Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have carried out a workforce future planning assessment of the number of nurses needed to sustain the demand in services; and if so, what were the results.

Health Education England (HEE) is responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient future supply of staff to meet the workforce requirements of the English health system, taking into account issues such as demographic changes.

In delivering its annual workforce plan for England, HEE undertakes extensive discussions with National Health Service organisations, arms-length bodies and Royal Colleges to understand future workforce requirements. HEE takes into account future demand for services in arriving at the final numbers it will commission.

NHS organisations are responsible for undertaking local recruitment and retention schemes to ensure they have access to the workforce they need to deliver care to patients.