Clause 23 - the council for the regulation of health care professionals
NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill
10:30 am
Mr Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 224, in page 28, line 31, leave out from 'bodies' to end of line 33.
This is a probing amendment concerned with the functions of the Council for the Regulation of Health Care Professionals as described in clause 23(2)(d). Under the clause, the council will promote co-operation between the eight regulatory bodies to which it refers, and I am happy for that principle to be extended to the further body that the Minister is seeking to add to the list through a later amendment. However, if the amendment were accepted the council would not promote wider
''co-operation between regulatory bodies; and between them, or any of them, and other bodies performing corresponding functions.''
It is worth bearing in mind that some of the bodies listed in subsection (3) contain more than one profession. For example, the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting contains three professions, and the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine contains 12. In total, clause 23(3) lists about 20 bodies that will have a duty to work together, and between which the council will have a duty to promote co-operation.
Why is it necessary for a wider group of bodies to co-operate with such health bodies? If subsection (3) listed just one or two bodies, it might be reasonable to argue that such co-operation is necessary to ensure that matters are dealt with consistently across a range of professions. However, subsection (3) lists some 20 bodies, so why is it necessary to expand the list yet further? Moreover, what sort of bodies does the Minister have in mind? Although the Department of Health is responsible for the Bill's progress, I believe that the bodies listed in subsection (3) are the responsibility of the Privy Council Office. Bodies such as chartered institutes and bankers are also the responsibility of the Privy Council Office. With that in mind, what would be the point of trying to promote co-operation with, say, architects?
Will the professional regulatory bodies that we are discussing be required to co-operate with, and promote co-operation between, bodies that embrace a wide range of professions? I believe that a UK professional council exists that covers such a range. Will the Minister flesh out what he has in mind in terms of promoting co-operation? Will he also confirm that there is some point to the provision, and that it is not just a bureaucratic exercise involving people spending a lot of time discussing parameters and broad agreements to little effect?