NHS Protect

(asked on 18th April 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish the risk assessment undertaken by his Department before the decision was taken to change the remit of NHS Protect.


Answered by
Philip Dunne Portrait
Philip Dunne
This question was answered on 26th April 2017

The standards for security management work are imposed through the relevant clauses of the standard commissioning contract between commissioners and providers. It is the responsibility for commissioners to ensure that security management standards are met in accordance with the contract. NHS England is responsible for the standard commissioning contract, the clauses within it and the standards to which it refers.

NHS Protect has never had responsibility for counter terrorism work in the National Health Service. This rests with the Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response branch within NHS England.

The figures previously published by NHS Protect were a collation of the numbers of reported assaults provided by individual health bodies. Employers in the NHS are responsible for assessing the circumstances of these reported assaults and addressing the risks identified and this work will continue at a local level where it is best delivered.

The role of NHS Protect was to develop national guidance to assist NHS organisations locally in their security management work. Comprehensive and detailed guidance is now available to NHS employers who are responsible for assessing risks to staff and addressing those risks. It was not, therefore, necessary for a separate risk assessment to be undertaken as this change should have no effect on the safety of NHS staff.

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