Wes Streeting gave a big speech this morning on his big NHS reforms – the main one of which is the reintroduction of league tables. Guido has got hold of internal communications showing some parts of the public health blob are focussed on other things…
The Care Quality Commission – the agency within the Department for Health which regulates and inspects all health and social care providers – is busy internally promoting its brand new plan to “become a truly anti-racist organisation.” Staff have been told that “this is critically important for our colleagues” because “we need a strong focus on our accountability to all groups from racialised communities to ensure we do not hold others to account for actions we are not taking ourselves.” This is an agency with an annual budget of £264 million…
In September, the CQC Board approved a plan to adopt some “anti-racist principles,” which the agency has announced it is now implementing:
The CQC’s Director of Policy and Strategy Joyce Frederick says the “Board’s approval of our recommended approach to become an anti-racist organisation marks a critical point in our organisation’s evolution. It signals our intent to take steps to understand the diverse and unique ways that people experience racism, and ensure our colleagues feel empowered to call out racism whenever they witness it.” Good luck with that reform, Wes…
Read the regulator’s full “phased approach” to becoming anti-racist below:
“Following Board approval, we are now moving forward with Phase 1 of the RHO’s recommended 5-phased approach to becoming an anti-racist organisation. The 5 phases are outlined below.
Phase 1: Publicly signal our intent to be an anti-racist organisation
In phase 1, we will:
Work with colleagues and key stakeholders to develop a meaningful public statement which defines our anti-racist approach.
Review our Freedom To Speak Up offer, to ensure people from racialised communities feel psychologically safe to speak up.
Ensure that anti-racism is meaningfully reflected in our recovery work as well as our new CQC Values
Phase 2: Carry out a comprehensive audit of our policies and processes
Next, we will look at our internal policies and our regulatory approach to determine whether these are transparent, fair, lawful, and justifiable.
Phases 3-5: Strategic Planning, Implementation and EvaluationIn phase 3, we will use the findings from the audit to understand what we need to do to address racism.
In phase 4, we will start to implement the plan, with clear measures of success to ensure accountability and transparency.
And finally, in phase 5, we will review and evaluate our progress.”
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”