Unemployed nurses and health workers from Kenya will have the chance to work in the UK as part of a new scheme requested by the Government of Kenya and launched by President Kenyatta today (29 July) during his visit to London.

In a programme to share knowledge and expertise, Kenyan health professionals and health managers will benefit from a special route to work in the UK, before returning to work in Kenya’s health sector. The agreement is open to Kenya’s surplus health workers who are qualified but unemployed, ensuring the process is managed for Kenya’s benefit.

UK Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, and Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Labour Cooperation, Simon Chelugui, signed the agreement on Kenyan recruitment into the UK’s National Health Service. It came on the third day of President Kenyatta’s visit to London, on a tour of the Royal College of Physicians in London. The special programme came at the request of the Government of Kenya to channel nurses currently unemployed into jobs.

The President also witnessed the signing of the Kenya-UK Health Alliance, which will bring together UK and Kenyan institutions – universities, teaching hospitals – cooperating on health partnerships.

One of the flagship partnerships is on improving cancer treatment for Kenyans, thanks to a tie-up between Kenyatta University Teaching Research and Referral Hospital and the University of Manchester/Christie NHS Foundation Trust. It will help improve prevention and management of cancer in Kenya, and promote Kenya a regional hub for cancer treatment.

Jane Marriott, the British High Commissioner to Kenya, said:

Our health partnership with Kenya is 30 years old and growing stronger by the month. This new agreement on health workers allows us to share skills and expertise even further, and is a fantastic opportunity for Kenyans to work in the UK.

From COVID-19 vaccines and genomic sequencing, to exchanges on cancer research and treatment to help Kenya treatment more cancer patients at home, the UK has a long and proud history of support for Kenya’s health sector. The signing of the Kenya-UK Health Alliance by President Kenyatta on his visit to the UK is the latest chapter in our flourishing partnership.

The UK’s Secretary of State for Health, Sajid Javid, said:

We have a historic and mutually respectful relationship with Kenya. This has been strengthened by working closely with Kenya during the pandemic and sharing UK vaccine doses to support Kenya’s fight against COVID-19.

Our healthcare agreement will make the most of UK and Kenyan health expertise which will be beneficial to both countries, with the exchange of knowledge and training which will provide first class healthcare.

It comes after a flurry of announcements of UK support for Kenya’s COVID-19 response, as part of our flourishing Health Partnership, signed by the UK’s Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, and Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Health, Mutahi Kagwe, during a visit to Nairobi in January 2021.

On 28 July, Prime Minister Johnson confirmed the donation of 817,000 COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine doses for Kenya – half a bilateral donation, and half a UK donation through the COVAX facility – while earlier this month we announced new support on genomic sequencing with KEMRI to tackle emerging COVID-19 variants. Kenyan and British scientists at KEMRI and Oxford University were closely involved in the development of the AstraZeneca vaccine, through trials of the vaccine through KEMRI Kilifi.

Notes to Editors

1. The special arrangement for Kenyan nurses to come to the UK was part of a request by the Government of Kenya to capitalise in those qualified but unemployed health workers in Kenya. The exact numbers who will go to the UK – and the process for visas – will be confirmed in the next three months. Kenya and UK have a mutual agreement for health workforce collaboration that provides for bilateral knowledge exchange and capacity improvement. Both countries seek to benefit from each other’s experiences and comparative strengths in healthcare.

2. In the NHS in England there are 894 Kenyans working across all roles. This makes Kenyans the 30th largest nationality group in the NHS. Positive economic impacts as a result of well-managed migration results from:

   • Evidence that where a job can lead to global opportunities (such as nursing) more people will enter training in the home country, than if those global opportunities were not there;

   • The money sent home by those overseas is significant. To the Philippines, remittances account for about 10% of national GDP; and

   • Some countries we recruit from leverage recruitment or administration fees. This can then be reinvested in employment within the local health sector or in additional training.

3. The launch of the Kenya-UK Health Alliance formalises all the cooperation and partnerships between our non-governmental institutions on health, such as universities, hospitals, and research institutions. In Kenya, it includes: Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital (KUTTRH); Kisii University; Egerton University; University of Nairobi; and Maseno University. Given the growing burden of cancer in Kenya, developing a comprehensive cancer service for the country and the entire East Africa Region is an essential part of this programme.

• today (29 July 2021) the Chancellor visited Scotland, meeting people who have returned to work after being on furlough as well as seeing preparations for Edinburgh Fringe
• ahead of COP 26 he also visited the ORE Catapult Turbine, part of Scotland’s innovative green energy sector helping the UK reach Net Zero by 2050
• new figures today show that the number of people on furlough in Scotland has halved in the last 3 months

Rishi Sunak travelled to Fife, Edinburgh and Glasgow where he visited several businesses that have returned workers from furlough, held a roundtable of Scottish business leaders and saw how Scotland is creating jobs and leading our green recovery.

Around one in three jobs in Scotland have been supported by the UK Government’s support package and more than 90,000 Scottish businesses received more than £4.1 billion in loans since the start of the pandemic.

The Chancellor’s visit came as new figures released today show that the number of people in Scotland on furlough has halved in the last three months, with just 141,500 jobs still furloughed.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said:

It’s been inspiring to hear stories of people and businesses in Scotland that are now starting to feel the weight of the pandemic lifting off them as they get back to work – our Plan for Jobs is working and it’s great to see people succeeding after a year of uncertainty.

It’s been a challenging time but the UK Government has delivered one of the most generous packages of support in the world, protecting one in three Scottish jobs.

Scotland will be key in ensuring the UK’s economic success – creating jobs, powering our growth and driving a green recovery by hosting COP26 later this year.

During the visit, the Chancellor toured the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult Turbine in Leven, Fife. The turbine is the leading technology innovation and research centre for offshore renewable energy.

He met SMEs who have used the turbine for development and have benefitted from UK Government funding for green ventures.

The Chancellor highlighted the important contributions Scotland makes to the UK, including towards the UK’s Net Zero transition and climate change leadership on the world stage, ahead of the COP26 Glasgow conference in November.

He also conducted a roundtable with Scottish businesses in the retail banking sector at the new Queen Elizabeth hub in Edinburgh, where he thanked them for their role in responding to the pandemic, keeping call centres and banks open for vulnerable customers, and distributing many of the UK Government business support schemes.

The Chancellor saw preparations for the International Festival and the Fringe. The UK Government gave £1 million of funding to Edinburgh Festivals this year, to help the festival promote itself digitally to a bigger audience.

He also visited a number of small businesses including Liggy’s Cake Company in Edinburgh, which was supported through the furlough scheme and is now hiring new people.

He also visited Dynamic Earth, an award-winning visitor centre in Edinburgh dedicated to educating people about the earth and environmental issues, and met with several staff who have returned from furlough and met a group of children taking part in the centre’s outdoor activities.

Further information

Photos are available on HM Treasury’s Flickr.

Furlough data can be found online.

A Leicestershire beauty spot rich in rare wildflowers is now protected for future generations after being declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Johnson’s Meadows, with its 6.5 hectares (16 acres) of unspoiled grasslands, is also a haven for wildlife. Lying between the villages of Woodhouse Eaves and Woodhouse, north of Leicester, it is one of several SSSIs in Charnwood Forest.

The meadows – encircled by tall, wide hedgerows – support an impressive variety of grasses, such as crested dogs-tail, red fescue and sweet vernal grass. Among them grow wildflowers including common knapweed, great burnet and meadow buttercup. Perhaps the most striking is the marsh orchid. Flowering from late May to early summer, it flourishes in the meadows.

The site also contains heritage features in the form of medieval ridge-and-furrow earthworks and the remains of a medieval settlement. These further demonstrate the antiquity of the grassland and conservation importance of the site.

The land has been handed down through the Johnson family for 3 generations. They continue to manage the meadows in a traditional and environmentally sympathetic manner.

Speaking as one, the Johnson family said:

We feel privileged to be the guardians of our meadows embracing our role to protect them. It’s exciting to meet and work with environmental experts and we look forward to encouraging more biodiversity to this wildlife haven, for future generations of the family to enjoy.

Natural England will continue its partnership with owners of Johnson’s Meadows, both old and new, to promote and maintain positive management of the wildlife and the meadows.

The site joins more than 4,100 SSSIs that form the backbone of nature conservation in England. The country has seen a 97% decline in this rare type of habitat over the past 50 years.

Notes for editors

On 31 January 2020, after more than 20 years of partnership with a group of local landowners, Natural England notified Johnson’s Meadows as a SSSI.

Owners of a site declared an SSSI are legally required to safeguard and protect it appropriately, to conserve its special features.

Johnson’s Meadows is the East Midlands newest SSSI.

The Johnson’s Meadows Facebook page can be accessed via this link.