Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the oral evidence given by Richard Douglas, Director General, Finance and NHS, to the Health Committee on 9 December 2014, Questions 513-4, what assessment he has made of the potential effect that reducing Health Education England's budget to support the £2 billion additional funding for the frontline NHS in 2015-16 would have on the healthcare workforce.

All parts of the Department have been asked to make savings in their indicative budgets for 2015-16, including our arm’s length bodies. In the case of Health Education England we have been able to achieve this without affecting the numbers of National Health Service training places they will commission.