Clause 35
Health and Social Care Bill
10:15 am
Ben Bradshaw (Minister of State (Health Services; Minister for the South West), Department of Health; Exeter, Labour)
They have only just been born, so give them a chance! As I said, I have sympathy with the motivation behind the amendment. However, I go back to the point that we have made on a number of occasions throughout our deliberations about how prescriptive we are regarding the actions of the new regulator. Although I have stated that LINks will have a valid interest in the work that is done, I fully expect the Care Quality Commission to work closely with LINks—not for exactly the same reasons that Members have been mentioned, but for some of them.
It is not necessarily a good idea to prescribe in the Bill that a particular organisation should be involved in and pre-warned of all the actions that the commission is taking, particularly early on in proceedings before fault or guilt has been found. As I indicated in response to discussion on another clause, there certain issues that may have to be handled sensitively, in respect of which it would not be appropriate to inform LINks or anyone else of the commission’s activities.
Although I sympathise with the spirit of the amendment, the Bill as it stands strikes the right balance between keeping the public and LINks informed, while allowing the commission to carry out its work fairly and appropriately.