Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the emergency standards of the Nursing and Midwifery Council to reintroduce emergency education standards to enable final year nursing students to opt-in to support the response to the covid-19 pandemic through extended clinical placement, if he will ensure the same health and safety provisions under those standards are applied to (a) student midwives and (b) student nurses.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom and nursing associates in England. On 14 January 2021, the NMC made emergency changes to its education standards. The standards give flexibility to Approved Education Institutions (AEIs) to decide how to structure and apportion academic learning and clinical placements for nursing and midwifery students.

AEIs retain responsibility for ensuring the health and safety of students in whatever capacity they are undertaking clinical placements. The NMC’s emergency standards require training providers to ensure placement allocations take account of current, relevant public health guidelines with due regard to the health and wellbeing of individual students.