Clause 26 - Complaints about regulatory bodies
NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill
6:30 pm
Mr Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire, Conservative)
Yes. It is certainly my recollection that that is what we all thought was going to happen, but I have not had time to check the record to find the passage at the beginning of our proceedings in which the Minister promised to be thus helpful. It would be useful to know what the Government have in mind in respect of regulations.
The various bodies that have written to us are keen that the council should be able to manage itself independently of the Government. It is disappointing that clause 26, with its plethora of matters that can be regulated, does not give the council more freedom to manage its own affairs. That is the theme that runs through the amendments.
Clause 26(2)(a) says that regulations may deal with
''who (or what description of person) is entitled to complain''
to the council about maladministration. Why cannot anyone make a complaint? I can understand why it might be desirable to specify the nature of the complaints that the council may consider, but why restrict the kinds of people who can make them?