Health Professions: Equal Opportunities

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent progress has been made on increasing the level of access of women to senior positions in the medical profession. (305004)

The NHS Workforce Census shows that the number of women consultants working in the national health service has increased from around 4,000 in 1997 to almost 10,000 in 2008. The numbers are shown in the following table:

*Hospital and Community Health Services female medical consultants, England as at 30 September each year*
	Female consultants within medical specialties
1997	4,351
1998	4,658
1999	5,002
2000	5,418
2001	5,911
2002	6,406
2003	7,010
2004	7,657
2005	8,170
2006	8,715
2007	9,131
2008	9,769
Source: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care Medical and Dental Workforce Census.

Volume 502: debated on Wednesday 9 December 2009