Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the civil service headcount for their Department was on (a) 15 November 2022 and (b) 1 February 2020.
Answered by Will Quince
As of 15 November 2022, there were 3,978 civil servants in the Department. There were 1,766 civil servants in the Department on 1 February 2020.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many regulatory bodies NHS trusts are required to engage with.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not held centrally.
There are a range of regulatory bodies with a remit for sections of National Health Service trusts’ operations, which can vary. NHS England and the Care Quality Commission are the principal organisations which every trust can expect to engage with on the quality of care, delivery of services and financial efficiency.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the highest ten incomes for GP practices were in each of the last 5 years for which figures are available.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not held in the format requested. However, NHS Digital publishes an annual summary of National Health Service payments to general practices. These payments relate to all categories of funding paid to general practices, such as payments for direct patient care, information technology, premises, waste disposal and dispensing. The data constitutes the payments made to the practice or the invoices processed during the reporting period. It excludes additional payments which may be provided by local authorities, accruals, prepayments, other accounting adjustments and payments for non-contractual work.
Tables showing NHS payments made to the practices with the highest ten incomes in each year from 2016/17 to 2020/21 is attached. The data for 2020/21 is shown in two tables, firstly excluding payments for COVID-19 vaccinations, support and expansion and the second including such payments.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 June 2022 to Question 5377 on Health Professions: Migrant Workers, in what format the General Medical Council holds that information.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The General Medical Council (GMC) holds information about doctors with a non-United Kingdom primary medical qualification and a fitness to practise complaint enquiry received between 2019 and 2021. The GMC also holds information on how doctors with enquiries initially joined its register and the country of the primary medical qualification.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many complaints have been made against medical professionals from overseas who (a) have and (b) have not sat the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board in each of the last three years, by country of origin of the medical professional.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No specific estimate has been made and information on the number of complaints is not collected centrally. The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom which sets and enforces the standards all doctors must adhere to. The GMC is responsible for operational matters, including investigating complaints it receives about medical professionals and the administration of Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board tests. The GMC has advised that the information is not currently held in the format requested. The GMC is analysing and validating this data for future publication.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of medical professionals from overseas practicing in the UK who have not taken the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No specific estimate has been made and information on the number of complaints is not collected centrally. The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom which sets and enforces the standards all doctors must adhere to. The GMC is responsible for operational matters, including investigating complaints it receives about medical professionals and the administration of Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board tests. The GMC has advised that the information is not currently held in the format requested. The GMC is analysing and validating this data for future publication.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many complaints against medical professionals from overseas were not resolved within six months in each of the last three years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom which sets and enforces the standards all doctors must adhere to. The GMC is responsible for operational matters, including investigating complaints received about medical professionals and the administration of the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) tests.
The GMC has advised that the percentage of non-UK qualified doctors obtaining registration using the PLAB pathway was 42% in 2019; 40% in 2020; and 40% in 2021. The information on the number of overseas medical professionals is not held in the format requested. However, the attached table shows the number of failed sittings of part one and part two of the PLAB test by medical professionals from overseas in each of the last five years, by country of where the primary medical qualification was obtained.
As of 20 May 2022, there are 10,741 doctors with a current booking to sit the PLAB1 and 7,831 doctors with a PLAB2 exam place.
The GMC has advised that the information on the number of complaints resolved within six months is not available in the format requested. The GMC's internal target is for complaints to be resolved within 12 months. Of the complaints the GMC received in 2018 which did not meet the GMC’s internal 12-month closure target, 370 or 4.3% related to doctors with a non-UK primary medical qualification. Of complaints received in 2019, this was 460 or 5.2% and 354 or 4.2% in 2020. This includes all potential outcomes of a complaint – from closure at triage if the complaint did not meet the threshold for investigation, to full investigation with an outcome at a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many medical professionals from overseas are waiting to take the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test as of 19 May 2022.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom which sets and enforces the standards all doctors must adhere to. The GMC is responsible for operational matters, including investigating complaints received about medical professionals and the administration of the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) tests.
The GMC has advised that the percentage of non-UK qualified doctors obtaining registration using the PLAB pathway was 42% in 2019; 40% in 2020; and 40% in 2021. The information on the number of overseas medical professionals is not held in the format requested. However, the attached table shows the number of failed sittings of part one and part two of the PLAB test by medical professionals from overseas in each of the last five years, by country of where the primary medical qualification was obtained.
As of 20 May 2022, there are 10,741 doctors with a current booking to sit the PLAB1 and 7,831 doctors with a PLAB2 exam place.
The GMC has advised that the information on the number of complaints resolved within six months is not available in the format requested. The GMC's internal target is for complaints to be resolved within 12 months. Of the complaints the GMC received in 2018 which did not meet the GMC’s internal 12-month closure target, 370 or 4.3% related to doctors with a non-UK primary medical qualification. Of complaints received in 2019, this was 460 or 5.2% and 354 or 4.2% in 2020. This includes all potential outcomes of a complaint – from closure at triage if the complaint did not meet the threshold for investigation, to full investigation with an outcome at a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many medical professionals from overseas have failed (a) part one and (a) part two of the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test in each of the last five years, by country of origin.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom which sets and enforces the standards all doctors must adhere to. The GMC is responsible for operational matters, including investigating complaints received about medical professionals and the administration of the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) tests.
The GMC has advised that the percentage of non-UK qualified doctors obtaining registration using the PLAB pathway was 42% in 2019; 40% in 2020; and 40% in 2021. The information on the number of overseas medical professionals is not held in the format requested. However, the attached table shows the number of failed sittings of part one and part two of the PLAB test by medical professionals from overseas in each of the last five years, by country of where the primary medical qualification was obtained.
As of 20 May 2022, there are 10,741 doctors with a current booking to sit the PLAB1 and 7,831 doctors with a PLAB2 exam place.
The GMC has advised that the information on the number of complaints resolved within six months is not available in the format requested. The GMC's internal target is for complaints to be resolved within 12 months. Of the complaints the GMC received in 2018 which did not meet the GMC’s internal 12-month closure target, 370 or 4.3% related to doctors with a non-UK primary medical qualification. Of complaints received in 2019, this was 460 or 5.2% and 354 or 4.2% in 2020. This includes all potential outcomes of a complaint – from closure at triage if the complaint did not meet the threshold for investigation, to full investigation with an outcome at a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of medical professionals from overseas seeking employment in the UK have taken the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test in each of the last three years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom which sets and enforces the standards all doctors must adhere to. The GMC is responsible for operational matters, including investigating complaints received about medical professionals and the administration of the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) tests.
The GMC has advised that the percentage of non-UK qualified doctors obtaining registration using the PLAB pathway was 42% in 2019; 40% in 2020; and 40% in 2021. The information on the number of overseas medical professionals is not held in the format requested. However, the attached table shows the number of failed sittings of part one and part two of the PLAB test by medical professionals from overseas in each of the last five years, by country of where the primary medical qualification was obtained.
As of 20 May 2022, there are 10,741 doctors with a current booking to sit the PLAB1 and 7,831 doctors with a PLAB2 exam place.
The GMC has advised that the information on the number of complaints resolved within six months is not available in the format requested. The GMC's internal target is for complaints to be resolved within 12 months. Of the complaints the GMC received in 2018 which did not meet the GMC’s internal 12-month closure target, 370 or 4.3% related to doctors with a non-UK primary medical qualification. Of complaints received in 2019, this was 460 or 5.2% and 354 or 4.2% in 2020. This includes all potential outcomes of a complaint – from closure at triage if the complaint did not meet the threshold for investigation, to full investigation with an outcome at a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing.