Midwives: Training

(asked on 23rd January 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many of the 3,000 additional training places announced in May 2018 for midwifery students have (1) been filled in the current academic year, and (2) been commissioned for each of the next three academic years.


This question was answered on 30th January 2020

Since the changes to the bursary system in 2017 midwifery places are no longer directly commissioned. The Department makes funding available for clinical placements, with places filled via the normal university application process. The Government has committed to expand midwifery training places by 3,650 over a four year period with an increase of 650 in September 2019 and 1,000 in each of the subsequent years.

Data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) in the following table shows acceptances to midwifery courses increased by 425 in the academic year 2019-20. The table also shows the number of acceptances in each of the three preceding academic years.

Academic year

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

Number of acceptances

2,395

2,600

2,680

3,105

Source: UCAS end of cycle data, 2019

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