Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the (1) Royal College of Nursing, and (2) Nursing and Midwifery Council, about the availability of (a) student nurses, and (b) nursing students, volunteering to be seconded to the NHS; and what has been the outcome of any such discussions.

As a result of the rapidly increasing transmission rates of COVID-19, officials from the Department, NHS England and NHS Improvement and Health Education England held discussions with the Royal College of Nursing and the Nursing and Midwifery Council about the role of nursing students during this wave of the pandemic.

On 14 January 2021, the Nursing and Midwifery Council announced that it was reintroducing the emergency education standards, to enable final year nursing students to opt into paid placements to support the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, dependent on local National Health Service need.

Further guidance on the implementation will be provided by Health Education England and NHS England and NHS Improvement as appropriate.