Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to increase the number of nursing staff working in learning disabilities.

In March 2020 the Chief Nursing Officer for England launched an 'All-England action plan for learning disability nursing'. The plan, delivered in partnership with Health Education England, sets a mandate for increasing and enhancing the number of people choosing a career in learning disability nursing.

Since September 2020, the NHS Learning Support Fund has offered an additional £1,000 to support those studying learning disability nursing courses. This is in addition to a training grant of £5,000 a year and a parental allowance of £2,000 a year. This has coincided with a 20% increase in the number of acceptances to learning disability nursing courses in England in 2020 compared to 2019.