Clause 47 - Disclosure of information
Health Bill
6:00 pm
Andrew Murrison (Shadow Minister, Health; Westbury, Conservative)
The clause is not particularly controversial. However, I am drawn to subsection 3(d), which refers to ''relevant disciplinary proceedings'' in relation to disclosure of information. I am not sure what that means. Does it mean what one would understand as professional disciplinary proceedings, or does it mean internal disciplinary proceedings related, for example, to some managerial function? Also, at what level are we talking? Is it relatively trivial disciplinary proceedings, or matters that are more serious?
Disciplinary issues may range from relatively low-key stuff, such as stealing a paper clip, to far more heinous crimes of the sort that the Minister described in trying to tell us how much fraud goes on in the NHS. That is obviously big-ticket stuff, so we need to know what is really meant by ''relevant disciplinary proceedings''. In particular, some clarification of the word ''relevant'' would be useful.