Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of rates of sexual assault incidents perpetrated by mental health staff conducting Mental Health Act Section 17 escort duties or similar protective observations.

It is wholly unacceptable for any patient or member of staff to experience violence or harassment of any kind in National Health Service settings, and all organisations must take robust and compassionate action to prevent it. The Government is committed to supporting and challenging the system to ensure a safe environment for our staff and patients.

Although no direct assessment of policy implications on rates of sexual assaults has been made, in September 2023, the Sexual Safety Charter was launched by NHS England with the aim of promoting a zero-tolerance approach towards sexual misconduct in the workplace. Every NHS trust and integrated care board (ICB) have since signed up to the Charter and are actively working to implement its ten principles to tackle unwanted, inappropriate or harmful sexual behaviour in the workplace.

In October 2024, NHS England launched a new national sexual misconduct people policy framework and training to help staff right across the NHS to ensure they are taking the right steps in recognising, reporting and acting on sexual misconduct at work. The new framework outlines how those working in the health service should recognise, report and act on sexual misconduct in the workplace, against staff or patients. The framework is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/national-people-sexual-misconduct-policy-framework/

NHS England is currently measuring the uptake of framework across all trusts and ICBs, including gathering key feedback about its impact and effectiveness so far. Feedback will be used to identify areas where organisations need support in implementing to achieve a sexual safety culture.

Several tools and resources have been developed by NHS England for trusts and ICBs to adopt and take further actions on sexual misconduct. This includes the first-ever NHS-wide training on sexual misconduct awareness, now available to the entire workforce, including mental health staff conducting Mental Health Act Section 17 escort duties.

NHS England has recently written to providers and asked them to take further steps to identify potential perpetrators of sexual misconduct and to redouble efforts to protect staff and patients.