HC Deb 07 July 2003 vol 408 cc653-4W
Chris Grayling

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will define 'any' person under Clause 84(1) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill; who will be able to request copies of a report; whether individuals who appear in CSCI reports will have their right to privacy protected; and whether a person requesting a copy of a CSCI report will be required to give notice of their request. [122934]

Dr. Ladyman

'Any person' in this context would include an individual or a legal person (such as a company). The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) must make reports available to any person on request. There is no requirement to give notice of a request. We would expect CSCI to deal with all requests for copies of reports within a reasonable time.

CSCI will be subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the common law of confidentiality in handling personal information relating to individuals. Under normal circumstances, we would not expect that the CSCI will include personal data relating to identifiable individuals in its reports.

Chris Grayling

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what a reasonable time will be under Clause 85(1) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill; if the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) will be required to give notice of their intention to inspect; if he will define the term 'reasonably believes to be used' under Clause 85(2)(b); what evidence CSCI will be required to produce that a premises should be inspected; and who will provide the authority to enter and inspect under Clause 85(3). [122952]

Dr. Ladyman

It will be for the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) to determine what constitutes a reasonable time under clause 82 (formerly 85) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. The purpose of this clause is to allow the CSCI to conduct an inspection of a premise at any time of the full 24-hour day so long as it is justifiable given the needs of the inspection. Whether it would be reasonable to give advance notice of an individual inspection would be a decision that the CSCI would have to make in the light of the particular circumstances.

CSCI would be able to enter premises that it reasonably believed were being used in connection with the provision of English local authority social services. It is not proposed that the Bill will define the term "reasonably believed". Essentially, CSCI will have to establish that, at the time of entry to the premises, they genuinely believed on reasonable grounds that the premises were being used to provide local authority social services. CSCI's power and authority to inspect is derived from clause 82 of the Bill. Clause 82(3) of the Bill, requires a person proposing to exercise rights of inspection to produce a duly authenticated document showing their right to inspect. This will be proof of their identity and position within CSCI.

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