Care Bill [Lords]

Nick Smith Excerpts

Monday 10th March 2014 Commons Chamber

Those would be valuable added safeguards to clause 80. As we have seen, with the best of intentions and optimism, minimum humane standards have not been met. I believe that the proposals should be included in the Bill to provide a facility by which those who do not abide by such minimum care standard are held to account.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

New clause 27 would establish an offence of corporate neglect. The problem needs to be tackled following police Operation Jasmine in south-east Wales. That six-year investigation of care-home abuse cost £11.6 million. Three care workers were prosecuted, but the owners—in my view, they were the real culprits—escaped punishment owing to legal hurdles. That is not acceptable. One patient had appalling sores. They were so infected that the bone underneath was visible. I was deeply shocked at the photographs of neglect I was shown from the case. The then deputy chief constable of Gwent police said:

“There is a likelihood that there are cases like this occurring every day…across the country”.

New clause 27 would ensure that care providers are in no doubt that their primary responsibility is the care of their residents. It is supported by Age UK and was recommended by the Joint Committee on the draft Care and Support Bill, which conducted pre-legislative scrutiny.

I accept that the Government’s proposals to strengthen the Care Quality Commission will go a significant way to preventing horrific abuses such as those at Winterbourne View, but without the offence of corporate neglect, the proposals do not do enough. In the Winterbourne View case, the longest sentence for a staff member—they pleaded guilty to nine charges of ill treating patients—was two years. That sentence is mirrored in other cases. It is only fair that an equal sentence is available in cases of corporate neglect.

[Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)]

I have listened with great interest to my hon. Friend, as I did to the hon. Member for Bristol North West (Charlotte Leslie). Given that many such awful incidents involve people with learning disabilities, will he assure me that he has very much in mind their views as well as those of their advocates and families, and that they will be embraced by the legislation, particularly if his proposals are agreed to?

[Nick Smith]

I assure my right hon. Friend that the new clause refers to all adults, so takes on board the people he mentions.

Subsection (4) of the new clause seeks to strengthen protection. It would ensure that, if abuse were found to have an element of corporate responsibility, and if systems or the approaches taken by the care provider are a contributory factor in the abuse or neglect, the new offence would allow the prosecution of a registered care provider. The Government have the opportunity to shape the culture of the care sector in the Bill tonight.

[Grahame M. Morris]

In Committee, the Minister said that he supported the sentiment of the proposal. Does my hon. Friend accept that, although the new fit and proper person test and the new fundamental standards are important, they do not make provision for a custodial sentence for proprietors, managers and directors of such establishments in such cases?

[Nick Smith]

My hon. Friend has got to the nub of the issue. Managers and directors of organisations such as care homes have to accept that they set the culture of those places, and that they are responsible for looking after the residents in their care, and for avoiding neglect and abuse. If they get it wrong, they should face the possibility of a jail sentence. That is what the new clause would do.

We must go that extra mile to ensure that our safeguards deliver for care home residents. New clause 27 would greatly help that cause. I intend to divide the House on the measure.

[Mr Dorrell]

I want to speak primarily to the new clauses moved by my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond, but first I wish to comment on the speech by my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West (Charlotte Leslie), who has been a consistent advocate of the importance of ensuring that we have a culture in our health and care system that creates space for whistle- blowers, not because we want a world full of whistleblowers, but because we want an open culture—as she rightly says—in which the whistleblower is redundant.

The example often cited in this area comes from the US Navy. A junior rating prevented flying from an aircraft carrier because he was concerned about a safety element. As it happened, the concern was misplaced, but the rating was celebrated because he had the courage to raise it. The culture of the ship was such that it allowed that individual to take the steps necessary to cover the risk. In a sense, the story is most telling because the concern was misplaced but the individual was celebrated for having had the courage to take action. That is the kind of culture that we should have in the health and care system.

I do not agree that we need a candour commissioner: it is part of the core function of the Care Quality Commission’s inspections of health and care provider institutions to make an assessment of whether that culture exists in an institution. If that culture does not exist, it is hard to see how that institution can deliver the standards of care that we would all want to see.

My main reason for speaking is to pick up the points raised by my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond—