The General Dental Council (GDC), which is responsible for the regulation and registration of dentists, has advised that it is keen to support refugees with their registration applications wherever possible. Dedicated information for refugees can be found on the GDC’s website, in an online only format.

The Home Office has published estimates of the impact these changes might have on the number of people applying to work in the sector from outside the United Kingdom. A copy of these estimates is attached.

Currently, to be entered into the dentists register, an individual must hold a recognised United Kingdom dentistry qualification; a European Economic Area (EEA) or Swiss qualification recognised under European Union exit standstill arrangements; or they must pass the Overseas Registration Exam or License in Dental Surgery exam. Prior to January 2001, the General Dental Council (GDC) also recognised dentistry qualifications from a limited number of dental schools in specific countries outside the EEA, which is published on the GDC’s website in an online-only format.

Under legislative changes that came into force in March 2023, the GDC now has greater flexibility to amend routes to registration for dentists with overseas qualifications, including the power to recognise qualifications as sufficient for registration without further assessment. We will continue to discuss with the GDC how they can best utilise this new flexibility to enable suitably qualified dentists to enter the workforce as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department has committed to put estimates of the impact of these announcements in the House of Commons Library. This will be done in due course.

According to Skills for Care, the total number of vacancies in 2022/23 was 152,000, a decrease of 11,000 or 7% of vacant posts from 2021/22. It is important to note vacancies are not necessarily a good measure of workforce capacity or of levels of need in social care. Vacancies include posts that are vacant in the short term due to recent or anticipated staff turnover and posts created by employers who want to expand and grow their businesses rather than only roles needed to meet statutory entitlements.

This Government is investing an additional £600 million this year, and £1 billion next year through the Discharge Fund. This funding will enable the National Health Service and local authorities in England to reduce discharge delays, including by commissioning additional packages of care and support for rehabilitation and reablement.

In September, alongside £200 million to boost resilience in the NHS, we announced a £40 million fund, targeted at local authorities in the most challenged NHS systems in England. This fund will strengthen urgent and emergency care resilience and performance this winter by preventing avoidable admissions or by reducing discharge delays.

We recognise the importance of international recruitment to ensure we have sufficient supply of care workers and senior care workers. This is why the Government decided to add care workers to the Shortage Occupation List in February 2022, in response to unprecedented workforce pressures.

On 4 December 2023, the Secretary of State for the Home Department announced a five-point plan to curb legal net migration, including removing the right for care workers and senior care workers to bring dependants to the United Kingdom and restricting access to the route to employers who are regulated by the Care Quality Commission. The Secretary of State for the Home Department has committed to put estimates of the impact of these announcements in the House of Commons Library. This will be set out in due course.

The Government is committed to building a sustainable adult social care workforce. As part of this, international recruitment has bolstered the workforce with 101,000 out of country visa grants for care workers and senior care workers to the year ending September 2023. While at home, we are backing domestic recruitment with our National Recruitment Campaign, working with the Department for Work and Pensions to promote adult social care careers, and funding sector partner to support employers and commissioners to improve recruitment and retention.

This information is not collected centrally.

The information is not held in the format requested. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom and nursing associates in England. It sets the standards that registrants must meet to demonstrate that they are capable of practising safely and effectively in those professions.

Information on the number of professionals sitting and passing the Objective Structured Clinical Examination is published on the NMC’s website in an online-only format.

International recruitment of doctors is guided by the Code of Practice for International Recruitment, which guarantees the most stringent ethical standards when recruiting health and social care staff from overseas. The code aligns with latest advice from the World Health Organization, ensuring that an individual's right to migrate is upheld. As such, individuals from these countries are able to apply for vacancies independently in the United Kingdom, and, if they do, they must be treated fairly and not be discriminated against based on their nationality.

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.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) do not have a role to routinely ensure that entrants to England on Health and Social Care visas and work permits are employed under the same terms and conditions as United Kingdom domiciled staff. However, as part of CQC’s regulatory role, staffing governance is considered during CQC inspections at providers. If CQC identify areas of incorrect practice they would work with relevant agencies such as the Home Office to rectify any issues raised.

CQC regulate all health and care services that want to conduct a Regulated Activity, as defined by the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. CQC’s scope of registration document defines the types of organisations which need to register, including domiciliary care providers, community nursing services or integrated care teams, including district nursing, community matrons and specialist nursing services, community therapy services such as occupational therapy and physiotherapy, community intermediate care, community rehabilitation or reablement services and community outpatient and diagnostic services.

All services are regulated by CQC to ensure they meet the minimum fundamental standards of care. CQC’s regulatory frameworks refer to national best practice, and CQC expect regulated providers to demonstrate how they meet these, or how alternative methods achieve the same or better outcomes for people using services.

The Cross Whitehall International Recruitment Steering Group last met on 9 November 2022.

On 15 December 2022 my Department published guidance on Applying for a Health and Care Job from Abroad. The guidance raises awareness about the risks involved in seeking a health or care job in the United Kingdom, sets out working rights and standards, how to identify and deal with exploitation and signposts to further help or support.

In August 2022 the Code of Practice for International Recruitment of Health and Social Care Personnel was updated and strengthened in several areas to address ethical concerns about employment practices, including setting four new principles on the use of repayment clauses.

The Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health and Social Care Personnel, which is available in an online format only, applies to all organisations engaged in the recruitment and employment of international health and care staff. It is non-statutory guidance with no legislative enforcement powers.

International recruitment of medical graduates is guided by the ‘Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel in England’, available in an online-only format. The code aligns with the latest advice from the World Health Organisation, preventing active recruitment from countries with the most pressing health and social care workforce challenges, including those with low healthcare worker density.

The Department does not hold data on the number of doctors from overseas who first registered in England in each of the last 10 years or what percentage of those doctors came from EU or EEA countries. The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the UK, and all doctors must register with them and hold a licence to practise to work in the UK. The GMC maintains data on medical practitioners registered with them.

No specific assessment has been made. All United Kingdom-based organisations recruiting and employing international doctors should follow the Code of Practice on Ethical International Recruitment. The Code includes a ‘red-list’ of countries from which health and care workers should not be actively recruited.

National Health Service organisations only use recruiters on the Ethical Recruiters List and breaching the Code may result in removal from the Ethical Recruiters List. All employers must abide by the legislation regarding workers’ rights in the UK.

The information requested is not held centrally.