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 adequacy of the procurement processes operated by NHS trusts for the purpose of hiring British Sign Language translators.

Many National Health Service trusts use framework agreements for the procurement of translation services which are put in place either by Crown Commercial Service or their local procurement hub. These central purchasing bodies undertake assessments of companies to ensure that they meet the minimum standards and are able to track performance across a number of NHS trusts.

The Department does not review NHS procurement practices on a trust by trust basis.