PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(10 March 2025)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of UK-trained doctors that have emigrated because of high competition ratios in the last three years; and if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the number of those doctors that have emigrated because of high competition ratios.

Asked by:
Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat)

The Department does not hold the specific data requested. Data from the General Medical Council in 2022 showed that approximately 7% of doctors in England did not hold a licence to practice five years after they completed the foundation programme in 2016. More information is available at the following link:

https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/workforce-report-2022---full-report_pdf-94540077.pdf

Internationally educated staff remain an important part of the workforce, and our Code of Practice for International Recruitment ensures stringent ethical standards when recruiting health and social care staff from overseas. However, the Government is also committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join the National Health Service.

Answered by:
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