Allied Health Professionals: Training

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Excerpts

Monday 8th February 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, Health Education England is proposing a net increase of 334 places in 2016-17 and we expect a growth in overall numbers of nurses and AHPs from 2017 onwards as a result of moving on to the standard student loan system.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Minister clarify that? He says that there is to be a net increase, but he will know that in relation to some specialties there is actually to be a reduction next year. This is a shambles. The Government have announced an increase in figures by 2020, but next year we are going to see an actual reduction in some of those places. What is going on?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, as I said, overall there is a small net increase of 334. That is largely for paramedics, where HEE believes that there is a more serious shortage than for other allied health professions. As I said, we have seen a significant increase in AHPs of more than 16% over the last five years and we expect that growth to continue after 2017.