Chiropractors Bill (Hansard, 21 June 1994)

§ Lord Walton of Detchant
My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a third time.
The chiropractic profession in this country stands on the threshold of achieving the prize on which it has focused its energies in recent years. It has long sought the professional recognition which I believe it so richly deserves, and is almost at the point where it will see its hopes become a reality.
The growing recognition of the efficacy of manipulative treatments was marked by the setting up of the working party on osteopathy through the inspiration of Mr. Robert Maxwell of the King"s Fund. Once this initial breakthrough had been achieved, I had the privilege to introduce a Bill to regulate osteopathy into your Lordships" House. It unfortunately fell because of the general election; but subsequently Mr. Malcolm Moss introduced a Bill to the same end in another place, resulting eventually in the passage of the Osteopaths Act 1993. That Act has been rightly seen as the forerunner of the Bill before your Lordships today. I think it is appropriate on this occasion to take a moment to mark the invaluable contributions made by those individuals and organisations towards bringing the Chiropractors Bill before your Lordships" House today.
In 1992 the King's Fund set up a second working party, this time to report on chiropractic. As with the osteopaths, the working party was chaired by Sir Thomas Bingham, now Master of the Rolls, who incidentally will receive a well-deserved honorary degree in Oxford at encaenia tomorrow. The committee was ably served as secretary by Mr. Norman Illingworth. The report of that working party directly paved the way for the Chiropractors Bill; and the chiropractic and indeed osteopathic professions would, I am sure, wish me to mark their recognition of the fundamental role that the two King"s Fund working parties have played. I should also like to express my own thanks in particular to Mr. David Lidington for so successfully steering the Bill through its earlier stages in another place, and to Mr. Sackville and the noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege, as the responsible Ministers, for their invaluable assistance.
Finally, recognition is due to the sterling work of the Chiropractic Registration Steering Group, who have constituted the vanguard of the profession, and especially the three representatives from chiropractic associations in the UK, Ms Shelagh James-Hudson, Mr. Norman Coulson and Mr. Ian Hutchinson, who have worked so tirelessly on behalf of chiropractic and their fellow chiropractors. To date the Chiropractors Bill has completed all its parliamentary stages without amendment. I believe that this is a clear sign that not only have we got the principles right, but also that we 178 have achieved an efficient, effective and dependable model for regulation of a profession complementary to medicine. I beg to move.

§ Lord Rea
My Lords, I rise simply to say that this Bill is very much welcomed by these Benches, and I hope that it will serve as a model for other disciplines of complementary medicine, or professions allied to medicine, when they move towards self-regulation and registration.

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, at Second Reading my noble friend Lord Colwyn kindly explained that it was impossible for me to be present although I had been able to be involved in the much earlier processes of this Bill. Now it is for me to express his regrets that he cannot be here for Third Reading. As the noble Lords, Lord Walton and Lord Rea, have said, it is most satisfactory that the Bill has reached this stage.
I have been asked to thank, on behalf of the chiropractic profession, some of those who have helped both the Chiropractic Registration Steering Group and the passage of this Bill. Thanks are therefore due to my noble friend Lord Kindersley for his early support and help, as well as to Robert Maxwell, the secretary of the King's Fund, and indeed to all the members of the King's Fund working party including its chairman, Sir Thomas Bingham, and secretary, Norman Illingworth, to whom the noble Lord, Lord Walton, has already referred.
The Bill before us is closely modelled on that working party's recommendations. I also add my thanks to my noble friend Lady Cumberlege, to the Minister responsible in another place, Thomas Sackville, and to the officials in their department who provided quite invaluable advice and assistance throughout. I think it is now widely recognised that David Lidington"s name will go down in chiropractic history in this country for his efforts on behalf of the profession, but equally congratulations and thanks are due to the noble Lord, Lord Walton, for his tremendous work throughout, both as a valuable member of the King"s Fund working party and for taking this Bill through your Lordships" House in spite, I understand, of some considerable personal difficulties. Essentially, it is a question of thanking all those who have assisted in the passage of this important Bill which has given chiropractors an extra reason to celebrate their centenary next year. This Third Reading has my full support.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Cumberlege)
My Lords, I, too, should like to offer my warmest congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Walton, on his entirely successful piloting of this Bill through all its stages in your Lordships" House. As my noble friend has said, he has been a member of both of the King"s Fund working parties and he has been at the heart of the action from the very beginning. Today is a significant day in the history of chiropractic in the UK. We are closing one chapter but many more will follow—the 179 setting up of the General Chiropractic Council, the opening of the register, the running of the statutory scheme and so on.
The passage of the Bill has been a very public event —rather like playing on the centre court at Wimbledon. What follows will be more like the matches which take place on the outside courts. There will be just as much energy, effort and determination, but not so close to the public eye. It will take time for the initial members of the new general council to be identified and for the council itself to be established. The profession will also need to identify and gain resources for the council and make plans for the smooth transition from a voluntary to a statutory registration scheme. In the meantime, it will be important for the profession not to weaken its resolve but to continue to work and grow closer together. I congratulate all those who have been involved with all the events that have brought us and the profession to today's high point, and I send my best wishes for the future to all chiropractors and to their patients.

§ Lord Walton of Detchant
My Lords, I am deeply grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Rea, to the noble Baroness, Lady Hooper, and above all to the Minister, for their generous support and for their kind comments about the contribution that I have made to the debates leading up to this stage in relation to the Chiropractors Bill. I am confident that this profession is now one wholly deserving of statutory regulation which will serve the caring professions in this country well in the years to come. I invite the House to give the Bill a Third Reading.