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 impact of (a) increasing funding for medical schools, (b) offering additional financial support to people training for medical careers and (c) increasing salaries for NHS workers on increasing the size of the NHS workforce.

The Government reviews funding arrangements for all healthcare students before the start of each academic year. Whilst we will attempt to address a variety of issues with the finite resources available to us, we must also strike a balance between ensuring students are financially supported during their studies and delivering maximum value for money for the taxpayer.

For 2023/24, we have asked the independent pay review bodies for pay recommendations for National Health Service staff not already in multi-year deals. This follows the acceptance in full of the 2022/23 financial year’s recommendations.

We have commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term plan for the NHS workforce for the next 15 years. The high-level long-term NHS workforce plan will look at the mix and number of staff required across all parts of the country and will set out the actions and reforms that will be needed to reduce supply gaps and improve retention. This plan will help ensure that we have the right numbers of staff, with the right skills to transform and deliver high quality services fit for the future.