Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to reduce the number of nurse advisers in the Department of Health.

As part of the DH2020 plan, the Department is making significant changes to the way it works. The underlying principles informing the changes include that the Department should focus on its core and unique functions to improve the health and care system in England to help people to live better for longer.

The Department’s approach is to flexibly access professional advice from a wide range of sources, including arms-length bodies, regulators and professional bodies, rather than from fixed standing teams of internal advisers.

These changes do not affect the role of the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), who as the CNO of the Department already advises, and will continue to advise, all Ministers and the Department on the range of nursing issues.