Medical Act 1983 (Amendment) (Knowledge of English) Order 2014

Debate between Viscount Bridgeman and Baroness Brinton

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Grand Committee

[Viscount Bridgeman (Con)]

My Lords, I rise with some diffidence as the first layman to address your Lordships in this debate. I, too, thank the Minister for his statement and pay tribute to his department for the leadership that it has shown in securing from the Commission the remedying of what was a glaring and potentially dangerous anomaly in the 2005 directive. The Commission has produced a very satisfactory outcome.

I believe the United Kingdom is among the first member states, if not the first, to incorporate the changes introduced by the revised directive into legislation. I note that the order is headed:

“Health Care and Associated Professions”.

I hope the new language-testing arrangements will be incorporated as early as possible into other branches of healthcare—I have nursing in mind in particular. I think it is the experience of many that nurses from the EEA are almost invariably pleasant, caring and considerate. They of course play a huge role in this country, but I know that many patients have had difficulty in communicating and in making themselves understood.

There are many reasons why this is a matter of some urgency, but I will suggest just one. I think I am right in saying that the practice of putting great emphasis on patients’ notes goes back a long way in the UK; possibly more emphasis than some other member states, even those with advanced healthcare arrangements. It is therefore all the more important that nurses from the EEA are proficient not only in spoken but in written English, a point which the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, made in connection with doctors. As one facetious journalist put it,

“the difference between a microgram and a milligram is a coffin”.

I hope the Minister can give your Lordships the assurance that progress is being made in extending the provisions of the revised directive right across the healthcare profession, not least with nurses. I hope that this will include the fitness-to-practise hurdle, which is so important in reinforcing the ongoing responsibility of the relevant regulators for their members.

[Baroness Brinton (LD)]

My Lords, I am also a layman so the noble Viscount, Lord Bridgeman, need not feel completely alone. However, I preface my remarks by saying that my grandfather was the dean of St Mary’s Hospital Medical School. I remember him trying to explain to me why a bedside manner was not just about translating medical language but was all about speaking and listening. The one point I would add to the many that have been made by noble Lords this afternoon is the one about communication. A technical knowledge of English on its own is not enough—it needs to be one that picks up not just the body language but the nuance, including of regional language. If a Yorkshireman says he is “probably alright”, you know that you would want to question him further, whereas somebody coming from overseas might take that at face value.

I leave the rest of the medical comments to the medical professionals, who have spoken amply in that respect, and want to speak very briefly on freedom of movement in the EU. My party certainly believes that it is vital but—in true liberal tradition—it is fine up to the point at which it harms other people. It has been quite clear, certainly with one very celebrated case but also with others that may not have hit the public eye, that the capacity to cause harm is now at a level where action needs to be taken. These changes are well overdue and I am very pleased that they will set a new framework for the General Medical Council and restore confidence in foreign doctors from the EEA, wherever they are from and whatever level of language they have.

I end on the point that proportionate language competence must not only be checked but be checked more frequently than the BMA perhaps would like, because language and communication skills can get rusty.

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill

Debate between Viscount Bridgeman and Baroness Brinton

Monday 28th January 2013 Grand Committee

[Viscount Bridgeman]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a director of the Bridgeman Art Library, of which my wife is the founder and chairman. I shall speak to Amendment 28DZA in support of the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, and my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones. The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, has reminded us of the history of the 1988 Copyright, Design and Patents Act. It goes a great deal of the way to protecting the rights of copyright owners, it removes the excuses for copyright material being lifted without a legal licence, it ensures that works created in future are not orphaned whereby, as your Lordships will be aware, work cannot licensed in the ordinary way because those who hold rights in it are untraceable, consumers get a genuine guarantee that the work is what it says it is and its creators take responsibility for it.

However there is one glaring loophole, which has been so ably addressed by my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones, in part opened up by fast-growing developments in digital practice. It is that at present users are currently able to shelter behind the fact that rights information, which forms part of what is loosely termed metadata, obtained and distributed by computer programs, as opposed to being obtained manually, escapes the protection afforded to creators by the 1988 Act. This amendment seeks to rectify an obvious anomaly in the existing legislation.

I would also like to draw the Minister’s attention to the fact that, should this amendment be accepted—and I am well aware that there is considerable debate about whether this will be in primary or secondary legislation—there will need to be a cross-over to those clauses relating to orphan works and extended collective licensing.

I would also like to mention that giving effect to this apparently simple intention in plain English at the same time as making it watertight in IT terms is no easy task, and the framers of this amendment are to be congratulated on doing their best. No doubt, if this amendment is accepted, as I hope it will be, the Bill team will be able to consolidate the wording.

[Baroness Brinton]

My Lords, with the permission of the Grand Committee, I shall speak sitting down.

I shall speak to both amendments. On Amendment 28DZA, will the Minister confirm that there is already protection under the law for the stripping of metadata knowingly and without authority? Other noble Lords have alluded to that. I understood that it gave us the protection that we were seeking rather than going down the route of this amendment. Any infringement is therefore already contrary to civil law. If there are concerns that that protection is not strong enough, especially in relation to computer and electronic equipment—for example, in cameras—it is not just about large internet companies stripping data. There is a real problem for photographers; I know that some of their data are stripped. I am looking at the noble Baroness, Lady Howe of Idlicote, when I say that we have worked with the ISPs in relation to child safety and pornography. Surely there is a more effective way of working in the internet age with organisations that, whether deliberately or not, might try to remove that data.

I understand that this amendment is trying to tackle the problem, but I am worried that it relies on individuals to instruct their electronic equipment. That might be fine in the case of a highly proficient technical photographer, but not necessarily fine for amateurs creating metadata, particularly on the internet, as well as for some professionals who do not understand the technology too well.

I worry that this amendment creates a further barrier to orphan works, which we will be discussing later. If this amendment is accepted, it will make it almost impossible to collect copyright licence fees for some orphan works because of the conditions it puts upon person A and person B.

I turn to Amendment 28DZD. It is a complete change in tone. I declare an interest as a former stage manager of Footlights. I worked alongside people such as Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis on their very first shows. I worry that paragraph (b), which states that copyright is not infringed if,

“it is accompanied by sufficient acknowledgement”,

would provide a real problem to people working in our fast-moving light entertainment and comedy world. I can absolutely understand the parody of major works: I think of Benjamin Hoff’s The Tao of Pooh, which acknowledges, right at the start, where it is coming from.

But there has been a traditional and proud history in this country of parody and caricature, from “That Was the Week That Was” 60 years ago, moving right up to date with “The Now Show” on Radio 4. Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis did a wonderful sketch a fortnight ago on UKIP and the referendum on Europe using the theme of Gollum in the film of Lord of the Rings. I do not know whether noble Lords heard it, but the theme of the programme was “We wants referendumses”. It was very effective.

The problem is that proposed new subsection (3)(b) in Amendment 28DZA would mean that every sketch like that in a fast-moving half hour show would have to stop to acknowledge that it was taking both a piece from Peter Jackson's original film and the style of the actor. Therefore, frankly, it would be unworkable. I apologise, but I am afraid that the stage manager in me immediately thought, “Oh my goodness: this will kill comedy and light entertainment of the spontaneous type that this country excels in”.