Clause 5 - Co-operation
Health Protection Agency Bill [Lords]
10:00 am
Mr Mark Francois (Assistant Chief Whip, Whips; Rayleigh, Conservative)
Well, the Minister can laugh all she wants, but this is an important subject, and those of us who know something about it feel strongly.
It is important that the HPA should have clear responsibilities and clear lines of liaison if we are to determine how it will work with the emergency services and with agencies such as local authorities in the event of an emergency. The Bill is vague about the agency's role in an emergency, and we are trying to define it with relative clarity—I commend the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam on his amendment—so that everyone will know what it is. On Second Reading, I suggested that the HPA could appoint liaison officers to work directly with relevant bodies so that everyone would know who their opposite numbers were in the event of an emergency. The military often uses that practice, and it might be applicable to the HPA.
We are trying to get the Government to consider the issue seriously and, although we realise that there
are security considerations, to give us at least a conceptual idea of how the HPA will interact with local authorities, the armed forces and the blue light emergency services in the event of a catastrophe. We are perfectly entitled to put the Government under pressure on the issue in Parliament, although the Under-Secretary of State for Health, the hon. Member for South Thanet (Dr. Ladyman), was dismissive of our questions in his summing-up speech on Second Reading, and the less said about that the better. Perhaps the Minister can now stand up and answer our questions properly for once.