HC Deb 14 November 2001 vol 374 c796W
Mr. Jon Owen Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of how many(a) refugees and (b) those with special immigration status with medical qualifications have been prevented from working in the national health service by their inability to speak English to an adequate level in the last five years. [14315]

Mr. Hutton

All doctors from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) need to pass the International English Language Testing Service (IELTS) test before they can be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC). The majority of doctors who took their primary medical qualification outside the EEA also need to pass the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) test of medical and linguistic competence before registration is granted.

Passing the PLAB test is a pre-condition of registration for those doctors required to take it. Doctors are entitled to five attempts at the test. Those who fail it five times are prevented from registering with the GMC, and thus prevented from practising medicine in the national health service.

The GMC's records do not show how many of the doctors who fail the PLAB test five times are, in fact, from the refugee community. There is therefore no way of telling whether any refugee doctor has been prevented from getting work in the NHS by his or her ability to speak English.

Mr. Jon Owen Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the contribution that could be made to the national health service by(a) refugees and (b) those with special immigration status holding medical qualifications. [14314]

Mr. Hutton

The NHS plan holds a commitment to provide extra doctors to the national health service, and we believe it makes moral and economic sense to use the skills of doctors in the refugee community to the best advantage of the NHS.

A Government funded database, developed and run by the Refugee Council and the British Medical Association, shows that there are nearly 400 refugee doctors who want information about retraining to work in the United Kingdom. More are expected to come forward as word gets around about the availability of Government funded counselling and training to help those wanting careers in the NHS becomes more widely understood.