§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide figures for numbers of nurses, broken down by category, completing training for every year from 1980 to 1990; and if he will publish comparable figures on the projected increase in demand for nursing staff from health boards' annual programmes.
§ Mr. John MacKayNot all the information requested is available. The following table, supplied by the National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting for 605W Scotland. gives the numbers of learners by category completing training and registering, by calendar year from 1980 to 1982, and by fiscal year from 1983–84 to 1985–86.
Category 1980 1981 1982 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 First level nurse General 2,111 2,509 2,547 2,022 1,702 2,007 Mental illness 482 534 438 417 398 563 Mental handicap 102 123 121 115 103 155 Sick children 165 202 203 208 157 170 Total 2,860 3,368 3,309 2,762 2,360 2.895 Second level nurse 1,412 1,554 1,563 1,843 1,344 895 Overall total 4,272 4,922 4,872 4,605 3,704 3,790 It is not possible to predict with accuracy the figures of those completing training in future years or of health boards' projected demand for the period to 1990. Methods of improving the estimating of nursing establishment figures and the appropriate intakes into training are being examined at present.