Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of the whether the number of full-time equivalent consultants will be adequate to meet patient demand over the next (a) five, (b) 10 and (c) 20 years; and if she will make a statement.

The Government has funded an additional 1,500 undergraduate medical school places each year for domestic students in England and has delivered five new medical schools. The first graduates from this expansion entered foundation training in August 2022.

In January 2022, the Department commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term workforce plan, which is due to be completed by the end of 2022. Its conclusions will be shared in due course. The long-term workforce plan will be used to inform future Government policy on meeting the needs of patients and the National Health Service workforce. Funding plans beyond the current Spending Review period will be subject to the outcome of future Spending Reviews.