jacqui smith, chief registrar of the nursing and midwifery council.ds include shutting the broadcaster, aljazeera, and severing ties with iran and militant groups accused of terrorism, such as hezbollah. with me now is our security correspondent frank gardner. this is the official response from qatar and its allies. what might it include? i wouldn't hold your breath. qatar assert these are deliberately designed to be rejected. they are humiliating. saudi arabia, uae and others say there is zero trust, they put similar requests to qatar who agreed and then carried on supporting groups with those countries supported to be a threat to their existence. they do not trust qatar. qatar says they will not negotiate while this blockade, as they put it, is in place. sincejune the 5th, the neighbours have basically cut off qatar, closing the land border. qatar, closing the land border. qatar is not a big country, it is fabulously wealthy but not big. it has a tiny local population and a lot of expatriates. it totally dependent on outside exports for food. that i

the nursing and midwifery council says working conditions, workload and poor pay are among the reasonsur health editor hugh pym reports. recruitment and retention of nurses and other nhs staff has been a problem for a while now. today's figures show it's as difficult as ever. for the first time in nearly a decade, more nurses and midwives left the profession than joined in the latest year. attention has focused recently on nurses from other eu countries being less keen to work here. but the figures show the trend was more marked among british staff. there was a fall of nearly 1800 nurses and midwives on the official uk register over 12 months. the total of above 692,000 in march 2016 had fallen below 688,000 by may of this year. quite what the answer is, i don't know, but it's telling us something. we need to respond to that. government needs to respond to that, employers need to respond to it, because what we do know is that we need nurses and midwives to care for us in gp practices, care homes, hospitals, maternity units, whereever, across the uk. the nursing and midwifery council al

the nursing and midwifery council says working conditions, workload and poor pay are some of the reasons years, the numbers registering to work as nurses and midwives have been going in one direction — up. and, with increasing demands on our health service, that has been crucial. these latest figures showing more staff leaving than joining should, according to the healthcare union unison, ring alarm bells with the government, and could signal a staffing crisis. between last march and this, the numbers on the register dropped by more than 1700. over the following two months, there was a more dramatic move, the number going down again by more than 3000. it is only a small proportion of the total number of nurses registered, but it is the significance of the downward trend which is causing concern. there is great demand for the right standards of care to be delivered across the uk. if the numbers continue to fall, then clearly some action needs to be taken to reverse that trend. in a survey of staff who had left, for those not retiring the biggest factors were working conditions and disillu

midwives are leaving the profession in the uk than joining it — that's according to the nursing and midwifery councill's register than signed up in the year to march this year. sarah smith reports. for years, the numbers registering to work as nurses and midwives have been going in one direction, up, admit the raising around on our health service that has been crucial. the latest figures showing more staff living than joining should according to the healthcare union ring alarm bells with the government and could signal a staffing crisis. between last march and this, the numbers on the register dropped by more than 1700. 0ver register dropped by more than 1700. over the following two months, there was a more dramatic move, the number going down again by more than 3000. it's only a small proportion of the total number of nurses registered but it's the significance of the downward trend which is causing concern. there is a great demand for the right standards of care to be delivered across the uk. if the numbers continue to fall, then clearly some action needs to be taken to clearly some action needs to

the nursing and midwifery council says working conditions, workload and poor pay are among the reasonsnd retention of nurses and other nhs staff has been a problem for a while now. today's figures show it's as difficult as ever. for the first time in nearly a decade, more nurses and midwives left the profession than joined in the latest year. attention has focused recently on nurses from other eu countries being less keen to work here. but the figures show the trend was more marked among british staff. there was a fall of nearly 1800 nurses and midwives on the official uk register over 12 months. the total of above 692,000 in march 2016 had fallen below 688,000 by may of this year. quite what the answer is, i don't know, but it's telling us something. we need to respond to that. government needs to respond to that, employers need to respond to it, because what we do know is that we need nurses and midwives to care for us in gp practices, care homes, hospitals, maternity units, whereever, across the uk. the nursing and midwifery council also carried out a survey asking why people were l

that is according to the nursing and midwifery council.earch suggests 20% more staff left the council's register than signed up, in the year to march this year. sarah smith reports. for years, the numbers registering to work as nurses and midwives have been going in one direction — up. and, with increasing demands on our health service, that has been crucial. these latest figures showing more staff leaving than joining should, according to the healthcare union unison, ring alarm bells with the government, and could signal a staffing crisis. between last march and this, the numbers on the register dropped by more than 1,700. over the following two months, there was a more dramatic move, the number going down again by more than 3,000. it is only a small proportion of the total number of nurses registered, but it is the significance of the downward trend which is causing concern. there is a great demand for the right standards of care to be delivered across the uk. if the numbers continue to fall, then clearly some action needs to be taken to

the nursing and midwifery council say they have brought in tougher english language tests for nurses coming from the eu, so there are so many reasons behind this. but it is worth saying that more than 1 million people work across the nhs in england, so we have to put that 86,000 over that quarter from january to march this year and the context, the department for health is saying that since 2010 thousands more doctors, 11,000 doctors and 12,000 nurses have been brought in, and they say staffing is indeed a priority. good to have that context, thank you. housebuilders may be banned from selling new houses in england as leasehold, under new government proposals. a public consultation has begun on the issue, after it emerged some housing developers have been selling leaseholds onto investment firms, leading to extra costs or rising charges for homeowners. jonty bloom reports. newly built houses in the uk used to be almost totally freehold — you buy the property and the land it's built on — but increasingly house—builders have been selling them leasehold, often the annual fees rise regul

increase in the number of eu nationalsjoining the free council register, they have been extremely welcome. they make up about 5% of the nursing and midwiferyare you hearing from them some unease at the uncertainty, there are clearly is at the moment, for we understand what brexit actually means? there is a general unease, that is playing through in the numbers that are leaving the register. since brexit we have seen a reduction, a significant reduction in number, around 96% between april of last yearup to around 96% between april of last year up to now. which is a significant reduction. we cannot afford to lose these nurses. talk of afford to lose these nurses. talk of a transitional period, avoiding the so—called cliff edge, presumably thatis so—called cliff edge, presumably that is something he would welcome? absolutely, the new k —— the uk nursing workforce is not in a position to lose any nurses at this point of time, we have a crisis with about 40,000 to view nurses in the system. to have a situation where at the point where brexit is live, to have nurses leaving the system or those who have increasing uncertainty leaving beforehand,