Schedule 8 - Minor and consequential amendments
NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill
11:00 am
Mr John Hutton (Minister of State, Department of Health; Barrow and Furness, Labour)
Briefly, the amendments amend section 21(1) of the Health Act 1999 covering the role of the Audit Commission to provide that, if requested to do so by the Commission for Health Improvement, may join the commission in exercising any of the commission's functions under sections 20(1)(da) and (db), which are the new functions inserted by clauses 12(2)(c) and 13(1)(a) of the Bill, as well as those functions already referred to in section 21(1)(a). The intention is to enable joint working between the Audit Commission and the Commission for Health Improvement in their review and inspection functions as amended by the Bill.
I assure the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire that these three amendments are tidying and consequential and do not move the policy goal posts in any direction.
Amendment No. 112 corrects a typographical error in the printed version of the Bill. Amendment No. 113 is consequential to amendment No. 100—that is, insertion of the amendment of section 140 of the Mental Health Act 1999 entails a consequential repeal of paragraph 107(12)(b) in schedule 1 to the Health Authorities Act 1995.
Amendment No. 133 enables joint working between the Audit Commission and CHI on their review and inspection functions, as amended by clauses 12(2)(c) and 13(1)(a) of the Bill, as well as those functions already referred to in the 1999 Act.