Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:30 pm on 27 February 2018.
Thank you. I'll take those three broad points in reverse order. On inspectorates, as I've outlined in my statement, we're not taking forward proposals to merge the organisations. The challenge, again, comes with any legislative underpinning, as I've indicated. There'd be a real opportunity to resolve some of the challenges Healthcare Inspectorate Wales have about their legislative underpinning to allow them to do a more effective job, but this goes into your point about the duty of candour and a timescale for legislation. I can't give you a timescale for legislation because it's up to the First Minister to stand up in this place and indicate the new legislative programme and the timetable for new Bills to come forward. But everybody knows that, even with Bills that we may want to bring forward, the reality is that the discussion we've just had before this statement on Brexit—well, that may take up more time than this place has to undertake every other piece of legislation we may want to and think there's value in. So, there are real caveats about our ability as a legislature to get through all of the pieces of legislation that we want to, and I'm not in a position to give you any kind of commitment on a timescale because it simply isn't my place to do so.
On CHCs again, I make the point that this is a new body that we're seeking to create to cover health and social care. I recognise her points about independence, however the Government funds the CHCs, so we provide a budget for them. It's a significant budget; well in excess of £3 million to undertake their work. The chair of the national board is a ministerial appointment undertaken through a transparent public appointments process, so we need to think about what people mean by 'independent of Government'. In effect, though, I don't interfere, and I'm not particularly interested in interfering in the way in which the national board of CHCs operates, or, indeed, the way those functions are carried out to support people on the ground in their very important advocacy role.
On the duty of candour, the healthcare professionals already have their own duties; they're not all covered by the GMC. So, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Health and Care Professions Council as well—including, of course, Dawn Bowden's question about therapists—they have different professional and regulatory bodies, but they all have, essentially, broadly the same duty as healthcare professionals that looks like a duty of candour. What we don't have is one that covers all staff, because not all staff are in those groups, and we don't have an organisational duty as well. That, again, is some of the work that I'm committing to take forward, and, obviously, any conclusions that we reach we'll come back on, make a statement to this place, and if there is to be legislation, I'll have to front up in front of a committee at Stages 1, 2, 3 and 4 to do so.