Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of NHS doctors and clinicians recruited from overseas by the NHS in the past three years were from (1) Nigeria, (2) Ghana, and (3) other Sub-Saharan African countries; and whether they have made an assessment of the impact of such recruitment on the health care systems of those countries.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We hugely value our health and social care workers from overseas who work tirelessly to provide the best possible care and enhance our health and care workforce with their valuable skills, experience, and expertise.
No assessment has been made of the savings to the taxpayer resulting from the recruitment of doctors and clinicians trained in Nigeria, Ghana, and other Sub-Saharan African countries. There is also no plan to reimburse the Governments of those countries for the cost of training doctors and clinicians currently working in the National Health Service.
Information on the proportion of NHS doctors and clinicians recruited from overseas in the past three years from Nigeria, Ghana, and other Sub-Saharan African countries is not collected centrally, and no assessment has been made of the impact of such recruitment on the healthcare systems of those countries.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to reimburse the governments of (1) Nigeria, (2) Ghana, and (3) other Sub-Saharan Africa countries, for the cost of training doctors and clinicians currently working in the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We hugely value our health and social care workers from overseas who work tirelessly to provide the best possible care and enhance our health and care workforce with their valuable skills, experience, and expertise.
No assessment has been made of the savings to the taxpayer resulting from the recruitment of doctors and clinicians trained in Nigeria, Ghana, and other Sub-Saharan African countries. There is also no plan to reimburse the Governments of those countries for the cost of training doctors and clinicians currently working in the National Health Service.
Information on the proportion of NHS doctors and clinicians recruited from overseas in the past three years from Nigeria, Ghana, and other Sub-Saharan African countries is not collected centrally, and no assessment has been made of the impact of such recruitment on the healthcare systems of those countries.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the saving to the taxpayer resulting from the recruitment of doctors and clinicians trained in (1) Nigeria, (2) Ghana, and (3) other Sub-Saharan African countries.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We hugely value our health and social care workers from overseas who work tirelessly to provide the best possible care and enhance our health and care workforce with their valuable skills, experience, and expertise.
No assessment has been made of the savings to the taxpayer resulting from the recruitment of doctors and clinicians trained in Nigeria, Ghana, and other Sub-Saharan African countries. There is also no plan to reimburse the Governments of those countries for the cost of training doctors and clinicians currently working in the National Health Service.
Information on the proportion of NHS doctors and clinicians recruited from overseas in the past three years from Nigeria, Ghana, and other Sub-Saharan African countries is not collected centrally, and no assessment has been made of the impact of such recruitment on the healthcare systems of those countries.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the prevalence of, and (2) regional disparities in (a) child stunting, and (b) malnutrition in the general population, in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In England, the prevalence of childhood stunting was 1.5% for children aged four years olds in 2021/22, defined by having a height for age below minus two standard deviations from the median of the World Health Organisation (WHO) child growth standard. Regional data for England has not been published.
The Welsh Government has published data from its Child Measurement Programme on the proportion of children aged between four and five years old with low height, defined as height less than the second centile of the British 1990 (UK90) growth reference. The following table shows this data including breakdown by health boards:
Geography | Low height (%) |
Wales | 0.5 |
Betsi Cadwaladr UHB | 0.6 |
Powys THB | 0.8 |
Hywel Dda UHB | 0.5 |
Swansea Bay UHB | 0.7 |
Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB | 0.4 |
Cardiff and Vale UHB | 0.3 |
Aneurin Bevan UHB | 0.4 |
Source: Welsh Governmant Child Measurement Programme
Note: This is not directly comparable to the England data as the England data uses the WHO child growth standard to classify child height.
Data on stunting for children is not published for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The prevalence of malnutrition was 7.3% for children aged four years old in England in 2021/22, defined by having a weight for height greater than two or less than two standard deviations from the median of the WHO child growth standards. Regional data for England has not been published. Data on malnutrition for children is not published for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, whilst data on malnutrition for adults is not published for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what Official Development Assistance has been given to (1) Nigeria, and (2) Ghana, to support the training and employment of clinical staff in the healthcare systems of each of these countries; and what plans they have to provide further assistance to these countries.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
In 2021/22, the Government has allocated £3.6 million to health workforce development programmes in Ghana. This includes programmes focussed on improving workforce planning and governance, training new healthcare workers in refugee camps and developing training curricula. Through the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, we have previously invested in health programmes in Nigeria and Ghana, such as the WomenForHealth Programme in Nigeria and mental health nurse training in Ghana. No decisions on specific programmes and geographical areas in the future have yet been made.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to agree memoranda of understanding with countries affected by the recruitment of clinical staff by the NHS to regulate that practice and avoid unforeseen consequences for the healthcare systems of those countries.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
We have made no specific assessment of the impact of recruitment by the NHS of clinical staff trained and employed in low- and middle-income countries on the healthcare systems of those countries. The Government routinely monitors international recruitment activity and where there are significant workforce flows into the National Health Service, particularly from low and middle-income countries, we are engaging with those nations on how this recruitment could be managed through Government to Government agreements.
International recruitment is regulated through the Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health and Social Care Personnel, which is available in an online only format. The Code prevents active international recruitment from a list of 47 countries, unless there is a Government to Government agreement in place to manage international recruitment. These countries have been identified by the World Health Organization as having health economies with significant and unsustainable workforce challenges.
We have signed agreements with the Governments of the Philippines, Kenya and Malaysia to manage healthcare worker recruitment. As these are new agreements within the last six months, no assessment has yet been made of the impact. Any further agreements will be published online once they have been signed.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many memoranda of understanding they have agreed with other countries to regulate the recruitment of clinical staff by the NHS; and what assessment they have made of the related impact of each.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
We have made no specific assessment of the impact of recruitment by the NHS of clinical staff trained and employed in low- and middle-income countries on the healthcare systems of those countries. The Government routinely monitors international recruitment activity and where there are significant workforce flows into the National Health Service, particularly from low and middle-income countries, we are engaging with those nations on how this recruitment could be managed through Government to Government agreements.
International recruitment is regulated through the Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health and Social Care Personnel, which is available in an online only format. The Code prevents active international recruitment from a list of 47 countries, unless there is a Government to Government agreement in place to manage international recruitment. These countries have been identified by the World Health Organization as having health economies with significant and unsustainable workforce challenges.
We have signed agreements with the Governments of the Philippines, Kenya and Malaysia to manage healthcare worker recruitment. As these are new agreements within the last six months, no assessment has yet been made of the impact. Any further agreements will be published online once they have been signed.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of recruitment by the NHS of clinical staff trained and employed in low- and middle-income countries on the healthcare systems of those countries.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
We have made no specific assessment of the impact of recruitment by the NHS of clinical staff trained and employed in low- and middle-income countries on the healthcare systems of those countries. The Government routinely monitors international recruitment activity and where there are significant workforce flows into the National Health Service, particularly from low and middle-income countries, we are engaging with those nations on how this recruitment could be managed through Government to Government agreements.
International recruitment is regulated through the Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health and Social Care Personnel, which is available in an online only format. The Code prevents active international recruitment from a list of 47 countries, unless there is a Government to Government agreement in place to manage international recruitment. These countries have been identified by the World Health Organization as having health economies with significant and unsustainable workforce challenges.
We have signed agreements with the Governments of the Philippines, Kenya and Malaysia to manage healthcare worker recruitment. As these are new agreements within the last six months, no assessment has yet been made of the impact. Any further agreements will be published online once they have been signed.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to compensate (1) Ghana, (2) Nigeria, and (3) other Commonwealth countries, for the training costs of nurses recruited from these countries to fill vacancies in the NHS in England.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
Information on the number of nurses recruited internationally by the National Health Service (NHS) is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on health care in (1) Ghana, (2) Nigeria, and (3) other Commonwealth countries, of the recruitment by the NHS of nurses from these countries.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
Information on the number of nurses recruited internationally by the National Health Service (NHS) is not collected centrally.