth an extra £1,390 a year, to improve career progression and reward skill acquisition and experience. Another 5,500 enrolled and auxiliary nurses in Grade C will receive total increases of 7 per cent., worth an extra £975 a year. London allowances, stand-by and on-call allowances will also rise by 3.4 per cent. This means that an experienced staff nurse in London will earn basic pay of £22,250; and elsewhere £19,220, with allowances and enhancements typically worth £2,000 on top of this.

The NPRB have also recommended across the board increases of 3.4 per cent. for physiotherapists, radiographers and other professions allied to medicine (PAMs). In addition about 4,500 experienced staff in the Senior 2 grade will receive total increases worth between 8.1 per cent. and 8.4 per cent., to improve career progression for experienced staff at the top of their scale. The maximum of the scale for Senior 2 grade PAMs will be £21,290. London allowances, stand-by and on-call allowances will also rise by 3.4 per cent.

The Government have decided to accept all the NPRB pay recommendations for 2000–01, with no staging. The across the board settlement of 3.4 per cent. for nurses and other NPRB remit groups is high when set against the current headline inflation rate and more than we are expecting for pay settlements in the public sector generally. However, National Health Service staff deserve a fair pay award, especially after coping so magnificently with huge pressures over the past few weeks. Moreover, we are still having to tackle the nursing recruitment and retention problems inherited as a direct consequence of the last Government's failure. This year's settlement will build on last year's large awards. Taken together, the great majority of Grade D and E nurses—the backbone of the service, who deliver hands-on patient care—will have received very significant pay increases which both recognise and value their contribution to the NHS.

Last year's pay awards gave a big boost to the success of the nurses' recruitment campaign which we launched in February 1999. Already over 5,000 nurses have returned or are set to do so after completing refresher training, and numbers taking up nursing degree and diploma courses have increased by 24 per cent. and 18 per cent. respectively. There has also been a sharp increase in male applications and in applications from the ethnic minority communities. But we are not stopping there and are determined to build on this success in our 2000 campaign to be launched next month. These awards will provide a welcome boost.

The Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body (DDRB) has recommended an overall increase of 3.3 per cent. for salaried doctors and dentists and in the pay element of fees for general medical and general dental practitioners. In addition to the 3.3 per cent. increase, consultants will also start to receive from 1 April 2000 the increases 287W flowing through from the £50 million recommended by DDRB last year in recognition of their workload, work intensity and commitment to the NHS. These increases are worth a further 3 per cent. on their pay bill and will take two forms. First, changes to the discretionary point arrangements means that there will be over 2,400 extra awards available (worth over £2,500 each), making almost 5,600 in total, while the number of consultants eligible to receive awards will increase from 12,600 to almost 16,000. Second, there will be a new scheme to recognise consultants working in the most intense posts. For junior doctors the 3.3 per cent. increase is over and above the money already on the table in our current negotiations on their new contract; from October 2000, this would add 6 per cent. to their paybill in the first 12 months.

General dental practitioners will also benefit from a £20 million package to recognise experience and quality and to reward past and present commitment to NHS dentistry. This will give a big boost to the Government's dental strategy and to improve access to NHS dentistry.

The contribution of all staff will be crucial if we are to maintain and improve the quality of patient care and to modernise the NHS. These pay awards, which build on the platform set by last year's increases, reflect a proper balance between the pay needed to recruit, retain and motivate staff and the needs of modern service delivery and patient care.