Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure UK graduates are prioritised in applications for specialty medical training spaces.

As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan published on 3 July, we will work across Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period for specialty training. The plan also set out that we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts with a focus on specialties where there is the greatest need. We will set out next steps in due course.

We have made progress over the past year to improve the working lives of resident doctors. This includes: agreeing to an improved exception reporting system which should ensure doctors are working a safe number of hours and are compensated fairly for additional work; reviewing how resident doctors rotate through their training; and reforming and rationalising statutory and mandatory training to reduce unnecessary burden and repetition.

We will publish a new 10 Year Workforce Plan later this year to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again.