---

Health and Social Care Bill

I put my name to these amendments and I am moved to get to my feet because I have not yet heard anything to suggest that the Minister has fully taken their force with regard to the salary at which the position is to be remunerated. As things stand, the post looks as if it has been downgraded when compared with current arrangements for the remuneration of the chairs of CSCI and the Healthcare Commission. I have a raft of statistics relating to the different rates at which chairs of public sector bodies are paid, but it would be otiose to weary the Committee with them. Suffice it to say that there seems to be neither rhyme nor reason to them. There is no discernible pattern. Some seem to be paid at one rate and others at another, although they may have lesser budgeting responsibilities. It is difficult to discern a pattern, but one thing is discernible. This post of shadow chair—as we are now to call it—of the CQC is, according to the advertisement, to be remunerated at a rate markedly below the level at which either the CSCI chair or the chair of the Healthcare Commission is remunerated. That looks like a downgrading in my book. I understand that the Minister is to make an announcement tomorrow, but it would reassure the Committee if he were able in responding to give some indication that he has taken on board the concerns raised by the Committee about the level of remuneration for this very important position.