Health Bill

Debate between Baroness Manzoor and Lord Patel of Bradford

Committee stage
Tuesday 3rd November 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Manzoor (Con)]

My Lords, I understand and support the aims and sentiment behind this group of amendments—particularly Amendment 29 and 258. Any form of discrimination or racism is abhorrent. How one identifies oneself should not be a problem. Antisemitism is not acceptable.

It may be helpful to remind ourselves of some figures as, sadly, racism and discrimination remain embedded challenges within the NHS, affecting both staff and patients, as acknowledged by the noble Baroness, Lady Gerada. It is worth noting that 28.6% of NHS staff in 2024 were from ethnic-minority backgrounds. That was around 450,000 people, yet only 12.7% of senior managers came from those backgrounds. The 2025 NHS staff survey found that ethnic-minority staff were more likely to experience discrimination from managers and colleagues: that is 13.9% of ethnic-minority staff compared with 6.51% of white staff. Some 29.16% of ethnic-minority staff experienced harassment, bullying or abuse by patients and by the public, compared with 23.54% of white staff. It is important to further strengthen legislation as there are gaps.

The Equality Act 2010 prohibits racial discrimination, harassment and victimisation. However, significant weaknesses remain. The public sector equality duty requires organisations to “have due regard to” equality but does not guarantee measurable improvements. The NHS equality standards lack sufficient enforcement and meaningful consequences for persistent institutional discrimination. Will the Minister consider how the Government can strengthen this further, particularly as reporting, investigating and addressing racism remains inconsistent, with inadequate protections and support for whistleblowers? How will the Government address this? There is no sufficiently robust uniform accountability framework ensuring that perpetrators and senior leaders face consequences, as the noble Baroness, Lady Gerada, stated. Will the Government consider developing such a framework on all forms of discrimination? This would also support the 2026 review by the noble Lord, Lord Mann, which reinforces the need for stronger investigations, transparency and organisational accountability.

[Lord Patel of Bradford (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I strongly support the intentions behind these amendments. Two practical issues are leadership and accountability, and the protection of those who speak out.

Tackling antisemitism and racism must be a clear responsibility of NHS leadership. These issues should be included in the performance objectives of every chief executive in the NHS—I have done this in the past. The boards would be required to monitor them and hold the executives and themselves to account. I am sure the CQC could incorporate this into its well-led reviews and make sure it happens. It is not enough to have policies and training programmes; we need to know whether they are making a difference and who is responsible when they are not.

Secondly, we must protect those who report racism or antisemitism. Too often, staff are reluctant to speak out because they fear the consequences for their careers or their relationships with colleagues. We need clear reporting arrangements, protection against victimisation and retaliation, and independent routes to raise concerns if senior managers themselves are involved. I hope the Minister agrees that we should hold boards and NHS chief executives to account and properly protect those who call this out.