Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 3 July 2023, what funding his Department has allocated to increase training positions for mental health nurses.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term.

The Government is backing the Plan with over £2.4 billion over the next five years to fund additional education and training places over five years. This is on top of increases to education and training investment, reaching a record £6.1 billion over the next two years.

The Plan sets out an ambition to increase training places for mental health nursing by 93%, to more than 11,000 places by 2031/32. To support this ambition, by 2028/29 we will increase training places by 38%, with increases of 13% seen by 2025/26.