Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nurse training places there are for 2017-18; and what the vacancy rate is for such places, broken down by speciality.

The number of new nurse training places being made available by Health Education England (HEE) post 2016-17 will remain broadly consistent with the nurse training places set out in the HEE Commissioning and Investment Plan for 2016-17.

HEE will publish its annual workforce plan for 2017-18 shortly.

The 2016-17 HEE Commissioning and Investment plan can be accessed on the link below:

https://hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Workforce%20Plan%20for%20England%202016-17.pdf

It is not possible to give the vacancy rates for the 2017-18 training places, as students can continue to apply for places until 20 September 2017.