To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on how many nurses will retire in the next five years.

The Department does not hold information on the number of nurses who will retire in the next five years.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council holds a register of over 670,000 nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom, it also holds a range of statistics drawn from the register. These include the numbers of people on the different parts of the register and the age and gender of people on the register.

In relation to nurses working in the national health service, the NHS annual work force census published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre shows the age profile of nurses working for the NHS in England as at 30 September each year. The age profile of nurses working in the NHS in 2012 is shown in the following table. The next annual work force census will be published on 25 March with data at 30 September 2013.

For those nurses working in the NHS, the NHS Pension Scheme for England and Wales has a normal pension age of 60 for 1995 section members or 65 for 2008 section members. Some nurses have a reserved right to a normal pension age of 55 upon meeting qualifying criteria. However nurses do not have to retire upon reaching that age and can continue working.