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Health Professions (Hearing Aid Dispensers) Order 2009

My Lords, the order being debated today makes provision for the transfer of the register of hearing aid dispensers from the Hearing Aid Council to the Health Professions Council and makes provision connected with the abolition of the Hearing Aid Council after it has completed its affairs. The primary benefit of this legislation is to enhance public safety and we believe that it will bring real benefits to hearing-impaired people. I am sure noble Lords will join me in thanking the Hearing Aid Council for the work it has done in regulating the private hearing aid profession for over 40 years, but now is the time for change. The framework legislation that sets out the powers and duties of the Hearing Aid Council in respect of the regulation of private hearing aid dispensers is outdated. To deliver high-quality services, change is needed and modernisation will prevent gaps in patient safety from occurring. Noble Lords will be very aware that the background to the proposed transfer of functions stems from the Hampton report in 2005 on regulatory inspections and enforcement. This report called for the merger of the Hearing Aid Council into a new body. After considering the Hampton report’s recommendations, the Government reached the view that, in fact, the Health Professions Council was best placed to regulate private hearing aid dispensers. The Health Professions Council, established in 2001, has a modern legislative framework. It already successfully regulates 14 other health professions. It has more comprehensive powers and duties than the Hearing Aid Council, which will enhance protection to patients and the public. The transfer of the register of private hearing aid dispensers to the Health Professions Council will deliver real benefits for everyone concerned. Private hearing aid dispensers will benefit from a considerable reduction in their annual registration fee, from £695 to £76. Employers of private hearing aid dispensers will no longer need to register, as they currently do with the Hearing Aid Council. This will reduce the regulatory burden on businesses and bring them into line with other employers that are regulated under consumer protection legislation, such as the Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Employers will also make savings as they will no longer have to pay an annual registration fee. The Health Professions Council has significant economies of scale, with over 200,000 registrants, compared with only 1,700 on the Hearing Aid Council’s register. The abolition of the Hearing Aid Council will also achieve the Hampton report’s aim of reducing the overall number of regulators. This will result in a small reduction in public expenditure as we will no longer need to support the Hearing Aid Council’s running costs. Most importantly, hearing-impaired people will be better protected by a well organised and highly respected regulator with enhanced powers. At present, the Hearing Aid Council can take action against a practitioner only once harm has actually occurred. However, the Health Professions Council will have the power to remove a practitioner from the register before any harm takes place, on the grounds that a person is likely to present a risk to the public. The Health Professions Council sets standards of education and training, performance and conduct and is overseen by the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence. The Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence provides external assurance that the Health Professions Council is undertaking its duties effectively through its annual performance review process. In its most recent report, the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence described the Health Professions Council as a transparent, well organised, efficient and cost-effective regulator. The content of the draft order itself transfers the register of private hearing aid dispensers held by the Hearing Aid Council to the register held by the Health Professions Council; it creates a new offence relating to the dispensing of hearing aids by unregistered persons; it makes provision connected with the abolition of the Hearing Aid Council and the cessation of its functions; and it makes transitional arrangements in respect of uncleared Hearing Aid Council casework at the point of transfer. The Health Professions Council will, for the first time, protect function as well as title. The title "hearing aid dispenser" will be protected, as is currently the case, but in future, any person not registered with the Health Professions Council who performs the functions of a hearing aid dispenser will also commit an offence. The protected functions will be assessing or testing an individual’s hearing, or prescribing a hearing aid for an individual, with a view to supplying a hearing aid for retail, sale or hire to, or for the use of, that individual. The proposed transfer of the register of private hearing aid dispensers from the Hearing Aid Council to the Health Professions Council will take effect on 1 April 2010. All private hearing aid dispensers on the Hearing Aid Council’s register on that date will automatically transfer to the register held by the Health Professions Council. Both the Hearing Aid Council and the Health Professions Council fully support this transfer and are working closely together already to ensure a smooth transition. The Health Professions Council has worked with the Hearing Aid Council to develop standards of proficiency that the dispensers will be required to meet after the transfer. The Department of Health has undertaken a full public consultation exercise on the draft order as required by the Health Act 1999. There were 32 respondents to the consultation and the responses were, in general, overwhelmingly supportive of the proposal. In particular, 97 per cent of respondents—noble Lords can work out how many that is—supported the proposal to transfer the functions of the Hearing Aid Council to another body and supported the Health Professions Council as being the most appropriate regulator. During the debate on this order in another place there was widespread consensus that the policy of the Health Professions Council regulating private hearing aid dispensers was entirely appropriate. A question was raised about the position of retailers of hearing aids who were not traditionally performing the functions of a health professional. This group of people will not be regulated by the Health Professions Council but are covered by normal consumer protection regulation. We are grateful for the support given to these proposals by the councils, the professions and all the bodies which have an interest in supporting hearing-impaired people, including the voluntary organisations. These changes bring benefits to everyone and, in particular, the measures will provide improved protection for the hearing-impaired. I commend the order to the Committee.