Nurses (Training) Mr. Robin Cook To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses have received (a) basic training and (b) post-graduate training in the private sector in (i) 1980, (ii) 1987, (iii) 1988 and (iv) 1989. Mrs. Virginia Bottomley This information is not collected centrally.In 1989 representatives from the English National Board, the Department of Health and the independent sector established a working group to identify the extent of the sector's input to pre-registration and post-registration nurse training; and to agree action to increase this input consistent with its demand for staff. The working group should report by the summer.Preliminary findings by the group are that the independent sector does make a contribution to post-registration nurse training, placing some 200 nurses a year on about 23 different approved courses. In addition, at any one time, around 200 pre-registration NHS nurses are undergoing a short (anything from one to 12 weeks) placement in an independent hospital, generally free of charge.Most training takes place in the National Health Service.