Oral Answers to Questions

Marsha De Cordova Excerpts

Tuesday 10th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Christian Matheson (City of Chester) (Lab)]

8. What assessment he has made of the effect of the public sector pay cap on staffing levels in the NHS.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

11. What assessment he has made of the effect of the public sector pay cap on staffing levels in the NHS.

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

NHS staff do a fantastic job in tough circumstances, and pay restraint has been challenging for many of them. However, given the financial pressures, it is also true that the NHS would not have been able to recruit an additional 30,000 staff since May 2010 without the cap.

[Mr Hunt]

As I said in my previous answer, without pay restraint we would not have 11,300 more doctors in the NHS and 11,300 more nurses on our wards. The hon. Gentleman will know that we recognise that it was not sustainable to carry on with the 1% rise going forward, which is why we have been given the leeway to have more flexible negotiations next year.

[Marsha De Cordova]

Hospital wards and GP surgeries are chronically understaffed, and the knock-on effect is that waiting lists are spiralling out of control. Is it not in the best interests of patients to scrap the pay cap so that the NHS can be run with the relevant number of staff in place?

[Mr Hunt]

I welcome what I think is my first question from the hon. Lady, and I can give her some good news: the pay cap has been scrapped.