asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average salary of a junior doctor employed by the National Health Service in England.

The information is as follows:

Grade	Average Salary (mid-point of Scale) £
House Officer	11,400
Senior House Officer	13,875
Registrar	15,700
Senior Registrar	17,940

However, I should advise my hon. Friend that, for a variety of reasons concerned with the duties and conditions of junior doctors, average salary is not a very accurate guide to average earnings. It is also difficult to define average salary, but our calculations of the number of contracted hours multiplied by mid-point of scale for the figures above is the best we can do.