Greater London Authority Bill

moved Amendment No. 43: 43: Clause 21, page 19, line 25, leave out from beginning to end of line 13 on page 22 and insert— ““309A The Health Adviser The person who is the Health Adviser shall be appointed by the Mayor in accordance with the provisions of section 47 of this Act and be an employee of the Authority. 309B The Deputy Health Advisers (1) There shall also be one or more officers to be known as Deputy Health Advisers to the Greater London Authority (““Deputy Health Advisers””). (2) Any of the Deputy Health Advisers may exercise functions of the Health Adviser at any time when he is authorised to do so by virtue of an authorisation given by the Health Adviser under subsection (5) of section 309A above. (3) Any exercise of a function by a Deputy Health Adviser by virtue only of such an authorisation must be in accordance with the authorisation and any conditions imposed by the Health Adviser under that subsection. (4) A Deputy Health Adviser shall also have such other functions as may be conferred or imposed on him by or under this Act. 309C Deputy Health Advisers: appointment The persons who are Deputy Health Advisers shall be appointed by the Mayor in accordance with section 67 of this Act and be employees of the Authority.”” The noble Baroness said: The motivation behind Amendments Nos. 43 and 45 is to explore further the appointment and status of the health adviser. We broadly welcome the new emphasis the Bill places on matters of public health and on tackling problems within the provision of the health service. I ought to declare my interest as chairman of an acute hospital trust in London. It is clear that, as a result of Part 4, the health adviser and, to a lesser extent, the deputies could have a great deal of influence on the health service for Londoners. As the Bill stands, the holder of the office will provide advice to the Greater London Authority on anything deemed by the health adviser to be a major public health issue and will also play a considerable role in the preparation of the health inequalities strategy. With this in mind, it is essential that we establish the Government’s visionfor the health adviser and assess the level of accountability for that office. Amendment No. 43 inserts new provisions into the Act making it clear that the health adviser and/or the deputies will be appointed by the Mayor and will be employees of the authority, which would enable them to be answerable to the authority. The purpose of Amendment No. 45, which is a probing amendment, is to assess whether it is appropriate that the health adviser is automatically the person who occupies the post of regional director of public health for London. We are not convinced that the health adviser should necessarily even be a civil servant from the department. There are plenty of people who are work for the health service who would be capable of doing a job such as this. The aim of this amendment is essentially to investigate the potential accountability of the holder of an office with far-reaching influence over the people of London. We welcome the creation—are we all right?