Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what consideration his Department gives to the diversity policies and records of businesses or other organisations when considering their bid for commercial contracts or grants.

Dr Daniel Poulter

The Department as part of its commercial contracts already includes discrimination and human rights provisions in its standard terms and conditions of contract and by submitting a tender or quotation to the Department, a supplier agrees to these terms.

The Department is currently enhancing its approach to addressing equality issues in the procurement process.

All organisations applying to the Department’s competed grant schemes are asked to confirm that they have an Equal Opportunities Policy Statement in place. Only applicants with a policy in place or in the process of being produced would meet the eligibility criteria for grant funding.

The standard terms and conditions for grant awards contain a clause covering equality. All organisations that are awarded grants confirm that they agree to the terms and conditions prior to the release of the grant payment.