Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of nationals of other EU countries working in the NHS as nurses; what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the number of such nurses; and what assessment he has made of the potential effect on NHS productivity of that change in the number of such nurses.

Health visitors are often included as nurses in workforce statistics; therefore for clarity we have provided a breakdown of nurses and health visitors, nurses excluding health visitors and health visitors only.

NHS Digital publishes data on the nationality of staff working in the National Health Service in England. Nationality is self-reported within the NHS human resources and payroll system, the electronic staff record.

The following table shows the total headcount of nurses and health visitors working in NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups in October 2016, and the number that declared their nationality as other European Union nationals, excluding the United Kingdom.

The October data is the most recent data available.

The potential effect on nationals and productivity of leaving the EU will be dependent on the outcome of negotiations. The Prime Minister has been clear that she wants to protect the status of EU nationals already living here. It is the Government’s aim to get the best settlement for the UK in all areas including the healthcare system.