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Health and Social Care Bill

First, let me address the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, about the scrutiny process. I cannot think of a better scrutiny than parliamentary scrutiny, and the Health Select Committee as it stands covers social care and the whole activity of the Department of Health. The shadow chair will be confirmed only once the legislation has passed. That was made clear to the candidate who applied for the post as advertised. There is no doubt in my mind that the senior leadership of the Care Quality Commission needs to be of a sufficiently high calibre to ensure that it can deliver its statutory functions effectively. The commission will be a powerful new independent organisation responsible for regulating services across the health and social care sectors. It will have significantly greater powers than the current regulators, which it will replace, and it will seek to assure people who use the service and patients that all the services they receive are fair, personal, effective and safe. We do not believe that the advertised range of the chair’s salary will adversely affect the capability of the new organisation. Let me put the figures into context. The post, which is a part-time, non-executive role, was advertised at the rate of £60,780 for a time commitment of up to three days per week. The advert also made very clear that more was available for an exceptional candidate. The remuneration offered is at the top end of the current Department of Health arm’s-length body pay scales and compares favourably with the salary paid to some other publicly appointed non-executive chairs of regulatory bodies. A chair’s pay in any organisation must be seen in the context of the planned balance of responsibility between non-executive and executive appointments in the organisation. We expect the new commission to appoint the highest calibre chief executive and other senior executives jointly to realise the vision that the commission creates. I am sure that noble Lords would agree that it is important that we are sensitive to public perception and to general trends in public sector pay with respect to the salary of the new chair. However, we recognise that there is a balance to be struck to attract the right calibre of candidate for the post, and I believe that the advertised salary does exactly that. I therefore ask my noble friend to withdraw the amendment.