HL Deb 25 June 1973 vol 343 cc1762-3

[No. 10] Clause 7, page 6, line 29, leave out from beginning to end of line 39 and insert "in accordance with regulations:

  1. (a) to administer, on behalf of the Area Health Authority by which the Committee was established, the arrangements made in pursuance of the Health Service Acts for the provision of general medical services, general dental services, general ophthalmic services and pharmaceutical services for the area of the Authority; and
  2. (b) to perform such other functions relating to those services as may be prescribed;
and if it appears to the Secretary of State that, in consequence of regulations made by virtue of the preceding provisions of this subsection, references to an Area Health Authority in particular provisions of the Health Service Acts should be construed as references to a Family Practitioner Committee, he may by regulations provide accordingly."

LORD ABERDARE

My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment. The purpose of it is to give an express indication on the face of the Bill of the functions which are to be conferred on Family Practitioner Committees by regulations under Clause 7(3), and to remove an unintentional limitation on the functions which can be conferred upon them. I beg to move.

Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(Lord Aberdare.)

BARONESS SEROTA

My Lords, as the noble Lord knows, in the course of our debates we on this side were not completely happy about all aspects of the working of the Family Practitioner Committees. This is not the moment at which we shall raise all those issues again. We are perfectly happy on this side to agree with the Amendment that the noble Lord has moved provided he can give us the assurance that it will in no way reduce the scope for the development of the integrated Health Service which we are all concerned to see, and will not increase the tendencies towards the bipartite system to which we expressed objection through the various stages of our debate of the Bill.

LORD ABERDARE

My Lords, I can assure the noble Baroness that it is explicit that the Family Practitioner Committcs will be concerned with the contracts side of family practitioner work administering the terms of service, including nationally settled remuneration and statutory disciplinary arrangements, but other parts of the Health Service will be the primary responsibility of the Area Health Authority.

On Question, Motion agreed to.