Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Kamall on 22 November (HL Deb, col 586), what steps they are taking to integrate social prescribing into the core undergraduate curriculum within medical schools.

Each medical school in England sets its own undergraduate curriculum, which must meet the standards of the General Medical Council (GMC). Individual curricula may not identify specific conditions for doctors to be aware of, but the GMC would expect that, in fulfilling their standards, newly qualified doctors are able to identify, treat and manage any care needs, including where they might benefit from social prescribing.

The Department has supported the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) to deliver its strategy to use social prescribing to connect people in local communities. With NHS England and NHS Improvement, the NASP has supported the Social Prescribing Student Champion Programme to deliver more than 750 teaching sessions across all United Kingdom medical schools and organise over 30 regional, national and international student conferences on social prescribing. In addition, the NASP has funded 22 studentships across England, enabling medical students to organise conferences, teaching sessions and contribute to research relating to social prescribing.