To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS nurses applied for voluntary redundancy in 2006; and what the cost of those redundancies was. (134781)

The Department does not collect centrally the number of nurses who apply for voluntary redundancy.

However, since April 2006 we have collected information centrally on the number who were offered and have taken voluntary redundancy.

There were 118 nurses who decided to take voluntary redundancy in the 12 months to 31 March 2007.

The cost of these redundancies was not collected centrally.