Member News
By Baroness Pitkeathley - 18th January 2012
Baroness Pitkeathley outlines her fears that the Health and Social Care Bill may be concluded without consideration of potentially ‘vital information’.
The Health and Social Care Bill, currently awaiting a date for report stage in the House of Lords, is as controversial a piece of legislation as most people have ever seen. That being the case, it seems reasonable to expect, in these times of commitment to transparency in processes and accessibility of information, that any information about the changes the bill will bring about should be in the public domain.
Sadly the departmental register detailing the risks associated with the legislation has not been released, even though the information commissioner has ruled that it should be. The government has lodged an appeal against his ruling but the process is a protracted one and even if the government again loses the case, the House of Lords is unlikely to have access to what may be vital information before the bill has completed its passage.
Earl Howe, the much respected minister, has said he is as anxious as anyone for the matter to be speedily resolved. Peers on all sides are hoping that the timetable for the remaining stages of the bill can take account of the fact that vital information may come to light too late to influence its provisions. The government could choose just to publish the risk register, and I very much hope that they will.
Baroness Pitkeathley of Caversham was raised to the peerage in the Royal County of Berkshire in 1997. She is a member of the Labour Party and since 2002 has been the deputy Speaker and deputy chair of committees in the House of Lords.
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