Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a) waiving and b) subsidising the cost of the first six to eight (i) preliminary and (ii) core examinations for junior doctors.

The Department has not made a specific assessment of the potential merits of waiving or subsidising the cost of the first six to eight preliminary and/or core examinations for resident, previously “junior”, doctors.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, made two offers to the British Medical Association (BMA) Resident Doctors Committee in 2025 to try to resolve its ongoing industrial disputes. These including provisions to reimburse fees for mandatory royal college examinations to resident doctors in England. However, the BMA rejected these offers.

The Government remains determined to put an end to the damaging cycles of disruption caused by strike action and is holding talks with the BMA to resolve the disputes.