Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to provide financial support to student nurses for their time on placement during the covid-19 outbreak.

Students who volunteered on a paid placement as part of the COVID-19 response received a salary and automatic NHS pension entitlement at the appropriate band. Since September 2020, all eligible new and continuing nursing, midwifery and many allied health students on pre-registration courses at English universities can benefit from at least £5,000 per academic year of additional maintenance grant funding, which they will not need to pay back. This funding is in addition to the support that students can already access through the student loans system, subject to eligibility, and the existing learning support fund, which includes funding for childcare, specific support for placements through travel and dual accommodation expenses and support for exceptional hardship.