Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by John Baron (Conservative). It was answered on Tuesday, 12 July 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Ethical Recruitment

Question: Although we recognise that this is a difficult area and that some progress has been made, there is no shortage of evidence to suggest that much more still needs to be done. For example, more than 10,000 work permits were granted last year to health workers from more than 80 countries on the Department of Health's proscribed list. No wonder the BMA has called on the Government to end the rape of the world's poorest countries. Given that the NHS is only commended to use recruitment agencies that comply with its code of practice, will the Government take a further step forward and give their policy real teeth by banning the NHS from using recruitment agencies that have not signed up to the code of practice?

Answer: We do—absolutely. Let me explain. Virtually everyone in the independent provider sector recently signed up to the code of practice. It is clear that if NHS employers find out that a trust has employed someone who has been recruited through an agency that has actively recruited in a developing country on the list of banned countries for recruitment, the agency will be removed from the trust's list. That extremely important development has taken place recently. Returning to the question of work permits, I should say that the policy was changed recently so that work permits could not be extended from the time of training. For example, if people have work permits for the period during which they are training as doctors, they are expected to return to their home countries and reapply for a permit if they wish to work full time for the NHS. The changed work permit policy thus reflects some concerns expressed about people moving from training straight into full-time employment in the NHS. As I have explained, we continue to keep the policy under review, but the many recent changes have led to a 28 per cent. fall in the number of nurses recruited from South Africa, for example.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 436 c683-4
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: NHS Recruitment Migrant workers Codes of practice Ethics NHS Employers
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk