Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support NHS trusts to recruit newly qualified nurses.

Decisions on the employment of newly qualified nurses are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts. Trusts manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the Department is working closely with NHS England, employers and educators to improve transition into the workforce. We are also supporting improvements to workforce planning through a student movement dashboard. The dashboard will enable NHS England teams, universities and employers to understand where future vacancies will arise and signpost newly graduated students towards these roles, supporting better alignment between job vacancies and anticipated supply of graduating students.

Our upcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan will go further to ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.