Clause 2
Health and Social Care Bill
3:00 pm
Stephen O'Brien (Shadow Minister, Health; Eddisbury, Conservative)
I am extremely grateful to the hon. Lady for highlighting that aspect of this amendment’s merit. She has done us a service by drawing on the evidence of Anna Walker, whom members on both sides of the Committee have dealt with and whose evidence deserves the respect that it has generated.
I want to draw in some additional support for this idea. In its written evidence on the Bill, the Picker Institute—whose strap-line is “Making patients’ views count”—notes that such an amendment would also
“Clarify what Parliament wants the Commission to achieve, not just what functions are assigned to it: Parliament should say what the Commission is for, not just what it does”.
It is hardly as if my amendment is one of great or extensive verbiage; it is concise and to the point, but equally importantly, it goes beyond the long title. The institute notes that the amendment would
“give the Commission a clear mandate to act on behalf of patients, service users and the public ... enable the Commission to resolve conflicts of interests between stakeholders”,
and
“protect the Commission's user-focused decisions from legal challenge.”
Those of us who have had the privilege at some point in our lives of spending many hours studying the law recognise that nothing frustrates more than the ease with which legislators could have rephrased basic wording so that a whole raft of expensive litigation, challenge and uncertainty—because of the ease with which lawyers can use the ultra vires or intra vires point in their arguments—could have been avoided. When looking at legislation, at this point our discussions cease to be of great value; such Committees are often regarded as being informative but not decisive when it comes to the law. The law is what is on the statute.
I do not want to be over-legalistic in my approach, but that is why this amendment is a matter of legal as well as political principle. I hope that it is consistent with reinforcing what the Government seek to achieve. Far be it from the official Opposition to want to help a Government to deliver their programme—it suits us politically should they fail—but it is incumbent on us all to try to make this legislation better and fit for purpose.