Public sector workers must be able to speak English under new reforms designed to reverse 'disastrous' lack of fluency
New legislation to bar non-English speaking immigrants from public roles
Public sector workers who deal with the public must have fluent English
The bill will cover police officers, teachers, NHS staff and armed forces
By Corey Charlton
Published: 15:54, 2 August 2015 | Updated: 16:05, 2 August 2015
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Immigrants who cannot speak good English are set to be barred from public sector customer service roles with new legislation designed to reverse a 'disastrous' lack of fluency.
The NHS in particular has been heavily criticised in recent months following reports many staff cannot speak the English language.
Now the Government has moved to fix the issue, with its Immigration Bill set to make fluent English a requirement for all public sector employees who deal directly with the public.
Immigrants who cannot speak fluent English are set to be barred from public sector customer service roles. File image used
The bill will cover police officers, teachers, NHS staff and members of the armed forces.
The issue of immigrants not being fluent while working in the public health sector was tragically brought to light in 2008 when Nigerian-born doctor Daniel Ubani accidentally injected a patient with a lethal dose of painkiller.
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Ubani was on his first shift in the UK providing out-of-hours cover when he injected David Gray, 70, with ten times the safe amount of pain killer diamorphine.
An inquest later found he was unfamiliar with the drug and had poor English.
The reforms state any worker in a 'customer-facing' role across public services such as the NHS, armed forces and state schools must have the equivalent of a C or above at GCSE.
Matthew Hancock said the bill was helping to control immigration for the benefit of 'hard working people'
Matt Hancock, Minister for the Cabinet Office, said: 'We are controlling immigration for the benefit of all hard-working people.
'That includes making sure that foreign nationals employed in customer-facing public sector roles are able to speak a high standard of English.
'We have already introduced tough new language requirements for migrants, now we will introduce new legislation in the forthcoming Immigration Bill to deliver the commitment made by the Prime Minister to go further.'
London Mayor Boris Johnson has been among those most outspoken in his surprise at how those with a poor ability in English were allowed to work with the public.
In January he told LBC: 'We went through a long period in Britain of having kind of multi-culty Balkanisation of our society. We thought it was a very good idea to teach kids in their own language in primary school classes in London. That is a disastrous approach. They should be learning in English.'
He added: 'Everybody who comes to London, everybody who comes to work in our economy, should be able to speak English.
'If you go to Tower Hamlets, you can find people who have been there for several generations who still don’t speak English.'
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