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 providing NHS staff with individual learning accounts to support (a) staff gaining higher qualifications, (b) raising standards and (c) improving practice and service efficiencies delivered by staff.

It is the responsibility of individual employers to invest in the future of their staff and provide continuing professional development (CPD) funding.

To supplement local employer investment for CPD, the Government announced in September 2019 a £210 million funding boost to provide every nurse, midwife and allied health professional (AHP) working in the National Health Service in England with a personal budget of £1,000 over three years to 2022/23.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out NHS England’s commitment to continue national CPD funding for nurses, midwives and AHPs. The operation of this scheme will be kept under review, to ensure subsequent funding is in line with workforce growth and inflation, well-targeted and achieving the desired outcomes.