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Health and Social Care Bill

moved Amendment No. 13: 13: After Clause 2, insert the following new Clause— ““Statement on user involvement (1) The Commission must publish a statement describing how it proposes to— (a) promote awareness among service users and carers of its functions, (b) promote and engage in discussion with service users and carers about the provision of health and social care services and about the way in which the Commission exercises its functions, (c) ensure that proper regard is had to the views expressed by service users and carers, and (d) arrange for any of its functions to be exercised by, or with the assistance of, service users and carers. (2) The Commission may from time to time revise the statement and must publish any revised statement. (3) Before publishing the statement (or revised statement) the Commission must consult such persons as it considers appropriate. (4) In this section— (a) ““service users”” means people who use health or social care services, and (b) ““carers”” means people who care for service users as relatives or friends.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, I ask noble Lords also to consider government Amendments Nos. 17, 18, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 35, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 58 and 77. The importance of user involvement in the Care Quality Commission’s work was another of the strong themes in our debates in Grand Committee and in the other place. We have been convinced from the outset that this must be a priority for the commission. However, a compelling case was made in Committee for the commission to have a more explicit duty to involve people who use services and their carers in its work. Again various models were put forward. Having considered the most appropriate way to proceed we are now bringing forward Amendment No. 13 which would require the Care Quality Commission to consult on and publish a document setting out how it plans to involve, engage and inform people who use its services—and crucially their carers and families—in its work. It is most appropriate for the commission itself to determine the precise way in which it engages with users and carers but there should be a clear indication in the Bill what user involvement must cover. In this way it will be able to build on and continue the current commission’s good practice. Therefore, the new clause not only requires the commission to seek views about health and social care services itself, but also how it carries out its own functions. It also makes it clear that the commission can involve people in its work, for instance, as lay inspectors. The commission must have proper regard to views expressed by service users and carers. Transparency will be the key to ensuring that the commission is being effective in engaging people in its work. Crucially, government Amendment No. 46 will require the commission to set out in its annual reports to Parliament what it has done to implement the statement on user involvement. I am delighted to report that, in their briefing, the Picker Institute, Which? and the National Consumer Council strongly welcomed the Government’s proposals, which they consider will pave the way for a regulator that actively consults and engages with people. Local involvement networks will now provide an important vehicle for involving people in health and social care services and I am sure they will have an important role in the work of the commission. I have already set out our proposals for requiring the commission to have regard to the views of LINks. To support this, Amendment No. 49 would amend the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 to require LINks to send their annual reports to the Care Quality Commission, as well as to the Secretary of State. This is obviously not intended to remove the need for the commission to actively engage with people through LINks and in other ways, but it will help to ensure that the commission is fully aware of local people’s views on the services they receive across the country, and it reinforces our belief that LINks are a crucial means of ascertaining the views of users and carers. I move now to the amendments tabled in response to concerns expressed in Committee about independence from the Secretary of State, in relation to both the Care Quality Commission and the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence. In relation to the Care Quality Commission, compared to the current commissions, the new regulator will have new freedoms to determine how aspects of the registration system will work, and a greater flexibility in the enforcement powers at its disposal to use against failing providers. To demonstrate that we are genuinely determined to afford the commission as much independence as is practically possible, Amendments Nos. 35, 44 and 47 would delete ““or modified”” in Clause 42, remove the power for the Secretary of State to specify when the commission must publish its proposed programme of reviews, investigations and studies under Clauses 44, 50 and 53, and amend Clause 81 to ensure that the commission is free to determine for itself how it makes and publishes its plans for charging fees. On professional regulation, Amendment No. 58 removes the Secretary of State’s power of direction over the CHRE in Clause 111. Although this power was included in the Bill to allow the Secretary of State to help the CHRE prioritise its workload, I recognise that noble Lords felt that this could be perceived as undermining the independence of the CHRE. The department has discussed the idea of removing it from the Bill with the CHRE, and as a result of reassurances from the CHRE, I am now confident that it can safely be dispensed with. This group of amendments also contains a number of drafting, minor and technical amendments. I do not intend to go into detail on those, although I am happy to clarify any issues that noble Lords might raise. I beg to move.