Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps NHS North West London took to consult residents of Ealing local authority area whose first language is not English when drawing up its Shaping a Healthier Future plan.

We are advised by NHS England, that NHS in North West London, through its programme Shaping a Healthier Future, undertook a number of activities (particularly in the summer of 2012) to ensure effective consultation with residents across the area, including in Ealing, whose first language is not English.

The engagement was conducted by a post holder who speaks Urdu and Punjabi, two of Ealing’s most common non-English languages and included: working through existing voluntary and community networks within the area, such as the voluntary services councils, health and wellbeing boards, refugee/Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups and others; developing links with individual groups and communities interested and possibly affected by the proposed changes; using local authority forums and existing meetings to engage groups and communities; and engagement through commissioning organisations.