Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to allow student paramedics to have access to funds from the NHS Learning Support Fund.

The NHS Learning Support Fund was developed in recognition of the compulsory clinical placement hours that student nurses, midwives and allied health professions within the scope of the reforms implemented in August 2017 need to complete in order to graduate from their courses.

The route into paramedicine currently has various education and funding models. Therefore, paramedic training was not included in the scope of the reforms implemented in 2017. Financial support arrangements will be considered as paramedicine becomes an all degree subject, as agreed by the Health and Care Professions Council on 21 March 2018.