Asked by: Helena Dollimore (Labour (Co-op) - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2025 to Question 24568 on Department of Health and Social Care: Media, which Ministers received media training.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024, media training was received by Minister Caroline Johnson MP, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health and Public Health, and Lord Markham, the then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State.
Asked by: Helena Dollimore (Labour (Co-op) - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much their Department spent on (a) media and (b) voice training for Ministers between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024, the Department spent £2,292 on media training for members of the Ministerial team. No spend on voice training for Ministers was incurred during this period.
Asked by: Helena Dollimore (Labour (Co-op) - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an estimate of the potential cost to the public purse of (a) media and (b) voice training for Ministers between (a) 4 July 2022 and (b) 4 July 2024.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department organised no (i) media or (ii) voice training for Ministers during this period, and therefore the estimated cost to the public purse is none.
Asked by: Helena Dollimore (Labour (Co-op) - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many doctors applied for core anaesthetic training in each of the last five years; and how many training places were available in the same period.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of doctors who applied for training in the Core Anaesthetics programme, as well as how many training places were available across the United Kingdom in each of the last five years:
Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
Applications | 1,479 | 2,046 | 2,337 | 2,604 | 3,522 |
Training places (posts) | 569 | 566 | 558 | 545 | 542 |
Source: Workforce, Training and Education, Competition Ratios, published by NHS England and available at the following link:
https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/medical-specialty-training/competition-ratios
Asked by: Helena Dollimore (Labour (Co-op) - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many doctors applied for medical specialty training in each of the last five years; and how many training places were available in the same period.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Doctors undertake two years of foundation training after graduation, which is followed by a choice of core training programmes. Most of those in core training then apply for higher specialty training programmes.
For 2024, there were 4,177 applications across the 25 specialty training programmes that comprise medical specialty training, which came from 2,897 unique applicants due to doctors being able to apply to a number of different specialities when seeking specialty training posts. The number of unique applicants for prior years is not held by the Department.
The attached table shows the number of doctors who applied for training in the 25 individual specialty training programmes that comprise medical specialty training, along with how many training posts were available across the United Kingdom in each speciality, in each of the last five years.
This information is drawn from information published by NHS England on the Competition Ratios for all doctor training specialties each year, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Helena Dollimore (Labour (Co-op) - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on (a) media and (b) voice training for Ministers between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department spent a total of £1,500, including VAT, on media training for ministers between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024. There was no expenditure on voice training for ministers during this period.
Asked by: Helena Dollimore (Labour (Co-op) - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much their Department spent on (a) media and (b) voice training for Ministers between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s records show there has been no budget spent on media and/or voice training for Ministers between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024.
Asked by: Helena Dollimore (Labour (Co-op) - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department spent on (a) media and (b) voice training for Ministers between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The requested information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. No money has been spent on voice training for Ministers.
Asked by: Helena Dollimore (Labour (Co-op) - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much his Department spent on (a) media and (b) voice training for Ministers between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero was created in February 2023, so no data is held for prior to this time.
There has been no spend on either (a) media or (b) voice training for Ministers between February 2023 and 4th July 2024 in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Asked by: Helena Dollimore (Labour (Co-op) - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much her Department spent on (a) media and (b) voice training for Ministers between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department carries out media training in-house and so did not spend any money on media or voice training for Ministers in this period.