Clause 41 - Standards set by Secretary of State
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
8:55 am
Mr David Lammy (Parliamentary Secretary, Department of Health; Tottenham, Labour)
When we adjourned yesterday we were discussing the amendment that deals with the establishment of the healthcare inspection unit for Wales. The hon. Gentleman the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) was concerned that this would mean unnecessary duplication, and in strong terms questioned why we could not have the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection as an inspectorate for Wales. Much of
what the hon. Gentleman said surprised me, even though he said it so strongly. The nature of the amendment also surprised me, because these health matters have been devolved to Wales for some time. In a sense, this is a settlement of an argument that Parliament heard about devolution in 1998–99.