Schedule 7 - The Council for the Regulation of Health Care Professionals
NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill
12:45 pm
Mr Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire, Conservative)
The purpose of the amendment is to remove the power of the Secretary of State to attach conditions to the payments that he makes to the council. The amendment is probing. What is the purpose of the conditions that are referred to in the schedule? The amendment would make the council as independent and undirected by the Secretary of State as possible. I should be grateful if the Minister would explain exactly what conditions he has in mind in relation to money for the council.
Amendment No. 229 is another probing amendment and would delete paragraph 13(2) from the schedule. Why is it necessary for an appropriate authority, such as the National Assembly for Wales, to have the power to give money to the council, subject to conditions? The appropriate authorities are the National Assembly for Wales, Scottish Ministers and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland.
Amendments Nos. 230 and 231 would delete paragraph 13(4), which relates to loans that may be determined by the various authorities; the amendments are directed at the conditional nature of the loans. Amendment No. 232 deletes sub-paragraphs (7), (8) and (9). Sub-paragraph (7) gives the Secretary of State the power to give directions as to the applications of funds, (8) gives the appropriate authority the power to give directions as to the application of funds and (9) requires the council to comply with those directions.
Do such conditions simply relate to the repayment of money and the way in which the Bill broadly applies so as to ensure no impropriety, or are they a direction that may have an impact on the council's independence? I am interested to hear what the Minister has in mind in respect of conditionality.