My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Davies for tabling this regret Motion and for comprehensively setting out the issues before us this evening. As the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann, said, this is a real problem because we see workplace penalties incentivising staff not to work, which cannot be a state of affairs that is allowed to continue.
I will start by making a general point of context. I have great concerns at how many regret Motions concerning regulations produced by the Department for Health and Social Care have been tabled in recent months, with more to come. Is this a concern that the Minister also shares? If so, I wonder whether he has a view on what action needs to be taken within the department in order to stem this flow. I suggest to your Lordships’ House that perhaps the reasons for justified dissatisfaction with a number of regulations that are being brought forward have roots in both procedure and policy that are falling short. I will return to that point later. I hope that the Minister will act swiftly and systematically to deal with this continuing problem.
As we heard in contributions from across the House, inadequate numbers of staff underscore the crisis in the National Health Service, which is creating a situation of irrevocable damage being done to the lives of people who experience record delays across the whole of the system. We have a crisis of failure in getting and keeping a workforce in place to provide the services that we need. This has not just happened by accident. It is evidenced as predating the pandemic and it is the result of nearly 13 years of very particular choices that have been made by this Government.
In 2021 alone, 2,000 dentists and over 7,000 nurses quit the NHS. There are more than 46,000 empty nursing posts across hospitals, mental health, community care and other services, which means that around one in 10 nursing roles is unfilled across the service overall. That is the context in which we are discussing this
regret Motion. As noble Lords on all sides of the House have asked repeatedly—as the noble Lord, Lord Allan, rightly reminded us, and as I and other noble Lords asked on yesterday’s Statement—where is the comprehensive and detailed workforce plan to retain, recruit and train the doctors, nurses and other health professionals whom the NHS so desperately needs? Will this plan take account of NHS pension arrangements?
With specific reference to NHS pensions, we have long been calling for the Government to sort them out and to remove the deterrents in the system to NHS staff staying in post or returning to work. This includes, for example, the cap on doctors’ pensions as, under the current rules, many experienced doctors are deterred from working later into their career because they are unable to opt out of paying into their NHS pension even if they have reached the cap. The result is that GPs are taking early retirement, which they would not have done otherwise, as the noble Baroness, Lady Masham, referred to.
We also know that record numbers of GPs are indicating that they will retire or leave the profession, with burnout and low morale at an all-time high. Can the Minister say how the numbers will stack up, when 4,700 GPs have been cut over the past decade and the long-promised 6,000 GPs are not on course to be delivered? How will the current pension arrangements assist in keeping GPs from wanting to retire and leave the profession? What action will be taken?
I turn to the specific comments of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee that form the basis of this regret Motion. I understand why my noble friend Lord Davies has seen fit to table this Motion. The committee’s report on this statutory instrument laments the short-term approach taken by the Government. The SLSC has drawn these regulations to the special attention of the House because
“some of the extensions proposed are quite short term and may not give re-employed retired staff or their employers the certainty first to encourage and then to retain staff to deal with the current NHS backlogs.”
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With this in mind, I was surprised that a full impact assessment had not been produced. The Explanatory Memorandum says that the reason is that
“no, or no significant, impact”
is foreseen. In light of the criticisms by the SLSC, does the Minister feel that it was the right course of action to not produce an impact assessment? If so, I would be interested to know what assessment the Minister has made of the contribution of these regulations to dealing with the NHS workforce crisis. As we have heard this evening and on many other occasions, one of the many contributors will be getting in place the right terms and conditions—including pensions—if the NHS is to have the workforce that it and we need. I look forward to the Minister’s response.