§ 5. Mr. Brian White (Milton Keynes, North-East)What steps he has taken to increase the number of student nurses. [115152]
§ The Secretary of State for Health (Mr. Alan Milburn)We have increased the number of nurse training places and we have increased pay for nurses and midwives. As a result, we have also increased the number of applicants for training. Last year, over 70 per cent. more people applied for nurse training courses.
§ Mr. WhiteI thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Is he aware of a problem that a number of student nurses have brought to my attention? When they come back to training, they have an interaction with the benefits systems that cause them problems. One constituent was promised that she could continue to receive the working families tax credit, but when she became a student nurse, she found that she could not.
§ Mr. MilburnI am aware of some of those problems. As my hon. Friend is aware, a review of the NHS bursary schemes through which student nurses are paid is under way. I can reassure my hon. Friend that the review is taking place not only inside the Department of Health, but in conjunction with our colleagues in the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security.
§ Dr. Liam Fox (Woodspring)Can the Secretary of State tell us how much money the Government will save as a result of the decision to cut travel allowances for student nurses on clinical placement?
§ Mr. MilburnI am not aware of the amount of money that we will save, but the investment that we are making in nurse training and in expanding the number of nurses in the NHS is good news for patients and good news for nurses, and stands in marked contrast to the cuts in nurse training places and in the number of nurses that we saw under the Conservative Government.
§ Dr. FoxIt is clear that the Secretary of State does not understand that his Department is cutting travel allowances for some of the poorest nurses currently on clinical placement. That is proving a great hardship. If the right hon. Gentleman had contacted the Royal College of Nursing, he would have been more aware of it.
The Secretary of State might know the answer to my next question because I gave him notice of it in the debate last week. It is clear that the Chancellor's announcement of 15,000 nurses was untrue. The Secretary of State talks about 10,000. Over what time scale will they be recruited? Will there be 10,000 whole-time nurse posts or 10,000 nurses in total, with some working part-time? If the number is 10,000 in total, how many full-time posts do the Government intend them to fill?
§ Mr. MilburnI have in front of me what the Chancellor told the House last Tuesday. He said two things. He said that, with the extra resources and the reforms that were still to come, we would be able to recruit at least 10,000 more nurses next year and the year after and that, as a consequence of the historic levels of 208 funding that we had put into the NHS, there would be even more nurses to come. That stands in marked contrast to what happened under the previous Government. The number of nurse training places was cut. The number of qualified nurses fell. We are now beginning to turn the corner on nurse shortages. There are now 4,500 more nurses working in the NHS today than just a year ago. If the hon. Gentleman had any sense whatever, he would welcome the extra resources and nurses that the Government are putting into the NHS.
§ Dr. FoxTwo questions; no answers. The Secretary of State does not know that he is cutting nurses' allowances, and he is unable to answer—for a second time—detailed questions that the RCN has put to him in writing. He betrays the fact that the Government are making it up as they go along. What a bunch of waffle.
When the new nurses join the NHS, which I welcome, they will find it packed by the Secretary of State with Labour placemen. They will find a twilight world of deceptions and bullying in which bed numbers have been cut by 9,000 since Labour came to power. They were told that all NHS units would be modernised—untrue. The Chancellor said that there would be 15,000 more nurses—untrue. The Prime Minister told the House that spending on the NHS would be 7.6 per cent. of gross domestic product—untrue. What sort of ethical signal does it send to those joining the NHS when those at the top cannot be trusted to tell the truth on any subject?
§ Mr. MilburnThe hon. Gentleman and his hon. Friends are becoming excited, so I shall leave some basic facts with them. From 1 April, an extra £600 million will go into the NHS—delivered by Labour, opposed by the Tories. The NHS will receive an extra £2 billion for the next financial year—delivered by Labour, opposed by the Tories. The NHS will receive an extra 6.3 per cent. in real terms over the next four years—delivered by Labour, opposed by the Tories. The NHS will receive an extra 50 per cent. in real terms over five years—delivered by Labour, opposed by the Tories. The truth is that the Tories are desperate to talk of spinning because they cannot match our spending. They have made their choice about the NHS, public spending and taxation policy—tax perks for the privileged, not a health service for the people.