Clause 21 - Fees
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
6:30 pm
Mr John Hutton (Minister of State, Department of Health; Barrow and Furness, Labour)
I am grateful to the hon. Member for West Chelmsford for tabling amendment No. 22. I will try to give him the assurances he seeks. It is not the case that the power to set fees could be used as a hidden form of taxation in the NHS. As he will know, the independent regulator has no power under the Bill to generate or distribute surplus funds to anyone. That means that as a matter of law the independent regulator will not be able to charge fees that exceed the total expenses of his office.
The hon. Member for South-West Devon asked a number of intriguing questions. He will not be at all surprised, because he has done a job like this himself, that I am not in a position to give him any detailed estimates about the fees the regulator might charge. That will depend at least in part on the number of NHS foundation trusts. As he knows, the Bill says that the fee must be reasonable. By law, that prevents the independent regulator from charging fees that exceed his expenses.
The hon. Gentleman asked me indirectly when we intend to move to a situation where fees are levied by the independent regulator. I am not sure that I can be specific about that point today. He will know that separate commencement orders can apply to different sections of the Bill. We will not commence the provisions in clause 21 until it is appropriate to do so. We have made it clear that the running costs of the independent regulator will be met by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the foreseeable future.