Clause 12 - Patients' Forums: Annual Reports
Health and Social Care Bill
7:00 pm
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
I have just a brief comment in support of what the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam said. We have already discussed the issue of independent local advisory forums, and it seems anomalous that they are not provided for in the Bill. May I ask the Minister a specific question? If they are to be established using the Secretary of State's powers of direction, is he then going to have to use his powers of direction, or regulation making, again, to require health authorities and trusts to provide information to them? It is not simply a question of directing that they be created, or creating them, it a question of creating the web of reporting requirements and answerability that, in the case of CHCs, is provided for because of their statutory basis. In seeking to avoid one small extra clause in the Bill, is not the Minister creating quite a complex requirement for secondary legislation and directions, in order to ensure that the ILAFs can get access, as of right, to all the information that they need, and can require health authorities and other bodies to provide them with essential data and essential access?