Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Nursing and Midwifery Council on the balance of academic and practical training in nurse education programmes.

No recent discussions have taken place. Higher education institutions and practice placement providers develop the content of programmes and determine the balance of academic and practical learning in line with the outcome standards set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Nursing students are required to complete 2,300 hours of practice learning as part of their pre-registration programme, 600 of which can be completed through simulated training. The NMC is currently conducting a review of nursing and midwifery practice learning requirements.