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CCG, clinical commissioning group, Coalition, Conservative, debate, health, House of Lords, Mike Sivier, mikesivier, NHS, Parliament, people, politics, privatisation, regulation, secondary legislation scrutiny committee, SI 257, sick, SKWAWKBOX blog, SLSC, Steve Walker, Vox Political
This is a quickie because there isn’t much time.
I just received notification from fellow blogger Steve Walker that today is the deadline for submission of evidence and concerns to the House of Lords ‘Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee’ (SLSC) to ask for a full Lords debate on the undemocratic attempt to force privatisation on the NHS via the new Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).
Steve has written an excellent analysis of the redrafted SI 257/2013 regulations, explaining why they are a minefield likely to push CCGs further into the privatisation trap than any other outcome. You can read it here.
Rather than waste time trying to do the same job twice, I have emailed the Lords to ask for a debate, referring them to the same articles. Here’s a copy of what I have written. I would suggest that anyone who has strong feelings on the subject could use this as a template to email the Lords themselves. Here’s the email address:
And here’s the text of my email:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I understand that you are looking for submissions regarding the government’s ‘section 75’ secondary legislation. May I add my voice to those asking for a full Lords debate on this undemocratic attempt to force privatisation on the NHS via the new Clinical Commissioning Groups?
I do not intend to provide supporting arguments myself but instead would like to refer you to an excellent blog article – http://ccgwatch.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/revised-section-75-regs-mire-ccgs-in-a-legal-minefield/ – by Steve Walker, written following a careful reading of the government’s revisions to SI 257/2013.
It identifies serious concerns with the legislation, which does nothing to change the substance of the original instrument – and in fact uses uncertainty as an additional tool to tie the hands of CCGs to include private bidders for health service contracts.
With regards.
Over to you.
Mike Sivier's blog 