Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

I support the noble Earl, Lord Howe, in everything he has said. I will also add a few words to what he said about Amendments Nos. 238KD and 238KE. The clause states that it is to enable ““people”” to monitor the local health activities. Instead, we have inserted, "““members of the local involvement network””." If we are moving to LINks, and it seems fairly clear that—with all the queries that we have—we are, then it is right that we should say so and say what we mean about membership of those LINks. I am enormously grateful to the involvement network, which is a network of hosts, for the information it has submitted. It suggested that we must move to a system where LINks are sufficiently flexible, "““to allow members to respond at least as quickly and effectively, in the interests of those seeking or receiving service, as the Forums can do now””." About forums, it said that they, "““generally have developed small, trained and experienced teams made up of members””," and other participants, "““who are able to respond and take action faster and with a different perspective than other scrutiny or regulatory bodies””." It added that, "““they are often more effective at eliciting a response because they are more down-to-earth, can work more simply and directly, including with staff at all levels””," and they, "““remain focused on what matters to patients and their families””." That is exactly what we want LINks to be. The involvement network has suggested that we need to create ““classes of membership”” for LINks, and that might mean having a variety of memberships for groups and for individuals and at many different levels. Whatever it is, we need people to be members of that entity. The incredibly loose network that the Minister described before the Statement seems to be too loose to be bearable. However the model works, there must be some sense in which LINks have members. Anna Coote, a former colleague at the King’s Fund who was on the group that looked at the new structure and who is now at the Healthcare Commission, suggested in her evidence to the Health Select Committee that the original idea was a ““true network””—something very loose indeed—but that it was shifting somewhat. The Health Select Committee argued that the Department of Health was reluctant to talk about membership of a LINk, but we argue that if LINks are to do anything and gather views properly they will need members and some clarity of what kind of entity they are. It is essential, however loose they are or how many classes of membership there may be, that they know who their members are and who they can charge with taking on various functions, duties, activities or whatever it is they will be called.