Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with representatives of (a) the Royal College of Nursing, (b) the Royal College of Midwives, (c) the Health and Care Professions Council, (d) the British Medical Association, (e) the British Dental Association and (f) other registration bodies on enabling health professionals who have left practice for three years or more to return to practice albeit with an element of supervision to their practice in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

Departmental officials have engaged extensively with the Health and Care Professions Council, the General Medical Council, the General Pharmaceutical Council, and the Nursing Midwifery Council in relation to the establishment and maintenance of temporary emergency registers of healthcare professionals to support the COVID-19 emergency.

The Bring Back Staff programme in England is managed by NHS England and NHS Improvement.

Departmental officials, NHS England and NHS Improvement and representatives of the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives and the British Medical Association have met to discuss returning healthcare professionals.