Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of Nursing Associates who will be placed in specialist mental health units after their training in each of the next three years.

By 2021 the National Health Service in England could have around 14,500 new Nursing Associates available for employment, across a range of health and care settings, including mental health. Responsibility for staffing levels rests with individual NHS trusts and their boards who are best placed to decide how many staff and what skill mix they need.

There are currently 2,000 Nursing Associates in training within 35 Health Education England Pilots, due to complete and become qualified Nursing Associates in 2019. Test sites bring together a wide range of organisations including acute, community and mental health settings and have been designed to ensure they are representative of the different settings where Nursing Associates, once qualified will care for patients.

Nursing associates are an England only role. NHS staffing in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales is a matter for each of the devolved administrations.