Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what options they are considering to ensure that the student numbers for podiatry are maintained after August 2017.

The Department will run a consultation on how the funding reforms for nursing, midwifery and allied health education can be most successfully implemented. We currently expect to consult during March 2016. As part of this, an economic impact assessment and equality impact assessment will be published.

Health Education England (HEE) will continue to have a key leading role in the commissioning of nursing, midwifery and allied health courses. It will continue to provide sufficient clinical placement funding for those places needed to meet the workforce planning needs of the National Health Service.