Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans NHS England has to reduce the cost of agency staff to the NHS in England.

NHS England will be writing to clinical commissioning groups clarifying their responsibilities in respect of financial controls for agency spend which are due to be implemented from 1 July as set out in the letter from the Department of Health, a copy of which has been attached.

The Government is clear that the current rate of spending is not supporting the best positive outcome for patients. The Secretary of State has announced a comprehensive package of measures to address the problem including:

- setting a maximum hourly rate for doctors and nurses;

- banning the use of agencies that are not approved;

- putting a cap on total agency staff spending for each National Health Service trust in financial difficulty; and

- requiring specific approval for any consultancy contracts over £50,000.

Following the Francis[1] report many trusts increased their spend on temporary staffing to meet safe staffing levels. The Department expects the NHS to have a strong grip on its finances, and manage contract and agency staffing spend responsibly through effective and efficient workforce planning and management.

[1] http://www.midstaffspublicinquiry.com