Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that there are an adequate number of suitable training places available for medical graduates across all of the UK, including those who have graduated in Scotland and who are mobile in terms of securing employment; what steps he is taking to prevent newly qualified doctors travelling overseas for work, particularly those graduating during this academic year and including those who graduated in 2025 and have yet to be connected with a suitable training opportunity; and whether he has plans to review the pre-entry qualifications for medical training places and start accepting UK based medical graduates, who miss out on a training place by a matter of a few exam marks.

We set out in the 10-Year Health Plan for England that over the next three years we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts, with a focus on specialties where there is greatest need. We will set out next steps in due course.

We have also introduced the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026 which delivers the Government’s commitment in the 10-Year Health Plan to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training places, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors with significant National Health Service experience for specialty training places. We expect that all eligible prioritised applicants for the foundation programme in 2026 will be offered a place.

This act will ensure a sustainable medical workforce that can meet the health needs of the population, and will mean we are less reliant on an unpredictable labour market and can make best use of the substantial taxpayer investment in medical training. It will reduce competition for places and give homegrown talent a path to become the next generation of NHS doctors.

There are no current plans to review the pre-entry qualifications for medical training places in respect of UK based medical graduates who have not achieved the necessary exam marks.