Clause 12 - Further functions of the Commission for Health Improvement
NHS Reform & Health Care Professions
11:30 am
Dr Evan Harris (Oxford West and Abingdon, Liberal Democrat)
I have nothing to add to the hon. Gentleman's remarks on amendment No. 155, but I should like to speak to amendment No. 162. That amendment would insert a provision that section 20(2)(a) and (b) of the Health Act 1999 be deleted. Those paragraphs specifically state:
''The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision—
(a) as to the times at which, the cases in which, the manner in which, the persons in relation to which or the matters with respect to which any functions of the Commission are to be exercised,
(b) as to the matters to be considered or taken into account in connection with the exercise of any functions of the Commission''.
I was concerned about those paragraphs when the 1999 Act was passed and I imagined, when the Government said that they would make CHI more independent, that they would be deleted. They give the Secretary of State power to restrict the ability of CHI to talk to the people to whom it needs to talk, to make investigations and reviews when it wants, and to consider cases as it wants. I can think of no issue governing the making of reviews and investigations that is not covered by paragraphs (a) and (b). To persuade me that the amendment is unnecessary, the Minister must justify those paragraphs, give examples of when the Secretary of State might make those provisions by regulations, and demonstrate that in doing so he does not threaten the remit, independence, scope and ability of CHI to make such investigations.
The paragraphs that I would delete are different in nature from paragraphs (c), (d), (e) and (f). Paragraph (c) dictates to whom the ''advice, information or reports'' are given, while (d) covers
''the publication of reports and summaries of reports'',
which is subject to a welcome amendment in the Bill. Paragraph (e) relates to charges made to the accused for an investigation made into them and (f) to
''the exercise of functions . . . in conjunction with the exercise of statutory functions of other persons.''
That paragraph may relate to some issues raised by the hon. Member for West Chelmsford.
The worry is that the Secretary of State may find it convenient to make provision that the Commission for Health Improvement should not consider aspects that it might want to consider in the interests of ensuring that adequate inspection is made of the quality function. For example, if CHI considered the potential risk of the transmission of new-variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease from surgical instruments, it might like to look at a report that the Government wanted to suppress. Indeed, a recent ''Panorama'' programme showed that the Government might be keen and willing to suppress such reports. It also alluded to issues in my previous amendment, but I will not cover that argument again.
Paragraphs (a) and (b) seem to give the Secretary of State the power to restrict the commission's ability to examine departmental policies, guidance to the service, executive letters and health service circulars. The Minister will have to provide clear reasons, with examples, of why such wide-ranging powers must be retained. If the Government were serious about ensuring that the commission was truly independent and had wide-ranging powers, they would think seriously about removing paragraphs (a) and (b).