Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of UK aid delivered to (1) Nigeria, (2) Ghana, and (3) other Sub-Saharan African countries, was spent on (a) clinical training, and (b) strengthening health systems, in those countries in each of the past three years.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK remains committed to global health. Strong, national health systems are the foundation for all aspects of health, from essential childhood immunisation to global health security. We align investments behind the priorities of partner countries. In Nigeria, the LAFIYA-UK programme strengthens systems to improve health and nutrition services. The proportion of UK aid spent on health from the bilateral budget was 11 per cent in 2022-23 and 2023-24, and 19 per cent in 2024-25. In Ghana, our Partnership Beyond Aid and Leave No One Behind programmes have improved quality, efficiency and resilience in the health system, and the inclusion of vulnerable and marginalised groups. The proportion of UK aid spent on health from the bilateral budget was 23 per cent in 2022-23, 30 per cent in 2023-2024, and 19 per cent in 2024-2025. The UK also provides significant support to strengthening the global health workforce through multilateral investments such as the World Health Organisation, World Bank and the Global Health Initiatives, who support in-service clinical training for health workers. Our multilateral contribution on global health totalled £3.1 billion in 2021-2023 and the Department of Health and Social Care's Global Health Workforce Programme (£15 million from 2023-2026) supports the development of the health workforce in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of NHS doctors and clinicians recruited from overseas by the NHS in the past three years were from (1) Nigeria, (2) Ghana, and (3) other Sub-Saharan African countries; and whether they have made an assessment of the impact of such recruitment on the health care systems of those countries.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We hugely value our health and social care workers from overseas who work tirelessly to provide the best possible care and enhance our health and care workforce with their valuable skills, experience, and expertise.
No assessment has been made of the savings to the taxpayer resulting from the recruitment of doctors and clinicians trained in Nigeria, Ghana, and other Sub-Saharan African countries. There is also no plan to reimburse the Governments of those countries for the cost of training doctors and clinicians currently working in the National Health Service.
Information on the proportion of NHS doctors and clinicians recruited from overseas in the past three years from Nigeria, Ghana, and other Sub-Saharan African countries is not collected centrally, and no assessment has been made of the impact of such recruitment on the healthcare systems of those countries.