Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Bilateral agreement between the UK and Kenya on healthcare workforce collaboration, published on 11 November 2021, what progress his Department has made on the establishment of a joint committee to oversee the implementation of that agreement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
An official level working group has been established to oversee the implementation of the Bilateral agreement. This includes officials from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the Kenyan Government and relevant agencies. The formation of a formal joint committee has been paused until the conclusion of the Kenyan general election in 2022.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Bilateral agreement between the UK and Kenya on healthcare workforce collaboration, published on 11 November 2021, if he will make an assessment of the level of compliance by recruitment agencies with the sections of that agreement relating to their activities.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The first cohort of Kenyan nurses recruited via this agreement arrived in the United Kingdom in June 2021. The organisations engaged in this recruitment were compliant with the agreement.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which countries his Department is in negotiations with on Government-to-government agreements on health and social care workforce recruitment as of 12 July 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
We are unable to provide the information requested as it would be likely to prejudice relations between the United Kingdom and other states.
When signed, Government-to-Government agreements are published to ensure transparency. All agreements on health worker migration are explicit in the commitment to ensure fair, ethical, and sustainable recruitment and employment of healthcare professionals pursuant to existing laws and regulations in each partner country. The Government has agreed and published agreements with Philippines, Malaysia, Kenya and Sri Lanka.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has received reports of activities by recruitment agencies supplying workers to the UK health and social care sector from overseas in breach of his Department’s code of practice on the recruitment of such workers.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Where concerns have been raised with officials on compliance with the code, these cases have been referred to NHS Employers or other relevant regulatory bodies.
NHS Employers hosts a list of agencies which adhere to the code to assist employers during the selection process. It undertakes routine checks of agencies’ compliance with the code, responds to complaints or breaches and takes necessary action where the code is contravened.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many employment agencies supply workers to the social care sector in England from overseas as of 12 July 2022; and if he will make an assessment of how many and what proportion of those agencies fully adhere to the Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel, published on 25 February 2021.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what critical infrastructure his Department is responsible for that is reliant on private wire networks for power supply.
Answered by Edward Argar
None of the Department’s estates infrastructure is reliant on private wire networks.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department or Public Health England has a working relationship, including on contractual or commercial terms, with the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) or any of its subsidiaries.
Answered by Edward Argar
Neither the Department nor the former Public Health England has any collaborative, commercial or contractual links to the Beijing Genomics Institute or its subsidiaries.