I am grateful for this chance to come to the House and talk about the NHS workforce. I am happy to begin with something that I expect is a point of agreement with those on the Opposition Benches: praising our fantastic NHS workforce and all they have done through the pandemic and are doing now as we recover from covid. Hon. Members will not be surprised to learn that my colleagues the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Minister for Health and Secondary Care, who has responsibility for workforce, are today focused on discussions with the Royal College of Nursing, so it is my particular honour to speak on behalf of the Government today and to take a moment to re-set the tone, and indeed raise the bar, in this debate.
I am very happy to talk about our NHS workforce at a time when we have record numbers of doctors and nurses working in our health service. I am equally happy to talk about our social care workforce, the very people the hon. Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting) seems to forget time and time again. I note that they are forgotten in his motion again today. In contrast, the Government are working with our whole health and social care workforce, not only training record numbers of doctors and nurses, and recruiting a whole host of healthcare professionals into the NHS, but bringing historic reforms for the social care workforce—all that despite the global pandemic, which created the most challenging backdrop any Government have faced for decades.