Clause 5 - Other applications
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
6:45 pm
Mr Simon Burns (West Chelmsford, Conservative)
Amendment No. 219 is a probing amendment, whose purpose is to tease out of the Minister more background detail about the Government's thinking on the subsection and exactly what their intentions are.
Amendment No. 137 is more substantial; it would add another criterion that the applicant must meet before the regulator can issue a certificate of registration to become a foundation trust. It ensures that each applicant meets the minimum standards demanded by any other inspectorates, such as the CHAI, before a certificate can be issued. The Minister might tell me that that amendment is redundant because what it addresses is already covered in the legislation. However, it is important to have that criterion in the Bill.
Amendment No. 136 tightens up the wording of the Bill to guarantee freedom and appropriate power to the independent regulator. At present, if the regulator finds the application to be in good order he ''may'' issue a certificate. However, ''may'' is ambiguous; he ''may'' just as easily not issue a certificate, if the Secretary of State intervenes, for example. ''Shall'' is a
far less ambiguous and more appropriate word; if the independent regulator finds that the application is in good order, he ''shall'' have to issue the certificate.