Nicholson faces further calls to resign ahead of new grilling by MPs over his expenses and gagging whistleblowers Sir David Nicholson has refused to quit £211,000 a year post Head of NHS was implicated in Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal MPs will quiz Sir David over expenses and role in gagging whistleblowers Under pressure: NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson is due to be grilled by MPs over his expenses and his role in gagging whistleblowers The head of the NHS will face further calls to resign today when he is grilled over his expenses and his role in gagging whistleblowers. Sir David Nicholson has refused to quit his £211,000 a year post despite being implicated in one of the worst-ever hospital scandals at Mid Staffordshire. He is also suspected of endorsing a culture of fear within the NHS where hospitals fiddle their figures and whistleblowers are prevented from speaking out. Today he will appear before MPs on the Public Accounts Committee where he is officially due to answer questions on the NHS's disastrous IT project and consultants" pay. But members are also planning to use the opportunity to quiz him over his role in gagging whistleblowers and his lucrative expenses. Last year Sir David racked up almost £50,000 in claims including £17,400 on a chauffeur-driven car and £13,200 in hotel and restaurant bills. Mysteriously he also billed the taxpayer for 40 first-class rail tickets to Birmingham - where his young wife lives - even though he doesn't have an office in the city. MPs also want to quiz him about the Department of Health's role in authorising gagging orders to prevent NHS whistleblowers from speaking out. Last week Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt promised so-called compromised agreements with immediate effect. But MPs are suspicious that since being appointed chief executive of the NHS, Sir David has been actively encouraging their use by hospitals and trusts. In a three-year period under his rule a total of £14.7 million was spent on almost 600 "compromise agreements." MPs will also ask him why promoted a woman accused of gagging a whistleblower into one of the most powerful roles in the NHS. Still standing: Sir David Nicholson has refused to quit his £211,000 a year post despite being implicated in one of the worst-ever hospital scandals at Mid Staffordshire Last week it was announced that Dame Barbara Hakin would be deputy chief executive of the NHS Commissioning Board - albeit on an interim basis. She is accused of helping silencing whistleblower Gary Walker who was raising concerns about United Lincolnshire Hospitals, where 670 patients are feared to have died needlessly. Tory MP Charlotte Leslie said: "Sir David Nicholson presided over some of NHS's darkest days. At a time when we need an urgent deep clean of the culture in our NHS, Sir David is seen by many to embody the very values we want to leave behind: a culture of gagging, evading personal responsibility, and a focus on targets at all costs. He has lost the trust of many of our doctors and nurses who make the NHS run on a daily basis, and many of whom are sick of a culture of targets, an enforced deadly silence, and bullying. Most of all he has lost the trust of the public, patients and their families. How can this be the man to lead our NHS into a new era of accountability and transparency? He has to go.