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23 Apr 2008 : Column 2134W—continued
NHS: Pay
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether changes to the unsocial hours payment were agreed in the 2004 agenda for change. [199952]
Ann Keen: The agenda for change agreement included an interim regime for unsocial hours that had some early implementer and some Whitley provisions. It included an agreement that the NHS Staff Council would work toward developing a new harmonised unsocial hours arrangement. These arrangements were agreed in February 2008, with an effective date of 1 April 2008.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has informed NHS staff of the changes to unsocial hours payment. [199953]
Ann Keen: Responsibility for communication to individual members of staff rests with the employing organisation. However, changes to the unsocial hours arrangements were discussed, developed and agreed in partnership with the unions and NHS Employers represented on the NHS Staff Council. NHS Employers have written to employing organisations to ensure they are aware of the changes and have provided information on their website, which may be used by managers to support local briefing.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what meetings he has had with (a) Unison, (b) the Royal College of Nursing and (c) other representative bodies on the changes to the unsocial hours payment; and if he will place in the Library the minutes of those meetings. [199989]
Ann Keen: NHS Employers lead the negotiating machinery for changes to the terms and conditions for staff covered by the agenda for change terms and conditions. Any meetings to discuss unsocial hours with the 14 unions that represent these staff, including Unison and the Royal College of Nursing, were held by NHS Employers.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent changes he has made to the unsocial hours payment; and if he will break down the percentage change by (a) pay band and (b) staff role. [199990]
Ann Keen: The old arrangements were related to Whitley staff groups and pay scales, and there is no easy read-across to agenda for change pay bands. The changes to the unsocial hours payments have an effective date from 1 April 2008, the impacts will vary but in headline terms:
any time on Saturday (midnight to midnight) and any week day after 8 pm and before 6 am is time plus 50 per cent. for band 1, time plus 44 per cent. for band 2, time plus 37 per cent. for band 3 and time plus 30 per cent. for bands 4 to 9; and
all time on Sundays and public holidays (midnight to midnight) is double time for band 1, time plus 88 per cent. for band 2, time plus 74 per cent. for band 3, time plus 60 per cent. for bands 4 to 9.
It is not possible to identify what this means by role; payment depends on their band. However, it is important to note that all staff employed in ambulance organisations will remain on the original prospective agenda for change system, as it has worked well in early implementers and for national roll-out.
NHS: Public Participation
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what quantitative public opinion research has been commissioned as part of the NHS next stage review. [198467]
Ann Keen: The national health service next stage review, ‘Our NHS, our future’, has commissioned two national public opinion surveys. These surveys are being used as a source of evidence to inform the findings of the review. The results of these surveys will be released in the summer.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the formula is for funding local involvement networks; and what the (a) unweighted funding per council and (b) unweighted funding per 100 people is for each local authority in 2008-09. [200169]
Ann Keen: The Department received an allocation of £84 million over three years from HM Treasury to fund the establishment and costs incurred by local involvement networks (LINks). The allocations to local authorities (LAs) were based on two elements used in many similar cases to take account of key geographical factors such as deprivation, sparsity, area costs, etc. The first was a general baseline payment of £60,000 awarded to each LA. The second was calculated according to the relative needs formula (RNF), which is used to allocate funds to LAs in other areas of work.
The RNF relates to three population groups: children, younger adults (aged 18-64) and older people (aged 65 and over). The RNF includes needs components and costs components that are specific to the three age groups. The children’s formula consists of a basic amount per resident child aged 0 to 17, and top-ups for deprivation, fostering cost and area costs. The older people’s formula consists of a basic amount per person aged 65 and over and top-ups for age, deprivation, sparsity, low income from fees and charges, and area costs. The younger adults’ formula consists of a basic amount per person aged 18-64 and tops-ups for deprivation and area costs.
The formula is therefore defined in terms of need and costs. There is not a weighting component that could be extracted from the calculations because the calculations use local values (‘weights’) for ‘needs’ and for ‘costs’, and removing them would make it impossible to calculate the funding allocations. Extracting weights from the calculation would have the effect of each local authority receiving an equal funding allocation.
Using the allocations for LINks for 2008-09, we have been able to calculate the amount of local funding per 100 people (£) for 2008-09 and this is shown in the following table.
| LA | Grant per 100 people (£) |
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