Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ensure safe staffing levels are maintained in the NHS.

It is the responsibility of each individual employer to ensure that they have sufficient numbers of staff in the right place at the right time. Those staffing decisions are best made on the ward in real time by experienced and qualified clinicians.

Appropriate staffing levels are a core element of the Care Quality Commission’s registration regime and the law already requires hospitals to employ sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff at all times.

We are considering the merit of any further measures on safe staffing levels.