Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government which universities are offering medical school places to overseas students only; and how many students are enrolled on those courses in the current academic year.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Brunel University is the only university which exclusively offers medical places to overseas students. The information requested on enrolment is not collected centrally. The medical school at Brunel University is not required to report the intake data as it is a private and independent provider of undergraduate medical education and does not receive any funding from the Office for Students or Health Education England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government why they have reduced the number of funded university places for trainee doctors from 10,000 to 7,500 per annum in England.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

There has been no reduction of the number of funded university places from 10,000 to 7,500 per annum in England. In 2020 and 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to adjust school A-Level exams, the Government temporarily lifted the cap on medical school places for students obtaining the required A-Level grades and holding an offer from a Medical School in England resulting in intakes of 8,405 and 8,460 respectively.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 8 November (HL3116), whether they have since asked the Migration Advisory Committee to pause their review; and if so, (1) when, and (2) for what purpose; and when they expect completion of the review.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

The Government agreed the MAC should pause the SOL review while we consider the position on the topic of legal migration following the Office for National Statistics’ November publication of net migration estimates and in line with its manifesto commitments to bring overall numbers down. We will be setting out information on the Shortage Occupation List review shortly.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish the NHS workforce plan; whether it will include specific numbers for the (1) recruitment, and (2) training, of additional (a) doctors, (b) nurses, and (c) allied medical staff, needed.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

To support the overall workforce, we have commissioned NHS England to develop a Long-Term Workforce Plan for the National Health Service workforce to help recruit and retain more staff and will include independently verified projections for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals that will be needed in five, 10 and 15 years’ time. This plan is in development and we have committed to publishing it shortly.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, given the opening of the University of Chester medical school, and the forthcoming opening of a new medical school at the University of Surrey, what plans they have to increase the current cap of 7,500 funded medical places in England; and if they have any such plans, by how many they will increase the cap.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to ensuring that the number of medical school places is in line with England’s workforce requirements.

NHS England has been commissioned to produce a long-term workforce plan, which will include projections for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals needed in five, 10 and 15 years’ time, taking full account of improvements in retention and productivity. The workforce plan is for the whole of the National Health Service workforce, and will be published this year.

The Government has funded an additional 1,500 undergraduate medical school places per year for domestic students in England, a 25% increase, taking the total number of medical school training places in England to 7,500 each year. This expansion was completed in September 2020 and has delivered five new medical schools in England.