Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust has been unable to fill 1,042 vacancies as at the end of June 2017; and if he will make a statement.

Since May 2010, there are 452 full time equivalent (FTE) more professionally qualified clinical staff (up by 12.8%), including 72 FTE (up by 22.5%) more consultants, and 165 FTE (up by 9.3%) more nurses and health visitors employed at the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust.

Responsibility for staffing levels rests with individual National Health Service trusts and their boards who are best placed to decide how many staff they need to provide a given service, taking into account skill mix, efficiency and the needs of their local population.

By increasing the number of medical school places in England by 1,500 over the next three years we are ensuring the right number of doctors are trained so that the National Health Service can continue to deliver safe, compassionate and effective care well into the future.