Clause 16 - Accountable officers and their responsibilities as to controlled drugs
Health Bill
2:00 pm
Andrew Murrison (Shadow Minister, Health; Westbury, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 10, in clause 16, page 14, line 7, leave out ‘or appoint’.
This is a simple amendment, like all the best amendments. It is to do with a tautology; I am quizzing the Minister on the difference between “nominate” and “appoint”. Words are used sparingly in legislation, and I suspect that there is a clear legalistic difference between those two, but I would be grateful if she could clarify it for me.
Why should the individual be appointed? In the spirit of trying to reduce the number of people appointed to management positions in health services, it would seem entirely appropriate to nominate a suitable person who is adequately trained to do what is required. To make a new appointment would be contrary to the spirit of what Conservative Members are trying to achieve—and, I hope, to the Minister’s general direction of travel. We are trying to reduce the number of people employed in management capacities.
It is with those two strands of thought in mind that I tabled the amendment. First, we ask the Minister to clarify why we need both “nominate” and “appoint” in the Bill; secondly, we want to determine whether her intention is that the accountable officer of each responsible body should be a new appointee or somebody who is given the task in addition to those that they have already.