Health and Social Care Bill: Report stage day seven

Members of the House will begin by discussing the regulation of health and social workers. Amendments listed include:

• The regulation of registered nurses and midwives to also be applied to support workers.
• The appointment of a Chief Social Worker for England to work with existing organisations, promote social work and write an annual report.
• The regulation of public health specialists including those from backgrounds other than medicine by the Health Professions Council.
• The regulation of clinical physiologists and a required registration in England with a the register maintained by the Health professions Council.

There are also a number of amendments tabled by Earl Howe on behalf of the government covering the establishment and functions of the Health and Social Care Information Centre. 

• Watch live on Parliament TV from 11.30am
• Read the Today's Lords Hansard transcript from 2.30pm
• Read the seventh marshalled list of amendments

 Third reading is scheduled for Monday 19 March.

Health and Social Care Bill: Key areas

• 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.

Catch up on the Health and Social Care Bill so far

• Report stage: Day six
• Report stage: Day five
• Report stage: Day four
• Urgent question asked in the House of Commons
• Report stage: Day three
• Report stage: Day two
• Report stage: Day one
• Latest version of the bill at the end of committee stage (22 December 2011)
• Committee stage Lords news round up
• Progress of the Health and Social Care Bill

The House of Lords Constitution Committee report

The Constitution Committee published a follow-up report calling for changes to the Health and Social Care Bill to ensure that ministerial responsibility to Parliament and legal accountability for the NHS are not diluted.

• Read the House of Lords Constitution Committee report

What is the report stage?

Report stage in the chamber gives all members of the Lords further opportunity to consider all amendments (proposals for change) to a bill. It usually starts at least 14 days after committee stage. It can be spread over several days (but usually fewer days than at committee stage).

Before report stage takes place

• The day before report stage starts, amendments are published in a Marshalled List – in which all the amendments are placed in order.
• On the day, amendments on related subjects are grouped together and a list (“groupings of amendments”) is published.

What happens at report stage?

• Detailed line by line examination of the bill continues.
• Votes can take place and any member can take part.

After report stage - third reading

• If the bill is amended it is reprinted to include all the agreed amendments.
• The bill moves to third reading for the final chance for the Lords to debate and amend the bill.
• More about third reading.

Further information

Detailed line by line examination of the separate parts (clauses and schedules) of a bill takes place during report stage.

• Passage of a bill: report stage

Find out more about watching House of Lords debates.

• Visiting Parliament: Attend debates and meetings