Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many nursing associates had begun apprenticeship courses by the end of (a) April 2018 and (b) June 2018.

There have been 64,830 apprenticeship starts in Health, Public Services and Care, reported to date, in the first three quarters of the 2017 to 2018 academic year (August 2017 to April 2018) in England, the data for which can be accessed at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/further-education-and-skills-statistical-first-release-sfr.

We want to increase the number of nursing apprenticeships and now have a complete apprentice pathway from entry level to postgraduate advanced clinical practice in nursing. This will support people from all backgrounds to enter a nursing career in the National Health Service (NHS).

In the 2017/18 academic year reported to date (from August 2017 to April 2018), there have been 260 apprenticeship starts recorded for the framework ‘Registered Nurse’ (degree apprenticeship approved for delivery on 9 May 2017), and 640 apprenticeship starts recorded for the framework ‘Nursing Associate’ (Level 5 standard approved for delivery on 20 November 2017). Data for apprenticeship starts for May and June 2018 are not robust at this point in the year as not all providers have submitted returns for those months. Full final year data for the academic year 2017 to 2018 will be available in November 2018.

We are working closely with employers, Health Education England and ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care to make sure the NHS is fully supported to recruit apprentices, both in nursing and in a range of other occupations.