Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing procurement rules to ensure that NHS medical garments are not linked to forced labour.

As part of the recommendations from the Department and NHS England’s Review of risk of modern slavery and human trafficking in the NHS supply chain, published in December 2023, it was recommended to lay regulations with a view to eradicate modern slavery, supporting the amendment of Section 12zc in the NHS Act 2006. The regulations cover all goods and service procurements on behalf of the health service, which includes medical garments. Further information on the review is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-risk-of-modern-slavery-and-human-trafficking-in-the-nhs-supply-chain

The Department and NHS England have also collaborated to develop detailed guidance to support the embedding of the regulations and policies throughout the procurement exercise. This ensures alignment to procurements conducted under all legal regimes including the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Procurement Act 2023, and the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023.

A public consultation for the content and approach of those regulations is to be launched in Autumn 2024. This will support my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to develop the regulations to ensure the National Health Service eradicates modern slavery in supply chains.