Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on regional inequalities for nursing placements in universities.

No discussions have taken place with the Northern Ireland Executive on the regional variation of nursing placements. Both health and education are devolved matters, with each home nation setting its own education and training policies for students residing in their respective countries.

Although devolution can lead to a degree of variation in clinical placements across the four nations, it allows each to focus on their own unique set of challenges and put in place policies that best assure the financial viability and sustainability of their independent National Health Service system.