Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 27 November (HL11874), whether the forthcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan will set out specific forecasts for the number of staff the NHS needs over those 10 years; whether they will publish the assumptions used to produce that plan; and whether the National Audit Office will make an assessment of that plan.

The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. It will include modelling of the potential size and shape of the future workforce and implications for major professions.

The updated workforce modelling, and its underlying assumptions, will be set out in and alongside the plan when published in spring 2026. It will be supported by external independent scrutiny. A decision on whether the National Audit Office will be asked to make an assessment of the plan has not yet been made.