Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department takes to increase the recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals in the NHS.

As of September 2022, there were more than 1.2 million full-time equivalent staff working in the National Health Service. We are also on schedule to deliver an additional 50,000 more nurses by 2024. The NHS People Plan sets out a focus on creating a more modern, compassionate and inclusive culture through improved health and wellbeing, equality and diversity, culture and leadership and flexible working. NHS England continues to support systems to develop tailored health and wellbeing offers to meet the needs of local workforces.