Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to continue funding for additional higher anaesthetic training places in 2025-26.

We are committed to training the staff we need, including anaesthetists, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.

We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the National Health Service in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.

We have launched the 10-Year Health Plan which will set out a bold agenda to reform and repair the NHS, and ensuring we have the right people, in the right places, with the right skills will be central to this vision. In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to build the transformed health service we will deliver over the next decade.