Decisions on local recruitment and employment are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts, to ensure they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care, and the specific information requested by the Hon Member is not centrally collated by the Department.

However, on the broader point he raises, we know that student paramedics work incredibly hard to gain the skills needed to save lives and we want those who qualify to be able to care for patients as soon as possible.

This year has seen record numbers of ambulance staff in the NHS, including paramedics, and our upcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan will help ensure the NHS has the right staff, in the right places, to deliver the care that patients need.

The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026 implements the Government’s commitment in the 10-Year Health Plan to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training places, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors with significant National Health Service experience for specialty training places. Under the act, doctors who have completed, or are completing, the UK Foundation Programme are prioritised for specialty training places.

The recently agreed 2026 Resident Doctors Deal also significantly expands the number of specialty training places by up to 4,500 over the next three years, including 1,000 next year. On 10 August 2026, NHS England announced that more than 350 of these additional specialty training places will be available in England to start in February 2027.

The Church Commissioners have indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Church Commissioners have indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Church Commissioners have indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Church Commissioners have indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Careers adviser qualifications and continuing professional development (CPD) include content on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This helps advisers understand dyslexia and other forms of neurodiversity, identify barriers to learning and progression, work effectively with special educational needs coordinators and other professionals, and provide tailored careers guidance.

To further strengthen support for young people with SEND, the department has commissioned Transform Your Training to develop a series of CPD modules for careers advisers, including a module focused specifically on supporting young people with SEND.

This government is transforming the Apprenticeships Levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy in England, giving employers greater flexibility, creating more opportunities for young people, and directly supporting the Industrial Strategy.

To give businesses greater flexibility and help them quickly respond to emerging skills gaps, we have launched new apprenticeship units in priority sectors such as artificial intelligence, digital, and engineering. We have also reduced the apprenticeship minimum duration to 8 months and made the English and maths requirements more flexible for adult apprentices.

We are giving businesses the stability they need to invest and create high-quality jobs across the UK through our Industrial Strategy, including investing over £1 billion for tailored sector skills packages.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 25 March in response to Question 121818.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 25 March in response to Question 121818.

This Government is transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy in England, giving employers greater flexibility, creating more opportunities for young people, and directly supporting Industrial Strategy sectors, including engineering and manufacturing.

Employers can choose the training provider best suited to deliver the apprenticeship training that will meet their skills needs and the government provides a range of financial support for employers and providers to offer apprenticeships. We are now fully funding apprenticeships for eligible young people under 25 and from October we are introducing a £2,000 hiring payment for non-levy paying employers, typically SMEs, that recruit apprentices under 25. We also continue to pay £1,000 to both employers, of all sizes, and providers for eligible young apprentices, including 16-18-year-olds.

To give businesses greater flexibility and help them quickly respond to emerging skills gaps, we have launched new apprenticeship units in priority sectors such as artificial intelligence, digital, and engineering. These are built from the knowledge and skills within existing employer-led occupational apprenticeship standards, ensuring high-quality, targeted training that meets real business needs. Levy payers can use their levy funding for apprenticeship units and they will also be fully funded for non-levy paying employers, typically SMEs.

While capital projects are ineligible for apprenticeship funding, apprenticeship provision will benefit from significant capital funding announced in the Infrastructure, Industrial, and Education Estates strategies, including £200 million via the Skills Mission Funds to expand Technical Excellence Colleges across England to priority sectors.

The Government recognises the importance of maintaining a strong pipeline of UK seafarers to support maritime growth and resilience. To support this, maritime skills and training are regularly discussed with ministerial colleagues, industry stakeholders, and trade unions.

Policy discussions are informed by the recent Seafarer Projections Review which identified a potential shortfall of around 8,900 seafarers by 2035, and also by the Review of the Effectiveness of Funding for UK Seafarer Training which has provided an updated evidence base on the long-term sustainability of the workforce. We also note that recent reforms to the Tonnage Tax regime have contributed to growth in participation, with ship numbers in the regime increasing by 22% over the last two years, supporting the Government's ambitions for maritime growth, skills development and cadet training, and demonstrating the value placed on the regime by the maritime industry.

Work is underway to future proof seafarer training through the Cadet Training and Modernisation programme and the Ratings Review. We also strive to increase officer cadet recruitment by funding 50% of the cost of cadet training through the Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) fund, whose budget for 2026/27 stands at £19.4m. Our focus is now on taking forward the recommendations of the funding review and ensuring the UK remains an attractive place to invest, train and operate.

The Government recognises the importance of maintaining a strong pipeline of UK seafarers to support maritime growth and resilience. To support this, maritime skills and training are regularly discussed with ministerial colleagues, industry stakeholders, and trade unions.

Policy discussions are informed by the recent Seafarer Projections Review which identified a potential shortfall of around 8,900 seafarers by 2035, and also by the Review of the Effectiveness of Funding for UK Seafarer Training which has provided an updated evidence base on the long-term sustainability of the workforce. We also note that recent reforms to the Tonnage Tax regime have contributed to growth in participation, with ship numbers in the regime increasing by 22% over the last two years, supporting the Government's ambitions for maritime growth, skills development and cadet training, and demonstrating the value placed on the regime by the maritime industry.

Work is underway to future proof seafarer training through the Cadet Training and Modernisation programme and the Ratings Review. We also strive to increase officer cadet recruitment by funding 50% of the cost of cadet training through the Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) fund, whose budget for 2026/27 stands at £19.4m. Our focus is now on taking forward the recommendations of the funding review and ensuring the UK remains an attractive place to invest, train and operate.

This government continues to cut red tape so that employers and apprenticeship training providers can focus even more of their time on delivering high-quality training for learners.

To support employers to use the apprenticeship service, we have introduced a supportive onboarding process which enables training providers to complete the initial account setup for an employer. We have enhanced the ability for employers to give their provider permission to undertake most of the administrative tasks on their behalf. As a result, we have seen significant reductions to the on-boarding time for new employers, supporting apprentices to begin their training more quickly.

We are also making significant changes to the apprenticeship payment system, by removing the need for providers to submit the same data into multiple systems and removing the need for employers to manually input data. Employers will be able to approve their apprentices’ data in a single step.

In addition, the department is working with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade to help SMEs navigate the skills system, providing SMEs with a single front door through which they can access information on the Growth and Skills Levy and SME support. We will also establish an SME forum to gather feedback and ensure these improvements continue to meet employers' needs.

The Government recognises the importance of swimming lessons. Swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy as well as being a crucial life skill in terms of water safety, which is why it is a mandatory part of the primary PE National Curriculum.

Sport England, our arm’s-length body for grassroots sport, is investing £16.45 million into Swim England, the National Governing Body for swimming in England with responsibility for developing the sport across the country, for the funding period 2022-2029 to increase swimming participation and invest in grassroots swimming initiatives.

The ongoing responsibility for providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, and swimming lesson pricing is determined by individual clubs and operators.

The Renewed Women’s Health Strategy for England, published in April 2026, recognises that women have been dismissed for far too long and that this is unacceptable. The strategy also explicitly recognises that women’s pain is too often dismissed, normalised, or ignored, and treats this as a systemic failure, not isolated poor practice.

Health professionals need to listen to women and respond appropriately, and our new multiprofessional capability framework for women's healthcare in community settings, developed in partnership with Skills for Health, will set out basic, intermediate, and advanced skills, and will embed trauma-informed practice. This will address the longstanding pattern of women's symptoms being dismissed or normalised.

We also recognise the importance of ensuring healthcare professionals are appropriately trained and informed about women’s health conditions. The General Medical Council has introduced the Medical Licensing Assessment to encourage a better understanding of common women’s health problems among all doctors as they start their careers. In addition, women's health is included in the Royal College of General Practitioners curriculum for trainee general practitioners, including gynaecology, sexual health, and breast health.

Employers are responsible for ensuring that staff are appropriately trained to provide safe care.

Healthcare professionals are expected to be aware of and follow relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on mental health, self-harm, and suicide prevention.

In addition, the Staying Safe from Suicide Guidance, published in April 2025, sets out the latest evidence on the assessment, formulation, and management of suicide risk. Mental health practitioners are expected to align their practice with this guidance, and an accompanying e-learning package is available to National Health Service and non-NHS staff. The NHS Medium Term Planning Framework requires integrated care boards to ensure that mental health practitioners undertake this training and deliver care in line with the guidance.

The information requested for Question 29058 is not held centrally in the format requested.

Recruitment to the 2026 UK Foundation Programme has now concluded. Total numbers of Foundation Programme places in the United Kingdom are agreed through a four-nation workforce planning process and take into account the fact that a proportion of applicants withdraw from the Foundation Programme each year. The Government therefore has no plans to backfill any vacant posts that may arise for 2026.

The information requested for Question 29058 is not held centrally in the format requested.

Recruitment to the 2026 UK Foundation Programme has now concluded. Total numbers of Foundation Programme places in the United Kingdom are agreed through a four-nation workforce planning process and take into account the fact that a proportion of applicants withdraw from the Foundation Programme each year. The Government therefore has no plans to backfill any vacant posts that may arise for 2026.