Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord O’Shaughnessy on 22 February (HL Deb, col 326), why it was said that "there has not been a drop-off in the number of EU nationals joining the NHS workforce since the referendum" when the Nursing and Midwifery Council has reported a significant reduction in the number of EU nurses admitted to the register since the referendum.

There has been a decline in the number of European Union nurses (excluding the United Kingdom) joining the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register since July 2016 but the Department does not believe that it is currently possible to attribute this solely to the UK’s decision to exit the EU, other factors such as increased language testing introduced in July 2016 may play a significant part.

However, there has not been a decrease in the number of EU nurses (excluding the UK) working in the National Health Service since the referendum vote in June 2016.

The latest published figures from NHS Digital suggest that the total number of EU nurses including health visitors employed within NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups who declared their nationality as other EU nationals, excluding the UK, increased from 21,826 to 22,394 in the four months to October 2016.

The Department, together with key stakeholders including the Home Office, NHS England, NHS Improvement and Health Education England, will continue to monitor the situation to ensure the NHS has access to the workforce they require.

NHS Digital publishes data on the nationality of staff working in the NHS in England. Nationality is self-reported within the NHS human resources and payroll system, the electronic staff record.