Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many nurses qualified to work in the NHS (a) 2024, (b) 2023 and (c) 2022.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) publishes information on the number of nurses joining their register for the first time, who are resident in England. It is important to note that newly registered nurses may choose to work in a range of settings, including National Health Service trusts, private or third sector bodies, who may undertake NHS work, or social care settings.

The following table shows the number of nurses joining the NMC register in England for the first time by financial year:

Source: Nursing and Midwifery Council, March 2025 Annual Data Report, available at the following link:

https://www.nmc.org.uk/about-us/reports-and-accounts/registration-statistics/

The information may slightly undercount first time register joiners in England as it is based on the address registered with the NMC.