Schedule 3
Health Bill [Lords]
12:45 pm
Mike O'Brien (Minister of State (Health Services), Department of Health; North Warwickshire, Labour)
A decision to suspend an individual is intended to be a neutral act taken to further an investigation and does not indicate grounds for permanently removing an appointee from office. That would be determined through a formal termination process, so evidence would have to be sought, an investigation undertaken and a decision made.
Allowing compensation payments to be made in such circumstances would be inconsistent with the sentiment of the proposed suspension policy. The policy is already accepted within the NHS and indeed, such a provision would probably have implications for wider employment law. When someone has been suspended on full remuneration, it does not indicate guilt or produce a requirement for compensation to be paid.
Suspended appointees of the HFEA would continue to receive any remuneration to which they are entitled throughout the period of suspension, but members of the AERC are not currently remunerated. The Secretary of State would have to take action in an appropriate, formal investigatory way and reach an appropriate determination in any investigation. There are protections within the process that enable any abuse by a Secretary of State or anyone else to be dealt with appropriately.