Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Procurement Policy Statement published on 13 February 2025, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that supplier requirements include statutory sick pay from day one in healthcare contracts.

The National Procurement Policy Statement states that contracting authorities should ensure that their suppliers are committed to providing high quality jobs, safe and healthy working conditions, fair pay, and opportunity and progression for their workers.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is the minimum amount an employer is required to pay to their employee when they are sick, where the employee meets the qualifying conditions. Through the Employment Rights Bill, the Government is widening eligibility to the up to 1.3 million employees who are currently not entitled to SSP by removing the Lower Earnings Limit and removing the waiting period, so that SSP is paid from the first day of work missed due to sickness absence. We are also creating a single enforcement body, The Fair Work Agency, which will bring existing state enforcement functions together into one place, so employment rights are enforced more effectively and efficiently. This will include the enforcement of the right to SSP. These measures are part of our commitment to implement our Plan to Make Work Pay, ensuring the safety net of sick pay is available to those who need it most.