NHS Bursary
Debate between Paul Blomfield and Paul Scully(8 years, 10 months ago)
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Paul Scully
The hon. Gentleman has not listened to what I have said, because the whole point about the loan system is that the loans will not kick in until after a student has graduated, so the repayments will not start until that point. Student nurses will not be making any repayments while they are studying and doing those placements, but I absolutely take the point that nursing is a very different proposition from a normal degree in so much as placements take up 37 or 38 hours a week and beyond, which is a considerable strain on nurses.
Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)
The hon. Gentleman cites the example of the introduction of fees for other university students, but does he acknowledge that the impact has been patchy and that the one group that has been significantly discouraged from going into higher education as a result of those fees is mature students? Mature students are particularly well represented among nursing, midwifery and allied professions, which we encourage.
Paul Scully
It is beholden on us to explain the system to mature students, because I see no reason why they should be discouraged.