Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of haematology specialists working in (a) England and (b) the North East; and how that number has changed since 2010.

The most recent National Health Service annual workforce census was published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) in March 2014 and shows that in September 2013 there were 1,507 doctors with a specialty of haematology working in England; this represents a 13% increase since September 2010.

The number of full-time equivalent doctors with a specialty of haematology working in the NHS in England and the North East as at 30 September in 2010 and 2013 is shown in the attached table.

The next NHS annual workforce census reflecting the position as at 30 September 2014 will be published by the HSCIC in March 2015.