Health and Social Care Bill Committee announce programme

The Committee will then consider the Bill every Tuesday and Thursday from that point concluding on Thursday 31 March (apart from the week beginning 21 February when the House of Commons will not be sitting).

• Second reading of Health and Social Care Bill, have your say

Programme and witnesses

Tuesday 8 February in the Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House

• Watch the morning Committee meeting
• Watch the afternoon Committee meeting

at 10.30am

• National Health Service

at 11.30am

• The Health Foundation, The Nuffield Trust and Julian Le Grand, Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics

at 12.15pm

• The British Medical Association, The Centre for Public Scrutiny and The King’s Fund

at 4pm

• NHS Alliance, National Association of Primary Care and the Royal College of General Practitioners

at 4.45pm

• Local Government Association

at 5.30pm

• NHS Confederation

at 5.50pm

•  Unison, Unite and GMB

Thursday 10 February

In the Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House

at 9am

•  Monitor, Foundation Trust Network and Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations

at 10am

• National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and Director General of Policy Strategy and Finance at the Department of Health

at 1pm

•  National Voices

at 1.20pm

•  Mind, Parkinson’s UK, Cancer Research UK, Target Ovarian Cancer and Rethink

at 2.25pm

• Care Quality Commission

at 2.55pm

• Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Nursing, Royal College of Surgeons and Remedy

at 3.40pm

• Department of Health

Line by line scrutiny of the Bill

Committee Room 10, Palace of Westminster

Tuesday 15 February 10.30am and 4.00pm
Thursday 17 February 9.00am and 1.00pm
Tuesday 1 March 10.30am and 4.00pm
Thursday 3 March 9.00am and 1.00pm
Tuesday 8 March 10.30am and 4.00pm
Thursday 10 March 9.00am and 1.00pm
Tuesday 15 March 10.30am and 4.00pm
Thursday 17 March 9.00am and 1.00pm
Tuesday 22 March 10.30am and 4.00pm
Thursday 24 March 9.00am and 1.00pm
Tuesday 29 March 10.30am and 4.00pm
Thursday 31 March 9.00am and 1.00pm

The Committee must complete consideration of the Bill no later than 4pm on Thursday 31 March.

These sessions will be open to the public on a first come, first served basis. There is no system for the prior reservation of seats in Committee Rooms.

It is advisable to allow about 20 minutes to pass through security checks. Timings and room numbers are subject to change.

Further Information

The Scrutiny Unit can help with any queries about oral evidence.

• Scrutiny Unit
• About Parliament: General Committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch Committees 

Key areas of the Bill

• Bills before Parliament 2010-11: Health and Social Care Bill
• About Parliament: Passage of a Bill

The Bill proposes to create an independent NHS Board, promote patient choice, and to reduce NHS administration costs.

Summary

• establishes an independent NHS Board to allocate resources and provide commissioning guidance
• increases GPs’ powers to commission services on behalf of their patients
• strengthens the role of the Care Quality Commission
• develops Monitor, the body that currently regulates NHS foundation trusts, into an economic regulator to oversee aspects of access and competition in the NHS
• cuts the number of health bodies to help meet the Government's commitment to cut NHS administration costs by a third, including abolishing Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities.