Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to amend working time rules to give trainee doctors, surgeons and medics additional time to train and practice.

Health Education England is working with the Department to explore the recommendations resulting from the Royal College of Surgeons of England led review of the impact of the Working Time Directive.

The Department, Health Education England and Royal College of Surgeons have agreed a legal framework to assist the identification of time that can be established as training and not work. A joint group of key stakeholders are considering the recommendations of the review and exploring options for the optimal delivery of training within the existing legal framework and that identified by the legal teams.