Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the British Medical Association’s report entitled, Delivering racial equality in medicine, what steps he is taking to (a) protect and support medical professionals from racist abuse and (b) help ensure Black and Ethnic Minority groups are not dissuaded from pursuing medical careers.

The National Health Service Civility and Respect programme aims to tackle discrimination, bullying and harassment in the NHS and to create positive workplace cultures.

The NHS is improving recruitment processes and career opportunities for all staff, including medical professionals, from ethnic minority backgrounds. The Medical Workforce Racial Equality Standard report in 2020 showed that the number of black and minority ethnic doctors increased by 21.1% compared to 2017. We have accepted the recommendations from the ‘Leadership for a collaborative and inclusive future’ review into health and social care leadership in full. The recommendations include embedding inclusive leadership practice as the responsibility of all and promoting equal opportunity and fairness standards to tackle discrimination.