Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will make it its policy to increase NHS pay in line with inflation.

The independent Pay Review Body process is the established mechanism for determining pay uplifts in the public sector, including for staff working in the National Health Service.

The Pay Review Bodies consist of industry experts which consider a range of evidence when formulating its recommendations, including cost of living, inflation, recruitment, retention, morale, and value for the taxpayer. The Bodies receive evidence from stakeholders, such as the Government, NHS system partners and trades unions. The Government considers the recommendations of the Pay Review Bodies before responding. In 2022/23, the recommendations were accepted in full and backdated to April 2022.