Health Service Commissioner for England (Complaint Handling) Bill (HL Bill 99)
A
BILL
TO
Make provision about the handling of complaints by the Health Service
Commissioner for England; to require the Commissioner to notify a
complainant of the reason for the delay if the investigation of the complaint is
not concluded within a 12 month period; to require the Commissioner to lay
before Parliament an annual report giving details of how long investigations
of complaints have taken to be concluded and progress towards meeting a
target of concluding investigations within a 12 month period; and for
connected purposes.
Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and
consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present
Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Statements and reports: investigations not concluded within 12 months
(1)
Section 14 of the Health Service Commissioners Act 1993 (reports etc by Health
Service Commissioner for England) is amended as follows.
(2) After subsection (2H) insert—
“(2HA)
5Where the Commissioner has not concluded an investigation before the
end of the 12 month period beginning with the date the complaint was
received, the Commissioner must send a statement explaining the
reason for the delay to the person who made the complaint.”
(3) After subsection (4) insert—
“(4A)
10The general report laid under subsection (4)(a) must include
information about—
(a)
how long investigations that were concluded in the year to
which the report relates took to be concluded,
(b)
how many of those investigations took more than 12 months to
15be concluded, and
(c)
the action being taken with a view to all investigations being
concluded within 12 months.”
Health Service Commissioner for England (Complaint Handling) BillPage 2
2 Commencement, extent and short title
(1)
This Act comes into force at the end of the period of two months beginning
with the day on which it is passed.
(2) This Act extends to England and Wales only.
(3)
5This Act may be cited as the Health Service Commissioner for England
(Complaint Handling) Act 2015.