Nurses and Midwives: Numbers

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts

Monday 4th December 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I agree with the noble Baroness that there is a need for more nurses. That is why we are introducing more training places and new routes into nursing, such as the nursing apprenticeship. I know that she is particularly concerned about EU national nurses and health visitors. I think noble Lords will be reassured that between June 2016 and June 2017, there was an overall 5% increase in the total number of staff from the EU within the NHS, which is welcome. The one area, as I said, that has fallen marginally—by about 162 in practice—is in nursing and health visitors. That was significantly due to the new language test that was introduced. That is something that the NMC is looking at to make sure we are getting nurses capable of practising in this country to come here.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, as the Minister knows, citizens of the EU who have spent five years working in the UK can avail themselves of the opportunity to apply for a right to remain permanently in the UK. That is now unclear. Will he announce that those who have been granted the permanent right to remain in Britain as EU citizens will be entitled to stay and work here? That would be a good way to start building confidence.

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

My Lords, the rules as they are apply, so those who are eligible to apply for a right to remain can do so. We are talking about providing a path for those who are not yet at that point, now or in the future, to achieve settled status to provide the kind of certainty that we know. I understand that this causes some people to pause for thought about whether they should stay.