Clause 14
Health and Social Care Bill
6:30 pm
Stephen O'Brien (Shadow Minister, Health; Eddisbury, Conservative)
That is an interesting point. With anything that involves a decision, the time limit of the documentation that we are calling for would have to ride with the timetable on decision making. There are obligations on the part of the commission operating through its board to make timely decisions, and there will be a process by which it is under some form of need to produce a determination on the particular expectation of outcome.
I am reluctant to impose a timetable that goes beyond the normal expectation of the board’s operation. However, I am grateful to be asked the question because it forces me to explain what we want to achieve. We want an audit trail. An audit inevitably comes after decision making. We want it documented and made available. It must demonstrate that a reasonableness test on reasonable grounds has been applied and considered by the board. That the test would have been timely and available to the board when it was deliberating important matters is what we want to achieve through an audit trail. After all, it would be a post-event matter rather than a pre-event matter or a contemporaneous event, so documentation is necessary to make sure that the board is behaving and advising itself properly.
I hope that the Minister will take the opportunity to satisfy the Committee that the Bill will generate an audit trail as matters stand or be willing to contemplate the intention behind the amendment. I expect him either to adopt it or to come back on Report with something that will govern expectations of the way in which the board and the commission will operate.