Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the new junior doctors' contract on the average pay of junior doctors.

The average pay of junior doctors will not change. The cost neutrality of the new contract means that the contract cannot in anyway be used to save money – it maintains the current spend for the current number of full-time equivalent doctors working the current average working week. The British Medical Association itself acknowledged this commitment and communicated it to its junior doctor members before the vote on the contract. Any growth in the junior doctor workforce/commitment will be funded from outside that envelope and the same average pay would apply to new juniors working the same working patterns.