Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on nursing staff retention of the Public Accounts Committee's report entitled, NHS Nursing Workforce, Eighteenth Report of Session 2019–21, HC408.

The Department will respond to the Public Accounts Committee with regards to the National Health Service nursing workforce: Eighteenth Report of Session 2019-21 in line with the formal Treasury Minute process. The Treasury Minute is due to be published on 16 November 2020.

Nursing staff retention is a priority for this Government and a key aspect of the 50,000 nurses commitment.

NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Retention Programme supports local delivery and launched a large-scale pathfinder programme across three regions in September to explore further how staff can be empowered and supported to remain part of the workforce. This programme has an initial focus on nursing but will encompass the entire NHS workforce.