Clause 2
Health Bill
11:30 am
Mike O'Brien (Minister of State (Health Services), Department of Health; North Warwickshire, Labour)
Amendments 5 and 6 place principles of the NHS in the Bill, with amendment 5 listing principles from the NHS plan published in 2000 and amendment 6 abbreviating the principles published in the NHS constitution. Amendment 4 would require the bodies listed in clause 2(2) to have regard to these principles.
Members of the Committee will be aware that clause 2 already sets out a requirement to have regard to the constitution. This requirement relates to the whole of the constitution, including its principles. It is therefore unnecessary to restate here the need to have regard to the principles.
We have not lost sight of some of the principles set out in the NHS plan, so I can reassure the hon. Gentleman that no principles from the NHS plan have gone missing from the constitution at all. We do not want that to happen. We engaged key stakeholders extensively when drawing up the constitution and the results of that work allowed us to refine the principles set out in the NHS plan. Where they do not appear as principles, they are reflected elsewhere in the constitution, either as pledges or as rights. For example, the principle around valuing staff is reflected throughout the constitution, in its pledges to staff and in the third principle, which sets out the importance of the education, training and development of staff.