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449851

	registered interest
	date	02/02/2016
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Health Professions: Migrant Workers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nationals of (a) the EEA, excluding the UK and (b) non-EEA countries who are (i) doctors, (ii) dentists, (iii) other dental care professionals and (iv) nurses have been (A) suspended and (B) brought before a fitness to practise panel by their professional regulator as a result of poor English language skills in the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	25540
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2016 answer text <p>The information requested is not held by the Department. The nine <a href="http://www.professionalstandards.org.uk/regulators/statutory-regulators-directory" target="_blank">health and care professional regulatory bodies</a> within the United Kingdom are responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of their statutory duties including fitness-to-practise (FtP) investigations against their registrants. Relevant information provided by the General Medical Council (GMC), Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and General Dental Council (GDC) is included below.</p><p> </p><p>The GMC reports that four European Economic Area (EEA) doctors and no non-EEA doctors have appeared at a FtP tribunal <del class="ministerial">and been suspended</del> due wholly or partly to lack of English language skills, since its legislation changed in June 2014 to introduce inadequate English language skills as a grounds for finding a doctor’s fitness to practise is impaired. <ins class="ministerial">Of the four, two were suspended and two had conditions imposed on their registration. Conditions restrict a doctor’s practice or require them to take remedial action. In these cases, the purpose of conditions is to help protect patients while allowing the doctor to remedy any deficiencies in their practice or knowledge of English. </ins>In addition, since the GMC was given new powers in relation to the language skills of doctors, it has dealt with 3,289 registration applications from EEA doctors. 1,970 of them were able to demonstrate that they met the English language requirements as part of their application and were granted registration with a licence to practise. 1,319 doctors were registered but have not been granted a licence to practise either because they did not provide any evidence of their English language skills or the evidence they provided was insufficient. Doctors cannot practise in the UK without a licence to practise.</p><p> </p><p>The NMC reports that until legislative change took effect in January 2016, it did not record poor English language skills as a case type within FtP. Previously all cases were recorded under an umbrella category of ‘Lack of competence – communication issues’. This category covered a range of communication topics including failure to delegate appropriately. Since the new language control power was introduced in 2016 the NMC has been coding English language skills as a separate code.</p><p> </p><p>The GDC reports that following an update to its Standards in 2013, it takes the requirement to be sufficiently fluent in written and spoken English into account when assessing FtP cases. Since this change there have been no suspensions and one EEA Dentist has been struck-off the GDC register where the category of ‘not fluent in English’ was recorded as a consideration. The GDC notes that as a result of recent legislative change, it is taking forward associated changes to registration processes and FtP rules, which will result in further language control requirements being introduced by the end of summer.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Ipswich answering member printed Ben Gummer question first answered 08/02/2016 14:54:34 question first ministerially corrected 01/03/2016 17:55:31 answering member 3988 label Biography information for Ben Gummer previous answer version 44025 answering member constituency Ipswich answering member printed Ben Gummer answering member 3988 label Biography information for Ben Gummer
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

452029

	registered interest
	date	10/02/2016
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Health Professions: Migrant Workers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nationals of (a) the EEA excluding the UK and (b) non-EEA countries who are doctors or dentists have been brought before a fitness to practice panel and not suspended by their professional regulator as a result of poor English language skills in the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	26745
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2016 answer text <p>The information requested is not held by the Department. The nine <a href="http://www.professionalstandards.org.uk/regulators/statutory-regulators-directory" target="_blank">health and care professional regulatory bodies</a> within the United Kingdom are responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of their statutory duties including fitness-to-practise (FtP) investigations in respect of their registrants. Relevant information provided by the General Medical Council (GMC) and General Dental Council (GDC) is included below.</p><p> </p><p>The GMC reports that four European Economic Area (EEA) doctors and no non-EEA doctors have appeared at a tribunal due wholly or partly to lack of English language skills, since its legislation changed in June 2014 to introduce inadequate English language skills as a grounds for finding a doctor’s fitness to practise is impaired. Of the four, two were suspended and two had conditions imposed on their registration. Conditions restrict a doctor’s practice or require them to take remedial action. In these cases, the purpose of conditions is to help protect patients while allowing the doctor to remedy any deficiencies in their practice or knowledge of English. This amends the answer given in PQ<a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&amp;max=20&amp;questiontype=AllQuestions&amp;house=commons%2clords&amp;uin=25540" target="_blank">25540</a> on 8 February 2016.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, since the GMC was given new powers in relation to the language skills of doctors, it has dealt with 3,289 registration applications from EEA doctors. 1,970 of them were able to demonstrate that they met the English language requirements as part of their application and were granted registration with a licence to practise. 1,319 doctors were registered but have not been granted a licence to practise either because they did not provide any evidence of their English language skills or the evidence they provided was insufficient. Doctors cannot practise in the United Kingdom without a licence to practise.</p><p> </p><p>The GDC has been taking the requirement to be sufficiently fluent in written and spoken English into account when assessing FtP cases since it updated its Standards in 2013. Since this change there has been one EEA dentist brought before a FtP panel who was not suspended where the category of ‘not fluent in English’ was recorded as consideration. The decision of the FtP panel was to remove this dentist from the GDC register.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Ipswich answering member printed Ben Gummer question first answered 22/02/2016 16:40:01 answering member 3988 label Biography information for Ben Gummer
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

452030

	registered interest
	date	10/02/2016
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Nurses
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nurses were brought before a fitness to practise panel for lack of competence, communication issues between 2013 and 2015; and how many such nurses (a) were and (b) were not suspended.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	26746
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2016 answer text <p>The information requested is not held by the Department. As an independent body the Nursing and Midwifery Council is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties including fitness-to-practise investigations in respect of its registrants.</p> answering member constituency Ipswich answering member printed Ben Gummer question first answered 22/02/2016 16:53:44 answering member 3988 label Biography information for Ben Gummer
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

521260

	registered interest
	date	24/05/2016
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Doctors: Performance Appraisal
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the annual cost to the NHS of General Medical Council appraisals.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	38115
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/05/2016 answer text <p>In November 2012, the Department published an analysis of the costs and benefits of medical revalidation in England: “Medical Revalidation – Costs and Benefits”. This estimated that revalidation would result in additional costs of £97 million per year in England, over the ten-year period starting in 2013.</p> answering member constituency Ipswich answering member printed Ben Gummer question first answered 27/05/2016 11:18:55 answering member 3988 label Biography information for Ben Gummer
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

524751

	registered interest
	date	13/06/2016
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Dental Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the mechanisms in place for patients to pursue complaints against dentists who leave the country before the General Dental Council can investigate.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	40380
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2016 answer text <p>The General Dental Council (GDC) is an independent statutory body. As the regulator of all registered dentists it has the power to take fitness to practise action, and investigate any complaints made against a dentist who is currently registered with the GDC. The Professional Standards Authority conducts annual reviews of the GDC’s fitness to practise process, to ensure it meets the set professional standards. The Dental Complaints Service, run by the GDC, can assist in resolving complaints raised about private dental treatment provided by all GDC registered dentists in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, if a dentist is registered with the GDC, the GDC has the power to investigate that dentist, whether they are in the UK or not. Therefore, if a dentist is registered with the GDC and was working in the UK but returned to their home country, the GDC would be able to take action. If the dentist does not hold a current registration with the GDC, the GDC cannot investigate further, but an unregistered dentist, whether they have a complaint against them or not, cannot practise in the UK, which ensures UK patient safety, and maintains professional standards.</p> answering member constituency Ipswich answering member printed Ben Gummer question first answered 21/06/2016 09:26:24 answering member 3988 label Biography information for Ben Gummer
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie