§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans there are to increase the numbers of conversion courses for state enrolled nurses and what funding will be made available nationally for this; what are the current numbers of SENs for the current and previous five years; and how many conversion courses were available in each of those years.
§ Mr. SackvilleIt is for regional health authorities, in consultation with employers, to plan for enrolled nurse conversion, now known as level two to level one conversion, as part of their responsibility for identifying the level of demand for qualified nurses and for allocating appropriate budgets.
In addition, we are committed to increasing the number of places available for second level nurses conversion as part of the Project 2000 reforms. An announcement has recently been made concerning additional funding for Project 2000 in 1993–94.
The English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting has been encouraged to develop flexible options which have made it possible to reduce both the length and cost of conversion courses.
83WDetails of the current numbers of second level nurses for the current year are not yet available. The figures for the previous five years are given in the table. The number of conversion courses available in each of these years is not held centrally by the Department of Health.
Numbers of second level nurses England: at 30 September each year (to the nearest hundred) Year Number 1986 71,930 1987 71,050 1988 69,430 1989 59,270 1990 56,200 1991 52,100 Source: Department of Health (SM 13) Annual census of NHS Non-Medical Manpower.