Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason he did not publish a sustainable workforce strategy alongside the NHS Long Term Plan.

The NHS Long Term Plan sets out a vital strategic framework to ensure that over the next 10 years the National Health Service will have the staff it needs so that nurses and doctors have the time they need to care, working in a supportive culture that allows them to provide the expert compassionate care they are committed providing.

My Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has commissioned Baroness Harding of Winscombe, of behalf of the NHS, to lead a rapid and inclusive programme of work to set out a detailed workforce implementation plan. She will report back this spring with detailed proposals to grow the workforce rapidly, build a supportive working culture in the NHS and ensure first rate leadership for NHS staff.