Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the reasons for Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust reporting that the Trust has been unable to fill 560 nursing posts as at the end of June 2017; and if he will make a statement.

Responsibility for staffing levels rests with individual National Health Service trusts and their boards who are best placed to decide how many staff they need to provide a given service, taking into account skill mix, efficiency and the needs of their local population.

There are almost 13,100 more nurses on the wards since 2010. And by increasing the number of training places for both new and nurses returning to practice, we continue to support the growth of our nursing workforce in the health and care sector nationally.

Health Education England (HEE) has increased the number of commissions for nurse training places year on year since it was created in 2013. In September 2014, HEE introduced the Return to Practice programme that has focused on encouraging nurses that have left the profession to return to nursing with the right training and support available to them. Over 2,000 nurses have completed their re-training to date and are now available for employment on the front line to provide care and support to patients.