Clause 25 - Regulatory bodies and the Council
NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill
6:30 pm
Mr John Hutton (Minister of State, Department of Health; Barrow and Furness, Labour)
We have discussed the last point exhaustively on subsection (2) and, with respect to the hon. Gentleman, the issue covered by subsection (5) is clear. It covers a case in which the courts interpret the rule in a different way so that it does not have the effect originally intended. Without subsection (5), there would be a risk that the UK council or the regulatory body might be perceived to be in default under subsection (2).
I prefaced my comments on subsection (2) by saying that I would be disappointed if the provision were ever used, but in the extremely serious situation in which it might be invoked but a regulatory body refused to make a proposed rule change or submit it to the Privy Council, the Bill would provide a legal procedure to require compliance with the rule change and require it to be submitted to the Privy Council. That is my understanding of the provision. There will be a follow-through, but that is the worst possible scenario that any of us could contemplate.
For some of the reasons suggested by the hon. Gentleman, who imagined the cathartic effect of a report before Parliament to which a regulatory body would almost invariably respond, it is unbelievable that a regulatory body would not comply with the proper procedures followed by the UK council and meet its requirement to submit a rule change to the Privy Council. I do not believe that the situation is likely to arise, but subsection (5) is a declaration to avoid the possibility of such a default situation arising because a court makes a different interpretation of a rule change following a direction under subsection (2).