Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the announcement that nursing bursaries are to be reintroduced, what plans they have to support nurses, midwifes and other healthcare professionals with any debt incurred before the reintroduction to support their study and training.

We have committed to 50,000 more nurses in the National Health Service by 2025 and our new financial support package is crucial to delivering this.

Eligible pre-registration students on nursing, midwifery and many allied health students’ courses at English universities from September 2020 will benefit from additional support of at least £5,000 of non-repayable funding, with up to £3,000 additional funding for some students, who choose to study in regions or specialisms struggling to recruit, or to help with childcare costs, which they will not have to pay back.

The Government has no plans to introduce a scheme that will backdate the offer for students who completed courses in earlier years.