Health Bill

We come to a number of minor and consequential amendments. I know that there will be interest in later debates, so I hope we need not spend too long on them but my experience in Committee was that Opposition Members liked a brief Government explanation of the purpose of amendments. New clause 7 and amendments Nos. 30 to 32 have a simple objective: to ensure full and proper enforcement of the responsible pharmacist provisions. They do so by placing a specific duty on the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland to enforce those elements of section 72A of the Medicines Act 1968 that are not subject to an offence as a matter of professional misconduct. Clause 28, by inserting a new section 72A into the Medicines Act 1968, sets out the detailed provisions in respect of the responsible pharmacist. We debated this at some length in Committee. The responsible pharmacist has a statutory duty to ensure the safe and effective running of the pharmacy for which he or she is responsible. Breach of certain conditions in respect of the responsible pharmacist is an offence, such as the failure to keep a record of who is the responsible pharmacist for a pharmacy at all times. Other aspects of the responsible pharmacist requirements are less clear. For example, it is less clear where responsibility lies for the content of the standard operating procedures and how those requirements would be enforced. These more readily lend themselves to enforcement by the pharmaceutical societies through professional regulation. The amendments make it clear on the face of the Bill that the pharmaceutical societies have that duty of enforcement, and that it applies wherever the registered pharmacy is located, whether in a hospital or in the community. Furthermore, the amendments to sections 108 for England and Wales, 109 for Scotland and 110 for Northern Ireland of the Medicines Act clarify that the appropriate Minister in those areas does not have a duty to enforce those provisions that are not subject to offences. However, they give the appropriate Minister a right of entry to inspect and investigate in relation to the other provisions in section 72A. Amendment No. 25 on controlled drugs is minor and technical. Amendment No. 26 on ophthalmic services is a minor and consequential amendment. With those few words of introduction, I hope that the House will be minded to accept the amendments, so that we can move on and spend longer on the more pressing debates later. Question put and agreed to. Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.