QUESTIONS IN THE HOUSE: NHS WORKFORCE – FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT / IMMIGRATION DETENTION / OFSTED

NHS WORKFORCE – FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

Helen Hayes Labour, Dulwich and West Norwood

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of the cessation of freedom of movement on the NHS workforce.

Stephen Hammond Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises the need for the National Health Service to be able to continue to recruit effectively from abroad when freedom of movement ends. The Immigration White Paper, ‘The UK’s future skills-based immigration system’, published in December 2018, sets out the foundation for a single immigration system, where it is workers’ skills that matter, not where they come from. This system will remove the cap on skilled migrants, abolish the requirement to undertake a Resident Labour Market Test and significantly improve the timeliness of being able to apply for a visa.

Additionally, legislation introduced on 7 March 2019 means health and care professionals with professional qualifications from European Union and Swiss institutions who are currently registered can continue to practise in the United Kingdom as they do now, guaranteeing their ability to work in the NHS. Hansard source(Citation: HC Deb, 16 July 2019, cW)

IMMIGRATION DETENTION

Helen Hayes Labour, Dulwich and West Norwood

A system which detains people to whom the state has a duty of protection, which regularly separates parents from their children, which results in people being denied access to food and medicine and living in appalling conditions, and which incarcerates people indefinitely who present no risk to public safety in the UK, is a system of which we should all be ashamed. Does the Ministeraccept that the current immigration detention system is a pillar of the hostile environment, and that the time has come for radical reform?

Caroline Nokes The Minister for Immigration

I remind the hon. Lady that the detention estate is significantly smaller than it was when the last Labour Government left office. She is wrong to suggest that people in immigration removal centres are denied access to food and medicine. They have 24/7 access to healthcare and it is absolutely right that they must do so. We take the vulnerability of detainees incredibly seriously, which is why we commissioned Stephen Shaw to do his re-review last year and are implementing his recommendations. It is absolutely right that we have chosen to shrink the detention estate and that we are seeking to pilot schemes where individuals can be better supported in the community. We will continue down that road.  

(Citation: HC Deb, 17 July 2019, c864)

OFSTED

Helen Hayes Labour, Dulwich and West Norwood

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the trends in the number of exempt schools that require an Ofsted inspection as a result of declining standards; and if he will undertake a review of the regulations exempting schools ranked as outstanding from routine inspections.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has his department made of the effect of trends in the level of school funding on the number of (a) Ofsted rated outstanding schools that have been assessed as (i) good, (ii) requires improvement and (iii) inadequate by Ofsted and (b) stuck schools.

Nick Gibb Minister of State (Education)

The Department has a responsibility to ensure that inspection arrangements are proportionate and achieve an appropriate balance between school autonomy and assurance. That is why we have asked Ofsted to increase the number of outstanding schools it inspects this year, based on its risk assessment, so that those most at risk of decline are inspected.

Given Ofsted inspects outstanding schools where it has specific concerns, it is to be expected that in some cases school performance will have declined. This demonstrates that the risk assessment process is working. Nevertheless, of the 305 risk based inspections of exempt schools undertaken by Ofsted between September 2018 and 31 March 2019, 70% were found to be outstanding or good.

Since 2017, the Department has given every local authority more money for every pupil in every school, and has allocated the biggest increases to those that have been most underfunded. The Department recognises the budgeting challenges schools face and continues to support schools to make the most of their budgets by reducing non staff costs such as energy, water bills and materials. Hansard source(Citation: HC Deb, 24 June 2019, cW) All sources: TheyWorkForYou