Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a 36-hour week for full time NHS staff at no loss of pay.

This specific assessment has not been made.

National Health Service staff covered by the Agenda for Change (AfC) pay system in England work 37.5 hours per week in line with the terms set out in Section 10 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook (TCS), also referred to as the AfC terms and conditions. The NHS Staff Council is responsible for maintaining the handbook. There are no current discussions between Government and the NHS Staff Council about reducing the number of hours full time AfC staff work in England.

The number of full-time hours for medical staff in England as stipulated in their respective TCS is 40 hours. Less than full time options are available to all staff. A flat allowance of £1,000 is received by any less than full time resident doctor, which recognises the relative increased costs of training that doctors training less than full time face as a result of being less than full time.