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 increase the (a) recruitment of nurses and (b) availability of jobs for newly qualified nurses.

Decisions about the employment of newly qualified nurses are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts. NHS 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.

We will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need.