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Modernising Medical Careers

Last year, the main focus of the discussions, particularly with the British Medical Association, was on the number of training posts that would be available. That is not dictated by Ministers or the Department of Health; it is determined by the individual trusts and postgraduate deaneries on the basis of what is needed by the service. We spent several months and a great deal of work establishing the number of training posts that would be available. The noble Lord Warner, then the Minister responsible, made a statement on that subject towards the end of last year—[Interruption.] If I may remind the right hon. Member for Fylde (Mr. Jack), Lord Warner said in that statement that we did not and could not know how many other applicants there would be, particularly from overseas.