Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many non-medical directors employed in NHS Hospital Trusts and NHS England earn more than the Prime Minister.

There are currently 349 non-medical directors, including chief executives, in NHS trusts and foundation trusts, and 27 in NHS England and NHS Improvement who earn more than £150,000 per annum.

The salaries of all NHS board level appointments are set by the employers remuneration committee. Additionally, posts attracting a remuneration package of £150,000 per annum or more are further scrutinised by ministers. Posts in NHS England require both the Department of Health and Social Care Remuneration Committee and Ministerial approval, and those in NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts require ministerial approval or comment respectively.

There are two elements to the prime minister’s salary – pay for being an MP with a constituency, which is set independently by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and pay for holding a ministerial office i.e. prime minister, which is set by the Government itself. The overall salary that the prime minister is entitled to claim as from April 2019 is £158,754 per annum.