Written question asked by Sandra Gidley (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 12 October 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 14 October 2005. It was answered by Liam Byrne (Labour) on Tuesday, 25 October 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Paediatric Nurses

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average age of paediatric nurses employed in the national health service has been in each year since 1997.

Answer

The information requested is shown in the table.

National health service hospital and community health services: qualified paediatric nursing in England by level and average age as at 30 September each specified year
Headcount
	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Average age of qualified paediatric nursing staff	37	38	39	39	39	41	41	41
Nurse consultant	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	38	43	45	44
Nurse manager	41	42	42	42	44	44	44	44
Registered sick children's nurse	34	35	36	36	36	36	36	36
Other 1st level	34	35	36	36	36	37	36	37
Other 2nd level	39	40	41	41	42	44	42	43
n/a = not available Notes: 1. Nurse consultant figures are unavailable prior to 2001. 2. Average ages are rounded to the nearest whole number. Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre non-medical workforce census.

Secondary information