Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the public sector pay freeze on NHS staff morale; and whether he plans to survey NHS staff on that matter.

National Health Service staff earning above £21,000 had their pay frozen during 2011/12 and 2012/13 with, since then, most staff receiving at least 1% increases. This approach to pay has helped protect jobs in the NHS and maintain services for patients.

There is no evidence that the pay freeze affected staff morale. While the NHS Staff Survey, which provides the most comprehensive assessment of staff views about working in the NHS, does not directly measure staff morale, staff engagement, which includes staff motivation at work, staff recommending their trust as a place to work or receive treatment, and the percentage of staff able to contribute towards improvements at work, has remained high with a score of 3.76/5 in 2014 (latest available) rising from 3.68/5 in 2012 (the first year staff engagement was included).