Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the devolved Administrations on NHS funding after the UK leaves the EU; and what his policy is on levels of pay for frontline staff in the NHS.

NHS funding has been set out in the published Long Term Plan which commits to grow NHS revenue funding by an average of 3.4% in real terms over the next 5 years – a real terms increase of 20.5 billion by 2023/24. The Barnett formula will be applied in the usual way to determine funding for the devolved administrations. It is for devolved administrations to allocate this funding across their devolved responsibilities, including to their health services if they so choose.

The Government is committed to supporting frontline staff in the NHS who make a valuable contribution to patient care. More than one million NHS staff in England are currently benefitting from the three-year Agenda for Change pay deal, which came into force in 2018/19 and will see the starting salary for a newly qualified NHS nurse rise to £24,907 by 2020/21, an increase of 12.6% since 2017/18.

The Government takes a flexible approach to public sector pay, taking into account each workforce’s circumstances so that public sector employers can address skill shortages, incentivise improvements to public sector productivity, and recruit to meet demand for services. This approach means that public servants, including NHS frontline staff, are rewarded fairly while making sure that public services remain affordable and sustainable in the long-term.