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although some responses indicated that all providers, irrespective of their size, should produce a Quality Account, the majority view was that providers that do not have a significant NHS workload should be exempt. The definition of a small provider is based on the definition used in the Standard NHS Contract (those whose annual contract value is less than £130,000 and who employ 50 or fewer full-time employees) and will be used as the cut off for exemption from the requirement to produce a Quality Account.
These proposals will now be used to draft regulations that will shortly be laid before Parliament. These regulations will also set out the initial assurance mechanism for Quality Accounts-we will be consulting on proposals for a more formal mechanism later this year, the proposed content and manner of publication, and any exemptions that will apply in the first year.
For the first year of Quality Accounts all providers or sub-contractors of NHS services will have to produce a quality account unless they are exempted by the regulations. Their first Quality Accounts, covering activity in 2009-10, will be published this summer. We will also be publishing shortly a comprehensive toolkit to enable providers to produce Quality Accounts that their patients, the population they serve, and their own staff will recognise as a fair and balanced view of services.
The regulations exempt primary care and community health services from the quality account obligations. It is intended these services will be exempt only for the first year. We plan to introduce Quality Accounts for primary and community care sectors from 2011. An engagement and testing process, similar to that run within NHS foundation trusts and NHS East of England providers but focused on the particular needs of these two sectors, started in autumn 2009. The providers participating in the testing work are in NHS North East and NHS East Midlands, and a framework for test reporting will be published over the next few weeks, with a view to starting the pilots this spring and evaluating them in the summer. This exercise will help shape the development of Quality Accounts further as they begin to apply to all providers, and a further consultation on proposed regulations will therefore start later this year.
Work and Pensions
Informal Meeting of Employment and Social Policy Ministers
The Minister for Pensions and the Ageing Society (Angela Eagle): The Informal Meeting of Employment and Social Policy Ministers took place on 28 to 29 January 2010 in Barcelona, Spain. I represented the United Kingdom.
The priority for this informal meeting was to develop and deepen reflections on the employment strategy and social security issues under the post-2010 Lisbon strategy (EU 2020). This was accomplished through three plenary sessions.
The first session concentrated on the "crisis exit, and the maintenance of employment and inclusive labour markets". The presidency emphasised the need to ensure that employment and social issues were properly addressed in EU 2020, although it was vital that these were considered in the wider economic context. During the discussion, member states stressed: the need for flexible labour markets alongside security for workers including active intervention to help those furthest from labour markets, especially women and the young; the importance of mainstreaming gender equality especially in the light of the demographic challenges of an ageing society affecting the whole European Union; and the focus on green jobs. I explained that the recent UK proposal for an EU Compact on Jobs and Growth supported the objective of more inclusive labour markets and investment in training, skills and education. I stressed that more collaboration on making work pay and pension reform will be important factors, and highlighted the need to work across all sectors of the European Council.
The second session focused on "new skills and changes in employment". The presidency stressed the importance of investing in "human capital"; encouraging lifelong learning which would enhance the employability of workers. The delegations were in agreement that access
to training was vital throughout working life, and that vocational training could often be more appropriate than academic. While the importance of developing skills in new sectors was emphasised, there was awareness that it could be difficult to predict the final impact of the recession, and that it would be important to ensure workers had transferable skills, making them more flexible and adaptable.
In the final session, "Social Security and social cohesion", the presidency had asked how the European Union should approach social security strategy in the future.
Delegations argued for better use of the Open Method of Co-ordination and wanted advice from the International Labour Organisation, such as the Decent Work Agenda, to be considered wherever relevant.
On pensions, many thought that this would continue to be a key issue throughout the European Union and that work was needed to assess the sustainability of pensions systems and how these had been affected by the crisis. Delegations were looking forward to the Council conclusions on this topic to be presented at the Employment and Social Policy Council in June, although some emphasised that future work must take account of the different systems in the member states rather than being a standard, generalised model.
In conclusion, the presidency agreed that a summary of the debate would be presented to Employment and Social Policy Council in March and then sent on to the European Council.
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