Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff responsible for UK Foundation programme allocation process are (a) NHS employees, (b) civil servants and (c) people involved in direct clinical care.

The UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) facilitates the operation and continuing development of the Foundation Programme. It is jointly funded and governed by NHS England and the four United Kingdom health departments.

All of the UKFPO’s administrative team are employees of the National Health Service, none are civil servants. Many of the team have wider experience of working in hospital settings directly with foundation doctors, or of working in foundation and medical education settings.

The UKFPO's National Clinical Director is a clinician, and the role of the Clinical Advisor for Recruitment is shared by two foundation school directors who are also both clinicians. The team is also directly responsible to medical directors in the four nation statutory education bodies (SEBs).

The UKFPO has a Foundation Recruitment Group which oversees its recruitment and allocation activity and processes. This group includes stakeholders like the Medical Schools Council, the British Medical Association, and medical school representatives, as well as the four nation SEBs.