Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the merits of including GPs on the occupation shortage list.

There have not been any specific discussions with the Home Office about the merits of including general practitioners (GPs) on the national shortage occupation list.

In 2014 the Department of Health commissioned the Centre for Workforce Intelligence to engage with stakeholders and report to the Migration Advisory Committee in response to their call for evidence. Although the Centre for Workforce Intelligence report recommended the inclusion of GPs on the 2015 shortage occupation list, the Migration Advisory Committee concluded that there was insufficient evidence at that time.

International recruitment of GPs under Tier 2 of the immigration points-based system continues to be an option for employers where genuine and continued difficulties exist in meeting demand from domestic and European Economic Area supply.