Clause 9
Health Bill [Lords]
2:00 pm
Mike O'Brien (Minister of State (Health Services), Department of Health; North Warwickshire, Labour)
The amendment would place a responsibility on the Department of Health to lay copies of quality accounts before Parliament. That is clearly not for the purpose of public accountability, as copies will be publicly available locally from the provider, and nationally when we publish them on the NHS Choices website. Public accountability is there. It is open to any Member of the House to access any of the documents that are on the NHS Choices website, so Members will be able to find out what is in the quality accounts.
I cannot emphasise enough the production process that we envisage. Our testing and engagement process has shown that the NHS wants to ensure that quality accounts are a success. The final version of quality accounts has already been subject to local scrutiny by patients and the public. What will be sent to the Secretary of State will therefore be the best account that can be given.
It is certainly open to any Member of Parliament to request that a particular quality account be placed in the Library of the House. I am not sure that having large numbers of quality accounts from, in due course, every dentist, doctor and health organisation in the country piled up on the table in the Chamber is what is needed. If anyone wants access to a document, it will be easily accessible to Members of Parliament and members of the public, so the level of accountability is actually considerably greater than almost anything else that is available to MPs.
I do not think that it is necessary for the accounts to be laid formally before the House. There will be so many of them that I do not think that that would be the appropriate way to proceed.