Clause 13 - Code of practice relating to health care associated infections
Health Bill
12:00 pm
Andrew Lansley (Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Health; South Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
What the Minister says is just plain wrong. I served on the Standing Committee that considered the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill, so I know that it contained a measure that specifically gave the Secretary of State the power to set standards for the NHS and did not say that the Secretary of State is constrained from publishing those standards in the form of a code of practice. In fact, that has been done through the mechanism of endorsing the standards framework set out by the Healthcare Commission, but it was perfectly possible to use the power in the 2003 Act.