Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how Health Education England calculates the number of trainees in dermatology; and how those numbers are matched to future specialist consultant requirements for England.

The Government has mandated Health Education England (HEE) to provide national leadership on education, training and workforce development.

HEE sets out its commissioning intentions based upon the needs of local employers, providers, commissioners and other stakeholders who come together as members of HEE’s Local Education Training Boards (LETBs).

HEE’s national workforce plan for England is an aggregate of local LETBs’ plans, but the advice and input of clinical advisors and patient representatives, as well as the Royal Colleges and other stakeholders, is also listened to and considered. It is this discussion and involvement locally and nationally that makes this a plan for the whole of the National Health Service in England.

HEE is in the process of reviewing investment in medical education in the context of current and forecast supply and demand, competing priorities, the NHS Five Year Forward View, and HEE’s Strategic Framework.