Clause 10 - Health care provision: standards
Health Protection Agency Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Miss Melanie Johnson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Health; Welwyn Hatfield, Labour)
I can reassure the hon. Gentleman on those points. The Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection already inspects the Health Protection Agency special health authority, so the clause will not present a major departure for CHAI. It is established to give performance ratings to all bodies that count as NHS bodies for the relevant purposes, which includes the Health Protection Agency.
CHAI is not required until April 2006 to give performance ratings to excepted trusts such as the three learning disability trusts, the special health authorities or the cross-border special health authorities, but they are already covered by the inspection arrangements. As to what those arrangements will be, I have not seen detail of what CHAI is proposing for the future, but it is for it to decide on them. That is right and proper; we have given the work to a body independent of the Government to ensure that the public have confidence and trust in its work. It needs to be seen as independent of the Government and political processes.