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..

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.