Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Wes Streeting and Graham Leadbitter

Tuesday 17th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Graham Leadbitter (Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey) (SNP)]

My constituency, in Scotland, has a significant shortage of health and social care workers, despite extensive efforts to advertise recruitment to get people in, as replicated in parts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The rug has been pulled out from under that by the changes to immigration policy and visas for that sector. Will the Secretary of State commit to pushing this harder in Cabinet to ensure that we can have more geographic and sectoral visas?

[Wes Streeting]

I am really proud of the contribution that overseas workers make to health and social care services across our country. If they all left tomorrow, the services would simply collapse. But I think there is an overreliance on overseas staff in health and care services, and that is contributing to levels of net migration that are simply unsustainable. I have a responsibility to help the Home Secretary bring those numbers down and to give opportunities, through better pay and career progression, to home-grown talent, and that is what we will do.