Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Nursing and Midwifery Council on its assessments of the appropriateness of registrants with criminal convictions to practice as registered nurses and midwives in the UK.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom, and nursing associates in England. The NMC is independent of the Government, is directly accountable to Parliament, and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties. The United Kingdom’s model of healthcare professional regulation is founded on the principle of regulators operating independently from the Government.

The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) oversees the bodies that regulate health and care professionals in the UK, which includes the NMC. As Minister of State for Health (Secondary Care), I monitor the NMC’s performance and both I and departmental officials meet with the organisation regularly.

Nurses, midwives, and nursing associates are required to declare cautions or convictions as part of their application to join the NMC register. The NMC Code requires registrants to inform the NMC and their employer if they receive a caution or conviction while on the register. If a registrant receives a caution or conviction while on the NMC register, it is considered through the NMC’s fitness to practise processes to determine whether any regulatory action is required.