Modern slavery includes forced labour, human trafficking and exploitative labour conditions and it remains a significant global rights violation, with an estimated 50 million individuals affected worldwide. The UK Government are committed to eradicating the presence of this heinous crime in its supply chains, including those within the health sector.
The NHS is one of the UK’s largest procurers of goods and services, and as such has a significant role to play in combating modern slavery. The Government, supported by NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care, will send a clear signal that there is no place for goods and services linked to modern slavery in our healthcare system. I am pleased to announce that we are taking decisive action to eliminate modern slavery in NHS supply chains in England by proceeding to introduce robust regulations.
In my statement published on 21 November 2024, I confirmed DHSC’s pledge to create regulations to eradicate from the NHS goods and services tainted by slavery and human trafficking, as required by the National Health Service Act 2006. The Department has worked hard to ensure that regulations are fit for purpose and interact with the current legislation and updated policies.
The review of modern slavery risk in NHS supply chains published on 14 December 2023 found that 21% of suppliers are at high risk of slavery and human trafficking. The review recognised the need to improve and standardise the approach to modern slavery risk management. It recommended that DHSC proceed to introduce regulations to enforce and enable a consistent approach to risk management across the NHS.
Modern slavery is a complex issue that cannot be tackled through a singular legislative measure. There are existing measures in place to tackle modern slavery both in terms of criminalising it and addressing it through commercial levers. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 provides a legal framework for punishing those committing modern slavery offences. These provisions do not regulate public bodies or provide a framework for public bodies to address modern slavery in their supply chains. The Procurement Act 2023 provides a single framework for the rules and procedures that public procurement bodies must follow. It includes grounds for the mandatory or discretionary exclusion of suppliers from a tender process where modern slavery offences have been committed. Procurement of healthcare services for the NHS in England—approximately £60 billion—are not in scope of the Procurement Act 2023. They are covered by the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023, which give NHS decision-makers flexibility to arrange services in the best interests of patients, the taxpayer and the population. We aim to introduce a single, enforceable approach to modern slavery that sets a standardised risk management approach across the NHS, covering all the supply chains for goods and services provided to the NHS.
These regulations will require all public bodies to assess modern slavery risks in their supply chains when procuring goods and services for our health service in England. We are then asking public bodies to take reasonable steps to address and, where possible, eliminate the modern slavery risks when designing procurement procedures, when awarding and managing contracts, and when setting up frameworks or dynamic markets.
Reasonable steps may include: ensuring robust conditions of participation and assessment criteria are built into procurement processes; using specific contract terms to monitor and require mitigation where instances of modern slavery are discovered; and monitoring suppliers’ compliance and reassessing risk throughout the life of the contract.
We invited views and contributions from a wide range of stakeholders through extensive engagement and public consultation. We sought and considered input from public bodies, suppliers, trade associations, interest groups and the public. This has been a valuable step in the development of our regulations, which we intend to lay before Parliament soon.
The public consultation ran from 21 November 2024 to 13 February 2025. We are pleased to announce that the Government’s response to feedback received has now been published.
This is a step towards strengthening the Department’s leadership role in championing ethical procurement, setting a benchmark for other sectors beyond health. Modern slavery is an abhorrent crime that exists everywhere, not just the UK or within supply chains of the health sector. It demands a collective international response. DHSC has a duty to eradicate the use of goods and services tainted by modern slavery in NHS supply chains. We have a continued commitment to work across Government and sectors to ensure our efforts align with these priorities and uphold the responsibilities of public bodies within our jurisdiction.
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