Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for how many days of winter 2017-18 NHS Improvement suspended penalties for mixed sex accommodation breaches; how many breaches took place during this time; and whether penalties have been restored.

The recommendations from the National Emergency Pressures Panel to help trusts manage sustained pressures during winter were announced on 2 January 2018 and remained in place until 31 January 2018. This included temporarily suspending sanctions for mixed sex accommodation breaches.

Providers of National Health Service-funded healthcare reported 1,908 breaches of the mixed sex accommodation guidance in relation to NHS patients in sleeping accommodation in England during January 2018.