§ Dr. MurrisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) for what reason his Department ceased in October 2001 to collect data on the proportion of student nurses who successfully complete courses in(a) general nursing, (b) paediatric nursing, (c) midwifery and (d) psychiatric nursing; [166353]
(2) what targets his Department has for reducing the attrition rate among student nurses; [166354]
(3) what targets his Department set in March 2001 for reducing the attrition rate among student nurses. [166355]
§ Mr. HuttonThe English National Board for Nursing (ENB) collected information on the attrition rate from nursing and midwifery courses until its abolition in March 2002 with the creation of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). A new attrition data collection system administered by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) has been put in place, from which the information will be available in due course. A single and consistent definition of attrition has also been agreed with higher education institutions.
The latest complete information on attrition from nurse training courses relates to the 1997–98 cohort and averaged 20 per cent. across all branches. The human resources performance framework, published in October 2000, set a target of 13 per cent. attrition for students entering nurse training in 2000–01. Workforce 628W development confederations and strategic health authorities are working with higher education institutions to meet this target locally.