Health and Social Care Bill

My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend, to whom I should like to pay a particular tribute for his work to bring interested parties together on this important issue to see whether a common view could be found on a practical way forward. Both I and my ministerial colleagues are determined to ensure that we address the concerns of pharmacists and registered pharmacy technicians about the risk of prosecution for inadvertent as opposed to wilful or reckless dispensing errors. We and the profession want to see a learning culture that encourages the reporting of dispensing errors so that any helpful lessons can be learnt. Equally, we must make sure that any changes we introduce continue to give patients protection under the law and do not in any way compromise patient safety. It was therefore disappointing to me that, after a great deal of dialogue in recent months, there has not been a sufficient measure of agreement to proceed on a specific legislative change at this time. I have to accept the reality of that, despite everyone's best efforts. I turn to the next steps in resolving this issue. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency intends to carry out a review of sanctions and penalties in medicines legislation. This will extend well beyond issues that have arisen in dispensing errors, but the review will look at the respective roles of medicines legislation and professional regulation in this area. It will also enable other important stakeholders, such as patients and the public, to contribute. Indeed, I have no doubt that the MHRA will encourage all interested parties to have their say. The possible role of a due diligence defence will remain on the table for consideration in the wider context of this review. It is worth stressing this point as due diligence defences have a well established usage in association with strict liability offences in many areas of legislation, including medicines legislation. This will be a significant and wide-ranging review, and it is important to ensure that it covers the right ground. The MHRA would aim to scope the coverage, conduct and timetable of the review by September 2012. I will just say to the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, that membership of the review team will be established as part of the scoping work. As part of that scoping, we will look at the feasibility of including an independent element to the conduct of the review as it relates to the challenging task of achieving a suitable balance between the roles of medicines legislation and professional regulation. In the mean time, we are encouraged by the guidance to government prosecutors in England and Wales issued by the Crown Prosecution Service in June 2010 and by more recent dialogue. It is clear from this that the CPS takes very seriously the issue of judging the question of whether there is a public interest in mounting a prosecution. I am sure, too, that the Director of Public Prosecutions will read tonight's debate and consider very carefully the comments that have been made. We will certainly look to encourage any opportunity for further constructive dialogue on the issue. It is important to emphasise that all parties have their part to play in developing a solution and a culture that protects the public while encouraging and supporting pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to report, and learn from, mistakes—which in turn improves patient safety. In this regard, we see the role of the professional leadership bodies for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians as critical; and we would encourage pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to ensure that they are well placed to respond to the professional regulator in a manner that makes the public's interest central to any future discussion. In conclusion, I reiterate my thanks to my noble friend for enabling this afternoon's debate on the issue. I hope he will be reassured by the undertakings I have given that, despite the current lack of consensus, we will continue to work with interested parties on a way forward.