Clause 1 - Health Protection Agency
Health Protection Agency Bill [Lords]
12:00 pm
Dr Andrew Murrison (Shadow Minister, Public Services, Health & Education; Westbury, Conservative)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs. Adams.
This is a largely uncontroversial measure. As with any measures of that nature, however, we have difficulty with some of the detail, some of which we touched on in the Second Reading debate. I very much hope that we will be able to address some of the concerns expressed then.
We kick off with clause 1, which deals with the Health Protection Agency overall. Will the Minister tell us her plans for the body, given the current review on arm's length bodies? We understand that the review will reach its conclusion in July, and many of us are concerned that this body may feature as part of that review. We already know that the Public Health Laboratory Service and the National Radiological Protection Board are listed among the 42 bodies that are being considered. They have already been earmarked for amalgamation with the Health Protection Agency, and we strongly suspect that they are listed because they will count as two bodies that can be removed and counted towards the total number of bodies reduced as part of the review. That is sophistry. I am sure that the Minister would agree with that on reflection.
Twenty of the 42 arm's length bodies have been established since 1997. We confidently expect that a large number of those, having been marched up the hill, will be marched down again in July. Nevertheless, when we are talking about the creation of an arm's length body—as we are, at this stage, one month before the announcement of the review's conclusions—it is appropriate that the Minister should comment on the body and assure us that she does not see that it will be greatly affected. Of course, if we see a reduction in the number of bodies such as the National Patient Safety Agency, that could very well have a big impact on the HPA's constitution, finance, structure and so on. Later, we will touch on those specifics.
It seems rather odd that a month before Ministers will announce the outcome of the review of arm's length bodies, we should be considering this matter and putting structures in place that may be quite fundamentally altered following the announcement of the findings of that review. I would be grateful if the
Minister could specifically tell us how the review next month will impact on the Health Protection Agency.
At a later stage, we will come on to discuss the functions of the Health Protection Agency. However, I want to put it on record that it is all very well setting up an agency, but if we do not have a clear idea of what it is going to do and, specifically, how it is going to address public health functions, we are no further forward. We were no further forward on Second Reading, and I hope that as we go through the Bill we will get a clearer idea of precisely how the body, with the various constituent parts added together, will improve public health in this country. At the moment, that is a little unclear.