Health Bill

I should find it extremely helpful if the Minister could outline to the Committee the nature of the problem that has given rise to this clause and to the provisions of Chapter 3 as a whole. No one could possibly object to the Government’s aim of clamping down on fraud in the NHS. I support them all the way on that. The NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service has already achieved some worthwhile results. However, it is relevant to ask what the nature of the difficulty is that the officers of the service encounter, which prevents them doing their job as they would wish. There are surely existing police powers that can require NHS bodies or anyone at all suspected of fraud to produce relevant information to enable an investigation to proceed. If the police have those powers, why is it necessary to extend them to NHS officers as well? I do not wish to sound in the least obstructive or difficult, but we are creating new criminal offences and new powers. We need to know the scale of the problem that these clauses have been designed to address. Only then can we put into context what is bound to follow from the exercise of those powers, which is the dispersal of sometimes sensitive and confidential data to a wide range of people. It boils down to asking whether the ends justify the means. I hope that the Minister will not mind being given the opportunity to answer that. I do not doubt that she will be more than able to do so.