Modernising Medical Careers
Opposition Day — [9th Allotted Day]
4:58 pm
Norman Lamb (Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Health; North Norfolk, Liberal Democrat)
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that intervention. I disagree with Mr. Field, who seems to think that establishing who was responsible is a pointless exercise: it is essential if we are to hold the Government to account and learn lessons for the future. The hon. Lady made a point about the costs of the recovery exercise. I put that question to the Secretary of State during her statement last week. I did not get an answer, so I would be grateful if the Minister of State could confirm what assessment has been made of the likely additional cost of the recovery exercise.
I was making a point about piloting. The terms of reference of the review highlight several features of the system. They include the assessment methodologies used in the selection process, including the relative merits of competency-based and more traditional methods of selection and recruitment; the level of choice on offer at application; and the lack of flexibility available to trainees on run-through programmes. They are all issues that would emerge from pilot programmes and the problems would be ironed out before a programme was rolled out nationally. How on earth was the system introduced without proper piloting?