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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what formal role Health Education England has played in his Department’s engagement and meetings with the BMA and other health care unions in developing the new proposed junior doctors and consultant contracts.

Ben Gummer

Health Education England (HEE) was not formally represented in negotiations: the two parties to the negotiations were employers (from each of the four United Kingdom countries) and the British Medical Association.

A Director of Postgraduate Hospital Training and a Director of Postgraduate GP Education were involved in negotiations, and remain involved with the development of a new contract. Whilst they are employees of HEE, their role has been to provide educational advice to the management side (employers) as representatives of the Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans (UK) and the Committee of General Practice Education Directors (UK). They have attended a range of meetings in that capacity, including the management side meetings and the negotiating meetings that took place roughly every fortnight from October 2013 to October 2014.

Representatives from HEE also attended other meetings where there were updates on contract reform, including NHS Employers’ quarterly Medical Workforce Forum; and other less formal meetings at which contract reform was discussed, including regular update meetings with the hon. Member, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the Government and NHS employers have involved Health Education England in the planning and negotiation of the new junior doctors contract.

Ben Gummer

Health Education England (HEE) was not formally represented in negotiations: the two parties to the negotiations were employers (from each of the four United Kingdom countries) and the British Medical Association.

A Director of Postgraduate Hospital Training and a Director of Postgraduate GP Education were involved in negotiations, and remain involved with the development of a new contract. Whilst they are employees of HEE, their role has been to provide educational advice to the management side (employers) as representatives of the Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans (UK) and the Committee of General Practice Education Directors (UK). They have attended a range of meetings in that capacity, including the management side meetings and the negotiating meetings that took place roughly every fortnight from October 2013 to October 2014.

Representatives from HEE also attended other meetings where there were updates on contract reform, including NHS Employers’ quarterly Medical Workforce Forum; and other less formal meetings at which contract reform was discussed, including regular update meetings with the hon. Member, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the Government and NHS employers plan to supplement junior doctors’ salaries for (a) residential and (b) non-residential on call duties in the proposed new contract for junior doctors.

Ben Gummer

The concepts of “residential” and “non-residential” on-call do not exist in the current contract for doctors and dentists in training, nor will they exist in the new contract arrangements being proposed. These are colloquial terms used to refer to some of the current working arrangements, which include on-call rotas, partial shifts, full shifts and some hybrid arrangements.

Currently there are pay banding supplements, on top of basic salary, the levels of which are determined by working hours and patterns.

Under the proposals for a new contract, banding supplements will end. In their place will be increased basic pay, plus proportionate pay for additional hours, with a premium rate of pay for hours worked in the unsocial hours period. There will also be on-call availability supplements for being on an on-call rota, i.e. being available to return to work but not expected to be on-site for the whole period. These supplements will be a percentage of pay, of different values depending on the frequency of the on-call commitment.

These proposals are – as in other respects – substantially the same as those agreed when the hon. Member was a Minister.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what criteria the Government and NHS employers will use to distinguish between residential and non-residential on call duties in the proposed new contract for junior doctors.

Ben Gummer

The concepts of “residential” and “non-residential” on-call do not exist in the current contract for doctors and dentists in training, nor will they exist in the new contract arrangements being proposed. These are colloquial terms used to refer to some of the current working arrangements, which include on-call rotas, partial shifts, full shifts and some hybrid arrangements.

Currently there are pay banding supplements, on top of basic salary, the levels of which are determined by working hours and patterns.

Under the proposals for a new contract, banding supplements will end. In their place will be increased basic pay, plus proportionate pay for additional hours, with a premium rate of pay for hours worked in the unsocial hours period. There will also be on-call availability supplements for being on an on-call rota, i.e. being available to return to work but not expected to be on-site for the whole period. These supplements will be a percentage of pay, of different values depending on the frequency of the on-call commitment.

These proposals are – as in other respects – substantially the same as those agreed when the hon. Member was a Minister.