Business of the House

Josh Newbury Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Let us speed up business questions a little bit, so everybody can get in.

[Josh Newbury (Cannock Chase) (Lab)]

The BMJ has reported that £406 million allocated by universities to NHS trusts in England between 2020 and 2023 for medical student training remains unaccounted for, and some trusts admit that they do not know how that money was spent at all. That is a huge failure on the part of the Conservative party, which also presided over sluggish growth in medical school places and a service-wide workforce crisis. Given the seriousness of those findings, will the Leader of the House grant a debate on transparency and accountability in NHS training, so that we can be confident that all the money set aside to train the world-leading doctors of tomorrow will be spent properly?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

The Government are fixing the problem; we introduced the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026, and it has had an impact. Competition ratios have halved, prioritised doctors have filled 98% of roles and in some specialities, such as general practice, all posts have been filled by prioritised doctors. However, my hon. Friend is right to continue to raise and campaign on these matters, and I urge him to apply for a Westminster Hall debate so that he can hear directly from Ministers.