Absolutely, because that training period and working in the NHS is a way to open the door to a future career within those areas where, perhaps, we are finding it difficult to recruit.

I think nurses deserve payment for that work that they do—for working the equivalent of a full-time job in the NHS whilst studying. Is it really feasible, for example, for them to work part time in a bar, or in a busy department store, perhaps, alongside 12-hour shifts in a hospital? Is it really morally correct that, for the work that these nurses supply whilst on placement, they should be entirely without financial compensation? What happens to a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay if this bursary disappears?

But it’s also the consequences, of course, for the NHS and the way that it operates that we worry about. The removal of financial support for nurse education in Wales would increase the risk of poverty for nursing students, and may discourage people from this career option as a result. Therefore, there’s the possibility of failing to hit the numbers that we require to train. Wales currently has the lowest attrition rate for nursing students in the UK, and it would be foolish, I would suggest, to jeopardise this. I remind the Senedd that even delaying the decision has caused some concern. The insecurity that that creates must no doubt be hampering the ability of the Welsh Government to plan the healthcare workforce of the future.

Before I close, I’ll also ask for a comment from the Minister in light of the Diamond review publication yesterday—whether he can give an assurance that student nurses will be eligible for other means-tested support, alongside other students too, quite apart from the bursary debate that we’re having today.