Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the (a) pay and (b) terms and conditions of public health nurses employed by local authorities will remain comparable to nurses working directly for the NHS.

The pay of public health nurses, who have a contract of employment with a local authority, is determined by the local authority. It is for local authorities to determine the terms and conditions, including pay that will best enable them to recruit, retain and motivate the staff they need.

The Chancellor was explicit that additional funding, above that already factored into the 2015 Spending Round, was tied to major structural reforms to Agenda for Change to help improve recruitment, retention, increase capacity and improve productivity.