Following today’s admission that the Government’s decision to scrap nurses’ bursaries is discriminatory, Labour is seeking to force a vote against these new Regulations.

Women, BAME, and mature students are most likely to be affected by the decision to scrap the bursary and replace it with loans, the Department for Education has admitted. In many cases, these groups were more likely to be debt averse, meaning that the move to loans makes them less likely to apply to study nursing.

Moreover, UCAS data shows that in the two year period since the nursing bursary was scrapped, the number of applicants for nursing courses has fallen by over 15,000.

Today’s analysis follows the announcement last Friday that the Government is going to scrap NHS bursaries for post-graduate students.

Angela Rayner MP, Shadow Education Secretary, said:

“This analysis shows that the Tories can’t be trusted to deliver either an education system that is fair and sustainable, or the staff our NHS needs.

“The decision to scrap NHS bursaries has already proved to be regressive and short-sighted, contributing to a recruitment crisis in our NHS. Now we have further proof that this Government is entrenching inequality and disadvantage.

“That is why Labour is seeking to force a vote on the Government’s latest plans to scrap the bursary for postgraduate nursing students.

“The next Labour Government will ensure that our NHS gets the staff that it needs, and that every person who wants to can access higher education, by scrapping tuition fees and bringing back bursaries for nursing students.”