Clause 20
Health and Social Care Bill
9:30 am
Ben Bradshaw (Minister of State (Health Services; Minister for the South West), Department of Health; Exeter, Labour)
As I have indicated in previous sittings, I am still reflecting on the question of public and patient involvement. In respect of the Opposition’s affection for the new national body Healthwatch, there is nothing to stop LINks forming a national network if they wish, but we are trying to move away from the top-down approach from Whitehall to a more bottom-up approach. We would certainly welcome that development. It is very much up to LINks, as autonomous bodies, to decide if that is what they would like to do.
As I have indicated, part 1 requires the commission to have regard for the people who use the services in everything that it does. As the hon. Gentleman acknowledges, the Bill already requires the commission to establish an advisory committee under schedule 1, and it also provides for the commission to establish further committees or sub-committees, such as one that comprises solely service users. They might have specific functions or a more general function, allowing the commission to decide how best to seek input from different representative groups.
The problem with the new clause is that it proposes that the commission should determine the functions of the panel, while specifying a number of functions that must be included. Again, there is a debate to be had between flexibility and inflexibility. The new clause seems to be giving the commission the flexibility to decide how it uses the panel, but we believe that the commission can use a group to look at specific matters. It is important that a representative group should have the freedom to express its views in relation to any of the commission’s functions, rather than being restricted to functions specified in the clause, and any other matters that the commission determines. That is reflected in schedule 1.
Clause 43 requires the commission to publish a document on the frequency of reviews, and clause 75 requires it to publish its programme of special reviews and investigations. As with all the commission’s functions, it must have regard to the views of the public when preparing those documents. On the basis of those reassurances, I invite the hon. Gentleman to withdraw the amendment.