NHS training funds rise

Training budgets for National Health Service staff in the next academic year will increase by 3.6 per cent, the Government has said. The Department for Education and Skills said it had allocated £4.3 billion for NHS training and had put in place a new service level agreement (SLA)with Strategic Health Authorities. This aims to prevent the authorities from using training funds for other purposes.

Janet Finch, chair of Universities UK's Health and Social Care Policy Committee, said the SLA was a "welcome start" but insufficiently robust in its sanctions. "Universities will need further reassurance that the workforce planning system has been stabilised," she said.