§ Lord Clement-Jonesasked Her Majesty's Government:
Which government agency or department is responsible for the selection and appointment of specialist members of tribunals established under 79WA the Registered Homes Act 1984 and the Protection of Children Act 1999; what are the criteria for such appointments; and whether the qualifications and experience of appointees are available for inspection by the public. [HL3233]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)Under the Registered Homes Act, the Lord President of the Council appoints the panel of expert members who can act as members on a Registered Homes Tribunal. The Act requires that panel members must have experience in social work, medicine, nursing or midwifery or such experience as the Lord President of the Council considers suitable. The Privy Council makes appointments to individual tribunal hearings on the basis of members' relevant experience in the type case which is the subject of the appeal.
For tribunals established under the Protection of Children Act, lay members will be appointed by the Lord Chancellor. The Act provides for lay members to be appointed after consultation with the Secretary of State for Health and no person may be appointed unless he or she satisfies such requirements as may be prescribed. The panel of lay members will include people with appropriate experience in social services, the National Health Service and education services.
The Care Standards Bill will mean a change to the current tribunal arrangements for registered homes. The Bill repeals the Registered Homes Act, under which the Registered Homes Tribunal is established, and provides for appeals brought in respect of regulated care services to fall to the tribunal established under the Protection of Children Act. The organisation and constitution of the Protection of Children Act tribunal will be expanded to accommodate all appeal cases resulting from the new regulatory arrangements.
We intend that appointments to the panels of chairmen and expert members under the new tribunal arrangements will be made by the Lord Chancellor. Such appointments will be prescribed and will include people with appropriate expertise within all the care services to be regulated.
Information about the qualifications and experience of expert members appointed to the Registered Homes Tribunal is publicly available from the Privy Council on request. No lay appointments have yet been made to the tribunal established under the Protection of Children Act. The Lord Chancellor's Department has no plans to publish information about lay members.