HC Deb 11 November 1998 vol 319 c226W
Dr. Cable

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps he is taking to assist medically qualified asylum seekers to obtain training or take courses to gain recognised British medical qualifications; [58957]

(2) what steps he is taking to facilitate the recognition of qualifications held by medically qualified asylum seekers. [58956]

Mr. Hutton

The recognition of medical qualifications is the statutory responsibility of the General Medical Council (GMC) in respect of primary qualifications, and the Specialist Training Authority and the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for specialist qualifications.

No specific action is being taken to assist medically qualified asylum seekers to obtain training or to take courses to gain recognised British medical qualifications.

Medically qualified asylum seekers who have been given permission to work in the United Kingdom by the immigration authorities and who meet the GMC's requirements for Registration are free to apply for advertised posts in the medical training grades on the same basis as other non-United Kingdom/European Economic Area doctors. Approaching 30 per cent. of all medical trainees in the National Health Service qualified outside the United Kingdom.

Earlier this year the Department revised and reissued its guidance on the Immigration and Employment of Overseas Medical and Dental Students, Doctors and Dentists in the United Kingdom to make it clear that doctors who have sought asylum may be accepted into formal training programmes once permission to work in the UK has been granted by the immigration authorities.