Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase the number of GP surgeries registered as skilled worker visa sponsors.

The Government is working to increase the number of GP surgeries registered as Home Office sponsors. The Home Office continues to deliver an extensive, wide-reaching campaign and engagement programme – both virtual and in-person - targeting employers and other interested parties about the new immigration system. This included a dedicated joint Home Office and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) event for GP surgeries in 2021. Sponsorship is straightforward and business-friendly; the majority of sponsors on our register are SMEs, much like GP surgeries are likely to be and the Government strongly encourages more surgeries to become sponsors as the quickest way for the sector to attract and retain international GPs.

More broadly, the Home Office have already delivered a range of measures to support the health and care sector to recruit GPs to work in the UK. The Home Office launched the Health & Care visa in 2020, which makes it easier, cheaper, and quicker for health workers to come and stay in the UK to work, compared to other immigration routes.

The Home Office and the DHSC continues to work together to raise awareness of the Health and Care visa.