Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Royal College of Physicians’ position statement, NHS Workforce Planning: the case for transparency and accountability, what steps he is taking to increase the number of places to study medicine in universities over the next 10 years.

The Government recently increased the number of places to study medicine at English universities by 1,500 per year or 25%. As part of this expansion, which was completed in September 2020, we opened five new medical schools across the country.

The Government currently has no plans to increase the number of funded medical school places beyond this. We are committed to ensuring that the number of places reflect England’s workforce requirements and continues to monitor current arrangements.