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Written Question
Health Professions: Migrant Workers
Wednesday 29th December 2021

Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to agree memoranda of understanding with countries affected by the recruitment of clinical staff by the NHS to regulate that practice and avoid unforeseen consequences for the healthcare systems of those countries.

Answered by Lord Kamall

We have made no specific assessment of the impact of recruitment by the NHS of clinical staff trained and employed in low- and middle-income countries on the healthcare systems of those countries. The Government routinely monitors international recruitment activity and where there are significant workforce flows into the National Health Service, particularly from low and middle-income countries, we are engaging with those nations on how this recruitment could be managed through Government to Government agreements.

International recruitment is regulated through 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 from a list of 47 countries, unless there is a Government to Government agreement in place to manage international recruitment. These countries have been identified by the World Health Organization as having health economies with significant and unsustainable workforce challenges.

We have signed agreements with the Governments of the Philippines, Kenya and Malaysia to manage healthcare worker recruitment. As these are new agreements within the last six months, no assessment has yet been made of the impact. Any further agreements will be published online once they have been signed.


Written Question
Health Professions: Migrant Workers
Wednesday 29th December 2021

Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many memoranda of understanding they have agreed with other countries to regulate the recruitment of clinical staff by the NHS; and what assessment they have made of the related impact of each.

Answered by Lord Kamall

We have made no specific assessment of the impact of recruitment by the NHS of clinical staff trained and employed in low- and middle-income countries on the healthcare systems of those countries. The Government routinely monitors international recruitment activity and where there are significant workforce flows into the National Health Service, particularly from low and middle-income countries, we are engaging with those nations on how this recruitment could be managed through Government to Government agreements.

International recruitment is regulated through 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 from a list of 47 countries, unless there is a Government to Government agreement in place to manage international recruitment. These countries have been identified by the World Health Organization as having health economies with significant and unsustainable workforce challenges.

We have signed agreements with the Governments of the Philippines, Kenya and Malaysia to manage healthcare worker recruitment. As these are new agreements within the last six months, no assessment has yet been made of the impact. Any further agreements will be published online once they have been signed.


Written Question
Health Professions: Migrant Workers
Wednesday 29th December 2021

Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of recruitment by the NHS of clinical staff trained and employed in low- and middle-income countries on the healthcare systems of those countries.

Answered by Lord Kamall

We have made no specific assessment of the impact of recruitment by the NHS of clinical staff trained and employed in low- and middle-income countries on the healthcare systems of those countries. The Government routinely monitors international recruitment activity and where there are significant workforce flows into the National Health Service, particularly from low and middle-income countries, we are engaging with those nations on how this recruitment could be managed through Government to Government agreements.

International recruitment is regulated through 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 from a list of 47 countries, unless there is a Government to Government agreement in place to manage international recruitment. These countries have been identified by the World Health Organization as having health economies with significant and unsustainable workforce challenges.

We have signed agreements with the Governments of the Philippines, Kenya and Malaysia to manage healthcare worker recruitment. As these are new agreements within the last six months, no assessment has yet been made of the impact. Any further agreements will be published online once they have been signed.


Written Question
Philippines: Human Rights
Thursday 23rd December 2021

Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made, if any, to the government of the Philippines since June following reports by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that 208 human rights supporters and 6,000 individuals suspected of involvement in drug crime have been killed without fair trial; and what was the result of their representations.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK remains concerned about reports of human rights abuses in the Philippines, particularly the conduct of the "war on drugs" campaign and the treatment of some human and land rights defenders and journalists.

The Minister for Asia visited the Philippines from 7 to 10 October, where she raised our human rights concerns and discussed the Philippines' cooperation with the UN on a human rights joint programme with the Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Teodoro Locsin.


Written Question
Health Professions: Migrant Workers
Monday 20th December 2021

Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Kamall on 13 December (HL Deb, col 8), which countries have a surplus of medical professionals.

Answered by Lord Kamall

The information requested is not held centrally. However, we are aware of a number of countries with unemployed nurses and countries that train excess numbers of nurses for their domestic requirements in order to give employment opportunities. We are in discussions with the Governments of some of these countries regarding supporting their health systems and giving opportunities to trained staff in the United Kingdom. We have established Government to Government health worker migration agreements with Kenya, Malaysia and the Philippines this year and a Health Workforce Taskforce with the Government of India as part of the Enhanced Trade Partnership, signed earlier in 2021.


Written Question
Philippines: Drugs
Wednesday 27th October 2021

Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) what steps they have taken to urge President Roderigo Duterte to cooperate with the ICC’s investigation into crimes allegedly committed in the Philippines’ ‘war on drugs’ between 2011 and 2019, and (2) what steps they have taken to urge President Duterte to allow ICC investigators into the country.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK remains concerned about reports of human rights abuses in the Philippines, particularly the conduct of the "war on drugs" campaign and the treatment of some human and land rights defenders and journalists. We are aware of the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation and urge the Philippines to cooperate. My Right Honourable Friend, the Minister for Asia, visited the Philippines on 7 to 10 October, where she raised our human rights concerns with the Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Teodoro Locsin on 9 October. The former Foreign Secretary raised human rights concerns with Secretary Locsin on 20 July.
Written Question
Dogs: Imports
Wednesday 15th September 2021

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which countries exported dogs commercially into the UK in the first eight months of 2021.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The information the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has provided is a true reflection of the information that we have access to. APHA cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data, as we can only rely on the information that has been input into IPAFFS and PIMS by traders.

APHA can only provide data for imports entering Great Britain.

Dogs commercially imported into GB - Country of Origin.

Argentina

Egypt

Lithuania

Russian Federation

Australia

Estonia

Macao

Saudi Arabia

Austria

Ethiopia

Malaysia

Serbia

Bahamas

Finland

Malta

Singapore

Bahrain

France

Mexico

Slovakia

Barbados

Germany

Namibia

Slovenia

Belarus

Greece

Nepal

South Africa

Belgium

Hong Kong

Netherlands

South Korea

Bermuda

Hungary

New Zealand

Spain

Brazil

Iceland

Nigeria

Sweden

Bulgaria

India

Northern Ireland

Switzerland

Canada

Indonesia

Norway

Taiwan

Cayman Islands

Israel

Oman

Thailand

China

Italy

Panama

Turkey

Colombia

Jamaica

Peru

Ukraine

Costa Rica

Japan

Philippines

United Arab Emirates

Croatia

Jordan

Poland

United States of America

Cyprus

Kenya

Portugal

Zimbabwe

Czechia

Kuwait

Qatar

Denmark

Latvia

Republic of Ireland

Ecuador

Lebanon

Romania


Written Question
Arms Trade: Trade Fairs
Friday 10th September 2021

Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, which countries and territories UK Defence and Security Exports has invited to attend the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition in London on 14 to 17 September 2021.

Answered by Graham Stuart

The following countries have received official invitations to the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2021 from the Department for International Trade UK Defence and Security Exports Team:

Angola

Australia

Austria

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Belgium

Botswana

Brazil

Brunei

Bulgaria

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Czech Republic

Denmark

Egypt

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

India

Indonesia

Iraq

Italy

Japan

Kenya

Kuwait

Latvia

Lithuania

Malaysia

Mexico

Morocco

Mozambique

NATO

Netherlands

New Zealand

Nigeria

Norway

Oman

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Qatar

Romania

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Slovakia

Slovenia

South Africa

South Korea

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Taiwan

Thailand

Turkey

Ukraine

USA

Vietnam


Written Question
South East Asia: Conditions of Employment
Thursday 9th September 2021

Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the compliance with the International Labour Organisation Declaration of (a) Brunei, (b) Cambodia, (c) Indonesia, (d) Laos, (e) Malaysia, (f) Myanmar, (g) the Philippines, (h) Singapore, (i) Thailand and (j) Vietnam.

Answered by Nigel Adams

The United Kingdom engages with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on country compliance with international labour standards actively as a permanent member of the ILO Governing Body and International Labour Conference. The Committee on the Application of Standards is integral to the ILO's supervisory system and the UK encourages all countries to abide high labour standards.


Written Question
Travel Restrictions: Philippines
Tuesday 7th September 2021

Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the methodology that led to the Government's decision to keep the Philippines on the red list for international covid-19 travel restrictions, as announced on 5 August 2021.

Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The traffic light system categorises countries, based on risk to protect public health and the vaccine rollout from variants of COVID-19. The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) produces risk assessments of countries and territories. Decisions on Red, Amber or Green List assignment and associated border measures are taken by Ministers, who take into account the JBC risk assessments, alongside wider public health factors. Key factors in the JBC risk assessment of each country include:

  • genomic surveillance capability
  • COVID-19 transmission risk
  • Variant of Concern transmission risk

A summary of the JBC methodology is published on gov.uk, alongside key data that supports Ministers' decisions.

The data for all countries will be kept under regular review and the Government will not hesitate to take action where a country’s epidemiological picture changes.