Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they anticipate a reduction in the number of nurses and midwives from EU countries coming to the UK after Brexit; if so, by how much; and what assessment they have made of the impact on the NHS of any such reduction.

The Government hugely values the contribution of all the European Union staff working across the National Health Service and social care, including nurses and midwives. The Government is committed to ensuring a clear pathway to permanent residency for these EU citizens.

The Department continues to monitor and analyse overall staffing levels across the NHS and social care, and we are working across Government to ensure there will continue to be sufficient staff to deliver the high quality services on which patients rely following the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU.

We are also working hard to improve our domestic supply of nurses and midwives. This year there are more nurses on our wards than last year and numbers will continue to increase in future because of a 25% increase in training places, the introduction of new routes into the profession through the Nursing Degree Apprenticeship, and an increase in the number of nurse associates.