NHS: ICT Norman Lamb To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff in his Department have been employed (a) on the Connecting for Health project and (b) in roles relating to press and public relations work on the project in each year since it was announced. Mr. Bradshaw Available information is in the following table. For 2003-05 it relates to the national programme for information technology (NPfIT) only. On 1 April 2005 the Department’s NHS Connecting for Health agency came into being. NHS Connecting for Health is responsible for delivering NPfIT, and maintaining the critical business systems previously provided to the national health service by the former NHS Information Authority. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Employees|Other|Employees|Other| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |July 2003 |80 |130 |n/a |n/a | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |July 2004 |250 |214 |n/a |n/a | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |February 2005 |349 |301 |2 |0 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |February 2006 |994 |460 |3 |0 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |February 2007 |1,119.7 |566.8|4 |0 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |February 2008 |933.6 |392 |5 |6 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |January 2009 |1,098 |367.9|4 |1 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |n/a = Not available1 Staff roles allocated on a ‘best fit’ basis with “press and public relations” duties.Notes:1. Figures are for full-time equivalent staff. ‘Other’ includes contract and temporary staff, and secondees.2. Because of variation in staff numbers to meet workloads over time, figures are quoted for dates for which information is readily available. Figures since February 2005 are quoted as at February for ease of year-on-year comparison.| | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------