Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of attacks on healthcare workers in the last 12 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work. Trends in violence towards NHS staff have generally stayed at the same levels in recent years.
Individual employers are responsible for the health and safety of their staff, and they put in place measures, including security, training, and emotional support, for staff affected by violence. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has been clear that there is zero tolerance of violence and harassment against NHS staff, and in April 2025 accepted all the Social Partnership Forum’s recommendations on tackling and reducing violence, part of the 2023 Agenda for Change pay deal. These measures will be strengthened by the introduction of a new set of staff standards, as detailed in the 10-Year Health Plan. These are likely to focus on areas such as improving staff health and wellbeing and dealing with violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the NHS workplace.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the recruitment and retention of staff in women’s health services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions about recruitment are a matter for individual National Health Service employers, who manage this at a local level to ensure they have the staff they need to deliver safe and effective care.
The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government is committed to making the NHS the best place to work, by supporting and retaining our hardworking and dedicated healthcare professionals.
To support this ambition, the Government plans to introduce a new set of standards for modern employment in April 2026. The new standards will reaffirm our commitment to improving retention by tackling the issues that matter to staff including promoting flexible working, improving staff health and wellbeing, and dealing with violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the NHS workplace. They will provide a framework for leaders across the NHS to build a supportive culture that embeds retention.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help improve the recruitment and retention of staff in women’s health services in Hampshire.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions about recruitment are a matter for individual National Health Service employers, who manage this at a local level to ensure they have the staff they need to deliver safe and effective care.
The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government is committed to making the NHS the best place to work, by supporting and retaining our hardworking and dedicated healthcare professionals.
To support this ambition, the Government plans to introduce a new set of standards for modern employment in April 2026. The new standards will reaffirm our commitment to improving retention by tackling the issues that matter to staff including promoting flexible working, improving staff health and wellbeing, and dealing with violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the NHS workplace. They will provide a framework for leaders across the NHS to build a supportive culture that embeds retention.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Home Office intends to publish a formal follow-up to the Casey Review’s recommendations on systemic racism in policing.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 17 December 2025, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and Mayor of London announced an independent review of the force’s progress against Baroness Casey’s 2023 report, to be chaired by Dr Gillian Fairfield.
The follow-up review is a matter for the MPS, in conjunction with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC).
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 trends in the level of staff sickness levels within East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust; and what support is being provided to reduce sickness absence.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of July 2025, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) had an average annual sickness absence rate of 7.6%. This has remained at the same rate as the average for the 12 months to July 2024. The EEAST average annual sickness absence rate is 0.9 percentage points higher than the average annual sickness absence rate for all ambulance trusts in England, which is 6.7%. This difference has been consistent across the past five years.
NHS England publishes monthly information on the sickness absence rates of staff in National Health Service bodies, which is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-sickness-absence-rates
The primary cause for sickness absence amongst professionally qualified ambulance staff remains, anxiety, depression and mental health conditions.
The EEAST recognises that its sickness levels remain high and is committed to reducing these while ensuring its staff are properly supported.
The EEAST continues to work with system partners on effective measures to ensure its staff can handover patients safely as soon as possible and has taken actions to address its sickness levels. These include training for line managers on how to best support staff, a wide-ranging health and wellbeing offer, and temporary and permanent redeployment.
Local employers across the NHS have in place arrangements for supporting staff including occupational health provision, employee support programmes and a focus on healthy working environments.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will roll out staff treatment hubs to ensure all staff have access to high quality occupational health support, including for mental health and musculoskeletal conditions, the two main causes of sickness absence in the NHS.
To further support this ambition, we are working with the Social Partnership Forum to introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment, covering issues such as access to healthy meals, support to work healthily and flexibly, and tackling violence, racism and sexual harassment in the workplace.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) support the health and wellbeing of and (b) prevent stress and burn out in the NHS workforce.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The health and wellbeing of all National Health Service staff is a top priority.
Local employers across the NHS have arrangements in place to support staff including occupational health provision, employee support programmes, and a focus on healthy working environments. At a national level, NHS staff have access to the SHOUT helpline for crisis support alongside the Practitioner Health service for more complex mental health and wellbeing support, including trauma and addiction.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will work with the Social Partnership Forum to introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment, covering issues such as access to healthy meals, support to work healthily and flexibly, and tackling violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the workplace.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many complaints have been referred to Professional Standards Unit in last five years, how were they categorised and how many were (a) upheld and (b) rejected.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Professional Standards Unit (PSU) received 1265 referrals of complaint between 1 April 2020 to 5 December 2025
The complaints were categorised as, Assault, Corruption, Failure in Duty or Care, Honesty and Integrity Issues, Racism and other Discrimination, Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment, Theft, Unfair Treatment and Unprofessional Conduct
Of the referrals received, 291 were investigated by the PSU with the remaining referrals cascaded to local complaint teams in the Home Office.
42 investigations substantiated or partially substantiated the allegations made by the complainant and 249 were unsubstantiated.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to help ensure that international medical students and trainees working in UK health services are protected from racial discrimination and workplace hostility.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Any form of racism or discrimination is unacceptable and has no place in our National Health Service.
The NHS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Improvement Plan, published in 2023, recognises that we benefit from the skills, expertise, and commitment of internationally recruited healthcare professionals and highlights the important role that NHS organisations have to play in making staff feel welcomed and valued at the start of their career. NHS organisations are expected to review their data by protected characteristics on bullying, harassment, discrimination, and violence and make plans to improve staff experience year on year.
Additionally, as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment which will include tackling racism and reducing violence against staff. The standards will be underpinned by the NHS Oversight Framework and the Care Quality Commission assessment framework.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of staff parking charges on recruitment and morale at James Paget Hospital.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of the impact of staff parking charges on recruitment and morale at James Paget Hospital.
The health and wellbeing of National Health Service staff is a top priority, and all NHS organisations have a responsibility to create supportive working environments for staff, ensuring they have the conditions they need to thrive.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will work with the Social Partnership Forum to introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment, covering issues such as access to healthy meals, support to work healthily and flexibly, and tackling violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the workplace.
All NHS hospitals in England are expected to follow the published NHS Car Parking Guidance. The guidance makes clear that where hospital car parking charges exist, they should be reasonable for the area.
In addition, free hospital car parking is already in place for ‘in-need’ groups, and this includes NHS staff working overnight.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support NHS staff working in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The health and wellbeing of all National Health Service staff is a top priority. Local employers across the NHS have arrangements in place for supporting staff, including occupational health provision, employee support programmes, and a focus on healthy working environments. At a national level NHS staff have access to the SHOUT helpline for crisis support alongside the Practitioner Health service for more complex mental health and wellbeing support, including trauma and addiction.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will roll out staff treatment hubs to ensure all staff have access to high quality occupational health support, including for mental health. To further support this ambition, we will work with the Social Partnership Forum to introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment, covering issues such as access to healthy meals, support to work healthily and flexibly, and tackling violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the workplace.