Clause 47
Health and Social Care Bill
2:45 pm
Sandra Gidley (Shadow Minister, Health; Romsey, Liberal Democrat)
I want to direct my comments to new clause 15. During the oral evidence sessions, we heard concerns that the commission was able to look at failings by English local authorities. That is in clause 46. There are provisions to look at failings by Welsh NHS bodies. However, it is not clear to me, and it was obviously not clear to the Healthcare Commission, why there is no similar provision to ensure that NHS bodies in England are so covered. I may have missed something somewhere, but the insertion of new clause 15 would make it crystal clear that, whether the problem was with NHS England or Wales, or with local authorities, it would always be dealt with in the same way. I seek the Minister’s reassurance on that point.