Health Bill [HL]

Amendments 118 and 119 are grouped with that of the noble Earl, Lord Howe. Before I speak to them, I echo the noble Earl’s comments on Amendment 116 about associated activities. Being familiar with this area of work, I had made an assumption that those words were included in the Bill to encompass things such as the provision of support, brokerage or care management. I was not until I heard the noble Earl that I realised quite how far and widely they could be interpreted. Clearly, they should not. I would be interested in the Minister’s reply. Amendments 118 and 119 also refer to the complaints procedures and the duties of the local commissioner in response to statements that are prepared. These amendments come from Help the Aged and Age Concern, soon to be a new charity for older people. Those bodies, like many Members of this Committee, are grateful that the Government listened to all the points made by noble Lords during the passage of the Health and Social Care Act. Older people who receive privately arranged or self-funded social care now have recourse to an individual complaints procedure, set out in Schedule 5 of the Bill. That is a welcome step forward. However, self-funders and those who arrange their own social care are still outwith the scope of the Human Rights Act, even though they may live in residential care and may be quite vulnerable. It is therefore important that they have protection and access to a robust complaints procedure. The amendment’s purpose is to move the Care Quality Commission and the local authorities up into the group of people who must receive reports of complaints, rather than those who might or may. If the CQC is to carry out its job, and local authorities are to be able to pin-point those providers of care that, according to CSCI, remain of unacceptably low quality, they need to know how complaints processes work and what their outcomes are. In addition, I suggest that the local commissioner has to be adequately trained and resourced to deal with this new role. They should have a duty to inform the CQC of any negative outcomes from a complaint.