Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average cost to the public purse per day is of agency staff employed through (a) NHS Professionals Ltd. and (b) the private sector.

NHS Professionals does not employ or supply agency staff. Its business consists of the supply of bank workers, many of whom also have substantive jobs with National Health Service organisations. Bank staff rates of pay are broadly comparable with standard NHS pay scales.

The Department does not calculate the average cost per day of agency staff employed through the private sector. In 2015/16 NHS trusts spent £3.7 billion on agency workers.

The Department has introduced a package of measures to support trusts to reduce their use of agency staff, including price caps limiting the amount a trust can pay to an agency for a temporary member of staff. The measures have had a significant impact – across the country trusts are using the price caps to negotiate lower rates and secure a better deal for taxpayers. The NHS spent £300 million less than it was projected to in 2015/16 with further savings forecast for the current financial year.