Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many EU-born staff were working in the NHS in each year since 2010.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not collect data on where staff working in the National Health Service were born. However, NHS England publishes quarterly data on the number of staff split by nationality in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. The following table shows the number of staff working in the NHS in England with nationalities from the European Union, each September from 2010 until June 2024, the most recent data point available:
Date | Headcount of staff |
September 2010 | 30,032 |
September 2011 | 32,259 |
September 2012 | 34,418 |
September 2013 | 38,334 |
September 2014 | 45,066 |
September 2015 | 52,808 |
September 2016 | 59,796 |
September 2017 | 61,974 |
September 2018 | 63,484 |
September 2019 | 65,741 |
September 2020 | 68,919 |
September 2021 | 70,056 |
September 2022 | 71,174 |
September 2023 | 74,969 |
June 2024 | 77,289 |
All staff within NHS trusts and commissioning bodies provide a self-reported nationality which is recorded on the Electronic Staff Record system. This may reflect an individual’s cultural heritage rather than their country of birth, with some individuals choosing not to specify it.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many vacancies were advertised in the NHS in each year since 2010.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold the information requested. NHS England publishes a compendium of NHS Vacancy Statistics each quarter. Whilst none of the data published is the exact number of vacancies advertised in the National Health Service, the information does currently provide three measures of the level of vacancies in the NHS. Detailed information on the definition of collected data and the available timeseries, along with the measure’s strengths and weaknesses, is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-vacancies-survey
The earliest data within this collection is from 2016, and no data is held prior to this period. Due to the complex nature of how NHS vacancy data is defined and collected, all data sources should be treated with a degree of caution.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the proposed restrictions on puberty blockers will apply to those already using these medications.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In May 2024, a three-month emergency order restricting the sale and supply of Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues (puberty blockers) was introduced in Great Britain and was due to expire on 2 September 2024.
On 22 August 2024, the Government laid a further Order to renew the restrictions in Great Britain. As the Northern Ireland First Minister and Deputy First Minister provided their agreement for the Minister of Health to co-sign the order, the restrictions also extend to Northern Ireland for the first time.
Ensuring that care is safe, evidence-based and appropriate was the driving force behind the decision by my rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. The Cass Review was categorically clear that there is not enough evidence on the long-term impact of using puberty blockers to treat gender incongruence to know whether they are safe or if children benefit from them.
The Order prohibits the sale and supply of puberty blockers for any purposes to those under 18 against prescriptions from prescribers registered in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland. For private prescriptions issued from registered prescribers in the United Kingdom, the Order prohibits the sale or supply of puberty blockers for gender incongruence or dysphoria to children under 18 years old not already on a course of treatment with them. Patients receiving these medicines for other uses, for example precocious puberty, can continue to access them.
If a young person has already been prescribed these medicines, for gender dysphoria or incongruence in the six months prior to 3 June 2024 in Great Britain or 27 August 2024 in Northern Ireland, they can continue to do so, providing their prescription is now issued by a UK registered prescriber. They are strongly advised to meet with their prescribing clinician to fully understand the safety risks. For those patients accessing prescriptions from an EEA registered prescriber, they can seek help from a UK private provider or see their general practitioner.