The Government will pause the imposition of the disputed junior doctor contract for five days to allow talks to resume, a health minister has said.

In a potentially significant breakthrough in the long-running dispute, all work to implement the new contracts, which will require more weekend working, will be suspended.

In exchange the British Medical Association (BMA) has been asked to delay any decision about further industrial action.

The proposal was initially made by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. The BMA accepted it, and while the Government had initially said it was “too late” to stop the implementation of the contracts, health minister Lord Prior told the House of Lords that Mr Hunt would now be writing to the Academy expressing the Government’s willingness to cooperate, if the BMA agreed to “focus the discussion” on the issues of unsocial hours and Saturday pay.

In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Doctor in acute medicine, Melissa Haskins, holds up a 'I ain't afraid of no Hunt' sign whilst striking with other junior doctors outside her hospital, St Thomas' Hospital in London Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Accident and emergency junior doctor, Jennifer Hulse, holds a homemade placard outside St Thomas' Hospital as she strikes with colleagues in London Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Demonstrators and Junior doctors hold placards as they protest outside the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, in Basingstoke during a strike by junior doctors Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Demonstrators and Junior doctors hold placards as they protest outside the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, in Basingstoke during a strike by junior doctors Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike A supporter displays a slogan on her bag during a junior doctors' strike outside St Thomas' Hospital in London Reuters In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike The picket line outside King's College Hospital in London PA In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike The picket line outside King's College Hospital in London, as thousands of junior doctors begun the first all-out strike in the history of the NHS after the Health Secretary said the Government would not be "blackmailed" into dropping its manifesto pledge for a seven-day health service PA In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Junior doctors and supporters take part in a strike outside the Royal United Hospital in Bath Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Doctor in acute medicine, Melissa Haskins, holds up a 'I ain't afraid of no Hunt' sign whilst striking with other junior doctors outside her hospital, St Thomas' Hospital in London Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary visits a British Medical Association picket line at Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, to show support for striking junior doctors on the second day of the union's annual health conference PA

The BMA is yet to respond to the detail of the Government’s terms.

Lord Prior told the House of Lords: “We are willing to pause introduction of the new contract for five days from Monday should the junior doctors committee agree to focus the discussion on the outstanding contractual issues, namely unsocial hours and Saturday pay.”

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Striking a conciliatory tone, Lord Prior said there was now a recognition in Government that the dispute had become about more than just the terms of the junior doctor contract.

“It is about how junior doctors are trained, how they are valued, how they are integrated into hospitals and into the workforce,” he said.

“These are much broader issues than those addressed in the contract. The Government is fully aware of that and once this dispute has been settled we can start to resolve those bigger, deeper, more fundamental issues.”

The new working conditions were due to be imposed from August, without the approval of the workforce, after the Government unilaterally decided to end negotiations with the BMA, claiming that the union’s unwillingness to engage on key points – in particular Saturday pay – had made a negotiated settlement impossible.