Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, (a) how many applications to work have been refused and (b) for what reasons by the General Medical Council in each of the last four years.
The Department does not hold information requested.
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of doctors in the United Kingdom and is responsible for doctor registration.
The GMC provided the following table which breaks down application refusals, and the reason for refusal, into the last four years:
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Concerns relating to conduct and/or competence | 65 | 65 | 54 | 62 |
Concerns relating to health | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Multiple concerns | 22 | 22 | 12 | 11 |
European Community (EC) rights * | 21 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 108 | 103 | 68 | 73 |
* applications incorrectly made under rights conferred by EC legislation.