Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what more is being done to support FY1 doctors as they progress into specialty training.

The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026 implements the Government’s commitment in the 10-Year Health Plan to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training places, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors with significant National Health Service experience for specialty training places. Under the act, doctors who have completed, or are completing, the UK Foundation Programme are prioritised for specialty training places.

The recently agreed 2026 Resident Doctors Deal also significantly expands the number of specialty training places by up to 4,500 over the next three years, including 1,000 next year. On 10 August 2026, NHS England announced that more than 350 of these additional specialty training places will be available in England to start in February 2027.