Schedule 1 - Constitution of public benefit corporations
Health and Social Care(Community Health and Standards) Bill
8:55 am
Dr Evan Harris (Oxford West and Abingdon, Liberal Democrat)
I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman will be happy with one minute, but that is how long I shall give to this matter.
Amendment No. 181 is a very obvious one, as is amendment No. 182. They ensure that a register of interests is set up for directors of, or those who sit on the board of governors of, a foundation trust. That is in line with good practice generally where budgets involving public money are being wielded, or where any large organisation requires transparent accountability. I hope that the Government will not have a problem with it.
It is not appropriate for political affiliations to be registered. If this is supposed to be a genuine quasi-democracy of which people seek to be members, we should not discourage those who are interested in local politics; rather, we should do the opposite. The need to declare such interests seems to imply that there is something wrong with them, and that that might be a factor in the poor or inappropriate performance of a governing body or a board of directors. I am not sure that that is the case. I cannot see how political affiliation would be relevant in the running of a governing body. However, I look forward to the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) setting out why he and his colleagues think that it is necessary, and we will keep an open mind. We did not include that in our amendments because we did not feel that it was necessary. I hope that the Government will see
that this is a reasonable and necessary step to take, and I commend the amendment to the Committee.