§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the timetable of his review of funding for student nurses. [10935]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Department completed its review last year and following this Ministers considered options for amendment of the current support arrangements. Following the announcement in the March 2001 Budget of additional funding for the National Health Service, the decision was made to direct extra money to all NHS funded students, using an across the board increase in basic bursary rates, rather than targeting specific groups. With effect from September this year bursary rates were increased by 10.4 per cent., the biggest increase since bursaries were introduced in the late 1980s.