Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of places available at UK universities to study medicine to match demand from applicants.

The Government has funded an additional 1,500 undergraduate medical school places per year for domestic students in England, which represents a 25% increase and takes the total number of medical school places in England to 7,500 each year. This expansion was completed in September 2020 and delivered five new medical schools in England.

In addition, the Government temporarily lifted the cap on medical school places for students who completed A-Levels in 2020 and in 2021 and who had an offer from a university in England to study medicine, subject to their grades. As a result of this change, the intakes for 2020/21 and 2021/22 were 8,405 and 8,460 respectively, significantly above the planned cap of 7,500.

NHS England has been commissioned to produce a Long Term Workforce Plan. The Government has committed to publishing the plan shortly, and this will include projections for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals that will be needed in five, 10 and 15 years’ time, taking full account of improvements in retention and productivity. The workforce plan is for the whole of the National Health Service workforce.