Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of environmental sustainability requirements on the ability of the NHS to meet its procurement needs for medical devices.

The National Health Service has committed to reaching net zero by 2045 on all scopes of emissions. To achieve this goal, the NHS has set out the NHS Net Zero Supplier Roadmap, a series of milestones to help suppliers, which has been developed following extensive engagement with NHS staff, suppliers and their trade associations to ensure it is ambitious and realistic.

The first milestone, implemented in April 2022, builds on the Government’s Procurement Policy Note 06/20 ‘Taking Account of Social Value in the Award of Central Government Contracts’. This requires that all NHS procurements include a minimum 10% net zero and social value weighting. Social value, when incorporated effectively, will help reduce health inequalities, drive better environmental performance, and deliver even more value from procured products and services.

The second milestone will be implemented on the 1 April 2023 and requires that for all new contracts above £5 million per annum, the NHS will require suppliers to publish a Carbon Reduction Plan for their United Kingdom Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a subset of Scope 3 emissions as a minimum. Extensive engagement with NHS suppliers has been undertaken to ensure they are ready for these new requirements through trade bodies, supplier round tables and events, webinars, newsletters and emails.

NHS England believe this approach will promote sustainability good practice, while leading to more efficient use of supplies, low-carbon substitutions and product innovation.