Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many learning disability nurses were employed in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.
NHS Digital publishes workforce statistics. The attached table shows the full time equivalent figures for qualified learning disability nurses in National Health Service trusts and clinical commissioning groups in England, as at 30 September each specified year and latest data as at 31 March 2018.
On 9 May 2018, I announced £10 million funding for incentives for postgraduate students who go on to work in mental health and learning disability fields, as well as those postgraduates who go on to work in district community nursing roles. These payment incentives offer £10,000 to future postgraduates who completed courses funded by loans in the 2018/19 academic year. The Government is considering the most effective way to implement the incentive scheme.