§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Commission for Social Care Inspection will be required to give notice of its intention to conduct an inspection under clause 76(6) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122912]
§ Dr. LadymanThe Bill provides that the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) may exercise its powers of entry and inspection at any reasonable time. 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.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether the Government will stipulate a time period in which the report must be published under clause 76(7) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill; [122913]
(2) what the criteria will be for a decision to be taken as to whether the publishing of a report is appropriate under clause 76(7) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122914]
§ Dr. LadymanThe intention behind this clause is that the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) will always publish a report following an inspection, although it will have the discretion to determine the content of that report. We will be tabling amendments at report in order to make this intention clear.
CSCI will also be responsible for determining the appropriate time period in which a report should be published. This may vary, depending on such factors as the length and complexity of the review or investigation that has been carried out.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Government will stipulate a time period in which the CSCI must inform the Secretary of State of its decision to award the lowest performance rating under clause 77(2) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122915]
§ Dr. LadymanNo. As an independent inspectorate, this will be a decision for the Commission for Social Care Inspection.
It is implicit that the Secretary of State will be notified as soon as possible.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether the Secretary of State will make public the recommendations that the CSCI have put forward under clause 77(2) and (3) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill; [122916]
531W(2) whether the CSCI will be required to make the notice public under clause 77(4(a)) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill; [122927]
(3) where the CSCI finds a local authority is failing to discharge any of its social service functions to an acceptable standard, whether the CSCI will make their findings public under clause 77(3) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122917]
§ Dr. LadymanUnder clause 77 (now clause 75 following amendments made in committee) the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) will issue advice and make recommendations on a wide variety of subjects. Some of these may be appropriate for publication. However, in other cases, such advice may contain confidential information. It will be a matter for CSCI with the Secretary of State as appropriate, to decide if its advice and recommendations should be published.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines the Government will issue requiring the CSCI to report to the Secretary of State that a local authority is failing to discharge any of its social service functions to an acceptable standard under clause 77 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122918]
§ Dr. LadymanThe Secretary of State for Health has no powers under the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill to issue such guidelines to the Commission for Social Care Inspection. In fulfilling its duty under clause 77 (following amendments made in committee, this is now clause 75), it will be the Commission's responsibility to develop appropriate reporting mechanisms for informing the Secretary of State that a local authority is significantly failing to discharge any of its functions to an acceptable standard.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what additional functions the CSCI is to have under Clause 80 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122929]
§ Dr. LadymanThe social care sector and the methods of delivery of local authority social services are constantly changing, with new initiatives emerging that might necessitate giving additional functions to the Commission for Social Care Inspection. Such additional functions cannot yet be identified and therefore cannot be dealt with on the face of the Bill itself or described here.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health under Clause 82 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill, what the procedure is for lodging a complaint against the CSCI; who will be responsible for investigating complaints against the CSCI; whether complaints against the CSCI will be made public; whether the Secretary of State will make public a direction in writing when the CSCI has failed in its discharge of functions; and whether the Secretary of State is able to remove the chief executive where a significant failure of a discharge in the CSCI's functions has occurred. [122930]
532W
§ Dr. LadymanComplaints about the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) would in the first instance be made to CSCI itself, which would carry out an internal investigation of the complaint. It would be for CSCI itself to develop detailed protocols for how such complaints should be managed. If the complainant remained dissatisfied with the outcome of such an investigation, then their complaint could be referred to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. The Bill would not place a duty upon CSCI to make public complaints that have been made against it. However, in its annual report to Parliament CSCI would have a duty to report on the way it has exercised their functions over the course of the year. This report would be expected to give general details of the number and type of complaints that have been made.
The Bill would not place a duty upon the Secretary of State to automatically make public any direction that he issues to the CSCI. He would decide on a case by case basis whether it would be appropriate to publish such a direction.
Schedule 6(5) of the Bill makes clear that CSCI would have responsibility for the appointment of its own chief inspector. The Secretary of State would no powers to appoint, nor to remove, the chief inspector.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the specified factors which may be taken into account when a fee is to be determined under Clause 83(3)(c) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122932]
§ Dr. LadymanUnder clause 83(3) (now 80(3)) the Secretary of State may specify in regulations the factors that Commission for Social Care Inspection must take into account in determining any fee payable under section 83(1) (now 80(1)). The detail of these regulations is yet to be developed, and we will be consulting on these in due course.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the terms of reference are for the independent person or panel under Clause 83(b) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill; and who will be responsible for appointing the independent person or panel. [122933]
§ Dr. LadymanSection 80(6) (formally section 83(6)) will allow the Secretary of State to appoint under regulations an independent person or panel to review fees payable in particular classes of cases under section 80(1). These regulations may also include any terms of reference the Secretary of State considers appropriate.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what guidelines the Government have set out for CSCI to devise criteria for the annual reviews of local authority social service departments under Clause 75 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill; [122935]
(2) when the Government will publish the criteria the CSCI has devised for the annual reviews of local authority social service departments. [122936]
§ Dr. LadymanThe Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) will publish the criteria. This cannot happen until the CSCI has been created, and has devised the criteria, and they have been approved by the 533W Secretary of State. The Secretary of State does not have any powers under the Bill to issue guidelines to the body in respect of those criteria.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what remedies the Secretary of State has if the CSCI fails to take into account the guidance issued to local authorities under section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 (c42) under Clause 75 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill; [122937] s
(2) what remedies the Secretary of State has if the CSCI fails to take into account the standards prepared and published under section 23 of the Care Standards Act 2000 under Clause 75 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122938]
§ Dr. LadymanThe Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill provides under Clause 82 (first print of the Bill) that, where the Secretary of State considers that the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) is failing to a significant extent to discharge its functions, he may give it a direction in writing, with which the CSCI is obliged to comply.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Government expects CSCI to give notice where it intends to carry out an inspection of an authority under Clause 75(7) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122939]
§ Dr. LadymanThe Bill provides that Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) may exercise its powers of entry and inspection at any reasonable time. 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.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what standards the CSCI will apply to ascertain whether a local authority social service department has improved under Clause 72 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill; [122945]
(2) what standards the CSCI will apply to ascertain the effectiveness of measures taken by local authority social service departments to carry out services listed in 2(a)-2(f) under clause 72 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122946]
§ Dr. LadymanThe Commission for Social Care Inspection will devise criteria against which to assess the effectiveness, and improvement, of local authority social services departments. These criteria will take into account any statutory requirements that exist for local authorities, guidance issued by the Secretary of State under section seven of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 and, where appropriate, standards prepared under section 23 of the Care Standards Act 2000.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria the CSCI will use to assess the economy and their value for money on services under Clause 72 of the Health and Social Care Bill. [122947]
534W
§ Dr. LadymanThe Commission for Social Care Inspection will devise the criteria it will use to assess the economy and value for money of local authority social services under clause 72 (now clause 70 following amendments made in committee) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Government plan to require the CSCI to consult and involve the service users in its work at(a) national and (b) local level under Clause 72 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122949]
§ Dr. LadymanI refer the hon. Member to the response I gave the hon. Member for West Chelmsford (Mr. Burns) on Monday 23 June 2003,Official Report, columns 573–74W.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how the CSCI will keep the Secretary of State informed of provision of services, and how frequently, under Clause 73 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122950]
§ Dr. LadymanIn general, the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) will determine how, and the frequency with which, it will keep the Secretary of State informed about the provision of local authority social services in accordance with its obligation under clause 71 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill.
Specifically under subsection (4) of that clause, the CSCI, when requested by the Secretary of State, must give him advice or information on such matters connected with the provision of English local authority social services as he may request.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the maximum fine payable is under Clause 87(4) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill; [122957]
(2) what the maximum fine payable is under Clause 88(3) of the Health and Social Care Bill [122959]
(3) what the maximum fine payable is under Clause 86(5) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122964]
§ Dr. LadymanThe penalty on summary conviction of an offence under clauses 86, 87 and 88 of the Bill (as introduced, now clauses 83, 84, 85) is a fine not exceeding level 4 (£2500) on the standard scale, as set out in the Explanatory Notes.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, under Clause 88(1) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill, who is responsible for deciding what constitutes a prescribed person; under what circumstances the Government would expect the CSCI to consider an explanation necessary; and whether it would expect the CSCI to lay down the prescription required for such times and places as an explanation may be required. [122958]
§ Dr. LadymanThe definition of a prescribed person and the prescription of times and places at which an explanation will be required will be set out in regulations which will be made by the Secretary of State.
535WIt will be for the Commission for Social Care Inspection to decide where an explanation is necessary or expedient but this might include where it finds discrepancies within data it has received or where information it has obtained provides evidence of potential failure on the part of a local authority.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Government will put in place safeguards to ensure that vital equipment is not removed without prior agreement under Clause 86(1)(b) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122961]
§ Dr. LadymanNo.
We expect the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) will normally obtain any information or other material such as technical equipment it may need by agreement. The power to remove equipment may be necessary where inspectors suspect, for example, tampering of either data or equipment has taken place or that service user safety is being put at risk. It is right in such circumstances that CSCI are able to remove such equipment for examination without having to negotiate first for its release.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Government will put in place safeguards to ensure that only records, with particular reference to those held on computer, which are relevant to an investigation are inspected and that an individual's right to privacy is protected under Clause 86 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. [122963]
§ Dr. LadymanSubsection (1) of clause 86 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill (first print) establishes that the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) may access records that it considers are necessary or expedient for the purpose of its functions under chapter 5 of the Bill. It will be for CSCI to decide what information is relevant to its inspections.
This will ensure that CSCI will not be able to inspect records unless it considers that they are relevant to the exercise of its functions. A body will have recourse to the courts if CSCI exercises its powers in an inappropriate way.