Clause 13 - Commission for health improvement: inspections and investigations
NHS Reform & Health Care Professions
5:45 pm
Mr John Hutton (Minister of State, Department of Health; Barrow and Furness, Labour)
I would like to respond briefly to the point that the hon. Gentleman asked me fairly, which I failed to deal with in my rush of enthusiasm to be unkind to him.
The CHI will have access to NHS services wherever they are provided, whether in prisons or elsewhere. We can come back to this issue when we reach clause 21, as my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State will be dealing with that part of the Bill. The very simple answer to the hon. Gentleman's question is that it will. We have a much broader disagreement, but I think that the hon. Gentleman should be wary about casting himself in the role of spokesperson for the NHS. There are always two sides to this argument.
The complaint that I hear loudly and clearly when I visit hospitals and speak to people working in the NHS is that they are sick and tired of no action being taken in the event of poor performance. They want us to take that action, and they want it to be done fairly. It is not about blame, and it is not about identifying individuals. I think that it is very important that we have a set of arrangements in place that will allow us to address those persistent and well-documented failures in performance, and that we do so sensibly.
The hon. Gentleman is being over-precious about his wider argument and the way in which he used the Kennedy report to support his argument. The Kennedy report is very clear about what the role of the Secretary of State should be. The appropriate function of the Secretary of State is to set standards, to provide resources, and to set the overall framework within which priorities should be set and delivered. It is also the job of the hon. Gentleman—along with all hon. Members on both sides of the House—to engage the Secretary of State so that he is held accountable for the decisions he makes. It is not the responsibility of the CHI to surpass the role of members of this House in holding the Secretary of State to account.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 13, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.