Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Statement of 23 February 2026 on Clinical trials, HCWS1347, in which the letter from MHRA refers to correspondence from 7 November 2025, if he will publish that correspondence.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Statement of 23 February 2026 on Clinical trials, whether (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) officials had discussions with MHRA on the Pathways clinical trial prior to February 2026.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Given that there are live legal proceedings, we are unable to comment on the details of the PATHWAYS trial.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether all arms of the Pathways clinical trials have been paused.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The PATHWAYS TRIAL focuses on the effects of puberty suppressing hormones on young people’s physical, social, and emotional well-being specifically when offered alongside the new model of National Health Service gender care based on comprehensive assessment and tailored psychosocial support. Therefore, the PATHWAYS study includes three non-interventional research projects:
As announced on 20 February, the PATHWAYS clinical trial has been paused, following new queries raised by the medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. While it is paused, recruitment of children and young people into the trial will not start, and therefore no children or young people will receive puberty suppression. As the intensive element of PATHWAYS Horizon is designed to provide a matched control group for the trial, and as PATHWAYS Connect is designed to compare children and young people receiving puberty suppression with a group in the intensive element of PATHWAYS Horizon, it is not possible for these aspects to progress without the trial element. The other PATHWAYS study projects are not affected by this pause.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Statement of 23 February 2026 on Clinical Trials, what information his Department holds on when the letter from MHRA to King's College London was (a) sent and (b) received; and on what date his Department became aware of (i) the letter and (ii) the concerns raised in the letter.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Given that there are live legal proceedings, we are unable to comment on the details of the PATHWAYS trial.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether any children were recruited for any arm of the Pathways clinical trials prior to it being paused.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) officials had discussions with (i) NHS England, (ii) University of York and (iii) other researchers on the Data Linkage study in (A) November 2025, (B) December 2025 and (C) January 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of UK primary medical degree graduates were (a) British and (b) non-British by country in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care does not hold information on the nationality of United Kingdom primary medical degree student graduates. The Office for Students publishes statistics on the fee statuses of annual intakes to medical courses across the UK, but not of those graduating. The fee statuses can act as a guide for UK versus non-UK nationality. The following table shows the fee statuses for intakes to UK medical schools during the academic years 2021/22 to 2025/26:
Academic year |
| Home fees | Other fees | Withdrawn during year |
2021/22 | Intake | 9,535 | 965 | 155 |
Intake percentage | 89% | 9% | 1% | |
2022/23 | Intake | 8,815 | 885 | 140 |
Intake percentage | 90% | 9% | 1% | |
2023/24 | Intake | 9,030 | 1,090 | 80 |
Intake percentage | 89% | 11% | 1% | |
2024/25 | Intake | 9,370 | 980 | 130 |
Intake percentage | 89% | 9% | 1% | |
2025/26* | Intake | 9,805 | 1,480 | N/A |
Intake percentage | 87% | 13% | N/A |
Source: Medical and Dental Intakes, Office for Students, available at the following link:
https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-providers/finance-and-funding/medicine-and-dentistry-funding/data-on-medical-and-dental-intakes/
Note: data for 2025/26 is the initial intake data, hence there is no data on withdrawals during the year, as with prior data.
Rules on the eligibility for home fees status are complex, but generally individuals must be resident and ‘settled’ in the UK on ‘the first day of the academic year’ for which they are paying fees to be eligible for home student status. With some exceptions, students must also have been ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of their course and for the three years before that date.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what monitoring her Department undertakes of recruitment and selection practices by organisations in receipt of public funds.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department does not monitor the recruitment and selection approaches in place across other employers except in some specific situations, for example on the approach to the remuneration of some senior academy trust executive leaders.
All individuals working in public roles within the education sector are expected to comply with the Seven Principles of Public Life, which includes making decisions fairly and on merit.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full time equivalent civil servants are working on his Department's response to the Hughes Report: Options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh, published on 7 February 2024.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Civil servants often contribute to a range of policy areas within the Department, therefore it is not possible to provide specific staff numbers for those that are exclusively working on the Department’s response to the Hughes Report.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department holds information on the number of resident doctors who, whilst on strike, work for another trust.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information on the number of resident doctors who, whilst on strike, work for another trust.
National Health Service staff who are on strike are not prevented by law from working for non-NHS bodies or other NHS organisations, including NHS trusts, on days of industrial action, as long as they are not provided by an employment business to cover the work of striking workers. Before the British Medical Association Resident Doctors Committee (BMA RDC) strike action in July 2025, NHS England set out in guidance that resident doctors who have chosen to take industrial action should not undertake a locum or bank shift elsewhere during the period of action. More information is available at the following link:
During the BMA RDC strike action in December 2025, NHS England issued additional communications to Trusts to reaffirm the existing guidance.
NHS staff should consider the guidance published by the relevant professional bodies before undertaking additional work during strike days.
The Department continues to monitor the impact of industrial action on NHS services and staffing arrangements.