Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill on annual dismissal rates of NHS workers.

There is a clear and urgent need for this legislation. Recent strikes have demonstrated the disproportionate impacts strikes can have on the public. This legislation is about protecting the lives and livelihoods of the public by maintaining minimum levels of service on strike days. It is not about dismissing people from their jobs and so it is likely to have a negligible impact on rates of dismissal.

The impact assessment for the Strikes (Minimum Service Level) Bill has now been published. A final stage impact assessment on the secondary regulations will be published before any minimum service level regulations apply to National Health Service workers.