Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the planned 30 per cent reduction in agency spend outlined in the NHS Planning Guidance 2025-26 on nurse fill rates.

As outlined in the NHS Planning Guidance 2025/26, all trusts are required to reduce agency spend by at least 30%, with an additional focus on achieving a 10% reduction in spend on bank staff. This aims to transition away from a reliance on costly temporary staff and to promote investment in permanent roles.

While this specific assessment has not been made, fill rates on temporary staff, including nurses, are monitored monthly. It is essential that patient safety considerations continue to be the most important priority.

Spend on agency increased significantly in 2021/22 to £2.96 billion and to £3.46 billion in 2022/2023. However, spend appears to have peaked as 2023/24 spend was £3 billion and it has decreased further in 2024/25.

My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and Jim Mackey, Chief Executive of NHS England, wrote to trusts and integrated care boards in early June 2025 to reinforce the message in the Planning Guidance and set the ambition to eliminate agency spend in this parliament as part of optimising costs and productivity. The expectation is that staff will move to bank and substantive roles.