Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to reopen negotiations with the British Medical Association on proposed contract changes for doctors.

The British Medical Association (BMA) Consultants’ Committee has now returned to negotiations and we hope that consultants will vote to accept a modernised contract in the New Year. The Government hopes that the BMA Junior Doctors’ Committee will also return to negotiations on the same basis. My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has written to the Chair of the Junior Doctors’ Committee with guarantees to allay concerns that the BMA has shared with its members and the public. The letter has been published at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-secretary-jeremy-hunt-writes-to-jdc-chair-johann-malawana