Clause 35
Health and Social Care Bill
1:00 pm
Greg Mulholland (Shadow Minister, Health; Leeds North West, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 233, in clause 35, page 17, line 38, at end insert—
‘(ba) to the relevant professional regulatory body’.
We are making reasonable progress, but I will try to be brief because we are all keen to get as far as possible next week. Amendment No. 27 introduced an important point of principle, but amendment No. 233 raises an important point of practicality. I hope that the Minister will not use the same arguments against the amendment, unless, of course, he decides to accept it, because it is not about being prescriptive—an issue on which he has commented on various occasions.
The amendment is important in a practical way for two reasons. In layman’s terms—an always useful method of explaining the impact of a Bill—one major effect would be a new, clearer regulatory system for health and social care, with some redefined and refocused responsibilities. Clearly, an important part of that is professional regulatory bodies, most of which support the new and refocused role that they will have. If we are to have a new, joined-up framework, which makes sense for the reasons stated earlier, surely we must include the professional regulatory bodies when a commission issues a notice—be that a notice of decisions or proposals, a warning notice or a notice of procedure for suspension. I appreciate the Minister’s comments about not wanting to be prescriptive, but professional regulatory bodies should be among the organisations that must be informed of such notices if this is to be a genuinely joined-up and effective system. We all know from other areas—from the Shipman case—that when we do not have properly joined-up systems and effective sharing of information, that can lead to issues and problems.
The second reason concerns a potential loophole that I would like the Minister’s views on. Is there not a danger that when an individual who has been issued with a suspension notice moves to a different area, they could slip through the net if the professional regulatory body with an important role in that area is not involved?