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 recruit more nurses in the NHS.

Supporting recruitment into the National Health Service nursing workforce is a priority for this Government, underlined by our commitment to deliver 50,000 more nurses for the NHS.

We want all those with the capability and aspiration to become nurses to be able to do so. That’s why We are increasing the number of student nursing places available on degree courses and making a new funding package of at least £5,000 available to all eligible pre-registration nursing students at an English university. We are also supporting alternative routes into nursing and last month announced a £172 million funding package to double the number of apprenticeship placements, so now up to 2,000 aspiring nurses per year will be able to take this route to qualifying as a registered nurse.

To complement these actions we are also recruiting more nurses from overseas and improving the experience of those already working in the NHS so fewer nurses leave; the NHS People Plan was published in July and sets out actions to grow our workforce and foster a culture of inclusion and belonging.