Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to (a) retain nurses employed in the NHS, (b) encourage nurses who have left the NHS to return to the NHS and (c) attract more students to train in the nursing profession.

The latest NHS People Plan published in July 2020 sets out actions to retain staff for longer through a range of measures from flexible working, to improved training for line managers and more comprehensive occupational and mental health support.

Since 2014, Health Education England has supported a national return to practice (RTP) campaign for all branches of nursing, in response to the national shortage of nurses across the National Health Service. Between September 2014 and 30 September 2020, 7,106 returners have accessed RTP programmes.

As part of the new funding package for healthcare students non-repayable, training grants of at least £5,000 per academic year are available to eligible new and continuing pre-registration nursing students, studying at English universities. In 2020, there were 29,740 acceptances to nursing and midwifery courses in England. This is 6,110 more than in 2019 and an increase of 26%.