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 work with the devolved governments to help ensure that NHS services in rural areas can attract and retain adequate numbers of staff.

The Department makes it a priority to work collaboratively with the devolved nations to drive forward our objective of improving health and care outcomes across the whole of the United Kingdom.

The Government will make sure the National Health Service has the staff it needs to be there for all of us when we need it, and will put staff in places where patients and the NHS need them most.

We will work with all those who share our commitment to ensuring that we train the workforce that we need in all parts of the country, not least in rural areas that struggle to attract and retain staff.