Clause 6
NHS Redress Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm
Andy Burnham (Minister of State (Delivery and Quality), Department of Health; Leigh, Labour)
Maybe, and it is for the hon. Gentleman to convince me that we have not. Clause 12, which we did not want, talks not about a single investigator who is responsible for the scheme but about investigators:
“The Secretary of State shall by order make provision for the appointment of suitably qualified patient redress investigators who shall have conduct of the investigation of the facts of cases in accordance with section 6(2)(a).”
I take that to mean that those people will be permanently employed in that role. If they are to be independent, is the hon. Gentleman saying that they cannot be employees of the organisation of which they are investigating a complaint? He has not risen to correct me, but clearly if he is saying that investigators have to be independent, it follows that they would not be employed by the organisation. That will give rise to all kinds of cost and bureaucracy.