Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Merron on 21 October (HL Deb col 125 GC), what is the expected timetable for the reforms to the General Medical Council’s governing legislation.

The Government is committed to modernising the regulatory frameworks for all healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom.

As a first step, we aim to consult on secondary legislation to modernise the General Medical Council’s (GMC) regulatory framework in early 2026 and to lay this legislation before Parliament in the same year.

As part of the consultation, we will be consulting on the professional titles which should be protected in law within the GMC’s regulatory framework.