Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many medical students graduated from UK universities in each of the last five years; and how many doctors completed foundation training in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data published by the General Medical Council (GMC) provides information on the number of doctors with a United Kingdom Primary Medical Qualification (PMQ) by year. The following table shows the number of doctors graduating from UK medical schools in each of the last five years who then registered with the GMC:
PMQ Year | Total |
2020 | 7,381 |
2021 | 7,356 |
2022 | 7,810 |
2023 | 8,279 |
2024 | 9,261 |
2025 | 9,734 |
Source: General Medical Council, UK graduates summary data, with further information available at the following link:
https://gde.gmc-uk.org/medical-schools/uk-graduates/uk-graduates-summary-data
Note: total represents the total number of doctors with a UK Primary Medical Qualification in that year who went onto register with the GMC.
Medical graduates complete a two-year Foundation Programme following graduation from medical school. Successful completion of the programme occurs at the end of Foundation Year Two (F2). Data on the number of doctors completing foundation training is published by the GMC through its Education Data Tool. Successful completion of foundation training is interpreted as completion of F2.
The following table shows data published by the GMC on the number of doctors completing F2 in each of the last five years:
Foundation Two Year | Number of F2 doctors |
2019 | 7,195 |
2020 | 7,379 |
2021 | 7,686 |
2022 | 7,655 |
2023 | 7,591 |
Source: General Medical Council, Education Data Tool Progression Reports, with further information available at the following link:
https://edt.gmc-uk.org/progression-reports/recruitment-from-f2
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many current cases are there where Work Capability Assessments have taken longer than the 13 weeks set out in departmental guidelines.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It might be helpful to explain that the 13 weeks set out in departmental guidelines only applies to the assessment phase of Employment Support Allowance. It is the guideline for when the department expects a decision to be made upon entitlement to Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and is not a deadline for when a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) should be conducted by.
Due to this we have interpreted your question to mean how many ESA new claims the assessment suppliers currently hold that have been waiting for a WCA longer than 13 weeks.
As of 23rd February 2026, there are 6,500 new claims ESA cases that have been awaiting a WCA assessment for over 13 weeks.
Where an assessment takes longer than 13 weeks to complete, we will automatically award arrears from the 14th week of the claim, where appropriate, so that claimants do not lose out.
Please Note
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will instruct Local Authorities to disregard the compensation and pensions of veterans as a form of council income.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Councils tax support for working-age people is locally designed. Councils must review their schemes each year and make any changes in consultation with their residents. Support for pensioners is prescribed in regulations which are updated by the department each year in line with changes to the wider benefit system. For 2026-27, the regulations include new capital disregards for the Armed Forces LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme and the Miscarriage of Justice Compensation Scheme.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the average processing time for Employment Support Allowance and Personal Independence Payments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on average processing time for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) can be found on Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/).
The requested data can be found in the ‘Clearance Times for Initial Claims’ dataset. Stat-Xplore will automatically select the latest completed assessment date. However, you can use the ‘Completed Assessment Date’ filter to produce completed assessment for a time period of your choice. You can expand ‘Measures’ and then ‘Clearance Time Breakdowns for Initial Claims’ to produce a breakdown of different types of clearance times. For average processing time covering claim registration date to DWP decision date, we suggest choosing the ‘Median of End-to-end Process (weekdays)’ measure. You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) clearance times are available as part of the PIP Official Statistics quarterly release. The latest release, with data available to October 2025, is available here (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-statistics-april-2013-to-october-2025). Table 1A in the underlying Excel tables of this release shows median average clearance times for normal rules new claims.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) guidance has been provided to Dudley Council on the treatment of Armed Forces compensation in means-testing for Disabled Facilities Grants and (b) the Government’s commission on adult social care will consider reform to the treatment of Armed Forces compensation in means testing for the Disabled Facilities Grant.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In March 2022, the Government published Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) guidance for local authorities in England. It includes a section on the Armed Forces community and can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/disabled-facilities-grant-dfg-delivery-guidance-for-local-authorities-in-england
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government funds Foundations, the national body for the Disabled Facilities Grant and Home Improvement Agencies, to work with local authorities on all aspects of delivery. We are not aware of any specific guidance provided to Dudley Council; however, local authorities have a considerable degree of discretion in how they deliver home adaptation grants. This includes the power to fully disregard all military compensation payments in the application of the means test.
Baroness Casey, chair of the Independent Commission into adult social care, is looking at what fundamental reforms will be needed in adult social care. The Commission's Terms of Reference is sufficiently broad to enable Baroness Casey to define its remit to independently consider how to build a social care system fit for the future.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will facilitate a vote on proposals for financial redress contained in the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report on changes to women's State Pension age, published on 21 March 2024.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has made its decision on this case based on due process and careful consideration of the body of evidence. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made a statement to the House of Commons and the detailed reasons for this decision have been placed in House library.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the outcomes of the Extend medicines responsibilities for allied health professions consultation which closed in October 2025.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is currently analysing the large number of respondents received, and a Government response detailing next steps will be published in due course.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report on changes to women's State Pension age, published on 21 March 2024, if he will make an assessment of the potential (a) economic; and (b) social impact on 1950s-born women in Stourbridge.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government carefully considered the findings of the Ombudsman’s report on the communication of changes to women’s State Pension age, and a detailed response including an Equality Analysis has been deposited in the House library.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of which rail fares offered by DfT managed train operating companies are not available to purchase from ticket offices.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The move to Great British Railways will enable passengers to receive a more consistent offer across the network, and we are already taking steps to overhaul the complex fares and ticketing system and make it easier and simpler for passengers to trust they are buying the right ticket and getting the best fare for their journey.
As modern ticketing and payment methods roll out more widely on the railways, we will ensure that all passengers, including those who need to use cash or do not have access to smartphones or the internet, are able to buy a ticket across the different retail options.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if it is her policy that under GBR all rail fares including discounted fares will be available to purchase from ticket offices.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has set out that Great British Railways will have a broad retail function, using all available channels to serve passengers. The Railways Bill will deliver the statutory basis for this function.