STANDING COMMITTEES OF BOARDS (Hansard, 7 February 1979)

§ Mr. Moyle
I beg to move amendment No. 18, in page 5, line 41, at end insert— (3A) In particular the Board, when consulted by the Central Council with respect to matters dealt with in a report of the latter's Midwifery Committee, shall seek the views of its own Midwifery Committee on those matters.". The amendment is proposed to clarify the midwifery clause. There had been an intention to allow the midwifery committee of the Central Council to consult direct with the midwifery committees of the four national boards. We now understand from the nursing professions that they feel it is better for the consultation chain to run from the standing midwifery committee of the Central Council to the Central Council, from there to the national boards and on to the standing midwifery committees of the national boards. That is the wish of the profession. There is no element of principle in it. It is merely a reordering of the consultative procedures.

§ Mr. Moyle
I beg to move amendment No. 19, in page 6, line 10, after "Board", insert "(a)".

§ Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this we may take Government amendment No. 20.

§ Mr. Moyle
In Committee I accepted in principle the idea that the majority of the members of the standing joint committee should be persons of experience of the professional field with which the committee was concerned. The proposed amendment at that stage, however, was defective as it used the term "specialty" which might in certain cases be open to misinterpretation or too narrow a construction. We tabled these amendments to remove that ambiguity. As the House 471 has already accepted the principle in amendments Nos. 7 and 8, and 29 and 30, I hope that it will accept this amendment.

§ Mr. Hodgson
The Minister gave an undertaking in Committee. We are glad that he put his commitment in formal parliamentary language. We are happy to see the amendment made.