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Sajid Javid has told NHS bosses they must stop using energy supplied by Russian Government-owned firm Gazprom.
A senior government source said the Health Secretary has been in talks with NHS England about ending the contracts, reportedly worth £17million in 2021.
More than a dozen NHS trusts rely on gas from Gazprom, mostly concentrated in the North West of England, along with several local councils.
The source said: ‘Sajid has spoken with NHS England and been clear that trusts need to stop using Gazprom as a supplier.
‘He has also requested a wider review of any Russian role in supply chains across the health service.’
The move comes after former NHS boss Lord Simon Stevens said the health service should ditch ties to Gazprom to ‘take pound notes out of the hands of dictatorial regimes that are engaged in acts of aggression’.
Lord Stevens of Birmingham, who quit as chief executive of NHS England in July, yesterday said the health service should reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.
And unions today claimed it would be ‘morally unconscionable’ to continue with public contracts with ‘the energy supply chain that fuels Putin’s war machine’.
It comes after NHS trusts were told to firm up their cybersecurity amid fears of a Russian attack in retaliation to Western interference in the war in Ukraine.
Sajid Javid (pictured left, at the Porton Down research facility in Salisbury) has told NHS bosses they must stop using energy supplied by the Russian-owned firm Gazprom. Former NHS boss Lord Simon Stevens (right) said the health service should ditch ties to Gazprom to ‘take pound notes out of the hands of dictatorial regimes that are engaged in acts of aggression’
Discussing an amendment to the Health and Social Care bill in the Lords on Tuesday, Lord Stevens called on the NHS to ditch its ties to Russian carbon companies.
He said: ‘Yesterday, the Government welcomed Shell’s decision to sever its relationship with Gazprom.
‘Yet Ministers may have seen an important story in the Health Service Journal suggesting that, over the last two years, at least 17 NHS trusts have continued to rely on gas sourced from Gazprom, which has confirmed today that it continues to get its gas supplies through Ukraine.
‘Decarbonising the health sector will take pound notes out of the hands of dictatorial regimes that are engaged in acts of aggression.’
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt also tweeted his support for the move.
He said: ‘It’s clearly unsustainable for a humanitarian organisation like the NHS to have any commercial links whatsoever with Putin’s murderous regime.’
NHS England has been approached for comment.
Meanwhile, a number of councils have said they want to end contracts with Gazprom and are considering their links to other Russian suppliers.
A Manchester City Council spokesman said their contract with Gazprom expires at the end of the month, adding that they are ‘looking at alternative gas providers’, while Suffolk County Council is also working on other options.
Matthew Hicks, leader of Suffolk County Council, said: ‘When Vladimir Putin made the immoral and utterly reprehensible decision to invade Ukraine, I instructed officers last week to review our contract with Russian-owned energy company Gazprom.
‘I can confirm that we have decided to invoke our options to break away from the contract, ending our connection with Gazprom. Working with our partners, we are actively pursuing this outcome.’
But Slough Borough Council, which confirmed it does have a contract with Gazprom, said: ‘Unfortunately it is not possible to say at the current point whether we will be continuing with it or not.’
Dorset Council is due to consider the ‘indirect exposure’ it has to Russian companies through pension fund investments, at a meeting of its pension fund committee on March 10.
Derby City Council said it is aware that its energy supplier, TotalEnergies, owns a 20 per cent stake in the Russian gas producer Novatek.
But it highlighted that the French company has announced it will no longer provide capital for new projects in Russia.
Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust paid £1.78million to Gazprom Marketing & Trading Retail Ltd during the 2021-22 financial year. Pictured: The Royal Victoria Infirmary, one the hospitals run by the trust in Newcastle
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay spent £380,000 on Russian gas. Pictured: Furness General Hospital, one of the hospitals run by the trust
Gary Smith, GMB general secretary, said: ‘Serious questions need to be asked about how our schools and hospitals have become entangled in the energy supply chain that fuels Putin’s war machine.
‘Ultimately, this spending is an indictment of the failure of UK energy policy to prioritise affordable and secure supply.
‘It is morally unconscionable for contracts to still be awarded while missiles rain down on Ukrainian workers.
‘There should be no new public sector contract awards to Gazprom, and we need an urgent Government review into whether alternative suppliers can take on existing contracts.’
It comes after the Health Service Journal reported that at least 11 trusts paid just over £4m to Gazprom this year, most of them based in the North West of England.
Last year the figure was even higher, with 17 trusts dishing out £17.1million to the Russian firm.
Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust paid £1.78million to Gazprom Marketing & Trading Retail Ltd during the 2021-22 financial year.
That was more than triple the amount of any other trust included in the analysis.
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust paid the company nearly £470,000 in the same time and University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay spent £380,000 on Russian gas.
The analysis relies on trusts publishing their data so the actual number supplied by Gazprom could be higher.
There are a total of 223 trusts in England and the NHS is thought to spend well over £100m a year on gas.
It is unclear if the trusts made the purchases from Gazprom directly or via a national procurement system.
The developments come after NHS bosses wrote to trusts this week telling them to shore up their cybersecurity.
Hospitals were told to make it their ‘focus’ to keep their systems secure and make sure backups are in place.
There have been widespread concerns about the technological resilience of the NHS which only last year stopped using fax machines.
It was famously hacked in 2017 in the WannaCry attack, which brought the whole health service to a standstill for days and cost the UK £92million.
Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, told a summit today that cyber- security was being brought to the ‘forefront’ in the wake of the situation in Ukraine.
She added the health service was examining its supply chain resilience in the event of a Kremlin attack here or elsewhere.
Security officials fear the NHS, government and business could be prime targets for Moscow, which has one of the world’s most sophisticated cyber capabilities.
Russia is said to be furious at the British decision to supply Ukraine with defensive weapons systems and impose tough sanctions on Vladimir Putin and his cronies.
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