§ 4. Mr. John Randall (Uxbridge)How many nurses he plans to recruit from overseas over the course of the next 12 months. [137639]
§ The Secretary of State for Health (Mr. Alan Milburn)We have not set a target, but according to the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, 7,361 overseas applicants were admitted to the nursing register in the year to 31 March 2000.
§ Mr. RandallI thank the Secretary of State for his reply. What measures is his Department taking to ensure that the national health service is sticking to its own guidelines in not contracting nurses and midwives from South Africa, through private recruitment agencies, when there is strong evidence that those agencies are still actively recruiting?
§ Mr. MilburnThe hon. Gentleman makes an extremely important point. We have issued guidance to the NHS—I think that we issued it either late last year or earlier this year—and it certainly tells the trusts that they should not actively recruit from any developing country. There are surpluses of nurses in some developing countries, such as India, Pakistan and elsewhere. Inevitably, nurses from those countries will sometimes apply, of their own volition, to come to this country, and they make an extremely important contribution, as the hon. Gentleman will agree. Certainly, from my point of view, we should not seek to recruit from developing 161 countries; we want those countries to develop their own health care systems. Where appropriate, we shall recruit from overseas.
The hon. Gentleman will be aware that I recently signed an agreement with the Spanish Government, for example, to bring nurses to this country, provided that they have the appropriate qualifications, including the appropriate English language skills. I am convinced that they will make an extremely important contribution to health care in our country.
§ Mr. Mike Gapes (Ilford, South)Will my right hon. Friend take this opportunity to thank all the nurses and doctors from overseas who are playing such a vital role in our national health service? Can I draw to his attention the nurses from the Philippines, who have made it possible for two new wards to be opened at King George hospital in my constituency in recent months?
§ Mr. MilburnI am happy to do that. Nurses and doctors and, indeed, other staff from overseas have long made an important contribution to the work of the NHS in many parts of the country, particularly London and the south-east. I know that that is the case in my hon. Friend's constituency. I tell those hon. Members who seem to be more concerned about the accents of those doctors and nurses that what counts is not their accents, but their excellence.
§ Mrs. Caroline Spelman (Meriden)Is not the level of overseas recruitment simply an indictment of the Government's efforts to bring back our own nurses and to stem the tide of nurses leaving the NHS through frustration, exhaustion and despair? Raiding the third world is not the answer. I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his answer on the sources of recruitment to the NHS, but what measures will he take to ensure that there are guidelines for the private recruitment agencies to stop nurses being drawn from some of the poorest countries?
§ Mr. MilburnThe hon. Lady seems to be on a kamikaze mission. She seems to think that we have problems in the NHS because a shortage of nurses suddenly arose on 1 May 1997. If she stopped to think about it and, more importantly, to examine the facts, she would realise that she is 100 per cent. wrong. Let me remind her of her record when the Conservative party was in office. [Interruption.] I like to think of these sessions at Health questions as a form of regression therapy for Conservative Members, to try to help them to face up to their past, rather than simply forgetting it.
§ Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham)Get on with it.
§ Mr. MilburnIf the hon. Gentleman will stop shouting and listen for a moment, I will give him some facts; he might learn something.
In 1992–93, there were 16,340 NHS-funded nursing and midwifery training places. By the end of the last Parliament, that had fallen to 14,980. The truth is that the shortages of nurses that we are now seeing are directly related to cuts in training places that the Conservative Government made. The increased investment that we are making, still opposed by the Conservative party, is paying 162 dividends. We have more nurse training places, 10,000 more nurses, big pay rises and an NHS that is at last expanding, whereas for 18 years it was contracting.