Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has had discussions with medical organisations on the implications of the recent European Court of Justice ruling against Ireland on the Working Time Directive.

The Department has commissioned Health Education England to take forward the recommendations of the task group led by Professor Sir Norman Williams into the impact of the European Working Time Directive on the training of junior doctors.

Health Education England has set up a specific working group to take this work forward, with membership including the Royal College of Surgeons and other stakeholders. The group is taking forward work on all the taskforce recommendations. This includes looking at the categorisation of training time and will consider the impact of the recent European Court of Justice ruling on Ireland. Health Education England will deliver an interim report to the Department in due course.