Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of nurses who will leave the NHS in 2017 as a result of changes to the immigration rules which will require non-EEA nationals with Tier 2 visas to earn £35,000 per year before they are allowed to stay in the UK; and what steps he is taking to prevent staff shortages as a result.

The Home Office estimate that there were 713 visas issued to nurses in 2011/12 to whom the pay threshold and six year cap would apply if they are still resident in the United Kingdom.

Health Education England is implementing a number of steps to increase nurses numbers within the National Health Service. These plans include:

- increases in the number of training commissions, which will deliver over 23,000 more nurses by 2019;

- a Return to Practice programme, aimed at encouraging previously qualified nurses that have left the NHS, to update their skills and qualifications and return to practice within the NHS, and

- the provision of flexible routes into nursing for pre-existing support staff, such as part-time nursing degrees in partnership with the Open University for care assistants who have been sponsored by their employer.

Additionally, the Chief Nursing Officer has established a programme board to oversee activities aimed at increasing nursing numbers.