§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of the regulator of NHS foundation trusts will be for each of the next three years. [171262]
§ Mr. HuttonThe provisional amount in parliamentary estimates that has been allocated to the office of the independent regulator for 2004–05 is £5 million. Negotiations on the actual amount of the budget for 2004–05 are nearing completion. The office of the independent regulator is currently classified by the Cabinet Office as an executive non-departmental public body of the Department, and therefore for future financial years the Department will allocate funds based on costed business plans provided by the chairman of the independent regulator each year for inclusion in the departmental vote.
The chairman of the independent regulator is the accounting officer and is responsible for ensuring that the public funds for which he is responsible are properly managed and safeguarded, and are used in line with the regulator's statutory functions and responsibilities. This includes a duty to exercise functions effectively, efficiently and economically.
800W
§ Mr. HuttonThe number of doctors employed in the national health service by country of qualification for each of the last three years is shown in the table.
The Department does not collect information on the number of nurses employed in the NHS who trained abroad. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) holds information on the number of overseas nurses entering the register each year. This information can be found on the NMC website at www.nmc-uk.org.