Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to establish a long-term workforce strategy for the NHS and social care; and what plans they have to present an annual report to both Houses on (1) health, and (2) care.

In July 2021, we commissioned Health Education England (HEE) to review long term strategic trends for the health and social care workforce. This will ensure we have the right, skills, values and behaviours across NHS and social care for the next 15 years. This will also include registered professionals working in social care.

The Health and Care Bill includes a statutory duty on the Secretary of State to produce a report describing the system in place for assessing and meeting the workforce needs of the health system in England. NHS England and HEE must assist in the preparation of this report if requested to do so by the Secretary of State. This report is required to be published at a minimum of every five years.

The Government recently announced at least £500 million over three years to support and develop the social care workforce, fund initiatives to support mental health and wellbeing and introduce further reforms to improve recruitment. We will work with care users, providers and other partners to develop more detail on the plans for reform of adult social care and publish further detail in a white paper for reform later this year.