Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Nursing and Midwifery Council on wait times for (a) general cases and (b) cases before the case examiner.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom, and nursing associates in England. The NMC is independent of Government, directly accountable to Parliament and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties. The United Kingdom’s model of healthcare professional regulation is founded on the principle of regulators operating independently from the Government. The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care oversees the bodies that regulate health and care professionals in the UK, which includes the NMC.

As Minister of State for Health (Secondary Care), I monitor the NMC’s performance and meets with the organisation regularly, which includes discussion on the timeliness of the NMC’s fitness to practise processes. In line with the Ministerial Code, details of all ministerial meetings, including those with the NMC, are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website, at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings