Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GPs have been recruited through the international GP recruitment programme in each of the last five years; and which countries those GPs were recruited from.

The International GP Recruitment (IGPR) Programme was announced in August 2017 and recruitment began from April 2018. Prior to this, four pilot schemes were established between May 2016 and November 2017. Data on the number of general practitioners (GPs) who accepted a place on the IGPR programme and the pilot schemes and which countries they were recruited from for the years 2016/17 - 2019/20 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Staff involved in the IGPR Programme are undertaking wider workforce retention activities and the spend on international recruitment is therefore not separately identifiable. A number of staff roles are shared across general practice workforce initiatives to ensure maximum use of the available resource.

NHS England, Health Education England, and partner organisations continue to review the effectiveness of all measures in place to increase the GP workforce, including international GP recruitment, as part of the wider development of a sustainable general practice workforce.