Asked by: Pam Cox (Labour - Colchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) his Department and (b) the Cabinet Office is required to sign off procurement of services over £20m by the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is not involved in the approval of the procurement of services by National Health Service trusts. Cabinet Office Commercial Spend Controls require that organisations in scope must provide a pipeline of all future commercial activity that is £20 million or more excluding VAT over the contract life before they publish a procurement or enter into a contract. The Cabinet Office reviews this pipeline and will determine whether activity requires full Cabinet Office review at outline business case and contract award stages.
The Cabinet Office Commercial Spend Controls have operated across Government for some time, but NHS trusts received a healthcare exemption until 2022. This exemption was removed in October 2022, and in agreement with the Cabinet Office, the controls have been rolled out to all NHS trusts over a two-year programme, phased by region. Currently the controls operate across all NHS trusts in six of the seven regions and were rolled out to all NHS trusts in the East of England region, which includes the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, in February 2024. Procurements that are live or in development at the point of rollout are deemed out of scope.
Asked by: Pam Cox (Labour - Colchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is satisfied that the decision by East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust to outsource staff at Colchester hospital meets the requirements that (a) social value is mandatory within contract design and that (b) public bodies carry out a public interest test when considering procurement options, in the context of the Make Work Pay programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following established procurement guidance, the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust has confirmed that a 10% Social Value criteria, covering social value, enhanced sustainability and environmental outcomes, was included in the specification for the market testing exercise for potential external suppliers to deliver ‘Soft’ Facilities Management (FM) services across its sites.
Pursuant to the Government’s public interest test, National Health Service trusts are not obliged to accept any bids submitted unless they clearly demonstrate value for money and deliver against the aims and objectives of the business cases. Following consideration of a final Full Business Case, the trust announced on 9 December 2024 that the Board has decided to award a contract to an external supplier for the future delivery of ‘Soft’ FM services across all its sites. The Government expects the trust to share its assessment of how the contract meets the test with local stakeholders.
The Government expects the trust to ensure that any such outsourced services are delivered in a way that improves quality, ensures greater stability and longer-term investment in the workforce; and delivers better value for money as part of the broader commitments on procurement, as set out in the ‘Make Work Pay’ programme.
Asked by: Pam Cox (Labour - Colchester)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the prohibition of two-tier workforce regulations will be applied to all NHS- funded outsourced contracts since 4 July 2024; and whether he has asked NHS England to provide guidance to NHS organisations..
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Employment Rights Bill, once in force, will provide powers to make regulations to introduce provisions for new protections for transferring workers in relevant outsourcing contracts. The provisions will apply to contracting authorities as defined in the Procurement Act 2023, which includes NHS bodies, subject to exceptions that will be set out in regulations. The regulations will be developed in due course and will not apply retrospectively. The Procurement Act 2023 does not apply to the procurement of health care services, which are regulated by DHSC’s Provider Selection Regime.