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 an effective complaints process for families of patients in the NHS.

The Government is working with stakeholders to improve the way the National Health Service listens to and responds to complaints, including through the NHS Complaint Standards. The NHS Complaint Standards were developed by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in collaboration with stakeholders and provide guidance to the NHS on a model complaint handling service, which includes a particularly focus on early resolution and on learning from complaints.