Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 84 of the Equality Analysis on the new contract for doctors and dentists in training in the NHS, published in March 2016, whether his Department plans to accept the recommendation for amendment of the draft new junior doctor contract to address the position of part-time doctors and advance equality of opportunity between women and men doctors; and if he will make a statement.

Yes. This is explicit in paragraph 60 of Schedule 2 of the Terms and Conditions of Service published by NHS Employers on 31 March 2016.

In addition amendments have also been made to the provision for on-call availability with respect to doctors working less than full-time, transitional arrangements have been amended so that doctors who take approved time out of training are not disadvantaged on return to training and so that those doctors who have not completed their training by the end of the transition period (2019/20), because they are working less than full time, or need to take an approved break from training can have the transitional protection period extended by up to three years until August 2022.