Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to investigate reports of historical workplace racism in the NHS.

We do not tolerate racist abuse of National Health Service staff and are committed to promoting an inclusive and compassionate culture in the NHS. The NHS is focused on supporting staff from different ethnic backgrounds and is tracking progress against key indicators through the Workforce Race Equality Standard, with Board level oversight.

The NHS has put in place an action plan to support black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff through the pandemic. This includes risks assessment processes to protect staff, bespoke health and wellbeing resources and strengthened engagement with BAME staff networks to ensure their views are represented in decision making.