Health and Social Care Bill

House of Commons

Session 2007 - 08
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

Health and Social Care Bill

Health and Social Care Bill
Part 1 — The Care Quality Commission
Chapter 1 — Introductory
1

A
Bill
To
Establish and make provision in connection with a Care Quality Commission;
to make provision about health care (including provision about the National
Health Service) and about social care; to make provision about reviews and
investigations under the Mental Health Act 1983; to establish and make
provision in connection with an Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator
and make other provision about the regulation of the health care professions;
to confer power to modify the regulation of social care workers; to amend the
Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984; to provide for the payment of a
grant to women in connection with pregnancy; to amend the functions of the
Health Protection Agency; 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:—
Part 1
The Care Quality Commission
Chapter 1
Introductory
1
The Care Quality Commission
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(1)
There is to be a body corporate known as the Care Quality Commission
(referred to in this Part as “the Commission”).
(2)
The Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection, the Commission for
Social Care Inspection and the Mental Health Act Commission are dissolved.
(3)
Schedule 1 (which makes further provision about the Care Quality
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Commission) has effect.

Bill 9
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Health and Social Care Bill
Part 1 — The Care Quality Commission
Chapter 2 — Registration in respect of provision of health or social care
2

2
The Commission’s functions
(1)
The Commission has the functions conferred on it by or under any enactment.
(2)
Those functions include—
(a)
registration functions under Chapter 2,
(b)
review and investigation functions under Chapter 3, and
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(c)
functions under the Mental Health Act 1983 (c. 20).
(3)
In performing its functions the Commission must have regard to—
(a)
views expressed by members of the public about activities to which the
functions relate,
(b)
levels of satisfaction with such activities amongst members of the
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public,
(c)
the need to ensure that action by the Commission in relation to such
activities is proportionate to the risks against which it would afford
safeguards and is targeted only where it is needed,
(d)
the need to safeguard and promote the rights and welfare of children
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and vulnerable adults,
(e)
any developments in approaches to regulatory action, and
(f)
best practice amongst persons performing functions comparable to
those of the Commission (including the principles under which
regulatory action should be transparent, accountable and consistent).
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(4)
In performing its functions the Commission must also have regard to such
aspects of government policy as the Secretary of State may direct.
(5)
The Commission is to perform its functions for the general purpose of
encouraging—
(a)
the improvement of activities to which its functions relate,
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(b)
the carrying on of such activities in a way that focuses on the needs of
those for whose benefit the activities are carried on, and
(c)
the efficient and effective use of resources in the carrying on of such
activities.
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Transfers of property, rights and liabilities
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Schedule 2 (which makes provision for the transfer of property, rights and
liabilities) has effect.
Chapter 2
Registration in respect of provision of health or social care
Introductory
35
4
“Regulated activity”
(1)
In this Part “regulated activity” means an activity of a prescribed kind.
(2)
An activity may be prescribed for the purposes of subsection (1) only if—
(a)
the activity involves, or is connected with, the provision of health or
social care in, or in relation to, England, and
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Health and Social Care Bill
Part 1 — The Care Quality Commission
Chapter 2 — Registration in respect of provision of health or social care
3

(b)
the activity does not involve the carrying on of any establishment or
agency, within the meaning of the Care Standards Act 2000 (c. 14), for
which Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services
and Skills is the registration authority under that Act.
(3)
For the purposes of subsection (2), activities connected with the provision of
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health or social care include, in particular—
(a)
the supply of staff who are to provide such care;
(b)
the provision of transport or accommodation for those who require
such care;
(c)
the provision of advice in respect of such care.
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5
“Health or social care”
(1)
This section has effect for the interpretation of this Part.
(2)
“Health care” includes all forms of health care provided for individuals,
whether relating to physical or mental health, and also includes procedures
that are similar to forms of medical or surgical care but are not provided in
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connection with a medical condition.
(3)
“Social care” includes all forms of personal care and other practical assistance
provided for individuals who by reason of age, illness, disability, pregnancy,
childbirth, dependence on alcohol or drugs, or any other similar
circumstances, are in need of such care or other assistance.
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(4)
“Health or social care” means health care or social care.
Registration of persons carrying on regulated activities
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Requirement to register as a service provider
(1)
Any person who carries on a regulated activity without being registered under
this Chapter in respect of the carrying on of that activity is guilty of an offence.
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(2)
The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for the purposes of
this Chapter for determining, in relation to a regulated activity carried on by
two or more persons acting in different capacities, which of those persons is to
be regarded as the person who carries on the activity.
(3)
In the following provisions of this Part, the registration of a person under this
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Chapter in respect of the carrying on of a regulated activity by that person is
referred to as registration “as a service provider” in respect of that activity.
(4)
A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—
(a)
on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £50,000, or to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both;
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(b)
on conviction on indictment, to a fine, or to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding 12 months, or to both.
(5)
In relation to an offence committed before the commencement of section 154(1)
of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44), the reference in subsection (4)(a) to 12
months is to be read as a reference to 6 months.
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Health and Social Care Bill
Part 1 — The Care Quality Commission
Chapter 2 — Registration in respect of provision of health or social care
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Applications for registration as a service provider
(1)
A person seeking to be registered under this Chapter as a service provider
must make an application to the Commission.
(2)
The application must be made in such form, and contain or be accompanied by
such information, as the Commission requires.
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(3)
In such cases as the Commission may determine, a person seeking to be
registered as a service provider in respect of two or more regulated activities
may make a single application in respect of them.
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Grant or refusal of registration as a service provider
(1)
Subsections (2) to (4) apply where an application under section 7 has been
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made in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter with respect to a
regulated activity.
(2)
If the Commission is satisfied that—
(a)
the requirements of regulations under section 16, and
(b)
the requirements of any other enactment which appears to the
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Commission to be relevant,

are being and will continue to be complied with (so far as applicable) in
relation to the carrying on of the regulated activity, it must grant the
application; otherwise it must refuse it.
(3)
The application may be granted either unconditionally or subject to such
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conditions as the Commission thinks fit.
(4)
On granting the application, the Commission must issue a certificate of
registration to the applicant.
(5)
The Commission may at any time—
(a)
vary or remove any condition for the time being in force in relation to a
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person’s registration as a service provider, or
(b)
impose any additional condition.
(6)
Subsections (3) and (5) have effect subject to section 9.
Registration of managers
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Condition requiring registered manager
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(1)
The registration under this Chapter of a person (“S”) as a service provider in
respect of a regulated activity must in prescribed cases be subject to a
registered manager condition.
(2)
In deciding whether to impose a registered manager condition under section
8(3) or (5), in a case where subsection (1) does not require such a condition to
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be imposed, the Commission must have regard to prescribed matters.
(3)
For the purposes of this Chapter, a registered manager condition is a condition
that the activity as carried on by S, or the activity as carried on by S at or from
particular premises, must be managed by an individual who is registered
under this Chapter as a manager in respect of the activity, or the activity as
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carried on at or from those premises.