Schedule 5 - CHAI: supplementary
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
2:30 pm
Mr Paul Burstow (Sutton and Cheam, Liberal Democrat)
It is a pleasure, Mr. Atkinson, to serve under your chairmanship.
Government amendments Nos. 340 and 341 remove from schedules 5 and 6 the words
''and is to be responsible to it for the general exercise of its functions.''
As a result, the chief officer of the relevant commission will no longer have that specific responsibility. The legislation that established the Commission for Health Improvement and the National Care Standards Commission included such provisions. That made me wonder why the Government thought it necessary to make such an amendment. What was their motivation? Why did they want to change existing practice? Certainly, in the case of the National Care Standards Commission, it seems to have caused no problem.
The Under-Secretary told the Committee that the reason for the amendments was confusion about where the responsibility for discharging the functions of the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection ultimately lies, and that keeping those words in the Bill would somehow usurp the responsibility of members of the board by giving that duty also to paid staff.
I hope that the Under-Secretary can allay my anxiety. Existing legislation allows a clear separation between the role of the non-executive chairman and other non-executive members of the commission's boards, and that of paid staff—especially chief officers. Removing those words, and the distinction that goes with them, would appear to result in there no longer being such a clear separation of responsibilities. Is that the Government's intention? What is the thinking behind it? Why is it being done at this relatively late stage? Why was the Bill not drafted in that way in the first instance if the Government believed it to have been necessary all along?
Removing those words will potentially give rise to tension between the non-executive chairman and non-
executive members, who will suddenly be able to exercise executive authority within the body, and the staff. The potential for conflict seems considerable. I hope that the Under-Secretary can say how that is to be avoided other than by good will. Surely, we should keep in the Bill a provision that would avoid it.
In setting out the timetable for the establishment of CHAI and the Commission for Social Care Inspection, the Government propose establishing both bodies in shadow form. It would be useful if the Under-Secretary were to share with the Committee how far the Government have got in implementing the timetables for those bodies. Although an announcement has been made about the prospective shadow chairman for CHAI, we have heard nothing about the chairman for CSCI, yet an announcement has been imminent for some time. It would help if the Under-Secretary could give some details about the timings, why there appears to have been a slippage in the case of CSCI, and what is being done to get it back on track. I hope that the Under-Secretary will be able to reassure me on those points.