Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to recruit and retain embryologists in the NHS.

Healthcare providers are responsible for ensuring that they have the right level of staffing to provide high quality care.

Health Education England (HEE) has been established to ensure the National Health Service has access to the right numbers of staff, at the right time and with the right skills. In doing so, HEE works with key external stakeholders to develop its National Workforce Plan for England which sets out the number of training places it will commission in the year ahead.

HEE will continue to work with Local Education and Training Boards and others to ensure that there are sufficient Healthcare Scientists, including embryologists, being trained to meet the needs of patients.

Currently HEE has 28 reproductive Scientists in training (which includes embryology) and are planning a further 11 to start in 2016/17.