Health Services and Social Services: Trade Unions
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to facilitate engagement with trade unions representing health and social care workers.
Answered by Karin Smyth
As we take steps to reform the National Health Service in England, the Government is committed to resetting relations with all NHS staff. As part of this, the Department engages regularly with trade unions representing staff working in the NHS and the social care sector, on a wide range of issues, including workforce policy and, more recently, the 10-Year Health Plan.
This engagement includes regular, scheduled meetings with the healthcare trade unions in the national Social Partnership Forum, which I chair. We also continue to engage through national partnership structures such as the NHS Staff Council to understand unions’ views on pay and contractual arrangements.
Furthermore, we are introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement to the adult social care sector so that care professionals are recognised and rewarded for the important work that they do. As we work towards a Fair Pay Agreement, we are already consulting unions, and others from across the sector.
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