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 estimate of the average cost to the public purse of one band 5 nursing hour supplied by (a) On-framework staffing agencies and (b) Off-framework staffing agencies at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust in each year since 2019.

The Department does not hold the data requested.

The Government is committed to reducing off-framework agency use, the cost of which is at a premium, above the agreed framework rates. Additionally, staff hired through off-framework agencies are not subject to the same pre-employment checks as those carried out by on-framework agencies. Off-framework use is actively monitored through NHS England’s governance mechanisms, with additional oversight applied to trusts with recurring non-compliance.

The NHS Planning Guidance 2025/26 states that trusts should reduce their agency spend by a minimum of 30%, and the accompanying Revenue Finance and Contracting Guidance sets the ambition that agency spend should be eliminated in the coming years.