Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the finding of the Royal College of Physicians’ 2021 census on the proportion of advertised consultant posts in England and Wales that went unfilled in 2021, what steps he is taking to increase the number of medical school places.

We have funded an additional 1,500 undergraduate medical school places each year for domestic students in England – a 25% increase over three years. This expansion was completed in September 2020 and has delivered five new medical schools in England. In addition, the Government temporarily lifted the cap on medical school places for students who completed A-Levels in 2020 and in 2021 in receipt of an offer from a university in England to study medicine, subject to grades.