Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many female junior doctors are likely to be affected by the changes in the junior doctor contract that propose six years' training before being transferred to a new pay scale.

The transitional pay protection arrangements agreed with the junior doctor leadership within the British Medical Association mean that junior doctors in the higher stages of training remain on existing pay terms, including annual incremental pay increases, until 2022, which gives part-time workers more active protection of their pay than straightforward cash floor pay protection. Allowing them to continue on the existing pay system provides protection in respect of anticipated earnings for those whose career choices were made some time ago. This applies to all those in the higher stages of training, male and female.