Oral Answers to Questions

Michelle Donelan Excerpts

Wednesday 15th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am happy to give the hon. Gentleman that assurance. I discussed the matter briefly with the First Minister of Scotland when I met her yesterday, and I am pleased to say that the Minister for Climate Change and Industry, my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Claire Perry), spoke on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to the relevant Scottish Government Minister, Paul Wheelhouse, about the issue yesterday. BEIS, Her Majesty’s Treasury and the Government stand ready to work with the Scottish Government and others to try to ensure that the best result can be achieved.

[Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)]

Q9. Our NHS is a national treasure and we must be bold to protect it. Each week my constituents struggle to get an appointment with their doctors, while our fantastic doctors are stretched to the limit and practices are struggling to recruit. To safeguard our NHS, will the Prime Minister consider making medical students sign a contract committing them to working in the NHS for the first five years, thereby stopping the brain drain overseas of our newly qualified doctors?

[The Prime Minister]

This is an important issue and my hon. Friend is right. We do need more GPs, which is why we are increasing the number of places at medical schools by 1,500, the first 500 of which will be available next September. On her specific point about committing people who have been trained to work in the NHS, the Department of Health has been looking at ways in which we can maximise our investment in medical education and it has asked Health Education England to look at the precise point she has raised and to report back early next year.