Schedule 7 - The Council for the Regulation of Health Care Professionals

Part of NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 12:15 pm on 11 December 2001.

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Photo of John Hutton John Hutton Minister of State, Department of Health, Minister of State (Department of Health) (Health) 12:15, 11 December 2001

I apologise to the hon. Gentleman if my explanation was clumsy and he was unable to follow it.

At the moment, the only body that can make the appointments is the NHS Appointments Commission, but that could change in future if the Secretary of State decided that a different entity should do it. If the Bill says that it ''shall'' be done by the NHS Appointments Commission, difficulties will arise if we want to revisit that. Moreover, a wider problem stems from the fact that the legal basis of the NHS Appointments Commission is in secondary, not primary, legislation, so the Bill should not contain a direct reference to it.

The ''may'' is not designed to give the Secretary of State the option on whether to delegate the power, but to leave open the question of whom he delegates it to. That is the difference between ''may'' and ''shall'' in this context. I hope that that has resolved the issue for the hon. Gentleman.