Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the risk that routine requests by NHS vaccination centres for NHS and National Insurance numbers may make people who are in the UK illegally less likely to engage with the covid-19 vaccination programme.

No such assessment has been made.

However, a National Health Service (NHS) number or national insurance number is not needed to make a booking for a COVID-19 vaccine or when attending a vaccination appointment.

As vaccination against COVID-19 is offered to every eligible adult living in the United Kingdom free of charge, regardless of their immigration status. No immigration checks are needed to receive a COVID-19 vaccination and the NHS is not required to report undocumented migrants to the Home Office.