Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many midwives working in the NHS were aged (a) 70 to 74, (b) 75 and (c) over the age of 75 years in each of the last five years.
NHS England publishes data on the numbers of National Health Service staff by age bands. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record (ESR), the human resources system for the NHS. The data is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
However, this data does not cover the age bands requested, and so the table below shows the headcount number of midwives working in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England between 70 and 74 years old, 75 years old and over the 75 years old in each of the last five years:
Year as of September | September 2019 | September 2020 | September 2021 | September 2022 | September 2023 |
Total number of midwives | 26,062 | 26,840 | 26,418 | 26,075 | 27,065 |
Midwives aged 70 to 74 | 22 | 23 | 27 | 25 | 32 |
Midwives aged 75 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Midwives aged over 75 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Source: NHS England Hospital and Community Health Service Workforce Data
Note: The data includes staff employed by NHS trusts and other core NHS organisations. It excludes staff directly employed in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities, and other providers such as community interest companies and private providers.