To ask the Minister of Health to detail any assessment that has been made of the barriers facing people from Northern Ireland in pursuing careers in the health and social care sector.

Currently the main route into a career in registered healthcare professions is through pre-registration undergraduate training. While the number of pre-registration training places commissioned by my Department has increased in recent years, these still fall below the numbers my Department have identified through strategic workforce planning as necessary to grow the health and social care workforce to the level required to deliver the most effective treatment and care to the people of Northern Ireland.

There remains a high interest in these professions, which means that the volume of applications for places on these undergraduate programmes regularly exceeds the numbers of available places. Many people from Northern Ireland who wish to pursue a career in health and social care are therefore unable to do so. Additional recurrent funding would enable my Department to increase the numbers commissioned to the levels required, providing greater training opportunities for local people who wish to pursue a career in health and social care.

I am also mindful that the financial commitment required to undertake undergraduate training may be a barrier to pursuing a career in health and social care for some sections of the population here. I am currently exploring with my officials possible future changes to the financial support provided to students on the pre-registration healthcare programmes commissioned by my Department. I anticipate that the associated process of policy development will provide an opportunity to assess any financial barriers to individuals commencing careers in health and social care.

In addition, my Department is also exploring opportunities to expand training and recruitment pathways into registered healthcare professions beyond existing pre-registration training routes. Ongoing work in this area includes the commissioning of pre-registration nursing and social work education at the Open University and the proposed development of a pilot public sector apprenticeship in diagnostic radiography. It is hoped this pilot will enable an assessment to be made of the suitability of apprenticeships to the HSC more generally.