Clause 16 - Accountable officers and their responsibilities as to controlled drugs
Health Bill
11:00 am
Jane Kennedy (Minister of State, Department of Health; Liverpool, Wavertree, Labour)
I hope that I can quickly reassure the hon. Gentleman that we have not in any way excluded those who might be regarded as key stakeholders from being involved and consulted. We accept their involvement.
It is of the utmost importance that we ensure that representative bodies’ views are heard, and that we listen to them. For that reason, policy development of the Government’s action programme on controlled drugs, “Safer management of controlled drugs: The Government’s response to the Fourth Report of the Shipman Inquiry”, was overseen by an advisory group of key stakeholders, which included the Healthcare Commission, the Commission for Social Care Inspection, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the police, the Home Office, strategic health authorities, primary care trusts, patient groups and professional representative bodies.
Therefore a broad group has been assisting the Department of Health. That group helped to produce draft guidance for public consultation on strengthened governance arrangements for controlled drugs. That draft guidance sets out most of the detail that will be included in regulations. That consultation has now closed, and a final version of the guidance is being produced. The results of the consultation will inform the writing of the regulations. We shall also consult informally with key stakeholders on the detail of the regulations.
The amendment would require consultation with key stakeholders to be included in the Bill. A consultation with the representative bodies on the regulations would also be required, and that would delay implementation of the provisions and duplicate the consultation on the draft guidance on the new arrangements. For that reason, I hope that the hon. Gentleman will not press the amendment to a vote.