Clause 3 - Radiation protection functions
Health Protection Agency Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm
Dr Andrew Murrison (Shadow Minister, Public Services, Health & Education; Westbury, Conservative)
Having said that we were dealing with the engine room of the Bill in clause 2, I have to say that we have now reached an equally important point with clause 3. One of the stated objectives of the HPA is to amalgamate the current special health authority with the radiological protection service to form the agency. That is clearly stated, and clause 3 carries it out.
I have a certain interest in this issue, which I shall describe when we debate clause stand part rather than at this juncture. However, amendments Nos. 9 and 10 are quite straightforward. They do not presume to cherry-pick the functions of the current National Radiological Protection Board for incorporation within the agency. That is what comes across from clause 3(2). In essence, I propose that the whole of the current functions of the NRPB should be transferred to the agency.
The Minister has plenty of powers subsequently to tweak that. It may well be that, in the fullness of time, Ministers will feel that the functions of the NRPB, as amalgamated in the agency, need to be enhanced or reduced. It will be well within their competence to do that. I am intrigued as to why, at this stage, functions should be shifted piecemeal from the NRPB to the agency. The Minister will be aware that there is disquiet in the NRPB at an individual level about what the future holds. If the functions are not to be transferred wholesale to the agency, those anxieties will be heightened.
The amendment is reasonable. I suspect that it will not really affect the functions carried out by the agency in terms of radiological protection. However, while we are trying to decide exactly what those functions will be, it seems sensible to transfer the whole of the NRPB to the agency. In an evolutionary way, we can then decide which of those functions need to be maintained and which enhanced. In essence, that
is what I propose through these two amendments. I hope that the Minister will consider them carefully.