Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS nurses have the ability to (a) access training and (b) attain the minimum level of qualifications in respect of the treatment of diabetes.

All pre-registration nurses undertake training on the management of diabetes. It is incumbent on individuals to remain updated on diabetes as part of their Nursing and Midwifery Council registration under the scope of practice. This includes diabetes knowledge, management, and delivery systems.

Individual employers are responsible for funding and supporting staff with the continuing professional development (CPD) needed to maintain their professional registration so that they can continue their clinical practice in their organisation.

In addition to CPD, which is necessary for clinical staff to maintain their professional registration, Health Education England invests around £350 million each year in workforce transformation to develop and upskill the current National Health Service workforce.

The Diabetes Transformation Fund, set out in the NHS Shared Planning Guidance 2017 to 2019, describes transformation funding for supporting improvement in the treatment and care of people with diabetes; this can include funding for CPD training. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/diabetes/diabetes-prevention/diabetes-transformation-fund/