Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that doctors from the EU working in the NHS have adequate English skills to practice.

In 2014 powers were given to the General Medical Council to enable them to carry out proportionate language checks on doctors from the European Union who wish to practise in the United Kingdom. This is a major step forward for quality of care and patient safety by ensuring that only doctors with adequate English language skills are able to practise in the UK.

Local checks are also carried out by individual employers as part of their recruitment processes.