Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)
My Lords, before we move on to Report, I would like to raise a point arising from an amendment to the Care Bill that the Government laid late last night—indeed, some might say “sneaked out 10 minutes before the start of the England-Poland game”. This matter will come to be decided by your Lordships on the last day of Report on Monday night.
Amendment 168A is not a technical or insubstantial amendment; it relates to the powers of special administrators in dealing with NHS trusts that are considered to have failed. It follows what happened in south London. Following the appointment of special administrators, proposals were made to downgrade Lewisham Hospital’s accident and emergency department, even though Lewisham is a well run and much supported hospital. This hospital was completely outside the remit of the special administrators. This led to court proceedings where the Government had to back off in relation to the changes to Lewisham Hospital.
This amendment would essentially permit what the Government wanted to happen with Lewisham Hospital, but which was stopped, to be able to happen in future. Whether or not the Government are right or wrong, this is a very important subject. It deserves full scrutiny in your Lordships’ House, not to be taken as last business on the last day of Report when the House has had no other opportunity of discussing this important matter. I ask the noble Earl, Lord Howe, to agree that this amendment be recommitted to a Committee of the House in order that it can receive full and appropriate scrutiny.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe) (Con)
My Lords, I do not propose to debate this amendment now, but I will refer the noble Lord’s request through the usual channels.