Schedule 1

Part of Health and Social Care Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 2:45 pm on 10 January 2008.

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Photo of Greg Mulholland Greg Mulholland Shadow Minister (Health) 2:45, 10 January 2008

This is the second time that I have served on a Committee with the Minister. Last time, we considered the rights of goldfish in fairgrounds and dogs having their tails cut up or not; this time, it is human rights. As ever, I accept some of what the Minister has said, but I do not think that the intention of the amendments is prescriptive. Clearly, some suggestions are intended to probe the general principle, but it is more fundamental than that; we are talking about the key guiding principle that I and many others believe firmly should be at the heart of setting up the commission. There are many people and organisations, including CSCI, that believe that human rights could be strengthened in the Bill in organisational terms. Frankly, it is too important to leave until the stage when the commission is, rightly, looking at the best way to set itself up. I will accept that the particular organisational suggestions may not be the right ones, but I still feel that the principle is right. Therefore, perhaps we can come back to that again, following the Bill going through the House.

I was hoping for more supportive noises from the Minister on the actions and decisions taken. It is fundamental that everything that the commission does has regard to human rights and to human rights legislation. Let me clarify one point: my hon. Friend the Member for Romsey was talking not about the human rights committee but about social care, health and mental health. She fully supports the idea put forward by both parties on this side of the Committee regarding a human rights committee.

Also, I am slightly disappointed that the Minister did not address the specific concern that I raised with him—my hope that the loophole regarding private care homes being dealt with later does not mean that the human rights focus is being dropped from the Bill. I believe that that is very important. I hope that we will come back to this issue, but on the basis that this is an early amendment and there has been a useful discussion, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.