Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of changes to the status of educational achievement (EA) points in the UK Foundation Programme application scoring process on (a) international students, (b) graduate-entry medical students, (c) medical students undertaking intercalated degrees and (d) students from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds.

The UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) is responsible for the application process for the UK Foundation Programme. On 20 November 2020, it confirmed that it would cease allocating points for additional educational achievements for those entering the Foundation Programme from August 2023. The UKFPO is aiming to support students who could not, for financial or other reasons, study for another qualification in addition to their degree. The UKFPO and Health Education England consulted bodies such as the Medical Schools Council and the British Medical Association on this change in early 2020. HEE also received feedback from a number of students who felt the current system was not fair.

The UKFPO considered this issue and determined that implementing this change in 2023 would strike a balance between supporting the interests of current students and making the system fairer for new applicants. Once this change has been introduced, we will work closely with the UKFPO to monitor the impact across all student groups.