Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled, Fair to Refer, published by the General Medical Council in June 2019, what steps his Department is taking to BAME discrimination in the NHS.

It is the responsibility of each National Health Service organisation as individual employers, to ensure all workforce policies and procedures comply with the Equality Act 2010. This includes policies and procedures to prevent all forms of unlawful discrimination, including bullying, harassment and victimisation from other staff, patients or other members of the public.

Policies and procedures should be easily accessible to staff and managers and should be regularly monitored and reviewed by organisation boards in partnership with staff-side representatives. Employers provide a range of support services for their employees, including counselling, Freedom to Speak Up guardians, other staff trained to support affected colleagues, bullying hotlines and mediation.

The Department is committed to supporting NHS organisations in this via the Social Partnership Forum’s ‘Creating positive workplace cultures and tackling bullying in the NHS - a collective call to action’, the Alliance of Healthcare Organisations committed to civility and respect throughout the NHS and the new offer for staff being developed as part of the People Plan.