I will commit to writing to my hon. Friend with details of the products licensed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for the purpose of restraint, if that would be helpful.
1.15 pm
Let me come back to the amendments tabled by the right hon. Member for North Norfolk on use-of-force policies. We totally agree with him that force should never be used to inflict pain on, degrade or humiliate patients. We are talking about places where people should always feel safe, and that is very much the intent behind the measures that we want to put into the Bill. The Bill does not say anything about when force can and cannot be used, and it does not prohibit the use of force in any particular circumstances. That is covered by criminal law. It is worth noting that the Health and Social Care Act 2012 created the offence of failing to protect service users from certain types of behaviour, including abuse, degrading treatment and acts that are not proportionate. We therefore do not accept that it is necessary for the Bill to address that issue; it should be part of criminal law. We will, though, look into all these matters when it comes to the guidance.
My hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch has tabled amendments that would make the legislation cover independent hospitals that treat wholly private patients. I understand the intent behind that, but he will be aware that we have been taking the Bill forward very much in the spirit of consensus, and to avoid a big consultation with the sector, we have framed the legislation around services that the NHS commissions. To give my hon. Friend some assurance, the NHS will clearly place patients only where there are the best possible services. We think that that will guarantee that the legislation will apply in all cases. That is very much consistent with how we would apply the law.