Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his oral evidence to the Health and Social Care Select Committee's inquiry, Work of the Department, on 25 January 2022, if he will publish the terms of reference for the NHS long-term workforce strategy.

In July 2021, the Department commissioned Health Education England to work with partners to review long term strategic trends for the health and regulated social care workforce. This long term strategic framework for health and regulated social care workforce planning will ensure we have the appropriate number of staff and the skills, values and behaviours to deliver high quality clinical services and patient care. The framework will also include regulated professionals working in social care, such as nurses and occupational therapists. In addition, the Department has recently commissioned NHS England and NHS Improvement to develop a workforce strategy. Further information on the strategy and its conclusions will be published in due course.