Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Government’s immigration policies on trends in the level of recruitment of internationally educated nurses into (a) the NHS and (b) social care roles; and whether he has prepared contingency plans for a reduction in the level of recruitment.

The immediate changes to the skills thresholds outlined in the Immigration White Paper relate to roles below Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) level 6. Nurses meet the new skill threshold of RQF level 6 and in turn remain eligible for the Health and Care Worker visa.

The Government is committed to developing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join our National Health Service. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will outline strategies for improving retention, productivity, training, and reducing attrition, thereby enhancing conditions for all staff while gradually reducing reliance on international recruitment, without diminishing the value of their contributions.

We acknowledge that the adult social care sector faces significant challenges in the recruitment and retention of the nursing workforce and we recognise the need for a strong emphasis on retaining nurses within adult social care, by supporting and valuing the workforce.

The Department continues to monitor adult social care workforce capacity, bringing together national data sets from Skills for Care’s monthly tracking data, the Capacity Tracker tool, and intelligence from key sector partners.