Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to address negative and racial stereotypes in healthcare settings.

Racism in any form is at odds with our National Health Service values. A key tool for tackling racism across the NHS is the Workforce Race Equality Standard. It measures NHS organisations against nine indicators which look at issues such as discrimination in the workplace, career progression, bullying and harassment and entry into disciplinary processes. Each employer is required to develop an action plan to tackle these challenges and this plan is considered by the Care Quality Commission as part of their well-led domain.

NHS England is also developing an NHS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion workforce plan which will include specific actions and expectations to embed inclusive and fair recruitment and promotion practices in organisations, to address under-representation and talent management across all protected characteristics.