Safeguarding and contracts of employment
Thirlwall Inquiry · Thirlwall Inquiry Final Report · Issued 15 September 2026 · Addressed to: NHS Trusts
Government responseDepartment of Health and Social Care: Under consideration (Sep 2026)
DeliveryNo statement from NHS Trusts found
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation, Chapter 41
i. All Trusts must provide safeguarding training to all staff (appropriate to their role
and expertise) and Board members, including Non-Executive Directors. This training
should include how to deal with concerns and suspicions about deliberate harm caused
by staff.
ii. By March 2027, every existing contract of employment for work in an NHS hospital
must be amended to include an obligation on the employee to follow all relevant
safeguarding guidance, including the Suspicion of Deliberate Harm Protocol (at
Recommendation 9), for dealing with concerns and suspicions about deliberate harm.
Agency and bank staff contracts and all new contracts of employment must include the
same obligation.
Thirlwall Inquiry, Thirlwall Inquiry Final Report · 15 Sep 2026 Source PDF, page 2 →
Published evidence summary
AI-generated evidence summary
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Yvette Cooper, stated in September 2026 that the recommendation was under consideration, noting that an urgent review of the NHS safeguarding framework and training had been requested (Yvette Cooper response, Sep 2026). In the same month, Duncan Burton, Chief Nursing Officer for England, and Sarah-Jane Marsh, NHS England Chief Operating Officer, directed trusts and integrated care boards to ensure staff and board members comply with safeguarding training requirements and understand how to escalate concerns (Duncan Burton; Sarah-Jane Marsh, Sep 2026).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.
Government response
●Department of Health and Social Care · Under consideration · 15 Sep 2026
On the crucial issue of safeguarding, just as Lady Justice Thirlwall recommends, compulsory training, a new protocol, employment requirements.
Madam Deputy Speaker, a revised NHS safeguarding framework was published in April 2026, but I have asked the Chief Nursing Officer to urgently review the framework and the training in light of this report. We need to look urgently at this.
Extract from: Government response to the Thirlwall Inquiry
Delivery
No statement on delivery from NHS Trusts has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.
What other bodies have found
●NHS England · 22 Sep 2026
Safeguarding: Trusts and ICBs should ensure that all staff and board members are compliant with safeguarding training requirements at the appropriate level and confirm that staff know who to raise and escalate concerns to. Boards must assure themselves that the safeguarding of babies and children is given the level of prominence required.
From: Thirlwall Inquiry report and recommendations (letter PRN02660)
How this page is built
The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.