NURSES REGISTRATION (IRELAND) BILL. (Hansard, 8 December 1919)

§ Mr. G. LOCKER-LAMPSON
On the Order Paper there are three Nurses Registration Bills, one dealing with England and Wales, one with Scotland, and one with Ireland. They have to be read together. I have got the Bills from the Vote Office—the Bill dealing with England and Wales and the Bill dealing with Ireland—but I have been unable at the Vote Office to obtain a Bill dealing with Scotland, which, I understand, has not yet been printed. If they were un- 1085 connected it would not matter a bit, but, so far as I can see, they are very closely connected. If you look at the English Bill, in Clause 6, Sub-section you see these words: In the event of provision being hereafter made for the establishment of a register of nurses in Scotland or Ireland, the Council shall make Rules under this Act enabling persons registered as nurses in Scotland or Ireland, as the case may be, to obtain admission to the register of nurses established under this Act; and, with a vow to securing a uniform standard of qualification in all parts of the United Kingdom, the Council shall, before making any Rules under this Act with respect to the conditions of admission to the register, consult with any Nursing Councils which may be established by Parliament for Scotland and Ireland respectively. Therefore, so far as I can see, the English Act cannot possibly come into operation until the Irish Act and the Scottish Act have been passed. Then, if you turn to the Irish Bill, Clause 6, Sub-section 3, you see: On the establishment of a register of nurses in England and Wales or Scotland the Council shall make Boles under this Act enabling persons registered as nurses in England and Wales or Scotland, as the case may be, to obtain admission to the register of nurses established under this Act. The whole of this legislation, as I understand it, is to get a uniform system of registration in all three countries, and that is one piece of legislation really. What I want to know is this: Supposing you send up the two Bills that are printed, one of which we have read a second time, and the other which we are asked to read a second time; if they go to the House of Lords it seems to me that they will be completely inoperative until next Session, when, if legislation is carried out, the Scottish Bill can be passed. I should very much like to know what the Government have in their minds. Why have they not printed this Scottish Act? It seems perfectly useless to proceed with this second reading now The whole of the three Bills have to be dealt with.

Dr. MURRAY
I had waited in the House in order to a what my right hon Friend has said very much better than I could, and therefore I will not pursue it. I want to say, however, that we cannot deal with these Bills separately, we ought to have all three together. Why this bill has not been printed I cannot understand. It is down on the Order Paper with a score of other items. I hope it will be explained why it is that the Scottish Bill is not in our hands as well as the Irish Bill.

§ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL for IRELAND (Mr. Denis Henry)
The Bill before the House is practically a copy of the Bill that applies to England, and which has already received a third reading. A very slight verbal alteration is made to suit the administration of it to Ireland. Another provision contained in it is a provision absolutely identical to that in the English Bill which enables Irish and Scottish nurses to be registered in England. We propose that English and Scottish nurses shall be registered in Ireland. The Scottish Bill is on the Paper, and I am informed that it will be taken at the earliest possible moment, and the idea is to press this Bill and the Scottish Bill on as rapidly as possible.