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Religion Or Belief Discrimination

That the draft Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, which were laid before this House on 8th May, be approved.—[Derek Twigg.]

Question agreed to.

Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 118(6)(Standing Committees on Delegated Legislation),

Sexual Orientation Discrimination

That the draft Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, which were laid before this House on 8th May, be approved.

Madam Deputy Speaker (Sylvia Heal): I think the Ayes have it.

Hon. Members: No.

Division deferred till Wednesday 25 June, pursuant to Orders [28 June 2001 and 29 October 2002].

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

Ordered,

That, at the sitting on Thursday 26th June, the Speaker shall put the Questions necessary to dispose of proceedings on the Motions in the name of Peter Hain relating to Standards and Privileges, Standards and Privileges: Amendments to Standing Orders and Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards: Term of Office not later than Six o'clock; the Questions shall include the Questions on any Amendments selected by the Speaker which may then be moved; the Questions may be decided after the moment of interruption; and the Orders of the House of 28th June 2001 and 29th October 2002 relating to deferred Divisions shall not apply.—[Derek Twigg.]

NORTHERN IRELAND GRAND COMMITTEE

Ordered,

That—


(1) the proposal for a draft Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 be referred to the Northern Ireland Grand Committee;

23 Jun 2003 : Column 834

(2) the Committee shall meet at Westminster on Tuesday 8th July at half-past Two o'clock; and


(3) at that sitting—


(a) the Committee shall consider the legislative proposal referred to it under paragraph (1) above;


(b) the Chairman shall interrupt proceedings not later than two and a half hours after their commencement; and


(c) at the conclusion of those proceedings, a motion for the adjournment of the Committee may be made by a Minister of the Crown, pursuant to paragraph (5) of Standing Order No. 116 (Northern Ireland Grand Committee (sittings)).—[Derek Twigg.]

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Ordered,

That Sir Patrick Cormack be discharged from the Foreign Affairs Committee and Richard Ottaway be added to the Committee.—[Mr. John McWilliam, on behalf of the Committee of Selection.]

ACCOMMODATION AND WORKS

Ordered,

That Keith Hill be discharged from the Accommodation and Works Committee and Mr Bob Ainsworth be added to the Committee.—[Mr. John McWilliam, on behalf of the Committee of Selection.]

HEALTH

Ordered,

That Sandra Gidley be discharged from the Health Committee and Mr Paul Burstow be added to the Committee.—[Mr. John McWilliam, on behalf of the Committee of Selection.]

PETITION

Pharmacies

11.2 pm

Mr. George Osborne (Tatton): I wish to present a petition on behalf of many hundreds of my constituents who want to preserve their local pharmacies and safeguard the services that they provide to the local communities that I represent. I am delighted that a Health Minister is present to hear the petition.

The petition states:

The Petition of the residents of Wilmslow, Nether Alderley, Northwich, Barnton, Alderley Edge and the surrounding areas


Declares that they urge the Government to reject the Office of Fair Trading proposals that would allow unrestricted opening of pharmacies able to dispense NHS prescriptions.


The Petitioners therefore request the House of Commons to call on the Government to preserve local pharmacies and safeguard their continued services to local communities.


And the Petitioners remain, etc.

To lie upon the Table.

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Community Health Councils (Cheshire)

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Derek Twigg.]

11.3 pm

Mr. Stephen O'Brien (Eddisbury): I am grateful to Mr. Speaker for granting me this debate about the needless and deeply resented closure of Cheshire's three excellent community health councils.

This is a case of the Government springing on the country a final decision, as at paragraph 10.35 on page 95 of the NHS plan, which was published in July 2000, just as the House rose for the summer recess, as it happens—an amazing coincidence. In the plan, the Government said:

"community health councils will be abolished and funding redirected to help fund the new Patient Advocate and Liaison Service and the other new citizens empowerment mechanisms".

On 15 November 2000, during Prime Minister's questions—or PMPs, as they are more commonly known these days—

Mr. George Osborne (Tatton): PMPs?

Mr. O'Brien: Yes: Prime Minister's porkies. I asked the Prime Minister the following question:

"Is the Prime Minister aware that his proposals to scrap community health councils—independent watchdogs for NHS patients, such as Cheshire Central and Chester and Ellesmere Port—are bitterly opposed by my constituents, patients and staff? Will he drop those plans?"

He replied, most sincerely:

"I am aware that there is bitter opposition, which is why the proposals are being consulted on. If he goes round the country, however, the hon. Gentleman will find that people in certain areas do not believe that community health councils have been as effective as they might be. It is precisely because we want to consult that we have issued the health plan. We will report back to the House in due course on the consultation."—[Official Report, 15 November 2000; Vol. 356, c. 937.]

Later that day, the Prime Minister's office briefed all the journalists and regional media. Lo and behold, on the following Monday I received a three-page letter from the Prime Minister in which he had to retract his statement to the House. Of course, he did not come here to explain: he just sent me a personal letter, which started "Dear Stephen" and ended "Yours ever, Tony"—not that I had ever met him before—in which he had to admit that there had not been prior consultation leading up to the Government's decision cavalierly to scrap community health councils. The letter said:

"I thought it would be helpful if I clarified the nature of the consultation on which we are currently engaged . . . Our proposals mean that Community Health Councils are to be abolished, subject to legislation . . . We have now embarked on a process of consultation to involve key stakeholders, including the Association of Community Health Councils in England and Wales and Community Health Council staff and members in developing the detail of these new arrangements . . . This process will build on the best practice from Community Health Councils and others".

He concluded:

"This better describes the consultation I alluded to in my answer during Prime Minister's Question time."

I believe that the campaign that ensued was the result of deep anxiety about that extraordinary retraction and doublespeak, which was exposed the following week in a Westminster Hall debate that I was fortunate enough to secure. A long campaign followed.

Does that all sound rather familiar to the Minister? Was not the Prime Minister's botched Cabinet reshuffle yet another case of, "Here we go again: decision first, consultation to follow"?

Two and a half years later, what has it all come to? It is a tale of woeful incompetence by this Government—yet again, under Labour, patients last, Government shambles first. In Cheshire, we are losing three very good CHCs—Chester and Ellesmere Port, Cheshire Central and Macclesfield, all with excellent professional and volunteer staff who are well known to my hon. Friends the Members for Macclesfield (Sir Nicholas Winterton), Congleton (Ann Winterton), Tatton (Mr. Osborne) and North Shropshire (Mr. Paterson), all of whose constituents have cause at times to use hospitals in Cheshire and therefore need those independent and valued services. At least, they did, until the Government put them on death row. Now that their execution has been drawn out for a further three months from 1 September to 1 December, it is typical that under this Prime Minister all the Ministers responsible have moved on ahead of their shambolic mistakes—namely, the former Secretary of State for Health, the right hon. Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn), the hon. Member for Salford (Ms Blears) and, most recently, the hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr. Lammy). I dare say that the hapless new Minister has been sent to defend the decision, yet the only remaining member of the Government who is still responsible for the chaos and confusion is the Prime Minister himself. He should be here justifying why he has not got the replacements for community health councils up and running on time.

What is really important to patients who often still feel vulnerable and are in continuing need of NHS treatment is an independent and experienced body, as the CHCs in Cheshire have been, to give them the trust, the confidence and, above all, the confidentiality to chart their way through the self-defensive nature of the NHS. That is what patients need when things go wrong, as is inevitable in any organisation, especially the biggest in Europe. That is a blunt fact: it is not to decry the doctors, the nurses and all the staff. At the moment, the Government are so fearful of any criticism of the NHS that they want to take the CHCs away because an independent voice might just expose the truth, which is not what they are keen to hear.

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