Clause 93
Health and Social Care Bill
11:45 am
Ben Bradshaw (Minister of State (Health Services; Minister for the South West), Department of Health; Exeter, Labour)
We have three problems with the amendment. First, it could preclude a simple majority decision by a panel; secondly, it could artificially inflate the costs of any fitness to practise hearing by requiring the recruitment of additional panellists solely to maintain parity between lay and professional members, and, thirdly, it should be noted that the rules of some of the regulators, such as the General Optical Council, provide for lay majorities on fitness to practise panels, which we do not think is necessarily a bad thing.