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 number of podiatrists; and if he will (a) reinstate full student bursaries and (b) introduce incentives to encourage recruitment and retention in (i) underserved areas and (ii) general.

The Department has no plans to reinstate the bursary for podiatry students, however the Government keeps funding arrangements for all healthcare students under close review.

Supplementary financial support is available to podiatry students through the NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF). The LSF offers non-repayable funding, in addition to maintenance and tuition fee loans provided by the Student Loans Company. This includes a non-repayable training grant of £5,000 per academic year plus an additional specialist subject payment of £1,000 a year for podiatry students, and where eligible, £2,000 per year for students with childcare responsibilities.

We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to ensure the National Health Service has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients when they need it.