Clause 18 - Supplementary
NHS Reform & Health Care Professions Bill
3:45 pm
Ms Hazel Blears (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (public health), Department of Health; Salford, Labour)
I can confirm that we are resisting this new clause. I explained previously that with regard to scrutiny—even councils scrutinising the decisions of their own executives—local government does have a power, not a duty. Local government is an independent organisation and we do not seek to compel councils to operate in any particular manner. I have said that where they unreasonably refuse to scrutinise, they would be open to judicial review, as any public body would be in relation to an unreasonable refusal to exercise its powers.
Therefore, we do not wish to depart from the general provisions that relate to scrutiny of local government functions, as they relate to the NHS. We want the scrutiny of the NHS to be part of a framework of scrutiny, and therefore to be dealt with in a consistent manner by local government, as it would deal with the scrutiny of its own executive functions. It is also important to confirm that those in local government will not be the only scrutineers in the new system. Our debates on patients forums have confirmed that they will scrutinise trusts at a local level by inspecting, monitoring and assessing standards. Several bodies will be scrutinising the system, and that will provide a series of checks and balances.