asked Her Majesty's Government:

What measures are being taken to ensure the restoration in 2007-08 of the financial cuts made in nursing and allied health professions in 2006-07 allocations to education establishments. [HL2379]

I am pleased to announce that the multi-professional education and training budgets will be issued shortly to strategic health authorities (SHAs) and represent a 3.6 per cent increase on 2006-07 allocations. The year 2006-07 was exceptional and we had to give SHAs the maximum flexibility to manage their financial position to address the deficits in their area. SHAs are aware of the need to secure the future workforce of the National Health Service and to invest in education and training. This will be reinforced by a service-level agreement setting out the key priorities for them to address.