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 effect of the UK leaving the EU on trends in the level of nursing vacancies in each year until 2021.

The Department is working closely with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Health Education England, NHS England and others in the health and care system to understand the impact of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union on nursing in the UK. While we do not expect our exit from the European Union to lead to a significant number of health staff leaving on or around exit day, we are not complacent and are continually monitoring staffing levels and working with other Government departments and local areas to put in place mechanisms to respond to any shortages.