Gavin Robinson
Main Page: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)Department Debates - View all Gavin Robinson's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(8 years, 3 months ago)
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Paul Scully
I will not give way. I am aware that I have been talking for quite a long time, and I am sure that a lot of hon. Members want to speak. With placements, student nurses have less time than other students to do another job because, although it is 50% placement time in theory, they are effectively working 37 or 38 hours a week, so it is difficult for them to have another job to raise money for their living costs, especially as their courses last for 42 weeks a year—many other courses last for only 30 weeks a year.
Paul Scully
I will give way to the hon. Gentleman because I have not yet given way to him previously.
Gavin Robinson
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who is being generous with his time. He is making a key argument for introducing a salary for student nurses to remove the burdens and the levels of debt, rather than charging them tuition fees. Does he agree that the right argument is that bursaries were introduced to incentivise people and to encourage those who would otherwise be dissuaded from training for this noble vocation, thereby removing the burdens and the over-reliance on overseas students? Our Health Minister in Northern Ireland, Simon Hamilton MLA, has decided that he will not remove or scrap the bursary for just those reasons.
Paul Scully
I would rather that we re-examined the overall system and reconsidered how we work with student nurses to give them a fair salary. I would rather it be more straightforward, open and transparent, rather than calling it a bursary. Bursaries are effectively gifts, which can be taken away. If someone is working hard in a position that is not supernumerary, we need to examine that. At the end of my speech, when I talk about the petition, I will say that this is the start of an exercise. This is a welcome time to have the petition, because student nurses and the 154,000 people who signed it can help to shape the policy over the next academic year ready for whatever is in place for the 2017-18 academic year and beyond.