Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help improve staffing levels in the care sector.

The latest Skills for Care data (published October 2023) shows that since the fall in capacity levels in 2021/22, there have been improvements in workforce capacity, with an increase of 20,000 filled posts in 2022/23, to 1.635 million filled posts.

We are supporting increased recruitment by delivering our ongoing National Recruitment Campaign; working with the Department of Work and Pensions to promote adult social care careers to jobseekers; funding sector partners to provide support to employers and commissioners; and supporting ethical international recruitment.

The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF), and the MSIF Workforce Fund, are designed to maximise the impact of our reform investment by further improving workforce recruitment and retention. Over two years, these two grants total almost £2 billion in additional support for the adult social care sector.

We are also investing in retention through better workforce training, recognition, and career progression.