8424 (2026). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister for Vocational Education

8424 (2026). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister for Vocational Education: Has the Tertiary Education Commission directed any change to the number of funded places available for nursing training programmes in New Zealand; and if so, on what and what was the direction?

Hon Penny Simmonds: Since 2023, the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) has asked the sector to grow nursing enrolments as a priority, and the sector has responded by growing student enrolments by 7% from 8,333 in 2023 to 8,919 in 2025. In mid-2025, the TEC updated its guidance to the sector for 2026 investment in response to emerging clinical placement capacity pressures. The updated guidance requires tertiary education organisations to provide evidence of placement availability with HNZ or other providers for new enrolments before agreeing to fund new growth. TEC continues to work with HNZ and TEOs to understand and manage the balance between growing the workforce pipeline and placement capacity across the system.