§ (1) Section 42(6) of the 1946 Act (disqualification for inclusion in lists prepared under Part IV of the 1946 Act and removal therefrom of persons disqualified under provisions in force in Scotland corresponding to provisions of the said Part IV for inclusion in lists prepared under those provisions so in force) shall have effect with the insertion, after the word 'Scotland', of the words 'or Northern Ireland'.
§ (2) Subsection (6) of section 43 of the 1947 Act (which makes in relation to Scotland provision corresponding to that of the said section 42(6)) shall have effect with the substitution, for the words from the beginning of the subsection to the words 'under that Part of that Act', of the words 'If under any provisions in force in England and Wales or Northern Ireland corresponding to the provisions of this Part of this Act a person is for the time being disqualified for inclusion in all lists prepared under those provisions', and the insertion, after the words subsection (1) of this section', of the words that person'.—[Mr. K. Robinson.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
51§ The Minister of Health (Mr. Kenneth Robinson)I beg to move, That the Clause be read a Second time.
The new Clause fulfils an undertaking which was given in Committee. At that stage, the hon. Member for Carlton (Mr. Holland) moved a new Clause with the same object as the new Clause I now present. I welcomed the hon. Member's new Clause but I considered that its drafting required further examination. The hon. Member withdrew it to enable us to prepare a Clause for introduction at this stage.
Under the National Health Service Act, certain practitioners have a right, if they so wish, to practise in the Service, as provided under Part IV of the Act, in England and Wales. This right can be annulled only if a person is disqualified from practising under Part IV by the tribunals constituted under Section 42 of the Act. There are similar provisions as regards Scotland and Northern Ireland in the relative Scottish and Northern Ireland Acts.
4.15 p.m.
There are three separate tribunals for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Section 16 (6) of the Northern Ireland Act provides that a person who has been disqualified by the tribunal for England and Wales or the tribunal for Scotland is also disqualified in Northern Ireland. Section 42 (6) of the 1946 Act provides that a person disqualified by the Scottish tribunal is also disqualified from practising in England and Wales. Section 43 (6) of the 1947 Act similarly provides that a person cannot practise in Scotland if he has been disqualified by the tribunal for England and Wales.
Those two provisions do not, however, disqualify a person who has been disqualified by the tribunal for Northern Ireland from practising in England and Wales and in Scotland, respectively. Subsection (1) of the new Clause is intended to remedy the deficiency in the Act for England and Wales and subsection (2) performs the same function for the Scottish Act.
§ Mr. Philip Holland (Carlton)I should like to thank the Minister and the Parliamentary Secretary for fulfilling the pledge which they gave in Standing Committee 52 to introduce the new Clause, which, as the Minister has just said, has the same objective as the one which appeared in Standing Committee in the names of my hon. Friends the Members for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Mrs. Knight) and Liverpool, Garston (Mr. Fortescue) and myself.
In opposition, there is often a slight tendency to have misgivings about the motives of a Government spokesman who, in a sense, rejects the wording of a proposal which is moved by someone in opposition but offers to put it right at a later stage of the Bill. On this occasion, I should like to acknowledge that the new Clause moved by the Government deals with the situation much more adequately and fully than the more cryptically worded Clause which I attempted to move in Standing Committee. On that basis, I should like to say how warmly I welcome it.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.