Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2017 to Question 61413, on general practitioners: foreign nationals, whether GPs are on the Shortage Occupation List.

The Tier 2 (General) annual limit is divided into monthly quotas. Since its introduction, the monthly quotas have been oversubscribed only during the period of June to October 2015. To-date, the annual limit has not been reached. Places in the limit are prioritised according to whether the job is in a shortage occupation or PhD-level occupation, and by salary. No monthly quota has ever been allocated solely to occupations on the Shortage Occupation List.

The Shortage Occupation List is based on recommendations from the independent Migration Advisory Committee. General Practitioners do not currently appear on the list. The list can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tier-2-shortage-occupation-list