To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the responsibilities of regional health authorities for funding nurse education; and what monitoring is given to the discharge of these responsibilities.
Regions use top-sliced funds to purchase the training places required by employers to ensure the number of qualified staff matches the demand employers identify. Regular monitoring is carried out through the national health service management executive.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the ring-fenced money allocated to regional health authorities to provide nurse pre-registration courses has actually been used for this purpose; and to what use any not so used has been put.
In 1992–93, all the money allocated for pre-registration nurse training was used as intended.
| Consultant and senior registrar paediatricians by country of qualification in England and Wales—30 September 1991 Paediatric specialties | ||||
| United Kingdom | Other European Community countries | Elsewhere | Total | |
| Consultant | 812 | 8 | 81 | 901 |
| Senior registrar | 179 | 3 | 31 | 213 |
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nursing students there were in each of the four Thames regions, in the years 1990, 1991 and 1992.
The figures show that the number of nursing students in each of the Thames regions as at 31 March 1990, 1991 and 1992.
| 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | |
| North East Thames | 6,030 | 5,730 | 6,310 |
| North West Thames | 3,940 | 3,740 | 4,150 |
| South East Thames | 4,170 | 4,300 | 4,460 |
| South West Thames | 2,830 | 2,740 | 2,810 |
Notes:
(1) The figures include those in pre-registration nursing, district nursing and district enrolled nursing courses.
(2) All figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many students are projected to enter nursing education in each of the four Thames regions in the years 1993, 1994 and 1995.
The four Thames regions will commission 5,767 training places for nursing in 1993–94. Information is not available centrally for projections to be made for 1994–95 and 1995–96.