Health and Social Care Bill

My Lords, my Amendment 191 relates to the standard conditions that Monitor must determine, in public, to be included in each licence under this chapter. It is a fairly straightforward amendment and I hope the Minister will recognise that it in no way affects the core principle behind the Bill; it is just an attempt to improve it. Clause 95(7) says: "““Before determining the first set of the standard conditions Monitor must consult the persons mentioned in subsection (8)””." Subsection (8) mentions the Secretary of State, the Commissioning Board, primary care trusts, the Care Quality Commission and, importantly, "““such other persons as are likely to be affected by the inclusion of the conditions in licences under this Chapter””." Of course, the people most likely to be affected are the patients. If that is the case, it would be unusual not to include any bodies that work or speak on behalf of patients and the public. Therefore my amendment suggests the inclusion of ““Local Healthwatch”” and, "““the appropriate health and wellbeing board””," ““Local Healthwatch”” being the organisation that speaks for local people and the health and well-being board having a role in commissioning. I hope that the Minister sees the value of including these two bodies.