HC Deb 21 March 1989 vol 149 c579W
Sir David Price

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make it his policy to provide the same opportunity for practice nurses to attend locally-based courses as are available for other branches of nursing;

(2) what are the criteria for reimbursing practice nurses for training, and what is his policy on practice nurses receiving the same funding for training as other branches of nursing;

(3) what guidance his Department has given to family practitioner committees regarding the apportioning of funding for courses and the restrictions on eligibility for family practice nurses to obtain training and grants for courses.

Mr. Mellor

Health authorities and family practitioner committees should collaborate locally in making arrangements for meeting the continuing education and training needs of nurses, midwives and health visitors. Under a central initiative in 1988–89, more than 500 places were provided in educational establishments, free of charge to practice nurses, based on the curriculum approved by the four United Kingdom national boards for nursing, midwifery and health visiting. We hope to repeat the arrangements in 1989–90. Depending on the outcome of discussions with the representatives of the medical profession on the changes set out in the White Paper "Promoting Better Health", we propose to permit family practitioner committees to take account of the cost of training practice nurses when allocating resources to GPs for staff and premises from 1 April 1990.