Health and Social Care Bill

I hear what the noble Lord says, but if he remembers the relationship and the aims of CPPIH, a lot of them echo the arguments that he has been making about such a structure. We may simply have to differ. The Government are very keen to have a structure that is up and running immediately, linking to, plugged into and influencing the national bodies that it needs to, and that it is not spending its time on its central structure. That is why this arrangement has been sought and that is the philosophy behind it. The noble Baroness, Lady Masham, raised a number of issues, some of which will be considered in the next grouping. Perhaps I could come back to them then so that I do not take too long. I am astonished and delighted to see so many noble Lords who are interested in what I have to say on this. My noble friend Lady Jolly asked about information-gathering, and she is absolutely right. In many ways this bears out how the CQC is very useful in this regard. By being hosted within the CQC, HealthWatch England will gain support from CQC expertise on the best methods of gathering and making the most of intelligence from local healthwatch. As part of HealthWatch England's set-up plan, the CQC has dedicated resources to identify and develop the system that will support information flow between HealthWatch England and local healthwatch. I take on board very strongly what she said about the need for that information to be produced in a form that can be generalised and applied nationally, and that there are not lots of disparate bits of information that cannot be put together. The noble Lord, Lord Warner, asked again about campaigning. I said in Committee that HealthWatch England and local healthwatch can campaign. I followed that up with a letter confirming that, which I hope he got—but perhaps he did not—and I reiterate it here. I hope that that is of help to the noble Lord. I thought that the vision of the noble Lord, Lord Patel, was exemplary. Being a statutory committee within the CQC ensures that HealthWatch England has its own statutory form while being hosted by the CQC. We think that this distinct identity, rather than just being part of the CQC without a specific form, will help HealthWatch England. That is why that is there. The noble Lord, Lord Patel, made an excellent point about the public being able to contact HealthWatch England directly rather than through the CQC. I can confirm that this idea is being actively discussed as part of HealthWatch England's establishment. It is very important that information can go straight in. The noble Lord, Lord Patel, made a number of statements with which I completely agree. What he said HealthWatch England needed to be is what we intend it to be. While being hosted by the CQC, HealthWatch England will have its own statutory functions and relationships with other bodies, and a range of statutory safeguards to ensure that it is free to act independently. I am pleased that the noble Lord made those points and I am very happy to assure him that that is the case. It is worth remembering that if HealthWatch England were significantly to fail to fulfil its functions, or not fulfil them properly—for example, in being the national voice of patients—the Secretary of State could intervene, so that protection is offered as well. The noble Baroness, Lady Murphy, put it very nicely when she said that HealthWatch England and local healthwatch will be ““the eyes and ears”” of patients and the public. I hear scepticism from some but that is the intention, and it is building on the experience of what worked and what did not work in the past. HealthWatch England must be heard in all the key fora, nationally feeding information through from local areas. It has statutory protection to ensure that it can do its job without being weighed down with bureaucracy. I am very happy at this point to be interrupted by anyone on anything. I do not think that anyone wants to interrupt me, in which case I hope noble Lords will be reassured that the Bill, with the amendments that we have proposed, provides the safeguards that are being sought, which I fully understand. We are coming from the same place. We want to make sure that the public and patient voice is heard, which is why the Government have made these proposals in the way that they have for HealthWatch England and for local healthwatch organisations. I trust that noble Lords will feel that independence is secured by those statutory protections and that the noble Lord will be happy to withdraw his amendment.