§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many chief executives of former health authorities have taken(a) redundancy and (b) early retirement since April. [84590]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 2 December 2002]: Over 20,000 national health service staff were involved in the `Shifting the Balance of Power' (StBOP) reorganisation. 95 health authorities were replaced by 28 strategic health authorities, and in order to keep valuable skills and experience in the NHS, all staff involved in the reorganisation were given a 12-month guarantee of employment up to 31 March 2003.
However, due to a variety of factors, it was recognised that some staff might not be able to gain suitable alternative employment in the NHS. These staff have been allowed to take early retirement or redundancy prior to 31 March 2003. Since April 2002, there has been one redundancy and 20 early retirements that have taken place among the former health authority chief executives.