Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the removal of the NHS Bursary for nursing students on the number of applications to learning disability nursing courses.

The Department is not responsible for collecting data on the number of applications to study nursing degree courses.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service publishes data on the number of applications to full-time undergraduate courses. Further information and links to 2017 and 2018 application cycle data are available at:

https://www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis

The Department is working with relevant bodies across health and education to monitor the effects of the broader healthcare funding reforms and, as part of this, plans to publish an update, in autumn 2018, following the closure of the 2017/18 application cycle.

Eligible students will have access to National Health Service grants for childcare (£1,000), travel and accommodation and a hardship fund (£3,000), whilst attending clinical placements.

In order to meet the growing need to increase the future supply of registered nurses, additional clinical placement funding was announced by the Department in August and October 2017. This will enable around 5,000 more nursing students to enter training each year from September 2018; an historic increase.

Broadening routes into nursing is a priority for the Department. That is why we have developed the new nursing associate role and the Nurse Degree Apprenticeship which will open up routes into the registered nursing profession for thousands of people from all backgrounds and allow employers to grow their own workforce.