Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the availability of training opportunities for new nursing staff in (a) cancer nursing and (b) other specialisms.

The Department has not made any recent assessment. Individual employers are responsible for ensuring they have sufficient numbers of staff trained to meet their local needs and who are competent to carry out their role.

Health Education England supports the learning of the National Health Service workforce through their Workforce Transformation and Development and Continuing Professional Development funding. This provides opportunities for eligible nurses, midwives and allied healthcare professionals to continue their learning and development in their chosen career pathway or specialist areas of practice. This will include education programmes for cancer nurses, district nurses, general practice nurses. The Government has also made available £1,000 for each nurse in the NHS in England to support their Continuing Professional Development over a three year period.