To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2007, Official Report, columns 809-10W, on recruitment, what plans her Department has to collect further data from strategic health authorities relating to the employment position of graduates at later dates than 30 November 2006. (135823)

The current data collection on graduates focuses on those who graduated in September 2006. It is the Department’s intention that further data on those who graduated in February 2007 will be collected.

The time scale for this, along with other aspects of the collection such as its frequency and format, is still being discussed with strategic health authorities. The Department remains committed to reducing the burden of data collection on the national health service, and we are exploring the use of data from the talent pools and NHS Employers.