To ask the Minister of Health for his assessment of the need for the uplift in Allied Health Professional undergraduate commissioning for this September’s intake, to take account of both the ongoing transformation process and the ongoing Coronavirus crisis.

I recently confirmed an increase by 40 in the annual undergraduate pre-registration Allied Health Profession (AHP) training places commissioned by my Department, effective for the September 2020 intake. This grows the annual programme of AHP pre-registration training places to 285 and means that the number of commissioned training places has been expanded by 16% since 2019/20 and 45% since 2007/08.

Future commissioning will be informed by current and forthcoming AHP workforce reviews, as well as considerations in relation to affordability and capacity within universities and the HSC to provide placements.