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Health and Social Care Bill

I welcome the opportunity to speak briefly on this group of amendments and new clauses and I say to my hon. Friend the Minister that I support the spirit of the proposed changes. I would like to consider briefly aspects that relate to the trend of contracting out and privatisation of health and social care services. At a time when an increasing number of public services are provided by the private sector, it is essential that we get the Bill right. I am conscious that this is not the final opportunity that we will have to debate the matter, and I am speaking now to implore my hon. Friend the Minister to take into account my specific concerns on issues of detail, which relate specifically to subsection (2) of new clause 4. If the spirit of that provision were adopted by the Government, the Secretary of State would"““prepare and publish statements of standards in relation to the provision of health care and social care dealing with matters other than those listed in subsection (1)””." I would like to consider that measure in relation to the provision of non-emergency ambulance services. My concern stems from a particular state of affairs that has existed in north Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent for a long period of time, where patient transport services are contracted out. I seek clarification from the Minister during this debate, and during the course of the progress of this legislation, on the details concerning transport. I have examined the Bill, but I did not have the privilege of serving on the Committee that considered it. Clause 4(3) refers to transport services for elderly and disabled people as being"““connected with the provision of health…care.””" Therefore, I am assuming that that will be a regulated activity that has to be registered with the commission. The Bill does not make explicit—perhaps the Minister could be helpful by clarifying this so that it will become apparent through subsequent readings of Hansard—whether that will include all the associated facilities for providing such a service, such as staff accommodation and depots. As far as new clause 4 is concerned, I am looking at clauses 11, 12, which deals with regulations about registration, and 16, which deals with the regulation of regulated activities, and although there is a need to register, I can see nothing elsewhere in those clauses that would require the commission to consult other agencies, such as the local environmental health authority, as to whether the application for registration should be granted or refused. Perhaps I should say at this point that I speak as a vice-president of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. I would like the Minister to set out the role that he anticipates for local authorities with regard to information they might have on whether private providers of some regulated services are suitable. For example, I would like to know what account the commission can take of issues such as food safety, hygiene or health and safety matters. If the Minister considered clause 4(3)(b) in detail and perhaps providing for associated facilities after transport, that might be a way in which to tackle some of my concerns and those of others about the matter. If the Minister could clarify the issue, it would give me some sense of security that depots and staff rooms associated with private ambulance services would be included in the regulated activity and taken into account in the registration process so that we could deal with unhygienic facilities, if necessary. Much legislation relates to health and safety at work and there is a procedure for considering the health and safety at work aspects of the measure. However, when we deal with the most vulnerable people in our constituencies, it is essential that we have all the necessary support. I implore the Minister to give some comfort about section 6 of the Human Rights Act and facilities associated with the private transport provision of non-emergency ambulance services.