Health Care and Associated Professions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2008

My Lords, I thank the noble Earl and the noble Baroness for their welcome for this order and their constructive comments. I hope that I can answer some of their questions more definitively than on the previous order. Who will be on the panel making the new appointments is a matter for the Appointments Commission and the regulatory body to determine. The usual practice will be for a panel of three members, although in some circumstances there may be more—for example, when they are appointing a chair. The panel will consist of the Appointments Commission, an independent assessor and someone nominated by the regulatory body. It will make appointments in consultation with the regulatory body. In 2011, there will be a review of the governance arrangements of all these regulators. The noble Baroness, Lady Barker, was quite correct in her remarks. The temporary registration of suitably experienced doctors in an emergency is an issue that we will take forward with a protocol. It will be developed by the GMC and there will be no statutory definition. In relation to asylum seekers, it has not yet been decided who will be registered under these provisions, although recently retired doctors are the most obvious candidates. It has not been decided to rule out doctors from overseas who have not yet been through the registration process, but neither has it been decided to rule them in. That is still a matter for discussion. A variety of other questions is also being discussed, including whether the GMC will be looking at part of the protocol and how it will develop this in terms of gaining EU practices to operate elsewhere. All those things still have to be discussed as part of that protocol. There will be a separate order covering the General Dental Council, the Health Professions Council and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. They are in a separate order—I am coming to know and love Section 60—because, as the noble Lord said, these provisions have to go before the Scottish Parliament. There are devolution issues to be resolved, but I am sure that I will be here in due course talking about dentists and pharmacists. I think that that covers most of the points about fitness to practise. The White Paper makes a commitment to cover the system of regulation in 2011. The order covering dentists will come forward before the end of the year. On Question, Motion agreed to.