Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many times the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has met the NHS Staff Council since 1 January.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Minister of State for Health meet regularly with individual Agenda for Change (AfC) trade union leaders and with representatives of NHS organisations to discuss matters affecting the NHS workforce.

It is not usual practice for Ministers to attend NHS Staff Council meetings, which are used to discuss policy issues affecting the AfC workforce and to maintain the NHS terms and conditions of service. Accordingly, there have been no meetings between the Secretary of State and the NHS Staff Council as a whole since 1 January.

Both ministers have written to the NHS Staff Council on issues relating to AfC pay, terms, and conditions since 1 January, and Department officials continue to attend meetings of the NHS Staff Council.