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Health and Social Care Bill

I wish to add one thing and I do so happy in the knowledge that I have no interest to declare and will not have in the foreseeable future. One of the principal concerns that I raised at our last Sitting was not the level of remuneration for this post but the requirements of the job, particularly for the chair, which paid no attention whatever to the fact that this person had to have an understanding and experience of local government and social care. I am an avid reader of Wednesday’s Guardian and I have been looking deeply into the far more interesting post of chief executive of the CQC, which was advertised a week or so ago. In that advert, it is clear that the Government have paid some attention to points raised by noble Lords, although not enough in my view. It mentions the need for the person to have an understanding of local government and to know what a comprehensive area assessment is. However, nothing the Minister has said has allayed my fears that this recruitment process, as it has been outlined, is heavily biased towards health—almost exclusively. The fact that the Health Select Committee will go through the pre-appointment process offers scant hope that that in itself will be rectified. I hope that when the Minister responds more fully he will pick up that point which, for some of us, is by far the most important.