Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many nurses were hired in England from countries graded as red by the World Health Organisation for each of the past 10 years.

Information on the number of nurses hired in England from countries graded as red by the World Health Organization (WHO) for each of the past 10 years, is not collected in the format requested. While the National Health Service Electronic Staff Record collects self-reported data on nationality, this does not show where staff were trained or the country in which they were resident at that time.

International recruitment in England is guided by the Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health and Social Care Personnel, which is available in an online only format. The Code prevents active international recruitment, without a Government to Government agreement, from the 47 countries on the WHO’s Health Workforce Support and Safeguards list. These countries have been identified by the WHO as having health economies with significant and unsustainable workforce challenges. However, the Code is mindful of an individuals’ right to migrate and those from countries on this list can make direct applications for vacancies in the United Kingdom health and social care sectors of their own accord.