Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Patient safety boost as medical associates to be regulated, published on 11 December 2023, for what reasons the General Medical Council was appointed as the regulator.

The assessment of the appropriate regulatory body for physician associate (PA) and anaesthesia associate (AA) regulation was completed in 2019. On 7 February 2019, the Government published its response to the consultation on the Regulation of Medical Associate Professions in the United Kingdom, confirming its decision to introduce statutory regulation for PAs and AAs. The majority of respondents to the consultation were in favour of the General Medical Council (GMC) taking on regulation.

Following further work by the Department, on 18 July 2019, the Government announced that it would be asking the GMC to regulate both roles.

Regulation by the GMC will mean that the organisation will have responsibility and oversight of doctors, AAs and PAs, allowing them to take a holistic approach to the education, training and standards of all three roles. This will enable a more coherent and co-ordinated approach to regulation and, by making it easier for employers, patients, and the public to understand the relationship between these roles and doctors, help to embed them in the workforce.

On 13 December 2023, the Department laid draft legislation in both Houses and in the Scottish Parliament that will empower the GMC to commence regulation for AAs and PAs by the end of 2024.