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 effect of removing bursaries for nursing, midwifery and most allied health students on the number of people applying to study in each of those areas.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service’s (UCAS) end-of-cycle data¹, published in December 2017, showed the number of applicants who have confirmed places to study pre-registration nursing and midwifery in England from August 2017 was 22,575. This represents a decline of 3% from the equivalent stage in 2016 but an increase on the numbers in 2014 and 2015.

UCAS does not publish data on a level of granularity that identifies specific figures for allied health profession students.

The Department is working with relevant bodies across health and education to monitor the effects of the broader healthcare funding reforms and, as part of this, plans to publish an update, in autumn 2018, following the closure of the 2017/18 application cycle.

In order to meet the growing need to increase the future supply of registered nurses, additional clinical placement funding was announced by the Department in August and October 2017. This will enable around 5,000 more nursing students to enter training each year from September 2018; an historic 25% increase.

Broadening routes into nursing is a priority for the Department. That is why we have developed the new Nursing Associate role and the Nurse Degree Apprenticeship which will open up routes into the registered nursing profession for thousands of people from all backgrounds and allow employers to grow their own workforce.

Notes:

¹https://www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis/ucas-undergraduate-releases/ucas-undergraduate-analysis-reports/2017-end-cycle-report