Schedule 6 - The Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health
NHS Reform & Health Care Professions Bill
4:45 pm
Mrs Laura Moffatt (Crawley, Labour)
In a debate earlier this week, the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire said:
''As with so much of the Bill, the Secretary of State does not give away any powers.''—[Official Report, Standing Committee A, 4 December 2001; c. 201.]
However, I hope that the amendments will enable the Under-Secretary to demonstrate that that is possible.
Amendment No. 158 relates to the consent of the Secretary of State to the appointment of the chief executive of the commission. It would take that power away from him and remove that requirement. Amendment No. 159 would do the same in respect of terms and conditions of employees of the commission. That would be a sensible thing to do.
Many of us have heard lots of interest expressed by local politicians and local people who have been involved in health campaigning for many years. We would be mad to assume that those people are going to walk away because there are new procedures in place and new ways of working. They will want to be engaged with what is going on. The amendments would help them to understand that the commission will be independent and able to do its job much better than ever the community health councils were able to do. I hope very much that my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary will accept the amendments.