Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing more flexible bridging programmes to enable NHS staff to meet the entry requirements for (a) nursing and (b) nursing associate programmes.

Individual higher education institutions provide access courses for students who may wish to study for a pre-registration nursing degree

Health Education England has been working with National Health Service employers and education providers, including further education colleges, to enable individuals that do not hold entry requirements such as Functional Level Mathematics or English Language to undertake these qualifications to enable successful entry onto Nursing Associate training programmes.

Individuals who successfully complete the Nursing Associate programme can access a two-year apprentice pathway to become Registered Nurses.