Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of apprentices training to become registered graduate nurses.

The Department is fully committed to increasing the number of nursing apprenticeships. In support of this, we have developed a complete apprentice pathway from entry level nursing associate to postgraduate advanced clinical practice in nursing. This will support people from all backgrounds to enter a nursing career in the National Health Service.

In the 2017/18 academic year, there have been 300 apprenticeship starts recorded for the standard ‘registered nurse’ and 1,420 apprenticeship starts recorded for the standard ‘nursing associate’.

We are working closely with employers and Health Education England to make sure that the NHS is fully supported to recruit apprentices, both in nursing and in a range of other occupations and in doing so ensure the NHS has a workforce that is reflective of the population it serves.