Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of NHS staff, per region in England, are citizens of other EU member states; and what assessment they have made of the impact of Brexit on those employees.

NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers.

The following table shows the percentage of HCHS staff that are known to have an EU27 nationality in England and by Health Education England region, as at 31 October 2019, headcount.

Source: NHS Digital

These figures are based on nationality data held on the Electronic Staff Record. It is self-recorded, so can differ from an individual’s citizenship or immigration status.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the over 63,000 European Union nationals that work in the National Health Service not only stay in the United Kingdom after we leave the EU, but feel welcomed and encouraged to do so. Part of this commitment is mitigating against any potential impact that EU exit might have on EU citizens in the UK. To help achieve this, the Home Office has opened the public testing phase of the EU Settlement Scheme. All EU nationals are eligible to apply to the scheme’s public testing phase. Furthermore, to help facilitate as many applications as possible, the Prime Minister announced on 21 January 2019 that, as of 30 March 2019, all applications to the settlement scheme will be free. Additionally, where individuals have applied, or do apply, before that date, and are charged an application fee, then this fee will be refunded.