Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they reconcile their obligations under the WHO and NHS Employers codes of practice, which discourage recruitment of doctors from countries with critical shortages of health workers, with reports that 54 per cent of newly-trained doctors in 2022 were recruited from such countries.

International recruitment of doctors is guided by the Code of Practice for International Recruitment, which guarantees the most stringent ethical standards when recruiting health and social care staff from overseas. The code aligns with latest advice from the World Health Organization, ensuring that an individual's right to migrate is upheld. As such, individuals from these countries are able to apply for vacancies independently in the United Kingdom, and, if they do, they must be treated fairly and not be discriminated against based on their nationality.