Tag: Kevin Foster

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Foster on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed new junior doctors’ contract on ensuring safe working hours.

Mr Philip Dunne

The new contract includes stronger limits on working hours and patterns of work and a robust oversight mechanism to ensure that prompt action is taken if needed. This will be an integral part of how trusts meet their statutory obligations to keep staff and patients safe. Required action includes a review of work schedules to ensure safe working, payment for additional work done and fines where the limits in the contract are breached. There are no such protections under the current contract. For instance, at present, junior doctors can be asked to work up to 91 hours a week, up to seven night shifts in a row and every weekend under the current contract. The Guardian of Safe Working Hours will be tasked with ensuring that rotas reflect the hours that juniors work and they are within the new contractual limits.

These limits under the new contract are a maximum of 72 hours per week (compared to 91 currently), and the limit on average weekly hours will remain 48 hours (and be limited to 56 hours where a doctor opts out of the Working Time Regulations).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Foster on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much basic pay will increase for each grade under the proposed new junior doctors’ contract.

Mr Philip Dunne

Pay for Foundation 1 doctors will be 15% higher than the current basic starting salary.

Pay for Foundation 2 doctors will be 8% higher than the current basic starting salary.

The new basic starting salary for Specialty Registrars at ST1 will be 19% higher than the current basic starting salary.

The salary for those at ST3 will be 32% higher than the current pay point for those progressing through training without delay.

The overall increase for all juniors is over 10%.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Foster on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many guardians of safe working have been appointed to NHS organisations; and what the responsibilities will be of those roles.

Mr Philip Dunne

177 out of 217 trusts had appointed Guardians of Safe Working Hours as at 4 September 2016, with interim arrangements in place in a further 14 trusts; meaning 88% have arrangements in place. NHS Improvement is aiming for appointments or interim arrangements to be in place for all 217 shortly.

The Guardian of Safe Working Hours will act as the champion of safe working hours for doctors in approved training programmes and ensure that action is taken to ensure that the working hours within the trust are safe. They will provide assurance to the trust board or equivalent body that doctors are safely rostered and are working hours that are safe and in compliance with the Terms and Conditions of Service (TCS). The Guardians will also record and monitor compliance with the restrictions on working hours stipulated in the TCS, through receipt and review of all exception reports in respect of safe working hours.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Foster on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average earning rate is of graduates who studied medicine 10 years after graduation; and if he will make a comparative assessment of that level of earning with the average earning rate of (a) all, (b) mathematics and computer science, (c) law, (d) economics and (e) nursing, midwifery and physiotherapy graduates.

Mr Philip Dunne

A study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in April 2016 looked at graduate earnings 10 years after graduation.

Only economics and medicine graduates are outliers with much higher earnings than would be expected given A-level performance as compared with their peers in other subjects.

Selected graduate earnings (£000s) by subject of degree (includes those without earnings)

	Female	Male
	Percentile			Percentile
	20th	50th	90th	20th	50th	90th
Medicine	23.7	45.4	68.8	33.0	55.3	84.7
Maths and computer science	3.3	22.0	53.3	6.4	26.8	57.5
Law	4.8	26.2	62.8	3.5	30.1	79.5
Economics	20.3	38.2	93.9	6.6	42.0	121.4
Subjects allied to medicine	4.2	22.1	40.6	7.1	27.9	49.1

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Foster on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of consultants earn above (a) £100,000, (b) £125,000, (c) £150,000 and (e) £175,000 per annum.

Mr Philip Dunne

The figures for 2015 are shown below.

These relate to the earnings of consultants employed by the NHS Hospital and Community Health Service in England, and are based on NHS Earnings Estimates published by NHS Digital.

Annual Earnings	Percentage Earning More
£100,000	66%
£125,000	33%
£150,000	14%
£175,000	5%

Source: Consultants’ earnings figures are based on statistics published by NHS Digital, from NHS Electronic Staff Record data, in NHS Staff Earnings Estimates to December 2015. The NHS Electronic Staff Record is the HR and Payroll system used by almost all National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts in England.

The figures are based on the total earnings in 2015 of consultants in the NHS hospital and community health services who worked for the full year, regardless of their working hours, i.e. includes both full-time and part-time workers. Equivalent figures are not available for general practitioners, because most provide services through commissioning rather than direct employment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Foster on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make a comparative assessment of the earning distribution of hospital and community health service doctors to the earning distribution of workers in professional occupations.

Mr Philip Dunne

The best available comparison, for 2015, is shown in the table below. The Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) Doctors figures relate to the earnings of doctors employed by the NHS Hospital and Community Health Service in England, and are based on NHS Earnings Estimates published by NHS Digital. General practitioners are not included. The All Professional Occupations figures represent the earnings of all employees nationally in Professional Occupations, as published by the Office for National Statistics.

Percentile	All Professional Occupations	HCHS Doctors
10	£15,331	£45,000
20	£22,168	£52,500
30	£26,557	£61,500
40	£30,465	£73,500
Median	£34,076	£87,500
60	£37,467	£99,500
70	£41,675	£110,500
80	£47,506	£124,000
90	£59,320	£144,500

Sources: All Professional Occupations earnings statistics published by the Office for National Statistics, from its 2015 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.

HCHS Doctors earnings figures based on statistics published by NHS Digital, from NHS Electronic Staff Record data, in NHS Staff Earnings Estimates to December 2015. The NHS Electronic Staff Record is the HR and Payroll system used by almost all National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts in England.

Both sets of figures are the estimated total earnings in 2015 of employees who worked for the full year, regardless of their working hours (i.e. this includes both full-time and part-time workers).

The All Professional Occupations group covers occupations whose main tasks require a high level of knowledge and experience in the natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, social sciences, humanities and related fields. The main tasks consist of the practical application of an extensive body of theoretical knowledge, increasing the stock of knowledge by means of research and communicating such knowledge by teaching methods and other means.

Most occupations in this major group will require a degree or equivalent qualification, with some occupations requiring postgraduate qualifications and/or a formal period of experience-related training.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Foster on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make a comparative assessment of the average earnings for hospital and community health service doctors and the average earnings for workers in professional occupations in each age band.

Mr Philip Dunne

The best available comparison for 2015 is shown in the table below. The figures are for doctors employed by the NHS Hospital and Community Health Service in England (HCHS) and are based on NHS Earnings Estimates published by NHS Digital. General practitioners (GPs) are not included. The All Professional Occupations figures represent all employees nationally in Professional Occupations, as published by the Office for National Statistics.

Age Range	All Professional Occupations	HCHS Doctors
22-29	£28,958	£41,390
30-39	£36,456	£61,885
40-49	£40,603	£94,470
50-59	£40,138	£112,924
60+	£32,564	£96,629

Sources: All Professional Occupations earnings statistics published by the Office for National Statistics, from its 2015 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.

HCHS Doctors earnings figures are based on statistics published by NHS Digital, from NHS Electronic Staff Record data, in NHS Staff Earnings Estimates to December 2015. The NHS Electronic Staff Record is the HR and Payroll system used by almost all National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts in England.

Both sets of figures are the estimated mean average total earnings in 2015 of employees who worked for the full year, regardless of their working hours (i.e. this includes both full-time and part-time workers). The figures do not include GPs.

Equivalent figures are not available for GPs, because most provide services through commissioning rather than direct employment.

The ‘All Professional Occupations’ group covers occupations whose main tasks require a high level of knowledge and experience in the natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, social sciences, humanities and related fields. The main tasks consist of the practical application of an extensive body of theoretical knowledge, increasing the stock of knowledge by means of research and communicating such knowledge by teaching methods and other means.

Most occupations in this major group will require a degree or equivalent qualification, with some occupations requiring postgraduate qualifications and/or a formal period of experience-related.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Foster on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make a comparative estimate of the level of proposed average pay under the new junior doctor’s contract for a junior doctor working (a) part-time, (b) full-time and (c) as a full-time trainee.

Mr Philip Dunne

Under the new contract, which is based on the principle of equal pay for work of equal value and pay for hours worked, full time trainees working at the same level of responsibility will receive the same basic pay and will be paid the same unsocial hours and weekend allowances depending on how many they work. Less than full time trainees working at the same level of responsibility will receive equal pay to full timers pro-rated to the number of hours that they work. Weekend and on-call allowances are also pro–rated.

Those trainees working at ST4 and above will continue to be paid under the terms of the old contract, under transitional arrangements.

At the British Medical Association’s request, it was agreed that there would be four levels of responsibility within the junior doctor training path for pay purposes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Foster on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what value of NHS property has been (a) acquired and (b) sold in each (i) parliamentary constituency and (ii) clinical commissioning group area in each of the last five years.

George Freeman

Information about the value of property and land sales for the National Health Service is held centrally only for 2013-14 and 2014-15. We do not hold information by clinical commissioning group or parliamentary constituency. Information about acquisitions of property by the NHS is not recorded centrally.

(a) Value of property sold:

	2013-14	2014-15
NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts	£179.9 million	£155.8 million
NHS Property services	£24.9 million	£57.8 million

(b) Value of property acquired. We do hold this information for NHS Property Services and this is shown below:

	2013-14	2014-15
NHS Property Services	£3.0 million	£18.1 million
NHS Trusts/Foundation Trusts	Not recorded	Not recorded

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Foster on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make plans to introduce number plates for all mobility scooters to ensure that such scooters could be traced in the event of a collision with a pedestrian.

Andrew Jones

Mobility scooters have to comply with the prescribed conditions and requirements set out in the ‘Use of Invalid Carriages on Highways Regulations 1988’ which divides them into two main categories.

The Class 2 type can travel at 4mph and is primarily intended for use on the footway or footpath. 4 mph is considered appropriate for pavement use as it is akin to a brisk walking pace.

The Class 3 type can travel on the road at up to 8 mph, but must have the facility via a limiter to be driven at no more than 4 mph when used on the footpath.

Users of new or second hand Class 3 vehicles are required to register their vehicles with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for use on public roads. However, there is currently no requirement to display the vehicle registration number on the scooter and I have no plans to change this.