Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of immigration controls on staffing levels in (a) primary and (b) secondary care.

We hugely value our health and social care workers from overseas, who work tirelessly to provide the best possible care and enhance our health and care workforce with their valuable skills, experience, and expertise. At the same time, we are also committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join the National Health Service. Following publication of our 10-Year Health Plan, we will produce a refreshed workforce plan, setting out how we will train and provide the staff that the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities and treat them on time again.

The immigration White Paper, Restoring Control over the Immigration System, will reshape our immigration system towards those who contribute the most to economic growth, with higher skills standards for graduates and workers. Every area of the immigration system, including work, family, and study, will be tightened up, to reduce record-high levels of net migration and restore control and order to the immigration system. The White Paper is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/restoring-control-over-the-immigration-system-white-paper

Health and Social Care Worker visa data is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables