Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to grow the children’s health workforce.

The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. A child health workforce that is fit for the future will be critical to delivering on this ambition.

In spring, we will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan, to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service. The plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, including children, when they need it. We will also be publishing a new strategy to set the long-term professional direction for nurses, midwives, and nursing associates, which all form an important part of the children’s health workforce.