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<p>The shared parental leave arrangements introduced in April 2019 were part of the
Agenda for Change pay and contract reform agreement and enacted via changes to the
National Health Service Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook.</p><p>The provisions
were extended to doctors and dentists in training, by virtue of the fact that their
contractual arrangements mirror certain non-pay schedules from the NHS Handbook.</p><p>The
current terms and conditions for consultants and specialty and associate specialist
(SAS) doctors do not share these same schedules and therefore the changes do not automatically
apply to these staff.</p><p>We firmly believe that all members of NHS staff should
be treated equally. Established routes for contractual changes are via NHS Employers.
Medical trades unions have been invited by NHS Employers to adopt the same non-pay
schedules from the NHS Handbook for consultant and SAS doctors as have already been
adopted by doctors and dentists in training, including those relating to shared parental
leave.</p><p>An evaluation on the potential effect on the gender pay gap in medicine
of not including consultants and specialty and associate specialist doctors in the
NHS shared parental leave entitlement has not been planned.</p><p>The Department has
commissioned an independent review into the gender pay gap in medicine, chaired by
Professor Dame Jane Dacre. The review, which commenced in April 2018, is currently
examining qualitative and quantitative evidence which will help identify the impact
of cultural, practical and psychological issues that contribute to the gender pay
gap in medicine.</p><p>The evidence collected and examined will go on to produce a
series of implementable recommendations for publication in September 2019.</p>
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