Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding NHS England plans to allocate to Integrated Care Boards for local GP retention schemes for 2024-25; and through what mechanism that funding will be allocated following the closure of the General Practice Fellowship and the Supporting Mentors schemes.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In 2022, we saw the highest ever number of doctors accepting a place on general practice (GP) training, a record of 4,032 trainees, up from 2,671 in 2014.

From April 2024, integrated care boards (ICBs) will take on greater autonomy to make decisions that serve the best interests of local people and communities. This means that, while the General Practice Fellowship and Supporting Mentors schemes will no longer operate in their current national form, NHS England will work with ICBs to put in place support that reflects their local approaches and needs. It will be for ICBs to decide how funding operates at a local level, and the amount of funding they are able to devote to the schemes. NHS England will, however, continue to support people currently on the General Practice Fellowship throughout 2024/25, and ministers will shortly be beginning a series of roundtables with GPs on the future for GP practice, that will also consider ideas for retention and training.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help increase staff retention in the veterinary sector.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra is aware of the challenges facing the veterinary sector, including retention of qualified veterinary surgeons. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, as the regulator for the veterinary profession, published its Workforce Action Plan in 2022 to progress issues of recruitment, retention and return. Defra works closely with the RCVS on issues concerning the veterinary profession and continues to keep reform of the Veterinary Surgeons Act, where amendments might support increases in recruitment and retention, under review.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to help increase the retention rate of staff in HM Prison and Probation Service.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Safe, decent, rehabilitative prisons require excellent and experienced staff, as does supervising offenders in the community to keep the public safe.

We want them to stay in the Prison Service and to support retention, we have:

• Accepted every penny of the Prisons Service PRB pay recommendations for 2023/24.

• Injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year since 2021 to support Probation staff to deliver more robust supervision.

• Rolled out BWV to every officer, to help protect staff by defusing volatile situations.

• Introduced a New Colleague Mentor scheme to help new recruits feel supported in their early weeks and months.

Retention for prison officers is improving, with the staff resignation rate dropping from around 10.7% to around 8.3% over the last year to December 2023.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to increase levels of armed forces recruitment and retention.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 January 2024 to Question 9841 to the hon. Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis).

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make a comparative assessment of the adequacy of recruitment and retention strategies for armed forces personnel in (a) the UK and (B) other NATO countries.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 January 2024 to Question 9841 to the hon. Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis).

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve levels of GP retention.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care, published by NHS England in May 2023, sets out actions to cut bureaucracy and workload, which includes reducing demands of general practice (GP) time from unnecessary or low-value asks, improving the interface between primary and secondary care, and significantly streamlining the Impact and Investment Fund by reducing the number of indicators from 36 to five in 2023/24.

We are working with NHS England to increase the GP workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice. NHS England has made available a number of recruitment and retention schemes to boost the GP workforce. This includes the National GP Induction and Refresher scheme, the Return to Practice programme, and the International Induction Programme.

Through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), Primary Care Networks and practices have recruited over 36,000 additional staff including nursing associates, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and social prescribing link workers, hitting the Government's target to recruit 26,000 a year, ahead of the March 2024 deadline. The expanded primary care teams funded through the ARRS not only add extra clinical capacity, helping to reduce the burden on GPs, but also form the basis for multi-disciplinary teams to work on improving the care offered to patients.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of school building conditions on trends in the level of teacher (a) recruitment and (b) retention.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

There are now record numbers of full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, totalling over 468,000, which is an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010.

The department appreciates that there is more to do, particularly in disadvantaged areas. The department is offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools. For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department will be doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax.

This is on top of the 6.5% pay award that teachers and leaders in maintained schools received for 2023/24, which was the highest pay award for teachers in over thirty years, delivered on our manifesto commitment of a minimum £30,000 starting salary for school teachers in all regions of the country. This, combined with the increase in the LUP, means a new maths teacher in Blackpool could be receiving the equivalent of £38,570 starting salary next year, before accounting for the 2024/25 pay award.

To further support recruitment to high-priority subjects, the department also provides financial incentives worth up to £196 million, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to teach mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.

To help retention, the department has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices. The department has convened a workload reduction taskforce to explore how it can further support trust and school leaders to minimise workload for teachers.

Well-maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department. Responsibility for keeping buildings safe and well-maintained lies with schools and their responsible bodies, such as local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided bodies. The department supports them by providing capital funding, delivering major rebuilding programmes and offering guidance and support.

The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 to keep schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in 2023/24. This is informed by consistent data on the condition of the school estate. The department’s School Rebuilding Programme will transform buildings in poor condition at over 500 schools. New buildings are already being delivered across the country with modern designs that are designed to be net zero carbon in operation.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of engineers in the (a) British Army, (b) Royal Air Force and (c) Royal Navy have left their roles in each year since 2010.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an estimate of the (a) number and proportion of permanent staff in the National Crime Agency's International Corruption Unit who were in the unit for more than 12 months and (b) staff attrition rate from that unit in the last two financial years.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The International Corruption Unit (ICU) is the dedicated team within the NCA that investigates serious criminal allegations of bribery and corruption.

We are unable to disclose the number of staff employed in the ICU as that information is operationally sensitive. However, in 2022/23, 86% of staff had been in the unit for more than 12 months. In 2021/22 it was 84% of staff.

The ICU staff annual attrition rate was recorded at 5.5% in both 2021/22 and 2022/23.

Due to complexities on deriving the figure, the NCA is unable to provide the average years of staff service.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent assessment her Department has made of the ability of public sector research establishments to recruit and retain talent.

Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Public sector research establishments are diverse organisations that deliver science and research for public good, often playing a vital role in critical infrastructure and public safety. Around 50 public sector research establishments are sponsored by Government Departments, employing over 50,000 FTE, including more than 17,000 scientists and technologists. The Government’s response to the Independent Review of the UK's Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Organisational Landscape, published in November 2023, acknowledged the challenges faced by public sector research establishments to recruit and retain talent and committed to improving the evidence base of the workforce challenges across public sector RDI organisations.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many (a) officers and (b) other staff left the Civil Nuclear Constabulary in each year since 2015; and what the leaving rate was in each of those years.

Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle problems of recruitment and retention of midwives in England to enable every expectant parent and baby to receive the continuity of care model.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Since 2021 we have invested an additional £165 million a year to improve maternity and neonatal care, rising to an additional £186 million from April 2024. This is improving the quality of care for mothers and babies, and increasing the number of midwifery posts available.

As of December 2023, there are 23,361 full time equivalent midwives working in National Health Service trusts and other core organisations in England, an increase of 3,707, or 18.9%, compared to 2010. The Long Term Workforce Plan sets an ambitious increase in midwifery training places, to 58,000 by 2031/32. We will work towards achieving this by increasing places to over 44,000 by 2028/29.

NHS England have introduced measures focused on recruitment and retention, in-line with their three-year maternity delivery plan. This includes establishing a nursing and midwifery retention programme, supporting organisations in assessing themselves against the NHS People Promise, and developing a local retention plan. NHS England is also implementing enhanced continuity of carer for midwifery to ensure safe, consistent, and personalised care in the areas of highest need.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help (a) recruit and (b) retain social care workers.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to supporting the recruitment and retention of the adult social care workforce, by ensuring that there are opportunities to develop and progress, and that people feel recognised. In January 2024 we launched the care workforce pathway, which will provide for the first time ever, a national career structure for the workforce. This is alongside our new nationally accredited care qualification, subsidised training places for care staff, and social work and social care nursing apprenticeships. The Government also continues to deliver the Made with Care national recruitment campaign, which promotes social care as a career.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure retention and recruitment of staff for Royal Navy support ships.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

Recruitment and retention of staff are a priority for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) and there are a number of initiatives underway in support of this.

For recruitment, the RFA is fostering relationships with universities and colleges to raise awareness of the opportunities available, planning to launch a graduate engineer scheme, sponsoring academic top up schemes to attract newly qualified engineers, and introducing a mechanism for seamless transfer to the RFA for Royal Navy (RN) service leavers. In addition to this work, the RFA plans to release a focused RFA recruitment marketing campaign.

For retention, the RFA is undertaking a number of initiatives which include: enhancing human resources management with more efficient, digitised processes for claims and reporting; maximising development opportunities; enabling participation in team building and physical activities; introducing a dedicated wellbeing team and creating new and exciting shore posts.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress she has made on increasing levels of GP recruitment and retention.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude for the fantastic work of general practice. We are committed to increasing the number of doctors in general practice and I can tell my honourable friend that there were nearly 2,800 more full-time equivalent doctors in general practice in December 2023 compared to December 2019, and that in 2022 we saw a record 4,032 trainees accept a place on GP training, up from 2,671 in 2014. Finally, training places will rise to 6,000 by 2031/32, with the first 500 new places available from September 2025.

Found: recruitment and selection • Sickness Absence: ACAS as above, including their booklet entitled Absence an d Labour