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 increase the number of entry level nursing roles.

Decisions about recruitment, including for entry level nursing roles, are matters for individual National Health Service trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS and will refresh the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan next summer to ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it, and working with partners, we are committed to recruiting the staff we need to get patients seen on time.