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 change in the number of learning disability nurses since 2010; and what steps he is taking to recruit more nurses into that specialist field.

NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics. These include staff working in hospital Trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in primary care or in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers.

The Department is working with relevant bodies across health and education to monitor the effects of the healthcare funding reforms on all the professions affected.

We have been working with Health Education England (HEE) and the university sector to ensure students continued to apply for courses up to the end of clearing in October 2018. We are also working with HEE on a campaign to improve perceptions of nursing, the allied health professions and midwifery and encourage applications to relevant undergraduate courses for Universities and Colleges Admissions Service applications in 2019.

Students who commence loan funded postgraduate pre-registration nursing courses in the 2018/19 academic year will be eligible for a golden hello payment once they have graduated and go on to work in learning disability, mental health or district nursing. Payments will be made to these graduates once they take up employment in the health and care sector in England.

Working with the National Health Service and the university sector, the Government is finalising the most effective way to administer and introduce the scheme and will set out details in due course.