Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the Care Quality Commission on the introduction of specific metrics to tackle sexual misconduct.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not had any recent discussions with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) regarding the introduction of specific metrics to tackle sexual misconduct.
Nonetheless, the CQC monitors for concerns related to sexual misconduct as part of its regulatory responsibilities. This is in line with Regulation 13 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, which requires that service providers must have a zero tolerance approach to abuse, including sexual abuse and harassment. Failure to comply with Regulation 13 can have serious consequences, including regulatory action from the CQC, potentially leading to a provider being denied registration, or in some cases, prosecution.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with professional regulators to ensure consistent management of sexual misconduct cases.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) oversees the bodies which regulate health and care professionals in the United Kingdom. As with all UK healthcare professional regulators, the PSA is independent of Government, and directly accountable to Parliament. As the oversight body for the UK healthcare regulators, it annually reviews each professional regulators’ performance and publishes its findings.
Since 2006, the PSA has published guidance for healthcare regulators, employers and patients on tackling sexual misconduct amongst healthcare professionals as part of the ‘Clear Sexual Boundaries’ project.
The recommendations in the reports have been used by all the statutory healthcare regulators as a basis for reviewing and aligning their own guidance to registrants on standards of professional behaviour. In addition, Fitness to Practise Committees consider the guidance when making decisions on sanctions in cases involving sexual misconduct by registrants to ensure they are proportionate and equitable across professions. Regulators have also committed to working with registrants, employers, education providers and other stakeholders to develop more effective ways to prevent sexual misconduct by registrants and to improve the detection of perpetrators of sexual misconduct.
My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has not had any recent discussions with professional regulators to ensure consistent management of sexual misconduct cases.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to establish a national anonymous reporting mechanism for sexual misconduct in the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to ensuring that all National Health Service healthcare settings are safe places to work and that everyone working in the NHS feels safe and supported at work. There is a zero-tolerance approach to any instances of sexual misconduct in the NHS workplace. The NHS Sexual Safety Charter has been signed by over 400 organisations across the health system to date and requires signatories to ensure appropriate reporting mechanisms are in place, including anonymous reporting. This has been strengthened by the National People Policy Framework on Sexual Misconduct and further evaluation work is ongoing to ensure consistent implementation across all integrated care boards and NHS trusts.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure trauma-informed education and training for all staff involved in fitness-to-practice cases within the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) is a statutory committee of the General Medical Council (GMC), the independent regulator of all medical doctors, anaesthesia associates and physician associates practising in the United Kingdom. The MPTS operates separately from the investigatory role of the GMC to make impartial decisions about whether doctors are fit to practise medicine. The MPTS is independent of Government, accountable to the GMC and Parliament.
The appointment, training and appraisal of tribunal members is undertaken by the MPTS to ensure independence of tribunal decision making. All tribunal members are required to take part in annual training. In 2024, this included decision making in sexual misconduct cases, supported by case studies, encompassing inappropriate sexual behaviours, sexual motivation and sexual harassment, rape myths and assessing demeanour.
The UK's model of healthcare professional regulation is founded on the principle of regulators operating independently from government. My Rt. Hon. friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has not taken any steps to ensure trauma-informed education and training for all staff involved in fitness-to-practice cases within the MPTS.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to mandate (a) NHS trust organisations, (b) health boards and (c) professional regulators to collect and publish annual data on sexual misconduct cases.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to ensuring that all National Health Service healthcare settings are safe places to work and everyone working in the NHS feels safe at work. There is a zero-tolerance approach to any instances of sexual misconduct in the NHS workplace.
NHS England is currently reviewing sexual misconduct data as part of a wider review of Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (DASV) data to promote better collection of annual data on sexual misconduct cases. Better collection of data will support and strengthen the zero-tolerance approach. NHS England is currently reviewing staff sexual misconduct workforce data as part of wider DASV data improvement work.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to encourage medical schools to sign the NHS England sexual safety in healthcare organisational charter.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is clear that there is no place for sexual misconduct of any kind in medical education or anywhere else. We expect university leaders, working with National Health Service organisations and all others involved in medical education, to stamp out this issue wherever it occurs.
The Department and NHS England are working with medical schools and the Medical Schools Council to improve sexual safety for medical students on placements in the NHS. This includes encouraging those medical schools who are yet to sign up to the NHS sexual safety in health charter to do so, and ensuring that they have in place robust processes and policies and appropriate support for students.
To support universities to tackle sexual misconduct, the Office for Students has also introduced new requirements for preventing, addressing, and investigating incidents to take effect in August 2025. The Department for Education is working with sector bodies to help providers prepare to implement the new measures.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to protect anaesthetist as a professional title.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that the protection in law of certain professional titles is important for public safety. Protecting a title provides assurance to the public that someone using that title is competent and safe to practise.
The title anaesthetist is not protected in law in the United Kingdom. Section 49 of the Medical Act 1983 currently protects the titles physician, doctor of medicine, licentiate in medicine and surgery, bachelor of medicine, surgeon, general practitioner, apothecary, and any name, title, addition, or description implying that a person is registered with the General Medical Council (GMC).
The Government has set out its intention to reform the legislative frameworks of all healthcare professional regulators, starting with the GMC. The Government is aiming to consult on draft GMC legislation by the end of this year and it expects to lay the legislation during this Parliament. The Government will review current protection of title offences including those concerning professions regulated by the GMC as part of this work.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service on the revision of sanctions banding for sexual misconduct cases.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) is a statutory committee of the General Medical Council (GMC), which is the independent regulator of all medical doctors, anaesthesia associates, and physician associates practising in the United Kingdom. The MPTS operates separately from the investigatory role of the GMC to make impartial decisions about whether doctors are fit to practise medicine. The MPTS is independent of the Government, and is accountable to the GMC and Parliament.
In September 2025, subject to approval from GMC Council, the MPTS will publish a new set of Guidance to MPTS Tribunals, which will replace the current Sanctions Guidance. This updated guidance includes a new decision-making methodology and new sanctions bandings, to improve transparency and support consistent decision making.
The UK's model of regulation for healthcare professionals is founded on the principle of regulators operating independently from the Government. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has not had any recent discussions with the MPTS on the revision of sanctions banding for sexual misconduct cases.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to publish a roadmap outlining how NHS trust organisations will implement the national sexual misconduct policy framework.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England published a National Sexual Misconduct People Policy Framework in October 2024 and is currently conducting an evaluation of how this is being implemented across integrated care boards and National Health Service trusts. The results of this will inform next steps in terms of further implementation support, which could include a roadmap if needed for NHS trust organisations.
Asked by: Peter Prinsley (Labour - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will establish a cross-Departmental ministerial taskforce with the Department for Health and Social Care to support workforce planning between the higher education sector and health service.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Department of Health and Social Care works closely with the Department for Education on a wide range of matters to ensure cross-departmental collaboration on workforce planning in higher education and the healthcare service.
The government is preparing the 10 Year Health Plan which will set out a bold agenda to reform and repair the NHS. Ensuring we have the right people, in the right places and with the right skills, will be central to this vision.
The department continues to work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care on the 10 Year Health Plan.