Oral Answers to Questions

Aphra Brandreth Excerpts

Tuesday 13th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ashley Dalton]

As my hon. Friend rightly points out, I was privileged to answer for the Government in the Westminster Hall debate last week on this very issue, and I vividly remember Trevor’s story. Last week, I did commit to exploring current arrangements for tissue freezing options and the options for change, and I recommit to doing that today. I would be more than happy to meet him and his constituent to discuss this further.

[Aphra Brandreth (Chester South and Eddisbury) (Con)]

8. When he plans to publish the NHS 10-year workforce plan.

[The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)]

The Government will publish the 10-year workforce plan in the spring. This plan will ensure that the NHS has the right people in the right places with the right skills for patients when they need them, and we are engaging extensively with partners to ensure that this plan delivers for staff and patients.

[Aphra Brandreth]

I have been contacted by concerned doctors in Chester South and Eddisbury who, after five or six years at medical school and a further two years of foundation training, are now struggling to secure specialty posts and are being forced to consider leaving the NHS altogether. While I will reserve judgment on the medical training Bill to be presented later today until I have seen it in full, I welcome the fact that the Government are finally treating this issue with the urgency it deserves. Can the Minister set out how this legislation will be accompanied by a credible plan to expand training numbers, so that the number of places is sufficient to meet the NHS’s short, medium and long-term workforce needs?

[Karin Smyth]

I thank the hon. Member for her almost support for the Bill that we will present later to address much of this problem. Again, we are clearing up the mess we were left by her party, which, by changing the rules in delivering a workforce plan in 2023, essentially ramped up the supply of staff by extrapolating existing trends without any reference to the constraints or needs of the service. Our workforce plan will be different. We do hope for support for the Bill to remove some of the problem with foundation and specialty training places, and we look forward to rigorous debate on that subject.