Ms Angela Eagle (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Wallasey, Labour)

I beg to move amendment No. 375, in page 51, line 31, leave out subsection (1) and insert—

'(1) This section applies to a person if an immigration officer acting under Schedule 2 to the Immigration Act 1971 (c.77) (control on entry, &c.) has brought the person to the attention of a medical inspector appointed under paragraph 1(2) of that Schedule.'.

Mr Alan Hurst (Braintree, Labour)

With this we may take Government amendments Nos. 376 to 383.

Ms Angela Eagle (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Wallasey, Labour)

The clause is a technical measure that is designed to provide a firm legal basis for existing disclosures by port medical inspectors to relevant health authorities in the UK in respect of passengers for whom, in the inspectors' opinion, the disclosure is deemed necessary for specified medical purposes. Port medical inspectors contribute to one of the Government's policies on health by helping to identify and treat infectious diseases, especially tuberculosis, in passengers arriving from overseas. However, they can achieve that only if the information obtained in the port medical inspection can be passed on to health service providers. That enables the hospital or other medical body to contact the person quickly and offer any health checks that may be desirable and in the interests of that person, his family, close contacts and the wider community.

The amendments broaden the power of port medical inspectors to disclose information to relevant local NHS bodies about passengers referred to them by immigration officers. Their purpose is to bring the clause into line with existing practice by port medical inspectors. They also rectify three main defects in the clause.

First, the amendments remove the requirement that a passenger must be examined before a port medical officer can disclose information to a relevant local health authority body. It is not always appropriate to examine certain passengers, such as pregnant women, for illnesses like tuberculosis that can involve the use of X-rays. Secondly, they remove the reference in the clause to notifiable diseases under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984. It is no longer appropriate to link the power to disclose information to that Act, because its definition of notifiable disease and the strictures that apply in those cases are not relevant to port powers of disclosure, which cover a wider range of general public health requirements. The amendments provide a gateway that permits the disclosure of information necessary for preventive medicine, medical diagnosis, the provision of care or treatment or the management of health care services.

Thirdly, they remove the need for the port medical inspector to have reasonable suspicion that a person is infected with a disease. In practice, it would be difficult for port medical inspectors to satisfy that test, especially at smaller port health units where facilities are limited. The amendments provide that a port medical inspector may disclose information if he thinks that that is necessary for medical purposes. That reserves a necessary degree of clinical judgment to the port medical inspector.

The amendments add the age of the passenger and the language spoken to the list of information that a port medical inspector is empowered to disclose, as they are highly relevant to the provision of follow-up health services.

Amendment agreed to.

Amendments made: No. 376, in page 51, line 34, leave out 'The' and insert 'A'.

No. 377, in page 51, line 35, leave out 'the person examined' and insert:

'a person to whom this section applies'.

No. 378, in page 51, line 36, at end insert:

'( ) his age,

( ) the language which he speaks,'.

No. 379, in page 51, line 37, leave out 'the disease' and insert:

'any disease with which the inspector thinks the person may be infected'.

No. 380, in page 51, line 39, leave out 'the inspector's suspicion' and insert:

'an opinion mentioned in paragraph (c)'.

No. 381, in page 51, line 40, leave out:

'he has arranged to have carried out)'

and insert 'has been carried out)'.

No. 382, in page 51, line 42, at end insert:

'( ) A disclosure may be made under subsection (2) only if the medical inspector thinks it necessary for the purpose of—

(a) preventative medicine,

(b) medical diagnosis,

(c) the provision of care or treatment, or

(d) the management of health care services.'

No. 383, in page 52, line 15, leave out subsection (4).—[Angela Eagle.]

Clause 104, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.