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Nurses And Nursing Agencies

Volume 400: debated on Tuesday 4 March 2003

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To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Mr. Burstow) of 28 January 2003, Official Report, column 822W, on nurses' recruitment, how many agencies have been removed from the list of agencies who are compliant with the code of practice. [86043]

To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answers of 4 February 2003, Official Report, column 225W, on nurses, and nursing agencies, what the reasons are for the differing indications of the level of compliance with the code of practice by nursing agencies [97237]

No evidence of non-compliance with the code has been brought to the attention of the Department.The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) is working with the NHS through a procurement programme for the provision of temporary staffing by commercial agencies across the national health service in England. As the framework agreements are awarded, the agencies will be contractually bound to comply with detailed quality standards, including compliance with the code of practice. PASA will ensure that all successful agencies are complying with their contractual obligations. A full range of national audits into compliance will begin in summer 2003.