Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure effective recruitment from (a) EU and (b) non-EU countries to meet the demand for NHS and care, workers, after the UK leaves the EU.

The Government recognises the need to be able to recruit effectively from abroad and the Immigration White Paper ‘The UK’s future skills-based immigration system’, published in December 2018, sets out the foundation for a single immigration system, where it is workers’ skills that matter, not where they come from.

This system will streamline the high-skilled visa route, by removing the Resident Labour Market Test and the Tier 2 Visa Cap. It will also include a new temporary immigration route for workers of all skill levels which will allow our Social Care sector to recruit care workers from abroad as we transition into the new system. The Home Office is undertaking a programme of engagement to discuss the proposed measures with colleagues across government and industry, to develop a future immigration system that works for the whole of the United Kingdom.

But we also recognise the need to boost our domestic workforce as well. The NHS Long Term Plan sets out a vital strategic framework to ensure that, over the next 10 years, the National Health Service will have the staff it needs so that nurses and doctors are working in a supportive culture that allows them to provide the expert compassionate care they are committed to providing.

Alongside this, the upcoming Social Care Green Paper will set out the Department’s proposals for reform of the sector to put it on a more sustainable future footing. This will include a vision for its workforce and proposals to boost recruitment and retention in the longer term.