Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate her Department has made of attrition levels on undergraduate midwifery courses; what the main contributing factors for attrition on those courses are; and what steps her Department (a) has taken and (b) is considering taking to help retain students on those courses.

As set out in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, NHS England is working with students, Higher Education Institutions, Royal Colleges and clinical placement providers to understand and address the reasons students leave training and the variation in their experiences. To support students during their training, the Government provides a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year to all eligible nursing, midwifery and allied health profession students through the NHS Learning Support Fund.

As of October 2023, there are 23,154 full-time equivalent midwives working in National Health Service trusts and other core NHS organisations in England. This is 3,541 or 18.1% more than in 2010.