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 the abolition of student bursaries on the number of people applying to become nursing students.

The latest Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) data from October 2018 shows that demand for nursing courses remains strong, with applications exceeding available places in 2018. The number of acceptances to nursing and midwifery courses in 2018 is consistent with earlier years, at approximately 22,000.

Final UCAS data will be published in December 2018.

The Department is working with relevant bodies across health and education to monitor the effects of the healthcare funding reforms.

We have been working with Health Education England and the university sector to ensure students continued to apply for courses this year. In September 2018 Health Education England launched a campaign to improve the perception of nursing to encourage applications to relevant undergraduate courses for UCAS applications in 2019.

The Department has also put in place significant interventions to boost the supply of nurses, ranging from training more nurses, offering new routes into the profession, enhancing reward packages to make nursing more attractive and improve retention, and encouraging those that have left to return to nursing.