Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the (a) number of places made available through and (b) take-up of places relating to the nursing degree apprenticeship scheme.

The National Health Service has consistently had a strong tradition of employing apprentices. From August 2017 to October 2018, there were 710 Nurse Degree apprenticeship starts and 2,240 Nursing Associate apprenticeship starts. We expect to see increasing numbers of apprentices in the NHS as employers continue to embed the apprenticeship agenda into their long-term workforce plans. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships-january-2019

We have developed 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 NHS.