Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department undertook an assessment of the impact of a separate pay spine for nursing on pay equality before launching the consultation.

The Government has published a call for evidence to better understand the benefits, challenges and design of a separate pay spine for nursing staff. The legal and equality implications of removing nursing staff from the existing pay arrangements are also being considered separately by the Government.

The Government will carefully consider the evidence that is submitted. If a decision is made to progress with the policy, any future proposal to introduce a separate pay spine in the National Health Service would be consulted on and would include relevant impact assessments.