To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate has been made of the impact of the reduction of junior doctors' hours on the number of procedures undertaken independently by medical specialist registrars prior to Completion of Specialist Training/Certificate of Completion of Training; and if he will make a statement. (155097)

The working time directive (WTD) was implemented for the vast majority of national health service staff groups in 1998 in accordance with regulations. The Government negotiated an extension to the WTD for doctors in training to enable phased implementation from August 2004.

Local national health service trusts are responsible for assessing the impact of the European working time directive as part of their health and safety obligations. The Department is sponsoring NHS National Workforce Projects to support local implementation of WTD 2009. NHS National Workforce Projects has commissioned a range of pilots including cooperative solutions, team working, handover and escalation and 24 hour working. The pilots take in a wide variety of organisations to look at solutions which are transferable across the NHS.