Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of NHS staff have not met minimum English language proficiency standards in the last five years.

Where legally required, healthcare professionals must be registered with the appropriate United Kingdom healthcare regulator to be able to practise. Professionals who qualified outside of the UK must demonstrate that they have the necessary knowledge of English as part of the regulator’s assessment of their healthcare qualifications, knowledge, and skills. The process and accepted evidence for demonstrating English language proficiency varies according to regulator.

The healthcare regulators are independent of the Government, and it is for regulators to determine the required processes and thresholds in relation to English language competence for registrants. There may also be tests undertaken as part of the process of visa applications where these are applicable to staff. The Department does not hold information on the rate of success or failure of any of these tests.

Roles undertaken in the National Health Service by staff who are not required to be registered healthcare professionals may have language and communications skills defined and assessed locally as part of recruitment processes.