Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to promote nursing degrees to take account of trends in the number of people applying for such degrees.

The Government is taking a range of steps to promote nurisng degrees and secure the healthcare workforce; by:

- enabling universities to offer up to 10,000 extra training places on pre-registration healthcare programmes;

- offering students around 25% more upfront financial support while studying - for example, a single student on a three-year programme would receive approximately £2,000 more each year on a student loan compared to an National Health Service bursary;

- improving access to pre-registration undergraduate study for those from disadvantaged backgrounds; and

- giving students with an existing qualification the chance to get funding for a second degree.

In November 2016, the government announced the New Nursing Degree apprenticeship, once established this will create up to 1,000 apprentice degree nurses in the NHS each year.

It is expected to open up more opportunities to train as a nurse for those already working in the NHS or those for whom full-time university study is not a realistic option.