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Baroness Hollis of Heigham: I am certainly willing to seek advice and a briefing on the effectiveness of the Bank of England. But in all the briefing that I have read, I have been led to believe that NDPBs, as they are now being developed by government, will proceed down this road unless there are very good reasons otherwise and that this is where best practice lies. Arguments about this not being quite British, and so forth, will not do. I need to be given stronger arguments than that about why this is not congruent with best practice which, for all the reasons I have suggested to Members of the Committee, it appears to be.

As I say, underlying this is some philosophic reading of how companies should be structured in this company. I am very happy to find out whether the Bank of England believes that the structure produces practical problems of the sort described, whether they
 
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have been overcome, whether our structure would replicate those problems and whether we shall be able to overcome them. That could be a very useful activity. We shall find out what there is to be said on that.

Certainly, as it stands, I have not heard any evidence to suggest that corralling the strategic functions to the non-executive committee is not an appropriate and proper way to behave. I cannot take the argument any further but, obviously, Members of the Committee will want to revisit this matter on Report.

Clause 106 agreed to.

Clause 107 [Investment of funds]:

On Question, Whether Clause 107 shall stand part of the Bill?

Lord Higgins: This is obviously a very important clause.

Baroness Crawley: As there is a Division in the House, this might be an appropriate time for the Committee to adjourn until Monday at 3.30 p.m.

The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Thomas of Walliswood): The Committee stands adjourned until Monday at 3.30 p.m.

The Committee adjourned at nine minutes before three o'clock.

 
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Written Statements

Thursday 15 July 2004

 
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Crown Prosecution Service

The Attorney-General (Lord Goldsmith): The annual report of the Crown Prosecution Service has today been published and laid before Parliament. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Housing: Private Rented Sector Licensing

The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker): My right honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Planning has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

My right honourable friend the Deputy Prime Minister will publish for public consultation on 16 July a paper on licensing in the private rented sector concerning the implementation of selective licensing.

This paper seeks to explain the Government's proposals for licensing in the private rented sector which will be set in place by the Housing Bill, currently before Parliament. In particular, the paper explains the Government's proposals for selective licensing and sets out proposals for the secondary instruments required to implement these measures.

The powers in the Bill and proposed secondary legislation will give local authorities scope to license properties in those areas where the private rented sector is associated with problems of low demand and/or anti-social behaviour. Licensing will enable local authorities to:

Ensure that landlords are fit and proper persons or employ agents who are.

Ensure that the standards of tenancy relations management and property management employed by a landlord or agent are adequate.

Impose conditions on licenses to achieve improvements in management where necessary.

Identify landlords and support them in participating in work to regenerate rundown areas or to tackle problems of anti-social behaviour.

Step in and manage properties where landlords refuse to meet the required criteria.

The paper invites interested parties to comment on how these powers should be implemented in relation to selective licensing through the necessary secondary legislation.

This consultation is being taken forward alongside the progress of the Bill through Parliament, not only to enable authorities to make an early start to tackling problems of low demand and anti-social behaviour once the Bill receives Royal Assent, but also to better inform the consideration of the Bill in Parliament.
 
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Copies of the paper are being sent to a wide range of interested parties including local authorities, landlord and tenant organisations and others with an interest in this issue. The closing date for responses is 8 October 2004.

Copies of the paper will also be made available in the Libraries of the House and will be available on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website at www.odpm.gov.uk

Controlled Drugs

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner): The fourth report of the Shipman inquiry, The regulation of controlled drugs in the community, Cm 6249, was published today, and copies have been place in the Library. This follows the publication of reports on the extent of Harold Shipman's activities, on the 1998 investigation by the Greater Manchester Police, and on death certification and the coroner system. The inquiry's final report on monitoring of medical practitioners, disciplinary systems, whistleblowing and complaints is now expected to be published later this year.

The Government would again like to thank Dame Janet Smith for the meticulous care which has gone into the preparation of this report; for the sensitivity with which she has listened to the views of healthcare and law enforcement professionals at the inquiry's seminars; and for the skilful balance she has struck between the need to safeguard the legitimate use of controlled drugs for patient care and the need to protect the public from their misuse. We would also like to reiterate our sympathy to the relatives and friends of Shipman's victims.

Dame Janet's report makes three major groups of recommendations. First, she advocates setting up an integrated and multidisciplinary inspectorate to monitor and audit the prescription, storage, distribution and disposal of controlled drugs. Secondly, the report recommends a number of restrictions on the prescribing of controlled drugs which would discourage or prevent health professionals prescribing in circumstances in which it could be considered to be unsafe or unwise for them to do so—prescribing for their own use or for that of their immediate families, prescribing outside the requirements of their normal clinical practice, or prescribing by professionals convicted of controlled drugs offences. Thirdly, the report proposes a series of measures to tighten up the handling and safekeeping of controlled drugs along each part of the supply chain from the supplier to the patient's home, and to provide a complete audit trail to account for the movement of controlled drugs at each stage, both in the National Health Service and in the private sector.

These are very significant recommendations with fundamental implications for the use of controlled drugs in the NHS and elsewhere. We will need to study
 
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them carefully and in consultation with existing inspectorates, patients, NHS and police organisations, and the healthcare professions. In particular, we will be seeking the views of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) which has already begun some valuable preparatory work on possible improvements to the present system and on the legislative changes that would be required. And we will need to wait for the recommendations in the inquiry's fifth report, on the general monitoring of general medical practitioners (GPs) and other health professionals, before we can reach final decisions on those issues on which there is a potential overlap between the two reports.

In the mean while there is much valuable and important work already in hand. In addition to the work of the ACMD, the national prescribing centre has published preview guidance for NHS organisations and professionals summarising the legal requirements and best professional practice in the handling of controlled drugs. This work will be updated to take account of the inquiry's recommendations and issued as soon as possible. Finally, the NHS national programme for information technology will make a valuable contribution towards some of the additional safeguards proposed in the report, and we will need to consider carefully what can be delivered within the timescales of the programme.

In welcoming the inquiry's second and third reports, my right honourable friends the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Health emphasised the need to learn lessons from the mistakes of the past. Dame Janet's report acknowledges that no system for the regulation of controlled drugs can offer complete security against abuse from minds as devious as Shipman's, while allowing for their legitimate use by health professionals to ease suffering. But her report also makes clear that much more could be done to deter and detect improper use. We accept this conclusion. In acting on her report we are determined to ensure that all reasonable measures are taken to provide the robust safeguards which are needed and which the public can rightly expect.

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