Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is aware of equipment with constituent parts made through forced labour having entered UK supply chains since January 2020.

Suppliers appointed to NHS Supply Chain framework contracts, which provide the majority of medical goods and services to the National Health Service, must comply with the Labour Standards Assurance System or they can be removed from consideration for future procurement opportunities.

If there is an allegation of modern slavery practices against a company supplying medical goods or services into the United Kingdom, these are investigated. The Department is not aware of any breaches of the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 since January 2020. Information is not held centrally on procurement undertaken by NHS trusts and foundation trusts, which takes place at a local level.