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Health Professions (Hearing Aid Dispensers) Order 2009

My Lords, the Committee will be grateful to the Minister for introducing the order, which is politically uncontroversial. Indeed, my understanding is—and she has just confirmed this—that it has the full support of all principal stakeholders, including the main voluntary organisations representing deaf people. I am not, therefore, going to spend time talking about it at any length except to welcome its provisions in the round and, more especially, the consequences which will automatically flow from the transfer of regulatory powers from the HAC to the HPC, such as improved public protection, the introduction of fitness-to-practise procedures and the significantly lower retention fees for practitioners. The HPC has proved its worth and its quality as a regulator and the transfer we are approving today has been the subject of considerable thought and consultation. Besides bringing the regulation of hearing aid dispensers up to date, the order also opens up over the medium term the prospect of regulatory simplification in that it should one day be possible to bring both public and private dispensers on to the same professional register, which they are not at the moment. Indeed, I understand that some NHS audiologists are not regulated at all and that those who are are subject to a mix of statutory and voluntary regulation. That situation cannot be anything other than confusing to the general public. It would be helpful to have the Minister’s confirmation that unification of regulation in the sense I have described is, indeed, the Government’s intention. I should also be grateful if the Minister would comment on how the Government plan in the future to regulate hearing aid assistance. Finally, I join the Minister in paying tribute to the Hearing Aid Council for its diligent and conscientious work over the years.