Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to ensure NHS recruitment keeps pace with an increasingly elderly population; and if he will make a statement.

The Government is committed to ensuring there are sufficient staff numbers to meet England’s workforce requirements, including taking account of demographic changes. At a national level, the Government is committed to expanding the supply of the National Health Service workforce and we are on track to deliver 50,000 more nurses by the end of this Parliament.

We have opened five new medical schools across England and are committed to funding an extra 1,500 undergraduate medical school places per year at English universities or a 25% increase, taking the total number of medical school training places in England to 7,500 each year. This expansion was completed in September 2020. Retention is also a key focus the NHS People Plan. There are almost 6,300 or 5.3% more doctors and over 11,200 or 3.8% more nurses in the NHS than last year.