Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to support educators, supervisors, mentors and trainers in the 10 Year Workforce Plan and work with employers to increase capacity for medical education and training.

On 8 December, the Government put an offer in writing to the British Medical Association Resident Doctors Committee (BMA RDC) which was rejected. The offer would have increased the number of specialty training posts over the next three years from the 1,000 announced in the 10-Year Health Plan to 4,000, bringing forward 1,000 of these specialty training posts to start in 2026. The BMA have rejected the Government's offer, so that is not going ahead. Our door remains open, and this Government is determined to put an end to these damaging cycles of disruption. On 8 January 2026, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, met with the BMA RDC to kick off a series of talks to resolve the dispute.

The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure that the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. It will include modelling of the potential size and shape of the future workforce and implications for major professions.

We are engaging with partners throughout this process, including universities and higher education institutes. A number of organisations with expertise in higher education were invited to and attended a ministerially led partner event on 5 November. As we continue the open and wide-ranging conversations we’ve been having with staff, patients and organisations across the country, we will ensure that the engagement is robust and representative of different stakeholder groups.