Care Bill [HL]

Baroness Wall of New Barnet Excerpts

Wednesday 12th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

My Lords, my noble friend’s amendment is very penetrating. Under this clause the Secretary of State will appoint only the chair and other non-executive members while the CQC appoints its own executive members, including the chief executive. I draw the noble Earl’s attention to our debate on day one of Committee when we discussed the governance of Health Education England and the Health Research Authority. I still fail to understand why the Secretary of State has to approve the appointment of the chief executive of those bodies when he does not in relation to the CQC. I take from it that HEE and HRA are less independent than the CQC. It would be interesting to know whether he can confirm that.

I thought my noble friend made a very powerful point about the appointment of a chief inspector. I endorse his remarks about the appointment of Mike Richards. He commands great respect, but I wonder why it is not in the Bill. It seems to me that the relationship between the chief inspectors and the chief executive and the board of the CQC is going to be a delicate one. Once you nominate somebody as chief inspector the implication is that they are independent in their job. My experience when I was at the DWP and responsible for the Health and Safety Executive is that it had some chief inspectors. There was the equivalent of the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, although that has now gone, and the Chief Inspector of Construction. It was felt necessary in some of the most important sectors to have a figurehead. My understanding was that when it came to issues to do with the regulatory function they were independent and could not be second-guessed by the board. The relationship between the chief inspectors and the board is very important. I wonder whether the noble Earl’s department is storing up trouble for the future by not making them statutory post-holders so that it is absolutely clear in legislation what their responsibility is. I can see problems arising in future on this.

This issue about putting primary and community healthcare together will also be very important. The breakdown in the NHS over the past few months has been a breakdown in integration between different parts of the service. Putting primary and community care together would be very helpful.

[Baroness Wall of New Barnet]

I support the amendment and in particular the argument for the chief primary and community care inspector. Many of us who operate within the service—even people who use it—know that often the weakness has been in the delivery of primary care. We talked earlier about reconfiguration. The only way that that would be successful is if we had better primary care facilities and care that people could access nearer to home—all aspirations that the Government have. I strongly support having that watchful eye on making sure that primary care works effectively.