Which sector do you suppose generates the most jobs in Gloucestershire? Cyber security? Aerospace? Insurance? None of the above. It’s healthcare. Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust alone employs over 7,000 people. And as I know from my email inbox, there are plenty more who would like to work in the health sector, particularly as nurses. But the UK is not training them. Instead, to meet demand for the 400 new nurses we need each year in Gloucestershire alone, local NHS bosses have to fly half-way round the world, including to the Philippines, to sign recruits up. Meanwhile the door is closed to British applicants who can’t find training places. It all seems a bit daft to me. I don’t have anything against overseas nurses of course. They are dedicated and skilled, and without them our NHS would grind to a halt. But I believe we should be supporting our homegrown talent where we can. And that’s particularly important where an ageing population and changing patient needs mean that demand is set to increase further. And now there’s now an exciting opportunity for Cheltenham to lead the way. The opportunity revolves around the Government’s announcement of a new nursing support role, provisionally called ‘nursing associates’. The role has been recommended by nursing leaders and other healthcare professionals, and will help bridge the gap between healthcare support workers, who have a care certificate, and registered nurses. Proposals will see staff trained through this route learning on the job via an apprenticeship leading to a foundation degree. The new nursing support role is expected to work alongside healthcare support workers and fully qualified nurses to deliver hands on care. I want to see our local university, UGlos, reaping the benefit. The MP for Gloucester, Richard Graham, and I are backing the university to be named as one of the nursing associate pilots, with training and work experience programmes in both Cheltenham and Gloucester. We both feel this would make a big difference to local jobs generation, as well as benefiting patients and more generally. Here in Cheltenham, in addition to meetings on everything from debt counseling to the Middle East, I was delighted to support our talented Water Polo team as they crushed Lancaster in the Water Polo Championships on Saturday. Cheltenham is a powerhouse of the water polo world. Let’s be one in nursing too.