Health Professions: Migrant Workers

(asked on 7th March 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the accuracy of the Professional and Linguistics Assessment Board examination (PLAB) as a test of competence for International Medical Graduates, given the conclusion of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published on 17 April 2014 that the pass mark of PLAB would need to be increased by 30 per cent to reach equivalence with UK graduates.


Answered by
Lord Markham Portrait
Lord Markham
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 21st March 2023

No specific assessment has been made. The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It sets and enforces the standards to which all doctors must adhere. The GMC is responsible for operational matters, including those relating to Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board tests, which it revised in 2016 following a review.

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