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Health and Social Care Bill

Amendment No. 126 seeks to ensure that fitness-to-practise panel members have not been involved in previous investigations or proceedings related to the professional before them. That is an important principle and one well established with the current regulators. On my noble friend Lady Golding’s detailed questions on the case she mentioned, it is subject to ongoing proceedings, so it would be inappropriate for me to comment. The current GMC rules on the composition of panels specifically provide that no panellist shall act as a panellist for the substantive hearing of a case that he has previously considered or adjudicated on in any other capacity. That ensures that panel members who are involved in the investigation process are not called on to take part in the adjudication process, and that panel members who have heard a case against a practitioner do not hear any future cases against him or her. As I said, that is absolutely right and I agree with the general spirit of the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay. However, I remind the Committee that the OHPA will adjudicate only on fitness-to-practise cases. It will take no part in the investigation process. There is also a specific problem with the amendment as drafted. It is currently recognised that review hearings following adjudication can benefit from the inclusion of an original panel member, and the GMC rules allow that as an exception to the general rule that I outlined. Amendment No. 126 would prevent that, which would mean that it would not be possible to have any continuity between adjudication and any review hearing. Although that is a specific reason why I am unable to accept the amendment, I think that it also demonstrates more generally why it is important to give the OHPA the flexibility to set out the detail of its processes in rules, rather than in primary legislation. Clause 95(3) of the Bill allows for rules to make further provision about the selection of panels in relation to any proceedings. That will allow the OHPA to set out how panel members should be selected so that any conflicts of interest are avoided. We are creating the OHPA within an enabling framework. We must be careful to resist the temptation to specify too much detail and make too many decisions for the organisation now. Given that we are setting up the OHPA in order to create a proper separation between investigation and adjudication, it is vital that its rules reflect the crucial principle of independence and separation. We must, however, allow the OHPA, as the experts, to decide exactly how to do this. There is a requirement for full consultation on its draft rules. I am completely confident that noble Lords who have participated here and the many organisations which have already played a part in the framing of this Bill will ensure that its rules are robust and fair. Parliamentary scrutiny via the negative resolution procedure will also provide a backstop. On that basis, I hope that the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, is sufficiently reassured to withdraw her amendment.