Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to attract registered staff to work within the perioperative environment.

Recruitment is a matter for National Health Service trusts to manage at the local level.

Health Education England (HEE) leads a Return to Practice (RtP) programme that enables Nurses, Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) (including Operating Department Practitioners) and healthcare scientists that have left their professions to re-enter and gain their Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registration.

The RtP programme led by HEE is open to and supports:

- All AHPs or healthcare scientists who live and plan to work in England, once returned to the HCPC register;

- AHPs or healthcare scientists who have previously registered with the HCPC or qualified in the United Kingdom, but have not registered in the last five years; and

- Registrants who remained on the HCPC register for more than two years but have not practiced.